120V Heating Pad Wiring

ksucats

Well-known member
Looking at moving to LM365. Wondering if the 120v heating pads are wired into the inverter so that they are heating the tanks while on the road? Reason I ask is that we had to go the NM this past January and even though I had the tank heaters on in my current coach (12 volt heaters), the tanks froze. Not really unexpected at a high of 2 degrees when traveling but at least nothing broke. In any case, wondering in case we have to 'dry camp'.
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
Looking at moving to LM365. Wondering if the 120v heating pads are wired into the inverter so that they are heating the tanks while on the road? Reason I ask is that we had to go the NM this past January and even though I had the tank heaters on in my current coach (12 volt heaters), the tanks froze. Not really unexpected at a high of 2 degrees when traveling but at least nothing broke. In any case, wondering in case we have to 'dry camp'.

The tank heating pads Heartland uses are 110 VAC and are not wired to the inverter. The inverter is a 1000 watt PSW unit and is dedicated for the refer only.
 
Last edited:

boatto5er

Founding VA Chap Ldr (Ret)
I could be wrong, but I believe the inverter on the LM365 is dedicated to the Refrigerator. You'll probably need to install a second inverter to heat the tanks while traveling. Someone will jump ion and correct me if I'm wrong.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Looking at moving to LM365. Wondering if the 120v heating pads are wired into the inverter so that they are heating the tanks while on the road? Reason I ask is that we had to go the NM this past January and even though I had the tank heaters on in my current coach (12 volt heaters), the tanks froze. Not really unexpected at a high of 2 degrees when traveling but at least nothing broke. In any case, wondering in case we have to 'dry camp'.

The inverter that provides power for the Residential Refrigerator powers the refrigerator only. If you're going to dry camp in cold weather while running the refrigerator, the furnace, lights, and another inverter supplying power to tank heaters, you will probably have to get more batteries.

Btw, unless the prior rig had no insulation and the tanks were exposed to outside air, I don't think they should freeze at 2 (F) with tank heaters running. You may have had something not working.
 

ksucats

Well-known member
Albuquerque FAMCAMP (Kirtland AFB) sits almost straight in line with the canyon to the east. We arrived on a beautiful afternoon, set up and enjoyed. That night winds stepped up -- 45 gusts over 50. Temp dropped to 17. No problem the next morning. Temp continued to drop, winds did not (well dropped maybe to 30 mph with gusts over 40) and that night it got to 2 degrees. Next day wind calmed down, temp got to 10 as I recall. Third say, temps got to 45, things thawed some. That night the back side of the storm came through. We left coming back to Kansas and never saw temps above 5 degrees the entire 14 our drive back. Ran the heater pads at all times once temps dropped. We were lucky enough to be parked into the wind so no problem with the slides although our slide toppers sure took a beating - as did our nerves. Coach has fully covered underbelly, insulation and per literature, fully heated underbelly for water lines and holding tanks.

Regardless, sorry for the longer post but the driving with heater pads is what concerns me -- whether in New Mexico, or Kansas, the weather can change in an instant. Have seen all four seasons in one day here so want to be prepared for the next time something like this happens.

Appreciate the responses. Great forum, learning a lot about Heartland coaches.
 
Last edited:

jbeletti

Well-known member
ksucats,

Wow - that was some weather you rode out. If running your pads on DC power is important, consider swapping them out for direct DC powered pads or even combo (AC/DC) pads - link.
 

Jim.Allison

Well-known member
When there is no pedestal power, and you can't run your generator 24 per day, then it is always best to get your energy directly from your energy source.

An inverter system can be as much as 90% efficient for high loads and as low as 50% efficient for lighter loads. Choosing 80% which is giving the system the benefit of the doubt with only this light load.

Considering a 150 watt appliance running off AC inverter at 80% efficiency or directly off the 12v battery.

Your batteries could have produced the same energy with only 12 amps, where inverting it would take 15 amps of the same battery source.

I have a 300 amp house system and the rule of thumb is to NEVER run your house battery to less than 50% of it capacity. So I have 150 amp hours of energy. And I am trying to run your heating pad ONLY.

150 amp hours available, using inverter, my 300 amp hour system will run your heating pad 10 hours before damaging my batteries.

But when only pulling 12 amps on a direct DC connection I can run 12.5 hours.

Because I have a solar charging system setup for boondocking, I attempt to make as many of my appliances DC appliances as I can.
















Since you will need some conversion energy from the inverter lets say one amp
 
Top