| Author |
Message |
Greg Roberts (66.7.134.190)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 10, 2002 - 2:33 pm: | |
Guys, I am looking to power a 24 vdc proheat heater at 5-6 amps. My problem is that my coach is all 12 vdc. My inverter feed will be 12 vdc. Question: What are your suggestions for providing power to the 24 volt device? - Greg |
Tom Caffrey (Pvcces) (12.146.33.229)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 10, 2002 - 10:54 pm: | |
Hi Greg, you need a DC to DC converter. If you get one that is only going to power the heater, you might want to use a relay to turn it on only when the heater is running so that it won't be idling all the time.
Newmar has made a bunch of converters and sometimes they show up in places like eBay. I like them because they seem to be reliable.
You also could use a small converter that runs off 110 to provide your 24 volts. It's not very efficient, but if you use a relay like I mentioned above, you would cut down on power losses.
I's seen the name Vanner many times, but I'm not familiar with them. Some of the other guys will probably come back with more specific help.
HTH
Tom Caffrey PD4106-2576 |
Dwight (67.213.8.58)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 10, 2002 - 11:11 pm: | |
I would just get a small 24 volt battery charger to run it....5 or 6 amps is not much..... |
Stephen Fessenden (Sffess) (67.212.30.33)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 11, 2002 - 1:27 am: | |
Have you checked with the manufacturer to for cost of converting the unit to 12 volt operation?
Sometimes you get a pleasant surprise. |
Greg Roberts (66.7.134.190)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 11, 2002 - 10:16 am: | |
I just noticed my error in my original subject line "110vac inverter to 24vdc". I know better but must have been in a hurry. Anyway, the battery charger idea might be valid but my concern there would be having to install at least minimal 24vdc battery to allow cycling of the charger. I really want to avoid two battery systems if at all possible. Still, there just might be a charger that is stable enough to do the trick without the battery as a sink. The 12vdc to 24vdc converter is probably going to be the ticket when I finally locate one. I did check with the OEM and the cost to convert the system to 12vdc is about $1000 so is a bit more than I want to pay at this point. Thanks for your replies and advice and further comments and experiences are certainly appreciated. - Greg |
Peter (209.242.148.130)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 11, 2002 - 1:42 pm: | |
Greg:
for more than 20 years I have used 12v battery charges to power small load 12v motors and lights and radios, etc.
I have never had a problem, never considered using a battery as a sink.
The 24v charger as a power supply sounds like a great idea, I would do that if it were me.
Peter |
Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat) (68.7.217.217)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 11, 2002 - 7:02 pm: | |
The easiest and cheapest would be to get a used 24 volt 6 amp DC power
supply and run it from your 110 inverter.
You can find them at electronic surplus stores everywhere very cheap too. If the 110 is coming from a generator, you could use a "switcher" type
power supply that is tiny and lightweight, but if your 110 is coming from an
inverter, a switching power supply "could" cause some havoc- and a transformer
based supply would be better, although instead of being the size of a bag of
cookies it would be more like the size of half a loaf of bread and weigh 15
pounds... not a big deal in the case of an RV anyway..
As far as 12 volt-to 24 volt converters, this is a possiblilty too, and
probably the easiest for you because this way you don't have to go thru the
logistics of "is my inverter on" before you can turn on the heater...
6 amps at 24 volts would mean roughy a 150 watt converter at minimum, and it would
be good to be conservative so maybe 200-300 watts would be a good target for
cool operation and good reliability.
Here's a fairly industrial unit that's good but likely pricey:
http://www.analyticsystems.com/products/converters/vtc305.htm
Here's one from a solar company that would probably work fine:
792-022 DC Autotransformer $199 12/48 VDC 10A EQ-12/48-10-Rv
from http://www.newenglandsolar.com/catalog_pages/catalog61.htm
or this one for $149 would probably be just fine too:
http://www.solarelectric.com/level4.asp?InvtId=30308018
Check these out and if any of them sound good to you, call the manufacturer
on their 800 number and chat with a salesman to make sure they think it will
work for you, then get one. They all will probably work just fine for your
application, and you definitely will NOT need a second set of batteries.Ê
Cheers
Kind regards
Gary |
James Nelson (65.56.20.208)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, April 15, 2002 - 9:28 pm: | |
Check J. C. Whitney. They have a multitude of voltage converters in the electrical section. |