Using heated mattress on plug in inverter when boondocking

[joindy]

• We have Flagstaff E Pro with heated mattress. If we are boondocking on cold night, and use a portable ....plug in inverter and plug electric mattress into it...how much will this drain battery, or would be better off using vey small electric heater fan with draws very little amps.

[ependydad]

Anything that makes heat will suck up battery. I don’t know which is better; I’d just use the camper’s propane furnace.

[joindy]

Does the propane furnace run on the 12 volt system. I did not think it did....so only choice is inverter with .....small electric heater or heated mattress????

[Flybob]

Yes propane furnace runs on 12V and propane. On a very cold night, the fan will use a good bit of battery, but much less than a heated mattress or elect heater. Note when connected to shore power, the converter converts 110VAC to 12VDC to run furnace fan. So technically the Furnace is 12VDC and propane only. If you run furnace on multiple cold nights, you will need a way to charge the battery.

[joindy]

So sounds like, if not really cold out...lets say 45 degrees, we are better setting thermostat at maybe 62-65 degrees and using blankets.....instead of using heated mattress. So if not saving battery drain using heated mattress, it is not really that useful?

[MacGumbo]

Originally Posted by joindy

So sounds like, if not really cold out...lets say 45 degrees, we are better setting thermostat at maybe 62-65 degrees and using blankets.....instead of using heated mattress.

YES!

[mwdilday]

I just looked it up and heated blankets only consume about 75-100 watts at 110v. 100/12 = 8 amps. So that would be only 80 amps in 10 hours. Pretty efficient so I think the heated blankets would be a great idea.

[babock]

Originally Posted by mwdilday

I just looked it up and heated blankets only consume about 75-100 watts at 110v. 100/12 = 8 amps. So that would be only 80 amps in 10 hours. Pretty efficient so I think the heated blankets would be a great idea.

For 100W, you would need 11.7A including inverter efficiency. If you ran it 8 hours, that would be 93AH. Pretty bad if you ask me.

If you had a 220Ah bank of of 2 6V batteries you would have discharged 42% of your capacity!

[awellis3]

Originally Posted by joindy

So sounds like, if not really cold out...lets say 45 degrees, we are better setting thermostat at maybe 62-65 degrees and using blankets.

When boondocking that is what we do.

[Maxwell D Pratt]

Just get some good sleeping bags will keep you warm then use the furnace to warm the camper when you get up in the morning. I have a Rockwood Freedom that has the mattress warmers have never used them.

[Skyliner]

Three 60 lb dogs (boxers) in the bed also are much more efficient in keeping you warn then using a electric mattress.

[FFred]

Many folks will turn on the mattress heaters for 10-15 min before hitting the sack.

This means climbing into a WARM bed , and using the propane furnace when getting up in the AM.

Not much electric and not too much propane , depending.

[Too Tall]

I spent a week in high 20's and low 30's and used the propane heater. Had 230 amp/hrs and would recharge with portable gen. everyday however I could have gone two night with no problem. I did use a full 30 lbs of propane however.

[epfd217]

Originally Posted by mwdilday

I just looked it up and heated blankets only consume about 75-100 watts at 110v. 100/12 = 8 amps. So that would be only 80 amps in 10 hours. Pretty efficient so I think the heated blankets would be a great idea.

80 amps is an entire grp 24 battery and over 90% of a grp 27 battery! Electric heat is not efficient at all, especially if used all night. The furnace would be a better use of the power.

If you don't have the power to run heat continuously, then don't run power continuously. Heat is for comfort. Your bedding should be adequate for sleeping through the night without heat. If you can't accomplish that with proper clothing and bedding or sleeping bags then its too cold for you to be out there.

The top of using the heated mattress to warm the bed for 15-30 minutes is the best suggestion, but again, your bedding must be warm enough to keep you comfy through the night.

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by epfd217

Heat is for comfort. Your bedding should be adequate for sleeping through the night without heat. If you can't accomplish that with proper clothing and bedding or sleeping bags then its too cold for you to be out there.

I don't necessarily agree with this. We are different than most, we keep our overnight temps in the mid-60s. Anything colder than that, my face gets cold especially with my CPAP blowing air onto me.

But, I also sized my battery bank that I can run just about anything I want overnight and still have left over capacity.

[Evereddie]

Originally Posted by ependydad

.....I also sized my battery bank that I can run just about anything I want overnight and still have left over capacity.

How do you recharge and how long does it take?

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by Evereddie

How do you recharge and how long does it take?

Unfortunately generator. Right now I charge between 40-50 amps per hour. With our average usage (with no attempt to curb usage), we used between 200-280Ah. So 5-6 hours of running the generator to get back to 98% (the converter ramps down once it gets up near 14v at the batteries).

[epfd217]

You disagree personally because of your situation, but you agreed with my point that heat is for comfort. Ependyfad, you clearly have the power supply and recharging system to accomplish a high electrical use. The average person, and the OP on this post does not. I shouldn't assume the OP doesn't, but if he is using a small plug-in inverter for heated mattresses it tells me they don't have a large system.

My reply is for the OP and the average person. Anyone who runs 1-2 batteries of any capacity would be completely overwhelmed by the power usage of an electric source of heat. Add that to the the regular DC loads and a 1 battery system would die over night and a 2 battery system would be below 50% before sunrise.

If you plan to boondock irregularly in cold temps, plan to have adequate bedding to sleep warm enough. If the battery dies, propane runs out, the furnace fails to light or trips the breaker or the regulator freezes up, etc you don't want to be stuck freezing your butt off. Hopefully you could charge off the tow vehicle and/or leave in the morning, but at least you can sleep through the night.

And so you don't think I'm picking a fight, I'm jealous that you can run 200a/h a day. I've got a real fridge that I can't keep running. I need more power and more battery for my TT.

[rsdata]

joindy...

I found this information on another forum and am quoting the results here... this info was updated just last month... it appears you can run your heated mattress, at least at some partial setting for most if not all of the night, using a 150 WATT power inverter hooked to your battery that will supply 120 VAC to your heated mattress. Personally I would use my Mr. Buddy propane heater that requires NO power and a good sleeping bag.

Alright, I decided the rubber needed to meet the road here and just decided to time the damn thing. So I connected a mattress heater to a 150w inverter and then connected it to my 100ah AGM battery. Then I ran separate 8 hour tests on level 6 and level 3. I charged the battery fully between tests. Here are the results. This will be my last entry for his thread. I'll also be updating the previous record as it was done using a broken inverter, and the original post.

Test 1
-----
Level 6 Test (88 Watts drain) = Battery Drained to around 25% in 5 hours. That's less than one night and a battery drained low enough to risk longevity (oops).
1.5 Hours - 82 watts/12.2 volts
3.5 hours - 78 watts/12.0 volts
5 Hours - 77 watts/11.9 volts (jumped a bit after leaving the battery without draw for a few minutes)

Test 2
-----
Level 3 Test (18 Watts drain) = Battery Drained to around 70% in 8 hours. That means 30% a night. 2 Nights would bring the battery down to 40% or so.
1.5 Hours - 24 watts/12.6 volts
3.5 hours - 25 watts/12.5 volts
5 Hours - 27 watts/12.3 volts
6 Hours - 27 Watts/12.3 volts
7 Hours - 29 Watts/12.3 volts
8 Hours - 29 Watts/12.3 volts (jumped to 12.5 after leaving the battery without draw for a minutes)

[Evereddie]

After spending most of my life camping in a tent the solution to me is a stand alone propane heater made for a tent, camper, or closed room. No battery load and no running out of power for a fan. Just pure heat. Mr Heater is one of them. Why mess around with anything else.