Chinese diesel heaters for enclosed sled trailer

Heavybrewster

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Hi guys. I bought my gooseneck enclosed on the weekend and am installed a diesel heater. I have a Yamaha inverter to power the 120 and will wire a to the vehicle to charge while connected. Has anyone bought a 120 to 12v converter to charge while on shore power? Do i need to have some kind of switch to avoid having 12v from vehicle while running 120 from generator?
 

Modman

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Hi guys. I bought my gooseneck enclosed on the weekend and am installed a diesel heater. I have a Yamaha inverter to power the 120 and will wire a to the vehicle to charge while connected. Has anyone bought a 120 to 12v converter to charge while on shore power? Do i need to have some kind of switch to avoid having 12v from vehicle while running 120 from generator?
Do you have batteries on this trailer? This is the one that I have in my garage. My 12V power supply is on a switch so that the fan doesn't run all the time. If you don't have batteries, then I would install a switch to avoid backfeeding the power supply from your truck. You'll have to stick this description into Amazon. It won't let me link it (just comes up with a media error).

12V 20A Power Supply, NEWSTYLE Voltage Transformer AC 110V / 220V to DC 12V 20A 240W Converter Switch Power Supply​

 

struglin

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We have a charger hooked up so when you plug into 110 it charges the battery’s (we have 2 deep cycle 12v) The truck power also feeds these so they charge while we drive. I don’t worry about back feeding the truck as everything is 12v and the charger will kick out of all batteries are full
 

arff

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I have a 6 amp battery minder hooked when on 110.
use 2 12 volt rv batteries
 

RGM

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Do you have batteries on this trailer? This is the one that I have in my garage. My 12V power supply is on a switch so that the fan doesn't run all the time. If you don't have batteries, then I would install a switch to avoid backfeeding the power supply from your truck. You'll have to stick this description into Amazon. It won't let me link it (just comes up with a media error).

12V 20A Power Supply, NEWSTYLE Voltage Transformer AC 110V / 220V to DC 12V 20A 240W Converter Switch Power Supply​

Is actually 12 volts output or 13.5-14V
 

Tchetek

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Hi guys. I bought my gooseneck enclosed on the weekend and am installed a diesel heater. I have a Yamaha inverter to power the 120 and will wire a to the vehicle to charge while connected. Has anyone bought a 120 to 12v converter to charge while on shore power? Do i need to have some kind of switch to avoid having 12v from vehicle while running 120 from generator?
Not worried about the 12 volt. But you don’t want to back feed the 120 into your inverter when plugged into shore power if you have 120 volt ac wiring that is shared between multiple sources.
I use a relay vs a manual switch so I can’t fry my inverter if I turn it on or plug in the trailer while the inverter is active.
 

Couch

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There's a lot of road spray and grime that will get inside these units and "F" them up if you mounted them outside. The fan will not like the water and salt / beet juice, sand, etc and the aluminum case and electronics will not like that either. Not only that, but the colder your actual heater is, the less efficient it will be. The combustion process is an open system (inlet and exhaust open to atmosphere). The air "heating" is designed to heat air in a closed loop system. The warmer the air for the heating gets, the more efficient it becomes (you are only warming air from lets say 0 degrees inside the trailer to 20 degrees, and so for each degree it rises, you will heat it less. - I.E. at 10 degrees you only have to warm it up another 10 degrees). At -20, if you mount the heater externally, you will be constantly sucking in cold external air that never warms up, so your heater is going to be very inefficient. The housing and discharge tubes could also dissipate a lot of BTUs before it even gets into the trailer, depending on how far the run is. Highly discourage any outside mounting.
Putting it in a sealed box outside is not going to change it operations substantially ...it will still circulate air in same manner .... combustion air and exhaust are to the exterior per requirements. Putting it in the box allows it to be moved out of the way and dumps the heat out at the lowest point so it can rise rather than forcing it down ...
 

frock

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Do you have batteries on this trailer? This is the one that I have in my garage. My 12V power supply is on a switch so that the fan doesn't run all the time. If you don't have batteries, then I would install a switch to avoid backfeeding the power supply from your truck. You'll have to stick this description into Amazon. It won't let me link it (just comes up with a media error).

12V 20A Power Supply, NEWSTYLE Voltage Transformer AC 110V / 220V to DC 12V 20A 240W Converter Switch Power Supply​

Modman, first off thanks for the info. I'm looking at purchasing this for my trailer. I'm assuming you've installed this in your trailer. How do you keep these electronics clean cause this looks like it's wide open to the environment.
 

Modman

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Putting it in a sealed box outside is not going to change it operations substantially ...it will still circulate air in same manner .... combustion air and exhaust are to the exterior per requirements. Putting it in the box allows it to be moved out of the way and dumps the heat out at the lowest point so it can rise rather than forcing it down ...
Are we talking about a sealed box with a return airflow from the trailer or no return? If there is a return then you should be fine. My assumption from the original post was that they didn't have a return. If you are not using a return air flow from the trailer back to the heater, then yes, mounting it outside WILL make a huge difference in its efficiency. To get the heat down to the lowest point, you can just mount it right onto the floor if you want, but you lose a little bit of space.
 

Modman

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Is actually 12 volts output or 13.5-14V
Usually they have a little rheostat / potentiometer screw and are adjustable within a couple volts. I set the output of the power supply right at 12V on the terminals. There is about 0.4-0.5 volt difference between the voltage reading on the heater (11.7) and my voltmeters (12.1 and 12.0).
 

Modman

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Modman, first off thanks for the info. I'm looking at purchasing this for my trailer. I'm assuming you've installed this in your trailer. How do you keep these electronics clean cause this looks like it's wide open to the environment.
Hey Frock. I don't have one of these installed in my trailer but I do have 1 in my garage. I run my whole trailer right off the 12V batteries (2 deep cycles) but I've done some upgrades to it so that it is totally stand alone. I have 600 watts of solar panels on the roof and a 3000W inverter. When its plugged to the truck, the truck and solar charge the batteries, lights, inverter etc. When the truck is off, I have an automatic battery disconnect so that you don't have to unplug the trailer and the trailer never draws the truck down. If you kill your truck battery somehow, you can reverse it and charge the truck battery from the trailer (using trailer batteries or the solar panels in the day). I also installed a 120V plug to plug into house power at home and then mounted a 120V smart charger that tends the batteries and powers everything. Pretty much like a regular travel trailer is wired but with solar back up.

Yes, the fan is open so it will suck in some crap if you expose it to massive dust or water, but inside the trailer, higher up it would probably be OK so long as your humidity doesn't get too high constantly. As long as its only running when you are using it (not all the time) it should last a while. The fan will run constantly if you don't put it on a switch, which would eventually run trailer batteries down if its not not plugged in. Its survived about 3 years in my garage with dust etc, and I do a lot of welding and woodwork but I blow it and the heater out with the compressor probably a couple times a winter. If you had to mount it somewhere exposed, you could probably use a small piece of really coarse sled intake screen over the fan opening, or stick a tube and a 2" pre-filter to it (like a turbo sled).

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Heavybrewster

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I bought a used Gooseneck and have started the modifications. So far the list includes, a 80 gallon fuel tank unde the frame, diesel heater or maybe 2, fully insulated walls, ceiling anf floor, a 300 gallon fresh water tank, a integrated shower/cassette toilet, plus all the bells and whistles to live off grid in. I have a Yamaha inverter to provide power when needed. This is a project so i am planning on completing the build over the next year.
 

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MP Kid

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I bought a used Gooseneck and have started the modifications. So far the list includes, a 80 gallon fuel tank unde the frame, diesel heater or maybe 2, fully insulated walls, ceiling anf floor, a 300 gallon fresh water tank, a integrated shower/cassette toilet, plus all the bells and whistles to live off grid in. I have a Yamaha inverter to provide power when needed. This is a project so i am planning on completing the build over the next year.
You should start a thread exclusive to your build…
I would be very interested to follow!
 

Tchetek

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I bought a used Gooseneck and have started the modifications. So far the list includes, a 80 gallon fuel tank unde the frame, diesel heater or maybe 2, fully insulated walls, ceiling anf floor, a 300 gallon fresh water tank, a integrated shower/cassette toilet, plus all the bells and whistles to live off grid in. I have a Yamaha inverter to provide power when needed. This is a project so i am planning on completing the build over the next year.
Fawk ya. Defiantly do a build thread as you go. I took tones of pictures when I gutted my bumper pull for a build thinking I would start a thread but never did. Now I’m 5 years deep and still not done so I should be working on the trailer instead of dinking around on my phone.

lots of work and money but it will be sweet!
 

Heavybrewster

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Fawk ya. Defiantly do a build thread as you go. I took tones of pictures when I gutted my bumper pull for a build thinking I would start a thread but never did. Now I’m 5 years deep and still not done so I should be working on the trailer instead of dinking around on my phone.

lots of work and money but it will be sweet!
This would mean i have to do more work doing a build thread. I am just using youtube university to learn myself.
 

Firefly

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Just a quick install for a friend. The exterior diesel tank and battery will both be in ATP boxes. He was in a hurry for hunting season and I'm behind at the shop so I'll tidy everything up later. I really like the tank exterior and you can fill it up when you're getting fuel. It'll look good once it's all boxed up will a lid.
 

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