Why not a RoadPro heater?

[justoneman]

For use in a space where humans are breathing the same air, I would buy a sealed AGM battery, no question - I wouldn't even look at anything else

For charging, you could plug the EVSE into the car, put the brick in the back along with the little 6 amp battery charger and plug both into an extension cord. Plug in the extension at work and close the rear hatch on both cables

Don

I managed to find my RoadPro used but unused for $20 on Craigslist. In keeping with my "cheapskate" nature I will look for a used AGM battery as well. After all its Spring and I will not need an auxiliary heater till Autumn, so I can keep my eyes peeled. I like the idea of not having to worry about spills or gasification issues.

[justoneman]

For use in a space where humans are breathing the same air, I would buy a sealed AGM battery, no question - I wouldn't even look at anything else

For charging, you could plug the EVSE into the car, put the brick in the back along with the little 6 amp battery charger and plug both into an extension cord. Plug in the extension at work and close the rear hatch on both cables

Don

I picked up an AGM deep cycle battery this evening. I also bought a battery box. I think I will look for some sort of black plastic tray that I could mount along side the battery box, to fill the rear storage area. I pick up a fair bit of debris when placing the charging cable in the vehicle. It would be nice to have a plastic container for the power cable to be dumped in. Tomorrow I will pick up some wire management coil to clean up the wire leads to the heater from the box.

[Aerowhatt]

Would be a great idea to secure the battery box to the cargo area using the Child seat anchor under the cargo carpet. Just in case!

Aerowhatt

[justoneman]

Would be a great idea to secure the battery box to the cargo area using the Child seat anchor under the cargo carpet. Just in case!

Aerowhatt

Yes I am working on that. I have a cluster of items in the back now that has the box wedged in. Here is the unit on the floor of my house:

[justoneman]

Here is the battery box and a plastic tray I bought that wedges the battery box in and the tray holds my dirty charging cable. You can see the freezing rain snow mixture coming down in the photo. 39 degrees today. A perfect day to test the heater which I did. I enjoyed having the heater on the driver floor pointing forward. Heated up my feet which was nice.
It is putting out a pretty nice amount of heat. Its not a lot but does heat up the driver foot area or if you put it on the passenger seat it heats the body and if you place it on the dash it de-fogs the windshield. It does heat up the cabin a bit in general but it is not a zero degree day so...

[justoneman]

RoadPro placed on the driver floor:

[justoneman]

I am not sure how or if I will make some sort of mount system. I like that it is a box and can place it places. It however does not work on the dash that way as of course it is not secured. Still thinking about it.

[Don]

I for sure wouldn't place anything on the driver side floor - That's an invitation to all sorts of problems

If you can find the inlet for recirculated air for the HVAC system, mount it near there and duct the hear in there you could use the OEM blower to move the warm air to where you need it - Defrost, dash vents or floor

Don

[justoneman]

I for sure wouldn't place anything on the driver side floor - That's an invitation to all sorts of problems

If you can find the inlet for recirculated air for the HVAC system, mount it near there and duct the hear in there you could use the OEM blower to move the warm air to where you need it - Defrost, dash vents or floor

Don

The inlet? That sounds like a major bit of work. What I have now is simple. I am not drilling out or altering anything of the car as it is now. I am sure where the inlet is, is inaccessible or outside of the cabin behind a filter or some such.

[Don]

The HVAC system has two air inlets - One gets you outside air and there's another inlet which recirculates inside air within the cabin. If you could position your heater near that inside air inlet and then run the HVAC on fan only, it would suck the heat into the HVAC system (with the car's heater off) and you could then blow that warm air where ever you need it - Up against the windshield by selecting the defrost setting on your dash controls most likely. It may be as simple as mounting the heater to a board so it stays put where you need it

Don