block heater

[greg lousy]

out of curiosity, and since I've had the thought before, what modifications would be necessary to charge an additional battery off the alternator?

To be honest, I don't have a great feel for the parts that haven't failed yet in my caddy, and the alternator is one.
I suppose the simplest way would be to split the main alternator wire and install a switch so that one battery at a time is connected... right?

[bscutt]

probably a high output alternator and battery isolators like an RV setup. You don't really want to switch the output of an alternator when it's running. I would think that would be bad for the diodes. Some sort of charging circuit that switches gracefully between batteries would be good.

[82vdub]

You can also parallel batteries so that both are charged at the same time. The downside to this is that both have a load on them if you try to rig up something to heat your block before the car is started. Some vehicles come (or came) with dual batteries in them. Old GM diesels did for a while. Simple paralleling of the batteries gives you twice the battery capacity (and twice the cost when they need replacement).

[bscutt]

So, success! I set it up to run today for 45 minutes and when I came out from work it started up with much less smoke and chugging than usual and it was about 30F out today. Battery is on the charger now, started at 10 amp charge so I figure it pulled a good bit out of the battery.

Tomorrow will be about 10 degrees colder so I'll see how it does.

[Fatmobile]

I'm glad to see you actually tried this.
Sooo many people have talked about it through the years.
It could make a summertime diesel reliable enough to start on a cold winter day without plugging it in to the grid.

[colby]

Ditto. Only problem I ever had starting my diesels was not enough battery juice to crank it over. Anytime I had my father come over and jump it, no matter how cold, it would fire right off immediately.

I'm working on getting an early 80's Diesel Rabbit, can't wait.

[bscutt]

Day two, worked fine again. Started right up in 28 degree weather, the glow plug relay even stayed on a shorter time. Had heat in about a half mile. Took 4 hours to fully recharge the battery last night. I am very pleased with the setup even though it's on the passenger side floorboard and I run an extension cord out the window around to the front plug on the block heater. It's kinda ghetto but very functional. Tomorrow will be colder and then the snow comes tomorrow night, 5-10 inches forecast. That makes Thursday a good day to work from home and give that battery a rest.

Glad I am not way up north where cold means the daily high is 10 degrees. Not sure how well this heater thing would work at those temps since I think with my 94 amp hour battery much more than 45 minutes would draw it down pretty low. I may try it at one hour tomorrow to see how it holds up. Walmart also has a 122 amp hour battery which may be a decent option if you need more time on the heater.

If I get inspired I'll draw up a schematic and post it although it's a very simple circuit.

[krackerjack]

im new to site and need a link to hose heater kats 14400 and zero start,,the hose heater seems the easiest to install this fall..i bought the 79 to play with it for a few years and give it to my grand son when he enters college..interesting little car..needs to be tweeked a little here and thereplease advise! TIA for your help!

[TylerDurden]

No link, but the Zerostart 1" dia. is P/N: 3200001

[bscutt]

just google for it. There are several sources possibly including Amazon. Mine still works fine although I have not had to use the battery operated block heater for a few days since it warmed up here. Cold coming tonight though.

[supersisu]

My plug block heater failed too, I can't figure it out: what can go wrong with a thick huge immersion heater? I've tried pulling the one out of my spare engine to swap and let me tell you: getting them in is a lot easier than pulling them out. It has a butterfly anchor that holds it in and I cannot budge the thing.

[82vdub]

I think that by the time you successfully remove the freeze plug style heater, it's nearly destroyed. I even destroyed one installing it (ok, maybe that was me ). A freeze plug heater is a pretty cheap item, IMO. They do fail from time to time. I've never had one fail, but everytime I pull a motor, I put a new one in just in case. Sometimes they can build up a layer of crud on the element, and the more crud on it the hotter that it gets to the point where it burns out.

[Prairieview]

Sometimes, block heaters can last a very long time (years). Sometimes, block heaters only last a year or so. No correlation to anti-freeze (within reason) and such. Seemingly, luck of draw.

However, the power cords can fail. Usually, you can order a replacement power cord for the zero starts. I have gotten the cord form O'Reilly's parts. And, yes, removal of one pretty much terminates it's ability to ever work again. The butterfly holder is malleable. And, the o-ring tends to bind with the original block placement.

I made the stupid choice to try this once. It ain't pretty when all that anti-freeze hits the hot exhaust pipe.