taken5875

this is my best idea ever I will be installing a 3000watt power inverter a deep cell battery and a battery isolator to keep the batterys from discharging one another this is so I will no longer have to haul a generator to work with me but as a added bonus I will be able to plug my truck in to the inverter and put a timer on it so when I cant plug in all day at a job site or just dont have the energy when I get home it will all ready be plugged in. 3000watt power inverter $300-$400 50ft 4GA.wire $50.00ish 140amp isolator $60 big honkin deep cell battery $70 100 amp circuit breaker misc. conectors $10 weather proof battery box $15

does any one know if deep cell is the way to go

Forrest Nearing

sounds like a perpetual motion machine to me...

do your grid heaters not work? if not, a $2 can of ether should give you about a month's worth of cold starts

taken5875

no my heaters are fine I am just taking advantage of the on board power source that I will have so I will no longer need to plug in to a building.

Forrest Nearing

but where's the power source going to come from? a battery? think that battery is going to provide the juice you need all day? if so, more power (no pu intended) to ya!

taken5875

well we have ran one battery all day using it to run a 12'' chop saw a air compressor a table saw and two battery chargers I have since up graded that set up to two batterys mounted in my trailor. the battery I am going to mount under ther truck will be seperare from the others and should have the power I need to kick the heaters on for say 2 or 3 hours before i start the truck don't you think

Forrest Nearing

sounds like it oughta work good then

I'm from TX, so I'm not really familiar with cold starts

bek

Great idea. Isolators are not the way to go. Ask the marine people about charging systems. Up here we don't fool around. Simple reliable 3 way marine switch mounted in your cab, charge either or both batteries at a time but its manual. Or a high tech monitoring system. Talk to the forum at Shamrock boats, best marine forum there is. They can set you up high tech if you want to go that way. Ask for Leprechan, he is their Infidel. Two of the best. Steve

mainer

ummm you live in maryland.... whats the big deal... these trucks will start without being plugged in at 0 with no problems at all. i dont plug my truck in unless its gonna be 20 or lower, just makes it run smoother when i first start.


your spending an awful lot of money for something that i think only people in alaska would need. maryland isnt that cold, i lived in pennsylvania for 10 years and winters are easy there compared to maine.

NHRedneck

there is NO reason for you to need to do that...... start your truck 1 or 2 min ahead of time if its a "cold" maryland day. you prob dont even need to use your block heater.... that $ for the automatic heaters would be better spent saving up for trans mods down the road

Eskimo

IMO, it's MUCH "nicer" on the engine parts to have some heat in them when you start the engine...whether or not it will actually crank.

That said, I dunno that I'd go through that whole process though..

tmacie

Yeah, I hardly ever plug mine in and I'm in vt. I'd just plug it in at night and not worry about it on the job site. Just cycle the grid heaters a couple times and fire it up. Let it warm for a few minutes and off you go.


Travis

mainer

what is it with you southerners knowing everything about cold starts.... you dont even get cold weather anymore.

4x4dually

Well, I'll tell ya, plugging in or not is the difference in the heater blowing hot air on my toes in 1 mile or 6 miles. It was 25F down here in the South (OK)yesterday morning and that is too friggen cold for me!

Have you done any calculations on how long the extra battery will last sourcing the inverter? Engineering minds want to know. I'm also a little confused. I read your initial post a couple times. It says "automatic grid heaters"....but you are actually running the block heater with the inverter, right? The grid heaters will still cycle even if you plug in until it warms and the computer is satisfied. And what is the 4 awg wire for? What on earth is going to pull 100 amps? The block heater won't! It needs probably 14 awg... not 4. I'm confused...it is just too early in the moring or does anyone see what I'm seeing?

I think I'd rather have a small heater pluged into the inverter in the cab to heat the interior so my buns don't freeze to the seat! Wire the power outlet in the cab to the isolated battery and get a 12V heater.

msing

taken5875 this set up looks like it will cost around $600. For about $1000 you can get a espar it will give you 140deg at the engine and a 70deg in the cab in 2hours at mins30deg and run up to 8-10 hours. You may not need a heater like a espar but it is the best money I have spent in mods I use it year round allso you can get a 7 day timer for it.

Captain

if your running 15-40 oil your not suposed to start your truck if the oil is below 10 degrees. At 0 degrees with the block heater pluged in your oil is only 14degrees. At below 0 I put a magnetic heater on the oil pan as well as having the block heater. will it start up ok with thick oil? sure it will. Will you spin or scuff your bearings? eventually. Its not such a bad idea if your in places where you need to keep your oil warmer and cant always plug in. You only need to run your block heater 1hour prier to starting according to the manuals. I think it draws 700watt? You probbaly want a duel purpose battery as you wont be draining it compleetly all the time and deep cycles as I understand only like to be charged when dead/near dead and regular batteries cant take that kind of a hit. think (but dont nessasirly get) optima yellow top. Thats a duel purpose battery. Lots of brands though so look around. A easyer way you might want to think about going is 5-40 oil. thats good to start down to -20degrees F. unfortuantly I can only find it in synthetic so far by rotella and its twice as much per gallon as regular rotella 15-40 I use.
Good luck!
Chris