110V ceramic heater elements

[TomEV]

My Citicar has a 48 volt pack. I bought a cheap ($10) resistive heater with a coil element. I cut the element in half and paralleled the two halves. I replaced the 120VAC fan with a 48VDC computer rack fan.

At 48 volt it will put out enough heat to run as a defroster, but not quite enough air volume to act as a heater. But it does heat some. Using the original heater at 96 volts would probably work somewhat better.

I leave the installed heater switch on at full heat, as the increased amperage (about twice the original 120v amount) will likely weld the switch on if it is changed while powered. I use a solenoid to switch the 48 volts on and off.

Here is a picture of the heater coil with the element cut in half and paralleled, with crimp connectors.

[mora]

Originally Posted by TomEV

Here is a picture of the heater coil with the element cut in half and paralleled, with crimp connectors.

Now I see. That might not work with element-like heaters though. See attached photo for what I mean. Your heater element doesn't look the same.

Originally Posted by dday

If your willing to foot the bill for the heaters and shipping.

Of course. I'll send you a private message.

[TomEV]

Hopefully you'll be able to get 120v ceramic elements - They should work OK at 96v without modification. They'll be a bit cooler, but you could parallel two or three elements to raise the temperature, and turn on/off elements as needed.

[rmay635703]

International Price Calculator

As you can see, even though I can buy 1500watt ceramic heaters in the 5-$10 area shipping in the last 5 or 6 years has gotten so high you probably won't accept the cost of shipping.

If you can find someone here willing to send you one of the cheapies from biglots or a junk store/pawn shop you still will probably have to pay $40-$60 shipping

Cheers
Ryan

[mora]

No worries. Only large envelope is needed for shipping of bare elements (I believe). 30 oz of large envelope costs less than 30$ to mail here.

[bennelson]

The other thing to remember for heating is that you need a really good switch to turn the heater on and off.

We are dealing with DC power and a fair amount of amperage. Seems like most guys are using solid-state relays for heater controls.

Also, you could use a locally purchased heater (that runs at native voltage) for preheating your car while it is charging. It can be set on a timer. That warms the whole interior of your car, and makes it much more comfortable.

All the new commercially built electric cars coming out are going to have electric pre-heat and pre-cool.

[Ryland]

You can also go to a place that sells ceramic and pottery supplies, they will sell you bulk heating element, most likely a better quality then is in little heaters as well.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by mora

No worries. Only large envelope is needed for shipping of bare elements (I believe). 30 oz of large envelope costs less than 30$ to mail here.

Our post office has cracked down on putting stuff other than paper in envelopes, when you do they charge you parcel post instead of 1st class envelope.

[mora]

Maybe envelope is not a correct word. I was thinking of bubble-wrapped envelope or something similar. I hope you can put something else inside of bubble-wrapped envelope than plain paper. Makes mailing small things safer and cheaper.

Here they use word maxi-letter. They have a piece of plastic with rectangular hole imitating a small mailbox. If envelope fits through the hole then it is all right. Weight determines the price.

Two elements shipped in one package was a bit over 14$. Not bad for an international shipment. Takes more than two days to arrive though, hehe.

Originally Posted by bennelson

Also, you could use a locally purchased heater (that runs at native voltage) for preheating your car while it is charging. It can be set on a timer. That warms the whole interior of your car, and makes it much more comfortable.

Yes, that's a must here. ICE-cars have separate electric engine heaters and same cord goes inside the car too. So when car is plugged into AC outlet the engine heater operates and separate electric heater warms interior. Most residental parking lots have a separate AC outlet box with adjustable timer for each parking spot. Plug the cord between your car and box, set timer and before you drive again unplug the cord. Car starts well even if it was -25C and it is all warm inside. So very useful (a must, hehe) here.

I wonder what these temperatures do to DC motor in a long run. Not everybody has a garage and cars need to stay under bare sky. Last winter there was a 2 week long cold season with less than -25C every day. Maybe I should put a heater with fan blowing hot air to motor under the hood, heheh.

[Ryland]

Originally Posted by mora

I wonder what these temperatures do to DC motor in a long run. Not everybody has a garage and cars need to stay under bare sky. Last winter there was a 2 week long cold season with less than -25C every day. Maybe I should put a heater with fan blowing hot air to motor under the hood, heheh.

The grease in the two bearings in the motor is big thing to be affected by cold other then that the resistance of the motor will drop a little as it gets colder but you will most likely never notice a change the change you will notice will be in the batteries with the cold and that is why you put battery heaters in.