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Poor Man's 12V Heater united solar pv panel

Question:

With winter closing in fast,united solar pv panel  I was contemplating purchasing a 12V 200Watt heater for use in my car to act a a rear-window defroster. This would set me back around $27.00. I happened to be browsing through my local Wal-Mart and happened to see in the RV section (12V) 50Watt light bulbs for around $1.25ea. So for $5.00, I could parallel wire these and have a 200 Watt source.  This setup would also allow me to add additional heat in 50W increments in the future if I needed it. I already have a mini car fan so this could be used to blow air past the 4 bulbs which I would mount in a small metal enclosure.  My question is: How many actual watts of heat (i.e. efficiency) does a 12V 50W bulb produce or is there a better/cheaper 12V heat source available? Thank you Before you buy. united solar pv panel

Response:

Sounds great, place the bulbs in a tube at equal lengths.united solar pv panel  Cap far end of the tube. Drill holes across length of tube. Paint to taste. Be careful not to mely upholstry.  Only thing cheaper would be to run a dryer flex tube from the car defroster if practical.  If you happen to have an old 1500W 120V space heater that the fan conked out on the element will put out 150W at 12V DC or center tap the element for 2 300W elements, no additional cost.  If you leave your device plugged in you will use a little more fuel for the needed horsepower to generate the amps. about 15.  Fumes from melting/burning auto upholstry is toxic and will kill. Be careful.united solar pv panel  With winter closing in fast, I was contemplating purchasing a 12V 200Watt heater for use in my car to act a a rear-window defroster. This would set me back around $27.00. I happened to be browsing through my local Wal-Mart and happened to see in the RV section (12V) 50Watt light bulbs for around $1.25ea. So for $5.00, I could parallel wire these and have a 200 Watt source.  This setup would also allow me to add additional heat in 50W increments in the future if I needed it. I already have a mini car fan so this could be used to blow air past the 4 bulbs which I would mount in a small metal enclosure.  My question is: How many actual watts of heat (i.e. efficiency) does a 12V 50W bulb produce or is there a better/cheaper 12V heat source available? Thank you Before you buy. united solar pv panel

Response:

—snip— metal enclosure.  My question is: How many actual watts of heat (i.e. efficiency) does a 12V 50W bulb produce or is there a better/cheaper 12V heat source availableunited solar pv panel?

Just off the top of my pointy little head:     1% light     99% heat   united solar pv panel

Response:

Ummmmm, I really don’t think your lightbulb defroster idea will be really effective….  Just not enough heat, fast enough to do an adequate job on the windows…. I take it that your regular car heater doesn’t do an adequate job of defrosting your windows? – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – With winter closing in fast, I was contemplating purchasing a 12V 200Watt heater for use in my car to act a a rear-window defroster. This would set me back around $27.00. I happened to be browsing through my local Wal-Mart and happened to see in the RV section (12V) 50Watt light bulbs for around $1.25ea. So for $5.00, I could parallel wire these and have a 200 Watt source.united solar pv panel   This setup would also allow me to add additional heat in 50W increments in the future if I needed it. I already have a mini car fan so this could be used to blow air past the 4 bulbs which I would mount in a small metal enclosure.  My question is: How many actual watts of heat (i.e. efficiency) does a 12V 50W bulb produce or is there a better/cheaper 12V heat source available? Thank you Before you buy.

Response:

-united solar pv panel  Sounds great, place the bulbs in a tube at equal lengths. Cap far end of the tube. Drill holes across length of tube. Paint to taste. Be careful not to mely upholstry. Only thing cheaper would be to run a dryer flex tube from the car defroster if practical. If you happen to have an old 1500W 120V space heater that the fan conked out on the element will put out 150W at 12V DC or center tap the element for 2 300W elements, no additional cost. Your math is off a bit.  At 12VDC, you will get about 16 watts from your 1500 W hair dryer (1500W X 12^2/115^2). Center tapping the elements will double your heat produced to about 32 watts. If you leave your device plugged in you will use a little more fuel for the needed horsepower to generate the amps. about 15. Fumes from melting/burning auto upholstry is toxic and will kill. Be careful. Bob Peterson CM#1412 ANA#R-182415 WINS#1 World Internet Numismatic Society united solar pv panel

Actually, center tapping the element quadruples the power. But you’re still only 60 watts at 12VDC.united solar pv panel

Response:

Sounds great, place the bulbs in a tube at equal lengths. Cap far end of the tube.united solar pv panel  Drill holes across length of tube. Paint to taste. Be careful not to mely upholstry. Only thing cheaper would be to run a dryer flex tube from the car defroster if practical. If you happen to have an old 1500W 120V space heater that the fan conked out on the element will put out 150W at 12V DC or center tap the element for 2 300W elements, no additional cost.

Your math is off a bit.  At 12VDC, you will get about 16 watts from your 1500 W hair dryer (1500W X 12^2/115^2). Center tapping the elements will double your heat produced to about 32 watts. If you leave your device plugged in you will use a little more fuel for the needed horsepower to generate the amps. about 15. Fumes from melting/burning auto upholstry is toxic and will kill. Be careful.

Bob Peterson CM#1412 ANA#R-182415 WINS#1 World Internet Numismatic Society www.winsociety.org

Response:

Actually, center tapping the element quadruples the power. But you’re still only 60 watts at 12VDC. Mike

oops.  should have though a bit more on that one.  I realized after I hit send. of course each side of the center tapped element will be twice the power, 2 sides means the total is 4X. Bob Peterson CM#1412 ANA#R-182415 WINS#1 World Internet Numismatic Society united solar pv panel

Response:

Basically 100% efficient in converting electrical energy to radiant energy, but …… the wavelength is such that you may lose a bit.  The light will pass through your windows and out.  You need to absorb this shorter-wavelength energy with something (black?) so that it will be re-emitted as heat. united solar pv panel  With winter closing in fast, I was contemplating purchasing a 12V 200Watt heater for use in my car to act a a rear-window defroster. This would set me back around $27.00. I happened to be browsing through my local Wal-Mart and happened to see in the RV section (12V) 50Watt light bulbs for around $1.25ea. So for $5.00, I could parallel wire these and have a 200 Watt source.  This setup would also allow me to add additional heat in 50W increments in the future if I needed it. I already have a mini car fan so this could be used to blow air past the 4 bulbs which I would mount in a small metal enclosure.  My question is: How many actual watts of heat (i.e. efficiency) does a 12V 50W bulb produce or is there a better/cheaper 12V heat source available?

Response:

If you happen to have an old 1500W 120V space heater that the fan conked out on the element will put out 150W at 12V DC… …At 12VDC, you will get about 16 watts from your 1500 W hair dryer (1500W X 12^2/115^2).

Maybe lots more, since the nichrome wire glows at 120 V, increasing its resistance…united solar pv panel

Response:

Or you could just cover the rear window with an old blanket or tarp for the evening. Seriously, I think JC Whitney among others sells a stick-on defroster that looks like a factory one for about US$27 or so. Don’t know if they are any good though.united solar pv panel

Response:

Or you could just cover the rear window with an old blanket or tarp for the evening. Seriously, I think JC Whitney among others sells a stick-on defroster that looks like a factory one for about US$27 or so. Don’t know if they are any good though.united solar pv panel

I have used the aftermarket stick-ons. Some are excellent – some are worse than junk. (the real fine ones that LOOK like OEM are the best,united solar pv panel  but hardest to install) On my old Dodge Darts and Valiants many years ago I kept a “borg” (fake fur) covered cushion on the rear deck and the rear window did not frease up over night.

Response:

Cothran) writes: Or you could just cover the rear window with an old blanket or tarp for the evening. Seriously, I think JC Whitney among others sells a stick-on defroster that looks like a factory one for about US$27 or so.

Response:

is such that you may lose a bit.  The light will pass through your windows and out.  You need to absorb this shorter-wavelength energy with something (black?) so that it will be re-emitted as heat.

Or reduce the amount of light…  If you wire two bulbs in series you will significantly decrease the wavelengths, hence less light and more heat in comparison to the amount of light. sdb — More guns means less crime.  ISBN:0-226-49363-6  *** Watch out for munged e-mail address. User should be sylvandb and host is at bigfoot.com Do NOT send me unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE)!

Response:

…The light will pass through your windows and out.  You need to absorb this shorter-wavelength energy with something (black?) so that it will be re-emitted as heat.

You may not be losing much. As I recall, incandescents only emit about 6% of the power as visible light, and glass doesn’t pass any IR longer than 3 microns, the max power wavelength of a 1,280 F black body. One book suggests you can easily feel the heat difference between holding a sheet of glass and a sheet of plastic wrap (with good IR transmission and little “greenhouse effect”) between your face and a red stove burner. You may not need an IR absorber if you can’t feel much heat from the light bulb through the back windshield without touching it.united solar pv panel

Response:

: You may not be losing much. As I recall, incandescents only emit about : 6% of the power as visible light, and glass doesn’t pass any IR longer : than 3 microns, the max power wavelength of a 1,280 F black body. The bulb is glass to trap IR a la greenhouse, but its spectral peak is a higher corresponding temp. (white-hot obviously) : One book suggests you can easily feel the heat difference between holding : a sheet of glass and a sheet of plastic wrap (with good IR transmission : and little “greenhouse effect”) between your face and a red stove burner. And of course, you demo the solar heat panel, which uses the good ol’ greenhouse effect. Note as glass absorbes the IR, it warms up, hence windows that are single-pane being lousy for insulation. — FOOD FOR THOUGHT: 100 calories are used up in the course of a mile run.united solar pv panel  The USDA guidelines for dietary fibre is equal to one ounce of sawdust. The liver makes the vast majority of the cholesterol in your bloodstream.

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