Wayne.B wrote in
:

Not sure how big an issue the 12 volt power is in actual practice. If
you are gearing up for serious cruising in the boondocks you will want
to beef up your electrical system in a fairly major way. 440 A-H is
about a bare minimum in my experience, especially if you have a lot of
toys. That should be enough to power a small heater through the night
with no problem.



Hmm...1500 watt heater, only 5000 Btu. 1500 watts divided by 12V = 125A
if the conversion to 115VAC was 100% efficient, which it's not. 440 AH
is the rating at a 10 or 20A load, not 125A, which would, probably, boil
the electrolyte into steam in short order, the lead melting from the
intense chemical reaction (ever see a car battery explode?).

My old tagline used to read:

"Nothing is funnier than watching a boater with a new 4KW inverter
carrying his heater down the dock with a big smile on his face.".....(c;

All in good fun. We'll standby with extinguishers and the Handy Billy in
case things don't go as planned....

Want me to store the insurance claims phone number, just in case??

On Tue, 10 Jan 2006 22:27:41 -0500, Larry wrote:

Hmm...1500 watt heater, only 5000 Btu. 1500 watts divided by 12V = 125A
if the conversion to 115VAC was 100% efficient, which it's not. 440 AH
is the rating at a 10 or 20A load, not 125A, which would, probably, boil
the electrolyte into steam in short order, the lead melting from the
intense chemical reaction (ever see a car battery explode?).

==========

Larry, you have ridden that horse into the ground and beyond.

He is talking about a DIESEL heater. The 12 volt power is most likely
for a small fuel pump and/or fan.

No lead will be melted here.

In article ,
says...

(ever see a car battery explode?).

No. But I had three boat batteries explode one after the other. Awful mess.

if the conversion to 115VAC was 100% efficient, which it's not. 440 AH

The conversion from electrical power to heat
is the only one that in fact is 100% effective.

(Yes, I know, the original question was
diesel pump, not electric hater.)

Chris