Battery-Driven Tanis

I have a common problem of possessing a Tanis heater in my Warrior but
no electrical source by which to run it. Past newsgroup and online
knowledge (including an email from Tanis) say that at least a couple
of hours are needed to heat the engine in about 20 deg F temps.

An old post from 1999 suggested that a "deep cycle" battery be used in
conjuction with an inverter to be turned on a couple of hours prior to
flight.

Does anyone currently use this setup? If so, any suggestions on the
myriad of battery types and brands? Golf cart batteries are mentioned
quite a bit but they range in price so much that it demands some
research.

Although I live 3 minutes from my tiedown, sitting in my car two hours
before any winter flight kinda takes the wind out of that benefit.

Marco

"Marco Leon" wrote in message
ups.com...
I have a common problem of possessing a Tanis heater in my Warrior but
no electrical source by which to run it. Past newsgroup and online
knowledge (including an email from Tanis) say that at least a couple
of hours are needed to heat the engine in about 20 deg F temps.

An old post from 1999 suggested that a "deep cycle" battery be used in
conjuction with an inverter to be turned on a couple of hours prior to
flight.

Looks like the smallest Tanis heaters are around 250 watts. Even with a
good inverter you will probably consume around 300 watts, or 25 amps at 12
volts.

Most of the deep cycle batteries are rated based on a 20-hr discharge rate.
That means that a 225 amp-hr battery will only deliver that storage capacity
when it is discharged at the 20-hr rate, or in this case about 12.5 amps -
if you discharge it faster (25 amps) then you will not get rated capacity.
Of course, the battery will not do as well in very cold temperatures either.
In addition and IIRC, deep cycle batteries are designed to be discharged to
about 20% of capacity and no more.

Even so, it looks like getting a couple of hours out of a 225 amp-hr battery
shouldn't be a problem. You will just have to haul the thing around and
keep it charged all the time to be able to use it and to keep it healthy. I
wouldn't expect that you'd be able to run more than about 5 or 6 hours
continuous though, and again, that's on a healthy battery.

If your heater has a higher rating than 250 watts, you would have to take
that into account and decrease the numbers above accordingly.

BDS

Go to a store and buy a portable gasoline powered generator.
Get insulating blankets for the cowl, otherwise all the heat
will escape.
If you can setup some sort of remote starting for the
generator, you can get started warming it up or just start
the generator and go get a cup of coffee.


You don't want to be hauling hundreds of pounds of acid
filled batteries around.

Or run a powerline, they do that all the time at
construction sites.



"BDS" wrote in message
et...
|
| "Marco Leon" wrote in message
|
ups.com...
| I have a common problem of possessing a Tanis heater in
my Warrior but
| no electrical source by which to run it. Past newsgroup
and online
| knowledge (including an email from Tanis) say that at
least a couple
| of hours are needed to heat the engine in about 20 deg F
temps.
|
| An old post from 1999 suggested that a "deep cycle"
battery be used in
| conjuction with an inverter to be turned on a couple of
hours prior to
| flight.
|
| Looks like the smallest Tanis heaters are around 250
watts. Even with a
| good inverter you will probably consume around 300 watts,
or 25 amps at 12
| volts.
|
| Most of the deep cycle batteries are rated based on a
20-hr discharge rate.
| That means that a 225 amp-hr battery will only deliver
that storage capacity
| when it is discharged at the 20-hr rate, or in this case
about 12.5 amps -
| if you discharge it faster (25 amps) then you will not get
rated capacity.
| Of course, the battery will not do as well in very cold
temperatures either.
| In addition and IIRC, deep cycle batteries are designed to
be discharged to
| about 20% of capacity and no more.
|
| Even so, it looks like getting a couple of hours out of a
225 amp-hr battery
| shouldn't be a problem. You will just have to haul the
thing around and
| keep it charged all the time to be able to use it and to
keep it healthy. I
| wouldn't expect that you'd be able to run more than about
5 or 6 hours
| continuous though, and again, that's on a healthy battery.
|
| If your heater has a higher rating than 250 watts, you
would have to take
| that into account and decrease the numbers above
accordingly.
|
| BDS
|
|

On Jan 31, 6:01 pm, "Jim Macklin"
wrote:
Go to a store and buy a portable gasoline powered generator.
Get insulating blankets for the cowl, otherwise all the heat
will escape.
If you can setup some sort of remote starting for the
generator, you can get started warming it up or just start
the generator and go get a cup of coffee.

You don't want to be hauling hundreds of pounds of acid
filled batteries around.

That's a good point about the acid batteries. Charging would be a
constantpain as well.

I think you guys are convincing me to go the generator route...

I've been reading this tread with some interest, but I am fortunate in
that I have electricity to my hanger. What I'm curious about is the
cell phone or pager thing to turn on a heater remotely. Has anyone
done that, and how so? One thing that came to mind with pagers is that
alot of times they will beep something like once a minute as a
reminder if you don't push the button when it goes off, does that mean
that any application would be switching on and off likewise if you
used a pager?
-Ryan Wubben
Madison

On Feb 1, 11:54 am, wrote:
I've been reading this tread with some interest, but I am fortunate in
that I have electricity to my hanger. What I'm curious about is the
cell phone or pager thing to turn on a heater remotely. Has anyone
done that, and how so? One thing that came to mind with pagers is that
alot of times they will beep something like once a minute as a
reminder if you don't push the button when it goes off, does that mean
that any application would be switching on and off likewise if you
used a pager?
-Ryan Wubben
Madison

You can start he http://www.reiffpreheat.com/Beeper%20Box%20pg%201.htm.
There are others on the market I believe. There's also a $15
ThermoCube that turns on the outlet under a certain temperature.
Sporty's has it.

Marco

wrote:
I've been reading this tread with some interest, but I am fortunate in
that I have electricity to my hanger. What I'm curious about is the
cell phone or pager thing to turn on a heater remotely. Has anyone
done that, and how so? One thing that came to mind with pagers is that
alot of times they will beep something like once a minute as a
reminder if you don't push the button when it goes off, does that mean
that any application would be switching on and off likewise if you
used a pager?
-Ryan Wubben
Madison

Tanis sells a pager device.


I just have mine on a 7-day timer and a thermostat that kicks it on
FRI/SAT/SUN early in the morning when it is cold.

Although I live 3 minutes from my tiedown, sitting in my car two hours
before any winter flight kinda takes the wind out of that benefit.

Sounds like a perfect application for one of those annoying little
Honda generators that we always seem to get stuck next to when
camping...?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

On Jan 31, 6:41 pm, "Jay Honeck" wrote:
Sounds like a perfect application for one of those annoying little
Honda generators that we always seem to get stuck next to when
camping...?

Annoying and expensive! The Honda's go for around $600 and the
Coleman's about $450. There's a DuroPower line that runs just north of
$100 but that price makes me take a step back.

Marco

Annoying and expensive! The Honda's go for around $600 and the
Coleman's about $450.

True, but you'd have something that would be truly useful in other
applications all year long. (Like a power outage?) Not sure what
else you could do with a solar-powered Tanis heater contraption...

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"