I'm Freezing !!!! ---- HELP !!!

teacel · Oct 5, 2003

Now if you would please post how you rigged the auto start in the van???

Lawrence · Oct 5, 2003

DieselDoctor,

Thanks for your post, listen up newbies - here is a road worthy B unit driver who knows the ropes!

DD, I'm with Tony - I'd like to see how you rigged your machine!

Lawrence,
Expediters Online.com

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dieseldoctor · Oct 6, 2003

Really rigging the van for automatic start is easy if you have a good working knowledge of vehicle electrical systems. The heart of the system is a remote starter kit. But, and this is important, it has to have a wire that will start the engine anytime the wire is connected to ground. Mine is a DesignTech but i forget which model. It is over five yrs old and i don't know if they offer it any more. Try www.designtech-intl.com/content/home. With that wire all you have to do is hook it to a thermostat and ground the other side of the thermostat switch. That way when the thermostat reachs the set temp it will ground the wire and the engine starts. I used an old thermostat that came off my old heat pump. It has mercury switches so has to be level to work right. Now we all know that you can't always park on level ground so I mounted it onto the bottom of a short pendelum. That way it always hangs level. If you use an digital thermostat it won't matter. As for the battery charging part i use a battery guard made to keep electric cooler from running battery down. It turns the power off to cooler if battery gets down to 11.5 volts. I hooked a normally closed relay to the cooler side of the battery guard. When battery is up it holds the relay open but when voltage drops it kills power to the relay and the contacts close grounding the wire and starts the engine. I did the same thing on main engine starting battery also except the battery guard only works the relay. The tricky part is figuring out how to set the heater or air conditioning controls. If cold temp turns the thermostat on and you don't have the heater set high enough to raise the temp enough to make the thermostat break the circuit the starting system will not work again because if that wire stays grounded it disables the starting system. Hope I haven't totally confused anybody. Will try to answer any questions.

Larry · Oct 6, 2003

I too am interested in learning more about the thermastatically controlled remote start. Another question is where are the auxiallary batteries stored? Are you using standard automotive batteries or marine? Did you build an area for battery storage that is ventilated?

Thanks again.

dieseldoctor · Oct 19, 2003

I use deep cycle trolling batterys. I ordered the heavy duty trailer towing package and got one aux battery in a box mounted to the right frame rail. The other I installed in the foot well for the right side doors. With modern batteeries unless your alt goes wild and over charges you will not get any gassing from the batteries. The aux battery system on Fords has a relay that only joins the aux battery to the main battery and electrical system when the engine is running. This charges the aux battery but when engine is off you can run the aux battery completely dead and still have the main battery to start the engine. Hope that helps.

Chuck · Nov 9, 2003

I had the same problem and froze all winter in a Sprinter. I found out about Espar of Michigan (Ray Lawrence at 1-800-837-3900) they are located in Ronmulus, Mi. They are great people to deal with and they are honest. I had a 14000 BTU put in my sprinter van and it didn't interfer with carago space. It is thermostate controled.

OntarioVanMan · Nov 25, 2003

Well JuJu and I invested in one of them Coleman Catylatic heaters last week AND a Carbon monoxide monitor just for ease of mind, 1st time about 2 hrs and it read 0 next time about 5 hrs. and still zero...tested it out on the tail pipe and it worked right so Id say the Coleman works just toasty and we do leave the window down a crack as well.

Thanks for the tip Rich!

comfort king · Jul 14, 2004

Has anyone ever heard of the Espar system? Fuel operated, sealed heat exchanger, thermostatically controlled, low current draw, self diagnostics, 20 hours on one gallon of fuel, two year warranty... it's really hard to beat. Soon it will be time to think about heaters again. Call us, we can help. 800.837.3900