Portable Heater for 2500w Inverter?

Harbor freight generator, or just idle the truck

heater will kill batteries In no time

 

Inverter will shut off in less than fifteen minutes is my guess..only possible way it might work is running jumper cables to a reefer running on continuous.. personally I’d switch companies.. they only pull these stunts because Drivers ALLOW it rather than leave..

 

900w on 4 batteries will hit the low voltage shutoff after about 2.4 hours of operation (1.8 hours if only 3 batteries in the box).

You're gonna need more battery storage.

 

My microwave is 700w and I could only get maybe 10 minutes use of it with my last company's "opti-idle" truck before it started itself. Your heater will trip the low volt cut off on the inverter in less than that. And I think 900w won't come close to keeping a bunk area warm unless it's one of the 1/2 size mini sleepers some companies use for regional trucks. They make a 12v mattress pad heater for those cold southern nights...or a decent sleeping bag.

 

Why are you concerned about idling in a company truck to stay warm?
And why pay out your money to do it?

 

I used one of those heated mattress pads with thermostatic control for a winter. They work pretty good.
Coldest I used it was -15C (05F)
Rough inverter: math load in watts divided by 12 volts is approximate current draw on batteries (actually worse than that due to inefficiency of inverter).
So 900 w / 12 v = 75.75 amps
Group 31 truck battery is around 180 minutes reserve capacity which is how long it takes to drain down the battery with a 25 amp load.
So three batteries can supply the required load for no more than three hours, but you’re batteries would be completely dead.

 

We have been installing $150 Chinese diesel heaters in the trucks that don’t have a webesto or espar heaters.

many people trash these things as dangerous or so cheap they break down or a bunch of other crap, all of it is bs.

out of 50 plus installs, one failed.

They are just the same as espar or Webesto.

they draw 11 amps for start up and runs at 1.3 amps on low. Uses about a pint for a few hours of running and easily serviceable.

you can get the external model, run two hoses into the truck and you have a warm cab and sleeper.

 

Resistive heaters "elements glow red hot" consume massive amounts of energy. I would expect any heater that can run while you sleep and not drian your battieries is too small to provide the heat you expect while the heater than can provide the heat you want will kill your battieries. I would expect an electric blanket would provide better results. My only experience with a 12 volt heated blanket was somewhere between "is this thing working" and "wow, that is not much heat." Maybe a 120v blanket would be more effective. I would try that.

You should probably consider a super-duper (non-walmart) sleeping bag rated for cold weather and then decide if you need to heat the truck while you are inside your north pole rated sleeping bag.