Eberspacher problem, guess who I'm looking for?

[isaune]

just noticed this - not sure if it helps anyone

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EBERSPACHER-D ... 611wt_1133" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Oldiebut goodie]

I have plenty of diesel Webastos for sale - not a lot of good if you want to stay with petrol.

[mucho-mogo]

I think my motor and bearing are shot, any replacement motors available? If not do you have anything gas? I've been looking at the propex hs2000, would this fit in the old eber case? TIA.

[killerme]

The undervoltage issue with Eber heaters. As all the articles say you can't start the heater off the leisure battery unless you have a good 12v and anything less - it won't work. Does this mean it won't start or it won't keep going? For example, if you can get it started (ie by starting the engine), will it run on a 12v battery that is a little bit less than totally full. It seems to me that if this isn't the case then you won't be able to run the heater for any length of time, cos the battery will just run down. Is this right?
PS you might have guessed - not great at electrics

[Oldiebut goodie]

You will just ruin your battery if you keep it running as the heaters will keep operating at a lower voltage than is good for the battery. For example the Webasto Airtop 2000 will keep running until the voltage is 10v which is far too low, ideally you should run a low voltage disconnect device (as some of us do) to prevent harm to the battery.

[killerme]

Thanks Oldie - I don't know what I'd do without your patient contributions

Is this the sort of thing?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12-volt-batte ... 4ad5e8eac1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This info is quite a shock! I imagined you could run your heater until the diesel ran out. So how long can you run your D2L before it might switch off?

[Oldiebut goodie]

That one looks OK. Haven't seen that one before. I've got a couple of these boys coupled up to 120A and 150 Amp relays:

The amount of time that you will get from your battery will vary with age and condition of battery, battery size, other drains on the battery. Most people on here seem to have a quite small leisure battery of around 70Ah (I have 110Ah in my VW and 220Ah in my Merc) so working on the principle that you shouldn't drain your battery more than 50% you have 35Ah to play with (I have 55AH and 110Ah) which gives you a D2 which has roughly a 1Amp drain 35 hours running using solely the heater. So you can see that any economies on battery drain like leds instead of other lighting all help on an extended camp. Hence we wild campers supplement our power with solar panels to lessen the amount of engine running to replenish the battery reserves.

[killerme]

Wild camping, including winter wild camping, is definitely my direction (which is why I was so forlorn at the prospect of limited time) however 35 hours between startups sounds more than reasonable. I have a friend who is very good at electrics and I'll take him up your comments and show him your pics and see if he can advise and help me. I've been doing the gas up to now and when I get back home I'll be needing to research and dig into the electrics side now. That's why refurbishing the van is such good fun - you have to learn so much to make simple steps forward. Thanks for the support OBG and I'm sure you'll be hearing more from me! I hope all that gear isn't too pricey?