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Plugging your truck in?

2K views 9 replies 4 participants last post by  madpogue 
#1 ·
If you're plugging your truck in at night and seeing your electric bill climb this winter......
Head to the hardware store, buy an intermatic mechanical timer, a few feet of 10 or 12 gauge romex and a male and female plug end. Wire the male side to the line/supply side of the timer and the female to load side.
Even in the coldest temps your truck should only need a couple hours of time to heat up enough to fire right up. Set the timer to come on a few hours before you regularly leave in the morning, plug it in at night but don't pay for all that electricity!
All told, the materials for this job is <$100 an takes about 20 minutes to set up. If you plug in every night, this will easily pay for itself in the first month.
Standard plugin timers for lights aren't rated for high enough wattage and will burn out or can catch fire so use a mechanical timer.
 
#2 · (Edited)
Of course you could always replace your glow plugs and gpr.... Beating the peanut gallery to the punch :)
 
#3 ·
You can also buy an outdoor heavy-duty plug-in timer for $15-20.
Unless the temp drops below -5F or so, I don't plug in my trucks anyway. Since I could have to leave at any time due to a potential emergency call, I have my timer set to be one hour on then and an hour off and repeat to half the cost of the truck plugged in all night.
 
#4 ·
I have never seen a $15-20 outdoor rated HD timer!
Not that I need one now, but that certainly sounds like a cheaper, easier option.
 
#5 ·
#6 ·
Lol. Well hot dang, that's a $ saver!
 
#8 ·
Those are only rated for like 500 watts aren't they?
Our heaters pull like 1000 and if you're like me and only push 80% of rating, you need one like above that's rated for 1250 watts.
 
#9 ·
A decent heavy duty timer rated for 15A works well. I modified my bumper to have a covered receptacle in it and both items have been working fantastic for over 12 years now. Cheers!
 
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