Plugging in your truck in the winter

[colinmitchell111]

Originally Posted by jamstoyz

our heaters are 1000 watts. theres no way your inverter thingy will work. they draw too much power. you cant even run a extension cord in your work place?

no i wish i could, i asked the plant managerand he said no because it would be a trip hazard for people walking into the plant.

[JakeLewis79]

sounds to me like the only viable option is to bite the bullet and fix the GP problem. It sucks now to spend the cash, but you will be happy when its -10 and you're not walking home. Sell something, don't eat out, or as a last resort, put it on a credit card; but you don't want to be shivering in your truck and muttering words that you can't type on here because it won't start.

[colinmitchell111]

yeah im going to replace them but the idea of having my block heater running in the morning and comming out from work to a warm truck sounds kind of nice.. i was thinking my dad has a 1200 watt power inverter just laying arround.. has anyone tried one of these? im sure someone else has thought of a way to plug thier truck in where there is no access to an extention cord..

[Goose]

if its the relay get a stancor its only like 50 bucks shipped

[NCHornet]

Please!!!!! If a mod reads this, make the link below a sticky, I have posted it several times this week and will continue to do so as the weather get's colder. Why should we have a AIS install as a sticky and not something useful like checking the GP system?

Back to the OP, you need to properly diagnose the problem, could very well be just the GPR and as already stated the Stancor relay can be had for around $40. PM me with any ?


Troubleshooting GPR & GP's

NCH

[Highbeam]

The block heater sucks 1000 watts and will kill your batteries way before the engine is warmed. Then you won't be able to crank the engine. Also realize that even if you plug your truck in, it isn't warmed up with a working heater for quite some time after startup. The block heater just slightly warms the engine.

If you really needed to run the block heater in a remote site then you would simply run a portable gasoline powered genset in the bed of the truck and run the block heater from that. Either buy/borrow a genset for the short term or fix the GPs.

[bigo1966]

Ill tell you what I did when I didnt have the time to change them my self. I bought a generator off CL for 125 bucks. Top her off with gas and start it 2hr before you leave, leave it in the bed of the truck. It worked great for skiing, hunting and camping. Its not the best solution but it will get you home. Or just start it every 2-3 hours. If I have my truck pluged in, everything is warm under the hood, heck snow doesnt even stick to to the hood if its plugged in.