Thoughts? 12V Car Heater 600W Car Glass Defroster Window Heater for Winter Auto Air Outlet 2 Warm Dryer in Car Goods Interior Accessories https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/F1tGafW 1979 Super Viking, 2lt type 4, Automatic
Your alternator is 55A at 12 volts . About 600 watts total. So with the engine screaming its nuts off the heater will work.. At the same time, a pair of working stock heat exchangers will be chucking out at least 600 watts worth of hot air. A Great Fat Waste Of Your Money. On hookup? Use a mains heater so all the heat ends up where you need it not in the massive battery charger you would need to run it. And 60 Amp cable is not cheap...
As others have correctly stated, the electrical system in your bus isn't capable of supplying enough power for an electric only heater to be worthwhile. As a rule, if you want light, use electricity- if you want heat, burn stuff. If you're on a budget (aren't we all) and mainly use camp-sites, just bring along an oil radiator and plug it in. If you free camp, I would only recommend a propex, eberspacher, or webasto. I won't trust the knockoff chinese jobs until major OEMs start using them...
50 Amps!!! It takes just 30mA across the chest to kill. The volts jolt, but the mills kill. I know it depends upon impedances and all that but a 12 volt system is equally capable of biting. Any low voltage system capable of delivering hundreds of amps to a starter motor deserves respect. 12v won't give you a shock in the way mains will but it can do a fine job of making a fire or some excellent sparks, which is where we get back to a 50 Amp heater; its almost a dead short ay 2/10 of an ohm.
I haven't and I wouldn't like too either, quite right you are, even if I am a higher impedance as long as I'm not damp. A 600 watt heater would be close to dropping a spanner across this same terminals, don't fancy that either.
I won't offer to lick my finger first either In fact, I rather have 500v on a high impedance circuit that 50Amp on a low one, far more predictable.
I waggled an HT lead whilst the engine was running, not realising that the rubber on the back had melted against the manifold and disappeared.... explained why the spark wasn’t getting to the plug, and it’s not a shock I’ll forget in a while either!
Back in the day I used to get my younger brother to hold a ht lead whilst I tried to start a motorbike on the kick start. It’s funny as it took him a couple of goes before he wouldn’t hold it again.