It appears that propex heaters continually draw a small amount of electrical current when not in use - it’s tiny but enough to drain my leisure battery over time if I don’t disconnect it or if the van is laid up for a month or so. So my question is this.... Any good reason not to put an On / Off switch in line from the battery? I’m sure it’s not a problem, can’t see why it would be, but before I get the wire snips out and cut the cable I thought I’d just ask! Ta.
Normally wired up to the leisure battery. Best taking the leads of the battery while sat around. I’ve got an new exhaust found the other day for sale if your interested. Regards Geord
I couldn’t get my propex to function as and when it should, it was fine for one night and then the LB never had enough power to power it the second night. Probably down to poor battery and lack of charging during the day, but the cheapo Chinese diesel night heater in the T4 is brilliantly frugal re power usage
The propex works fine, no issues there, and I’ve got 100w solar to hopefully keep the battery topped up; but just wondered if there was any good reason not to put an on off switch in line to it? I’m assuming not. So I will
Sorry. I went off on one a bit there. My propex was a constant PITA! Yes, I’m sure the cut off switch will be fine!
The heater needs a "permanent" live so that when you turn it off, the fan will run for a while to purge the heat out of the unit. If you wait a while after turning the heater off, it should be fine to fit a master "off" switch.
Brilliant thanks, that’s what I thought, I just needed a bit of TLB back up before I cut the power cable!! It’s only for when it’s parked up and the propex isn’t in use, primarily over autumn and winter when the solar panel isn’t keeping up with the tiny amount it draws. Ta.
One idea is to put a resettable circuit breaker in line with leisure battery plus and connect everything except the solar cell output through it. Pop the breaker and all leisure battery loads are disconnected. Easier than pulling out a bag of fuses.. I use one intended for a car stereo application. Its rated at 100 amps.
What ya got Andy? If it's type 1 I could be interested although mine's only been on a couple of years (stock repro so probably rusting away to nothing as we speak!) I lust after stainless, but none of these performance jobbies.....
This might explain why I have to charge the LB if I leave it fully connected with what I thought was everything off, does it still draw a little current even when the fan has stopped?
Yep, it appears so. At techenders last weekend, @mikedjames was kind enough to stick his current-detecting-probe-thingy into the fuse holder of my propex, and it was reading a few milli-amps even with everything turned off. It was an overcast start to the day, and my 100w solar panel was probably outputting just enough to compensate. I took the plunge, cut the cable from the leisure battery to the propex unit, and put in a switch. At least with a switch now in the main area, I can turn it off during the day so that hopefully any sun available will be charging the battery not just stopping the propex from draining it.
A bit late to this thread but yes there is no problem putting a switch on the power to the propex. I have three switches in the van, one for the telly as the little red “off” light makes my blood boil. I mean, what moron decided that everything nowadays has to have a bloody light “On” to tell you that the thing is “Off”....... *and breath..... The second switch controls power to the fridge and the third isolates everything else including the propex. When I power up the van the propex gives a little ‘sigh’ as it gets power but works perfectly. The only thing in the van which gets power constantly is the tracker.
Yes, after I fitted the switch today and tested it, I heard my propex sigh briefly.... I found it strangely reassuring
