Hi Guys,
I guess I had a good one but the heater in my 2011 Leaf has finally failed.
The error codes indicate that the control boards in the Eberspacher water heater have failed and probably taken out the 30A fuse.
I have been half expecting this so am not majorly disappointed and pleased it happened in the summer. There is no point in replacing it as only 2nd hand ones are available now. I could put a diesel heater in somewhere but there is insufficient space under the bonnet (hood), the boot (trunk) is already cramped with the 11kW range extender, and anyway I don't want diesel/kerosene in the car... So I have a plan.
As I live in a warm wet part of the UK 1000 to 1500 Watts will be adequate most of the time. What I intend to do is remove the (water) heater matrix and insert a holder for a bank of 12v PTC heaters powered from the 12v battery. I believe that the DC/DC inverter will cope with this no bother and all the heater functions will operate normally. It should also be possible to use this with timer heating. Selecting the number of units to use would give crude temperature contol and be no more onerous than the manual control in any older car. By switching the PTC heaters individually they will all get roughly equal use and if one fails the rest will continue to operate until the dud can be replaced.
To my mind this is probably the simplest and cheapest way to restore some heater function. At current prices online it should be possible to achieve this for under $200. The limits may be the output and physical size of the PTC's I can obtain. I understand that the working life of some cheap PTCs can also be limited. Obviously I would install suitable safeguards e.g. a fuse and relay at the battery connection so there will only be poweer to the PTCs only when either the ignition or timer heater are on. Also possibly for the individual PTCs depending on the wattage of each unit.
What do you guys think? Has anyone else done this? Any suggestions or advice would be welcomed.
Thanks Guys,
Em
I guess I had a good one but the heater in my 2011 Leaf has finally failed.
The error codes indicate that the control boards in the Eberspacher water heater have failed and probably taken out the 30A fuse.
I have been half expecting this so am not majorly disappointed and pleased it happened in the summer. There is no point in replacing it as only 2nd hand ones are available now. I could put a diesel heater in somewhere but there is insufficient space under the bonnet (hood), the boot (trunk) is already cramped with the 11kW range extender, and anyway I don't want diesel/kerosene in the car... So I have a plan.
As I live in a warm wet part of the UK 1000 to 1500 Watts will be adequate most of the time. What I intend to do is remove the (water) heater matrix and insert a holder for a bank of 12v PTC heaters powered from the 12v battery. I believe that the DC/DC inverter will cope with this no bother and all the heater functions will operate normally. It should also be possible to use this with timer heating. Selecting the number of units to use would give crude temperature contol and be no more onerous than the manual control in any older car. By switching the PTC heaters individually they will all get roughly equal use and if one fails the rest will continue to operate until the dud can be replaced.
To my mind this is probably the simplest and cheapest way to restore some heater function. At current prices online it should be possible to achieve this for under $200. The limits may be the output and physical size of the PTC's I can obtain. I understand that the working life of some cheap PTCs can also be limited. Obviously I would install suitable safeguards e.g. a fuse and relay at the battery connection so there will only be poweer to the PTCs only when either the ignition or timer heater are on. Also possibly for the individual PTCs depending on the wattage of each unit.
What do you guys think? Has anyone else done this? Any suggestions or advice would be welcomed.
Thanks Guys,
Em