Bulbs & Fittings Ideas

This is an excellent heater, if you know how to use it. Anyone who bothers to read the instructions will realize it uses a lot of amps (around 20+ on full). Simply plugging it into your standard cigarette lighter in your 4 banger isn’t going to produce any heat, except in your wiring. The wiring to your outlet needs to be AT LEAST as thick as the wire the heater cable is made from – the farther from the battery the outlet is the thicker the wire needs to be. This heater works best wired directly to the battery. I have it installed in a small travel trailer, connected directly to the battery and it produces more heat than expected from a 12v heater, just remember when using this in a car the vehicle needs to be running when using the heater else the battery will soon be flat.

Both the 1 star and the high star reviewers have valid points. It says right in the paperwork for this heater that it draws more than 8 Amps and performance is no good if plugged in to just the cigarette lighter outlet. Requires a heavier duty accessory 12V plug ( as in able to carry more electric power … sorry i am not an electrician, just a home mechanic hacker). In my case, the heater/defroster went out in my old 2000 Hyundai Elantra, and the car only comes with the cigarette lighter outlet, and sure enuf the Schumacher heater produces virtually no heat thru that outlet. I purchased a 12V accessory outlet from Walmart for 6 bucks, and luckily had enuf heavy electric wire to hardwire the new outlet in my Hyundai directly back from the car battery. The heater now works OK, enuf to give a little warmth to the little cabin of my Hyundai and to clear the fog from the windows in a few minutes, but keep in mind i live in inland northern California around elevation 800 feet, so we’re not talking about melting sheets of ice off a windshield, at least not yet this winter. I would have given the heater 4 or 5 stars, but i think it is somewhat deceptive, or at least incomplete disclosure/description, to not state upfront in the product description that this 12V heater does NOT perform adequately at all thru the cigarette lighter outlet !!

I sleep in the back of my F-250 long bed when I go hunt in Alaska. Yes, it’s usually raining, and cold. I have a blow up mattress which leaves 2′ at the foot of the bed, that’s where I put this heater/fan. It makes the back of the bed nice and toasty; during fishing season, it’s a fan…nice to have the air flow. I would highly recommnend this! I would NOT recommend their 12v coffee pot, unless you like to wait over an hour for your coffee to brew.