I recently purchased and EB70. One of the things that I hoped to use it for was to provide the 12V power to a Webasto diesel heater. In steady state operation this heater draws between 0.5 and 4.0 amps depending on how high you crank it. The problem is that during startup there is an added load due to the glow plug and it can temporarily draw up to 12.5 amps. Is there a way that I can use both 12V/10A 5.5mm outlets to cover this load, maybe wiring two plugs in parallel?
No, parallel plugs won’t help as the power limit is total across all DC plugs. However, the unit may be able to exceed 10A for very short amount of time, so you can just try it and see what happens.
If the high current is only during startup to heat the glow plug, you can consider using a 120V AC to 12V Dc adapter and connect it to the AC outout instead. Yes it would be less efficient due to the DC to AC to DC step, and you will likely loose 10-15% energy, but the AC output is capable of much higher power. Maybe once the glow plug is heated up, you can swap it back to DC.
But before all that, just try it out. If it goes over, it will just shut down, it won’t get damaged.
Thanks Mathew,
Yes it does trip the over-current protection and shut down the DC side. I’ve already ordered a 120V AC to 12V DC 20 amp converter. Hopefully I’ll still have enough power to get through the night.
Jeff
I expect you to lose about 10% efficiency with the AC-DC step. Even at 4A, 4 x 12V = 48W, with 20% efficiency loss, plus 20w overhead you’ll burn 78W at the battery. That should last you ~25 hours with a 2000wh battery
Have you consudered getting a glow plug that pulls less power?
I don’t know how easy it is to find diesel igniting glow plugs of varying amperage for these little forced air diesel heaters. I’ve rebuilt these heaters in the past, including replacing igniters, and I don’t recall there being options other than the original part no. or equivalent.