What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Let’s talk engine pre-heaters..

That would be nice to have an APP to remotely monitor the engine pre heat and maybe remotely turn it on and off. Do you have wifi available at your hangar for the telemetry?

Roberta
 
That would be nice to have an APP to remotely monitor the engine pre heat and maybe remotely turn it on and off. Do you have wifi available at your hangar for the telemetry?

Roberta

WiFi is not available at my hangar. I would have to buy the hardware and install a MiFi hotspot, buy a data plan, and connect that hotspot to a smart switch which is then connected to the Pre-heater.

Switcheon provides what I need although it doesn't allow for connecting a remote camera and beaming the video back to my smartphone
 
Switcheon's use of NB-IoT, thereby avoiding all that SIM/hotspot/text message/data plan stuff, is the reason that it's so cheap and reliable...doesn't require the bandwidth necessary for internet or video. Functions great as a switch, however, and a great tool if all you need is to turn things on and off, run a remote thermostat, or do remote telemetry monitoring.
 
Last edited:
Switcheon's use of NB-IoT, thereby avoiding all that SIM/hotspot/text message/data plan stuff, is the reason that it's so cheap and reliable...doesn't require the bandwidth necessary for internet or video. Functions great as a switch, however, and a great tool if all you need is to turn things on and off, run a remote thermostat, or do remote telemetry monitoring.

I understood all that. That's how I'm using the Switcheon - to just handle turning my pre-heater on and off.
 
Switcheon shows Temp

One feature I didnt know was part of the deal is the temp of the switch location is shown in the app. That helps me know how long I need to have the heater on. It works perfect for what it was designed to do. Turn on or off 2 or 4 different circuits.

It works so well I ordered one for my instructor!
 
One feature I didnt know was part of the deal is the temp of the switch location is shown in the app. That helps me know how long I need to have the heater on. It works perfect for what it was designed to do. Turn on or off 2 or 4 different circuits.

It works so well I ordered one for my instructor!

Yeah having it on both the box itself and the app is very useful. You can even program things for the heater to come on when the temp gets to a certain value but I don't want to use that.
 
One feature I didnt know was part of the deal is the temp of the switch location is shown in the app. That helps me know how long I need to have the heater on. It works perfect for what it was designed to do. Turn on or off 2 or 4 different circuits.

It works so well I ordered one for my instructor!

One thing I've noted on my Switcheon...after remotely switching on my pre-heater circuit, the temp displayed on the box and on the app quickly begins to rise...generally only about 10-15°F over about 15 minutes, then stops rising. I'm assuming that powering the circuitry is raising the local temp of the electronics in the box which the display is then showing. I don't find that to be a problem...in fact I like it as it's a way to determine that the switch on the pre-heaters has indeed been energized. If I don't see the temp begin to rise, I'd be suspicious that the pre-heater wasn't actually pre-heating. Don't know if that's something that all of these Switcheon devices do, but mine does.
 
Last edited:
Oh, OK then it has it's own telemetry for the smart phone to activate it. Cool. sounds like it could be useful for many things and a variety of heater systems. Technology changes so fast, I can't keep up.

Roberta:)
 
Oh, OK then it has it's own telemetry for the smart phone to activate it. Cool. sounds like it could be useful for many things and a variety of heater systems. Technology changes so fast, I can't keep up.

Roberta:)

I am using my 4 switch system to power the engine heater going into my intake, my battery charger, and the oil drain plug heater I got from Antisplat. I still have one more plug - but it is all on a 15 amp circuit and if you blow the circuit, you have to send it back to Switcheon so I may be maxed out at about 1100 watts.
 
well, i just tripped over something today that is making me rethink engine preheaters. i have 2 earthx and i am finding out they don't like to be cold when cranking. maybe forced hot air is the answer, to heat the batteries as well.
 
well, i just tripped over something today that is making me rethink engine preheaters. i have 2 earthx and i am finding out they don't like to be cold when cranking. maybe forced hot air is the answer, to heat the batteries as well.

I have the Reiff Turbo XP for the 4 cylinders and the oil sump. The entire compartment gets warm when the heaters have been on for a couple of hours. The blanket over the nose helps a lot too.
 
I am using my 4 switch system to power the engine heater going into my intake, my battery charger, and the oil drain plug heater I got from Antisplat. I still have one more plug - but it is all on a 15 amp circuit and if you blow the circuit, you have to send it back to Switcheon so I may be maxed out at about 1100 watts.

Coincidentally, I blew the circuit on mine earlier this afternoon. My airplane was pre-heating and I needed to clear the strip of snow that the plow leaves in front of the hangar door. With careless disregard :eek: I just pulled the plug from the pre-heater and plugged it into the snowblower. Apparently that little snowblower can draw more than 15 amps at points in its duty cycle.

Anyway, I emailed Switcheon and fessed up to my stupidity. Within 30 minutes they’d emailed me back with shipping instructions and told me that “no problem…we fix them for free”.
 
Oil cooler heating pad

If using the standard cooler on the rear baffle, does anyone add a heating pad to the cooler ? Or has the oil all drained into the sump anyway ?
 
I've read all of the posts in this thread (and maybe thousands on the topic) and no one has mentioned the Aerotherm Alien high-priced hair dryer thing.

Any thoughts on that?
 
I've read all of the posts in this thread (and maybe thousands on the topic) and no one has mentioned the Aerotherm Alien high-priced hair dryer thing.

Any thoughts on that?

I've used Aerotherm's Deuce heater for many years, it's their only model designed to be plugged in and left on indefinitely. It requires the use of cowl plugs, as one side is heat, the other is a return - essentially a closed loop system. I set the temp control potentiometer at 60° and the CHT's, oil and EGT's are all 60° when I go flying. I use an old moving blanket over the top of the cowling to keep the heat in and minimize the duty cycle for the heating element -- the fan runs non-stop.

It heats the same way your engine cools when airborne - forced convection. Works great, *everything* is the same temperature.
 
Back
Top