Use low voltage light power supply for 12v

[Scott & Heather]

Can I use a Home Depot low voltage lighting power supply rated at 200 watts at 12v for my propane Atwood furnace? I don't have a 12 volt converter so I thought maybe a low voltage lighting box could do the trick?



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[Oonrahnjay]

Can I use a Home Depot low voltage lighting power supply rated at 200 watts at 12v for my propane Atwood furnace? I don't have a 12 volt converter so I thought maybe a low voltage lighting box could do the trick?

How many watts does Atwood rate it as pulling?  "Converters" are often used in aviation contexts -  I personally wouldn't use one in a condition without down rating by 15-20% (i,e, if Atwood rates at 160 watts, a 200 watt unit would probably work -- if it's continuous rated and it's Good Quality!

[Scott & Heather]

Thanks for the response. I just tried to use the 200 watt supply and it the fan spins slow and clicks. So maybe it won't work. I connected the furnace to my truck battery and it worked just fine. So I returned the power supply to Home Depot. furnace is rated at 118 watts...so i can't believe that 200 isn't enough?? The power supply was cheap. $60 compared to what I just looked at at the rv store here (65 amp charger/converter) $300!! Really wanted to make it work. They have a 600 watt version of what I just returned. Maybe I should try it???


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[Darkspeed]

This would be a much safer way to do it > plus you could hook a battery to it as a buffer  > http://www.ebay.com/itm/DLS-30-IOTA-POWER-CONVERTER-BATTERY-CHARGER-30-AMP-12-VOLT-/271635686407?hash=item3f3ebfa407

You may be running into a situation where your supply is happy with resistive loads but not happy about inductive loads.. depending on what is in the atwood.. pwm? variable motor? switched transformer?

FWIW everything in my 31' airstream runs of an IOTA and it is bulletproof..

[luvrbus]

Scott,check PKYS.com for a DC to DC converter they are cheap and use your 24v system,you should get 1 for under 100 bucks for your needs I paid 130 bucks for a 40 amp   

[Scott & Heather]

Thanks cliff. What I am needing to do is be able to run our 12 volt furnace while we are on the pole. Basically run it on 120 volt.


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[luvrbus]

Just buy a 3 amp 24v charger I bought one on sale from BatteryMart for 25 bucks,you are going to need a battery even with a converter without a battery the loads just fry one BTDT    

[sledhead]

buy a 12 volt deep cycle battery ( a cheepo one ) or can you use your gene start battery ? + use a 3 stage maintainer like this to hold the charge . if you do not have enough 12 v power to run the sail switch in the furnace will not light

http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/motomaster-eliminator-intelligent-battery-charger-2a-0111506p.html#.VgBx7N9Viko   

dave

[Darkspeed]

I would not be able to sleep at night if I knew I skimped or rigged a propane appliance. But im super careful because I will have other people sleeping in my bus at times.

If your supply is underrated and you are supplying too low of voltage you could inadvertently overheat some of the components in the furnace with either amperage or a slow turning fan for example.

[Scott & Heather]

Ok I have two 8D batteries that are sitting around (one is kinda on its way out) so I'll just buy a nice three stage charger rated for 30 amps or so and use that. I can't imagine the furnace would be low on juice with that setup. As was mentioned, the sail switch won't activate without full power. This is an Atwood hydroflame 8353 IV


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[Tony LEE]

Can I use a Home Depot low voltage lighting power supply rated at 200 watts at 12v for my propane Atwood furnace? I don't have a 12 volt converter so I thought maybe a low voltage lighting box could do the trick?

Are you sure the home depot power supply puts out DC.  If it is designed to run low voltage halogen lights it is probably just a transformer producing 12V AC

[Darkspeed]

They should be full bridge rectified so you will get 60 cycle half wave (both halves) DC (no capacitor to smooth it out) which would drive a normal DC load crazy.

[luvrbus]

Mine are 12v DC