Buddy Heater Fan

[BigDynamite]

Just wondering what everybody is using to power the fan for their Big Buddy?  D-cells, 12-volt setup, or other?  How long do the D-cells typically last?

Thanks for the feedback.

Tight Lines and Hard Water

[FISHFORPIKE]

I do the D cells.  Seems I get a few days out of them.  I never counted the hours but I feel the batteries do pretty well.

[Pintuckeyice]

I also just used D cells they lasted a long time for me.  Only used fan to take the chill off when I first set up or really cold windy days. Normally 2 sets of batteries a season fishing every weekend.

[ice dawg]

If you want to power your fan from a 12V battery you can wire a 12V/12V converter into it which can be ordered for the output voltage you want. Since you use 6 D Cells I would say you would want to order one with a 9V out put. This way you could run it foo a flasher battery. Worth considering as an alternative to wiring 4 diodes into a 12V circuit.  http://www.powerstream.com/daa-1209.htm

[BigDynamite]

Well considering I don't know all that much about electrical stuff, and I have always thought of it as an area where a little knowledge could be enough to kill ya or burn something down, let me ask this.  I know you can buy an adapter from Mr. Heater that plugs into an input on the Big Buddy and has a "transformer" on the other end that plugs into a wall outlet.  So could I just use a small power inverter I already have and connect it to a 12v flasher style battery and then plug the Mr. Heater transformer into one of the wall socket outlets on the inverter?  I was thinking of maybe making a little caddy to hold battery and inverter so I could run heater fan and some shanty lights from it.

Thoughts or technical advice welcome and appreciated.

Tight Lines and Hard Water

[ice dawg]

Plugging it into a 110V outlet on an Inverter would be no problem and should work very well. I don't have a Big Buddy, but some people I know that have them complain about them eating batteries.

[surflizard]

I have the adapter for my buddy and the inverter works great ! I have duracell rechargables for it also !

[powerwagon]

I find that the fun runs so quiet that I usually forget to turn it off,therefore the batteries don't last very long. The inverter or powerpack would be a good idea as long as you have room to pack it

[copperjohn]

I wired up a 6 volt lantern battery and put it one of the propane bottle sides.  Lasts a lot longer than d cells.  I've also heard that some trail camera rechargeable batts. are 6 volt and they would work even better.  That fan sure makes it a more effective heat source.  Fans above pushing down help quite a bit, too.