Outlet Kit Recommendation to Power a Battery Blanket in a Trailer

Question:

In a tractor trailer, well the trailer, I need to be able to plug in an battery blanket, with cigarette lighter plug in, into a power source. I know someone makes say a 3-4 Cigarette strip. My question is: 1. Inside the trailer, I can mount this cigarette lighter plug in strip. Do I need a seperate battery supply, seperate from the engine battery? 2. Will a typical battery operated blanket, be able to continous run, plugged in for 3 to 4 days, while the truck is on the road? 3. Or, is there a battery source, seperate from the truck battery, like C battery, that will last for up to 96 hours?

asked by: Tony

Helpful Expert Reply:

I believe what you are looking for is something like the 12 Volt Outlet Kit - 20 amps, # RM-9332. This kit would attach to the positive and negative post of a vehicle battery and provide a 12 volt accessory outlet for your battery blanket. You could attach this outlet directly to the truck battery or you could mount a separate battery on the trailer.

If the purpose of this setup is for emergency situations and you intend to install a battery on the trailer, I recommend running a hot lead from the trailer battery to the truck battery so the truck can provide a maintenance charge to the trailer battery. I also recommend using an AC powered battery charger like our NOCO Genius # 329-GENIUS5, to charge the battery before each trip. Many of my coworkers use this battery and love it.

The ability of the battery blanket to run continuously will depend on a few different factors. First, we will want to determine how much power the blanket draws. Next, we want to know the size and capabilities of the battery being used and finally, will the truck be running or not. If the truck is running and providing a maintenance charge to the battery, then you should have no problem running the blanket. If you use a small battery without maintaining its charge, there could be a possibility that the blanket will kill the battery.

I recommend either using the truck batteries or using a separate 12 volt deep cycle battery to power the blanket.

expert reply by: John H