AT Habitat, Atlas, & Summit Pictures, ideas, aaand BS

If i was going to get one of those for my wife, which would you suggest?

The electrowarmth seems better with the variable settings. Does it work ok under a sleeping bag, or better under an actual sheet?

 

mylar isn't breathable so that's only natural. same thing as sleeping pads. tbh even sleeping on the foam mattress from AT my back will get a little sweaty at night.

Propane furnace


Gasoline/Diesel/Kerosene Furnace


Hydronic Heater


Propane/Gasoline/Diesel/Kerosene furnaces are setup to have an exhaust that goes outside, they're also a lot simpler and a lot cheaper (comparatively to hydronic setups, but less flexible) usually about 1/2 the cost of the unit itself.

Hydronic heaters you have options to run the line under the floor for radiant floor heating or to a radiator with a fan for forced air heating. The other added benefit is that you can use it as a water heater or use it to heat the coolant in your engine. The world is your oyster, but tbh, all those options are really complicated (equating to weight and problems w/ repair). I would rather just stick to a heater that heats my camper. If I want to heat the engine block, run the block heater to my secondary battery + inverter.

 

You would only ever want to use the blanket and/or mattress pad under you so the heat doesn't beam out into space.

They're both good units. The Trillium's heating element is over a smaller area and it creates a good amount of warmth at 45w. runs for 30 or 45 minutes (it has a timer).

The ElectroWarmth has multiple settings and maxes out at 75W at full blast. Each of the other settings are increments below that. Both have been run all night w/o any problem on the low settings. I do run a Group 31 AGM Odyssey battery.

 

I've got dual Group 27 Optimas (66AH each) separate from the trucks starting battery... so maybe I'd be ok. But do you drive to recharge every day? or maybe some solar?

 

I have a Battery Minder 2012 AGM model charger. The Odyssey 31-PC2150 requires more voltage than the charging system provides, that potential difference to push it over the "walls" of the electricity tank, so to speak. You can use a schottky diode in the voltage sensing circuit in place of the fuse to raise the charging system voltage. Some other vendors sell a more typical silicon diode which introduces a .6V increase, which I think is too much. Schottky is more in between .15-.46V which is just right.

The Taco is a recreational vehicle so I usually leave it in the driveway. I put daily miles on my 2004 Scion xB. So I need a charger.

Group 27 Optimas, driven 90 minutes+ daily, should not need an external charger. But there are additional circumstances that can play into that, ie are you driving in the dark all the time and running a lot of electrical stuff? Additional charging requirements will be situated-based.

 

Does anyone have the propex installed in their truck?
wondering what sort of fuel and battery consumption they are seeing?

 

I don't but I saw a few folks who had them in their VWs. Battery usage is really really low. It's just enough to hold the solenoid open for gas and to run the fan. The thing is protected w/ a 5amp fuse. I think it's like maybe 17 watts IIRC. Gas wise it depends on how insulated your setup is and whether or not you have a fan to recirculate the hot air from the ceiling down to where the thermostat is. There are a lot of conditions here, but it's miserly as long as your setup is sealed up well.

 

My issue is I'm more often camping in one spot for multiple days. Haven't yet had the time to do any real "overlanding". Longest trip so far has been three nights parked in one spot on the sand dunes. My 100 watt solar was more than enough to keep up with my fridge (ended day with higher voltage than started). I do have a Noco Gen2 charger (mounted with batteries) that I use to charge things up before leaving home. Had originally planned on getting a Honda Generator, but the Solar seems more well suited to what I need (and takes up WAY less space).

 

I've not ventured in snow, but have been in pretty cold temps in the Habitat, recently purchased the Propex kit from AT, but have not assembled or tried it out yet. Plan on being in the desert in late December and will try it out then - one of the main reasons is that my 17 year old pup gets cold at night and doesn't like being under covers.

Best write-up on ways to heat a tent (applies to Habitat) is on Expedition Portal - really impressed with all that Matt - the author - has tested. https://www.expeditionportal.com/fo...test-results-five-ways-to-heat-a-tent.188602/

 

Graton: Thanks for posting that article!
that was quite insightful and thorough.
Have you thought about where or how you plan to mount your propex?
seems like removal and reassembly every time could be quite a pain.
I am wondering what the ideas are for more permanent mounting options.

 

Propex has an underbody mount option available. I mean, i'm not sure WHERE you'd mount it under the tacoma, but it's still built to be used under vehicle.

https://www.propexheatsource.com/heaters/hs2211-furnace/

 

920kiter: Agreed about it being a pain, but when I had my Habitat installed June 2017, the guy had never installed any propex heaters - the regular installer was out - and I just didn't want to be his first install. Now that I've used the Habitat for a 1.5 years, I have a better sense of layout and how we use it. If I lived closer to AT or if I knew someone in northern California with experience, I would do a permanent mount of the Propex up near the front of the truck.

 

Interesting, AT was going to install it inside the truck, and I've seen pics of another Habitat owner who also installed it inside the truck bed. Didn't know external was an option.

 

that’s how goosegear does it. i do water crossings often enough so i’m not doing that in my setup. I’d rather leave it inside.

 

Am i nuts to think that i could spend weekends in a habitat in bad weather?
i hope to use the rig for chasing storms to catch surf and snow around michigans UP
mostly camping in cold weather with wind and storms.
love the habitat concept, but realistically should i be looking at a truck camper instead?

 

If my primary usage for the Habitat was cold stormy weather, I would get something else. Truck camper, Van, or AT Summit are all more suited for what you are looking to do. The Habitat is perfect for us, but most of our time is spent in fair to good weather, desert gets cold at night, but no rain or high-winds so far.

 

I don't see why not... I will say, I was a little worried at how much side-flex the one up in Denver had with the wind blowing, but it wouldn't be hard to rig up some simple, removable cross-bracing out of conduit or something if someone was worried. I also plan on leaving an option to just sleep inside the topper with the tent closed if the weather is REAL bad

 

As for the hydronic heaters (or just a heat exchanger system hooked to the engine), I had also toyed with the idea of using one to heat a decent sized water reservoir/tank in the truck bed, and use the thermal mass to keep things a bit warmer at night, plus hopefully keeping the water from freezing overnight. LOTS of other things on the to-do list first though

 

Thanks for the thoughts!
currently rocking a 2wd sportsmobile. need a 4wd option for winter.
Is it possible to open partially open up the habitat (30ish degrees) like the Summit?
could that be a potential solution for bad weather protection?

 

I'll just let this explain it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alxNwdzFVmc