MINI ELECTRIC HEATER 12V 80W

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In this workshop I will show how to make a small electric heater that runs on 12 volts and consumes 80 watts of power. It gives a nice warm breeze which is quite enough to warm your hands. Mini heater is very easy to manufacture, made from a computer cooler in less than 30 minutes.

Parts and tools for the heater

Details you will need:

Computer fan 12 V, with dimensions 40x40x10 mm.
A wire for connecting at least 1 square millimeter in cross section.
About 1 meter of thin nichrome wire can be taken from a burnt hair dryer.
Approximately 15 cm thick copper or steel wire.
A piece of sheet metal, somewhere 40x160 mm. You can take it from a can.
4 screws with nuts to tighten to the fan.
Insulating tape.
A piece of wire mesh.

Tools you will need:

Soldering iron with solder.
Hacksaw.
Multimeter.
Lighter.
Screwdriver.

Production of a heating element

Before starting to make a heating element, it is necessary to choose the size of a nichrome spiral to ensure uniform heat distribution.
I cut pieces of spiral and measured the current of each. Initially, I chose the distance where to cut, measuring approximately 8.6 ohms. As a result, each section I will consume about 1.4 A current. There will be five such segments and the current will ultimately be slightly less than 7 A. I do not take into account the fan.

After preparing the spirals, we proceed to the manufacture of holders for them. They are made of thick wire. We bend such squiggles as in the photo.

We try nichrome spirals on them so that they are at a certain distance from the fan during installation. And they touched nothing but the ends.

We fasten the holders to the fan with screws.

We dress all the heating spirals.

Solder the joints. Solder using an active flux, since nichrome is practically not soldered.

Wire connection

We clean the fan wires and connect to the heating element, clamping them with screws on the other side.

On the other hand, we pass the power wire and connect to the heating element on the other hand.

To test the operation of the heater with a fan, we use a powerful power source. I took the battery. We connect and measure the consumed current. As calculated, it is about 7 A. All elements are heated evenly, blown air from the fan and hot air comes out.

Heater body

The case can be made of tin from cans. Take a sheet of metal and cut a strip of 4x16 cm from it, bend it into a 4x4 cm square. Then solder everything with solder and the case will be ready. Make sure that the fan enters the enclosure.

You can take or solder the mesh yourself from the pieces of wire. We take the sizes on the body. We insert the mesh into the case and solder it as well.

To keep the entire heating element tight, it is necessary to wrap the fan in a circle with electrical tape, it will give density. And with an effort to insert everything into the case.

Ready-made small heater

Our mini heater is ready. In principle, it is almost safe as it seems to me, but you should not leave it unattended.

The total power is about 80 watts. Such a heater can be used in a car. Take power from the cigarette lighter socket. Of course you can’t warm the interior, but you can warm the windshield or your hands.
I hope you enjoyed my homework. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments. See you soon!
Original article in English

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