Thermogear Chillbuster Portable Electric Rewarming Blanket discussion thread

teotwaki

Excelsior!
DocRoh's for sale thread
http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...)-and-other-medical-stuff?p=968341#post968341

Manufacturer's link
http://www.thermogear.com/patient.html

I want to stop polluting DocRoh's for sale thread and move usage and tech discussion over here.

His original thread on them has pictures here: http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...ermogear-Portable-electric-blanket?highlight=

$60 shipped is incredibly cheap for a useful and cool toy. Mine arrived and it is sort of a new/old stock item where it is not pristine shiny-new but the thermal blanket and the covers looked to have never been unfolded. The power supply looked unused yet the temp control on the battery box had tape across the knob to hold a setting. Goo remover got rid of the stickiness left behind by the tape.

The battery pack is a sealed lead-acid Gel cell, 12 volts at 7 Amp hours so no worries about replacing an exotic lithium cell battery pack. Four screws on the bottom of the case and two spade connections to the battery and you are done. I gave the battery a long overnight charge because when I first checked it the thing was as dead as a door nail. The nice bonus about the 12v battery is that you could supply a direct fused connection to your truck or trailer battery, add a two postion toggle switch and run this thing from your mains or from the internal Gel Cell.

The carrying case had bits of dried grass inside :sombrero: so you know these things went somewhere, came back from the field and then were surplused. For $60 you still can't gripe. I took everything out of the well-made case and washed it out in warm water so it looks much nicer now.

Pictures and tech info to follow
 
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teotwaki

Excelsior!
pictures

case top view



bottom view showing skids



loaded carrying case


contents of case


clockwise from upper left corner: control unit/battery pack, Charger-power supply, thermal blanket, manual, AC cord, 12 VDC cig lighter plug, two disposable covers

front panel


Internal shot of control board and replaceable gel cell battery, 12v 7.0 AH
 

teotwaki

Excelsior!
Tech specs

The manual, labels and web site are not consistent regarding power consumption. I've yet to make measurements but here is what I think.

There are two AC to DC supplies available. One is a smaller wall wort that outputs 12 V at 900 milli-Amps for battery charging only. The better supply was in my unit and is cable of 6.67 Amps to both charge the battery and run the blanket.

The cig lighter cord is rated at 6 amps and is fused. It is rated to both charge the battery and run the blanket. I think a direct connection to 12 volts would be better as cig plugs tend to be lossy.

The back cover of the control unit says 12 volts at 5 amps max so 60 watts. This makes sense to me because in the manual it speaks of power consumption being 2.5 watts to 5 watts and I am sure that they meant Amps, not watts.
 
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teotwaki

Excelsior!
How big is the blanket? Is it the "30x"60?

My actual measurements were 29" by 59". It is built very much like a Thermarest inflatable sleeping pad.

I plan to use mine in my trailer's RTT for times that I do not want to run my Little Buddy catalytic heater for very long.
 

Rattler

Thornton Melon's Kid
My actual measurements were 29" by 59". It is built very much like a Thermarest inflatable sleeping pad.

I plan to use mine in my trailer's RTT for times that I do not want to run my Little Buddy catalytic heater for very long.

I would be using in an RTT too. Let me talk to the wife and see if she would be up for some colder-weather camping if we have something like that. I think it would be perfect for this time of year (with the exception of today, its 80 here in MI).
 

teotwaki

Excelsior!
I talked to Thermogear about parts for the PC board and they directed me to another company. I have the phone number for anyone that wants it
 

teotwaki

Excelsior!
I can't get the gal at the parts place to actually talk to me when I call. She is either not there or calls me back at some weird time and leaves a vague voicemail message. So far my blanket is unusable because of the bad temperature control
 

teotwaki

Excelsior!
You're surprised? They are a subsidiary of none other than Johnson Controls. Watch your back Jim. SkyNet is next...

Holy switcheroo Tangoman! The Optima Joker has struck again! The heating blanket will only function when connected to an OPTIMA BATTERY!!! :yikes:
 

Sirocco

Explorer
How are you getting on with this? Thinking of getting one shipped to the UK for a winter trip to Nordkapp (Norway).

What is the reason for only working on the Optima? Seems odd.

Cheers,

G
 

teotwaki

Excelsior!
How are you getting on with this? Thinking of getting one shipped to the UK for a winter trip to Nordkapp (Norway).

What is the reason for only working on the Optima? Seems odd.

Cheers,

G


The Optima bit is just a bad joke because of all of the problems I have had with Optima batteries. They just don't last as long as they used to, but there is whole different thread on that one.

It turns out that I have not had a chance to try the Chillbuster out in my trailer in winter weather. There were delays because the unit did not actually work.

The used Thermogear unit that I received had a bad heat settings control when I received it. Somehow the whole unit never got swapped out for a good one or refunded from the source. After a while of futiley trying to buy the part from the manufacturer I gave up on that and disassembled the control unit. It turns out that the knob on the heat settings unit is on the shaft of a variable resistor that is not so physically robust. The knob must have been whacked hard and the collar that holds the shaft had broken loose causing the resistive setting to be intermittent. I ended up using some epoxy to glue the metal collar back down.

I think that the heat control is a weak point because of the way the carrying case is laid out, exposing the knob to impacts. A dense foam block in that area provides some protection.

Overall the unit is well made and a brand new one should not give you any worries. If you buy a used unit you should insist that it be tested before shipping to you. I wish that I had done so.
 

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