Dual Voltage (12v dc / 120v ac) Small Electric Water Heater

[E350]

Let's give a big round of applause to tecnodave over at the Midnite Solar forum (midniteforum.com) for inventing the dual voltage 12v dc / 120 ac small electric water heater suitable for Sportsmobile use.

TecnoDave had previously mentioned in a post that he was using the "load" function of the Midnite Solar Kid solar charge controller to automatically divert excess pv charging to a 12V dc electric water heater once the house battery had obtained a full charge set point. He replied to a pm I sent him about his dual voltage small electric water heater and this is what he said:

"What is hard to find is a water heater tank that has two standard 1" NPT Threaded openings for elements in a small size form factor suitable for an RV. I used a standard GE brand water heater 6 gallon heater about 17" tall and 13" dia. which I removed the 120 volt 1800 watt element and replaced with a 24 volt 600 watt Missouri Wind and Solar DC element . I removed the drain plug and used a Camco Manufacturing water heater conversion kit which is meant for RV propane gas water heaters as an after market 120 volt 1000 watt heater which can be used togather with the gas. It is a special element and adapter which installs through the 1/2 (or 3/4" with adapter) inch drain plug opening. There are two thermostats.....the original GE which controls the CAMCO element.....and a DC one from Missouri Wind And Solar which controls the DC element. There are two co plater separate circuits for the AC and DC sides.

Every thing is off the shelf 12 volt / 120 volt water heater........nobody markets such a thing but the parts are out there.

I am going to post this as a new posting as folks still have not understood how I am doing this.

td"

Pretty friggin' cool, huh?

Just looking at the homedepot.com website there are some 2.5 and other small point of use electric water heaters which may be adaptable to tecnodave's design.