Solar Powered Hot Tent | Space Heater Tent Camping

[@florindagonzalez5700]

When he smiles, it's so nice.

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Florinda Gonzalez if a smile could save the world, you know I’d heal you all! Thanks for watching

[@crazynice32]

yes!!!!! another fun video bro looking forward to finishing this

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Young Gouki 32 awesome bro! Hope you enjoy! Thanks for watching

[@TommyBoyd-n2l]

I do like that you showed that solar will not heat a tent. .. I backpacked for 10 years. Heated with fuel. I learned that if you're gear is USB you can thrive as far as electronics. Lighting is simple Luci lights. A hot tent has the ability of heating and cooking with a stove. I'll continue following you.

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

I love my Luci lantern. I’m glad you enjoyed the video and thanks for following along.

[@perlindholm4129]

Very good. Idea - Maybe a 12V rice cooker boiling water and rice. Let the steam heat the tent for a longer period at a time. Maybe works maybe not.

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Per Lindholm with steam you would have a horrible time with condensation and in cold temps that’s not good. But I like the way you think. Heat tent and cook at the same time. Nice. Thanks for watching

[@MooseOnTheLoose99]

Yet another great video Spackman!

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Frederick Woolever thank you bro! Glad you enjoyed. Thanks for watching

[@ltippers7029]

how the F have you only got 5k subscribers??? this is way better than most review guys!!!

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@L Tippers thank you so much! I’m growing fast! You gotta put the time in. I’ve only been uploading consistently for about a year maybe less. So I’m growing! Thanks for watching and for the kind words!

[@garethbaus5471]

Using a heated blanket inside your sleeping bag might be a less energy intensive way to stay warm during some colder nights.

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Gareth Baus lots of people said to use a heated blanket. It’s a great idea! Thanks for watching

[@TheFlatEarthChannelcom]

Lithium battery is way more compact but isn’t good to charge in the cold, but way smaller

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@TheFlatEarthChannel.com I looked them up before making this video. They are like 10x the cost as well and a little out of budget. They are a great idea. Thanks for watching!

[@ndpredator4726]

Vary neat definitely interesting idea

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@nd predator yeah it’s interesting but not very practical. I really wanted to know how long a battery would run a heater. 50mins/24hours, that’s a lot of batteries lol. Thanks for watching

[@johnburgin7478]

Probably get a bump from the reflection of the snow but with overcast sky’s …Interesting though . Have a great evening

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@John Burgin oh yup. I didn’t think about the sun reflecting off the snow too. Thanks I thought it was interesting as well. Have a good evening as well and Thanks for watching

[@alexghosthunter]

Use mylar blankets to reflect the radiant heat in and use a power inverter with a battery charging regulator!

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@repo fuzz Mylar blankets are a great idea. So is a better inverter lol cause that one sucks. Thanks for watching

[@jimsteele7108]

That was a fun project. I have plans to do the same thing to my off-grid tiny cabin. The solar heater would work great as supplemental heat but it can wreak havoc on the batteries. A solar heater technically doesn't need a battery, a USB fan could move the air as long as the sun is shining. They create an amazing amount of heat for such a cheap and simple solution.

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Jim Steele oh cool! I was thinking this would be great in a tiny cabin. What’s you plan to let light in for heating? Thanks for watching

[@jimsteele7108]

@@AdventureswithSpackmann do a solar heater search on youtube. There are many videos on the subject.

[@JDubbsadventure]

Interesting thought experiment I loved the results.

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@J-Dubb’s Adventure yeah it was interesting. Thanks for watching

[@Guillie641]

Super KOOL 👌 best tent for homeless people

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@fragfrog thank you! It would be nice for homeless people for sure! Thanks for watching!

[@Guillie641]

Yea or even a emergency shelter after a house fire no "PUN_ your welcome

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@fragfrog that too for sure!

[@e2renee]

I’m House sitting for the next few months for friends who are on their sailboat in the Keys. They keep their house at 65. I may be looking at a solar powered hot tent myself.

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Renee Gordon tell them to turn it up for you lol. JK yeah get a solar powered hot tent. 😉 thanks for watching Renee.

[@BackpackingwithBuckley]

Funny experiment dude! I'll be waiting for a backpacker version!

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Backpacking with Buckley lol, coming 2023. Thanks for watching

[@willisblevins3759]

Awesome show thanks

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Willis Blevins you’re welcome and thanks for watching! Glad you enjoyed

[@charlesgwinn9832]

If you had a much smaller tent, you could rely more on the 200 or so btu s from your body heat. Then use a 50 to 100 watt heat element or incandescent bulb(think chicken coop) that is timer/temperature cycled on/off throughout the night so as not to deep cycle and kill the batts.This would be helpful on cloudy days,so as to ration your harvested power,but of course you will need batt monitoring. As was implied by someone else,you could cook(mini crocker) several days worth of rice,beans,etc on sunniest days.Also,obviously, you can make fire with batteries(preferably) or solar panels.

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Charles Gwinn oh I like the lightbulb idea! I may try that this winter. Great info bro! Thank you for sharing and thanks for watching!

[@jimsteele7108]

See if you can find some old rectangular sleeping bags, open them up and use them to line the interior of the tent with insulation

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Jim Steele I had this thought in my head. My thought was to just drape them over the outside, cover with tarp after that. Making multiple layers. Inside isn’t a bad idea.

[@jimsteele7108]

@@AdventureswithSpackmann years ago my buddy and I camped during the winter at a friend's cabin. All we had was a little space heater and a three season tent, no insulation. The space heater did a such a good job that it kept the tent at 70° and kicked the thermostat on and off. And that was during -20 Fahrenheit outside temperatures. A space heater is a simple and cheap solution but in order to make it really effective, you need to be hooked up to the grid.

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Jim Steele that’s cool. I’ve seen people do double tents but not a tent in a cabin. Great idea. And whoa a 90 degree difference!!!

[@jimsteele7108]

@@AdventureswithSpackmann , we were outside with the tent.

[@CoreyGunzzz]

Great video. I'm curious what the capacity of the batteries are. Knowing they're 12 voltage batteries and the fact you're using a 400w heater, you should be able to do some math to calculate theoretical run time. If nothing else, this shows the power of the sun since it was able to heat the tent to almost 40 degrees over ambient without even needing a heater!

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Corey Gunzzz yeah I could add 3 and carry the one but I’ll just guesstimate 50mins lol. I’m actually surprised that the batteries I was using didn’t say much in them. One did say 1000 cold cranking amps but that doesn’t tell you capacity right? The coffee maker battery was actually bigger than the ones I used for the heater and may actually say more on it but I didn’t look lol. It was crazy that the sun raised it 40 degree, I mean I know in the summer when the sun comes out you need to get out of the tent but haven’t experienced that in the winter yet so yeah that was awesome. Thanks for watching bro

[@erikcarey215]

Cool video the solar panel case is about the same size case as a foldable wood stove thinking the wood stove is a safer bet

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Erik Carey oh for sure a wood stove is a safer bet. Only need wood, a cloud can’t screw your heat up lmao. Thanks for watching

[@kachiri]

I have a shower bag that's designed to use solar (Sun) to heat up the water in the bag. It does work, but takes a little time, but does the job. Maybe they should put that tech into a tent. Then you wouldn't need a heater running off a battery or a wood stove, etc.

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Kachiri Beleza I’ve used those solar showers before and on hot sunny days, they do work great. Yeah the sun would do a great job just heating a tent during the day. Thanks for watching

[@zmezgar2387]

can you do a step by step video of what you need to make power. Like the solar panel, batteries inverter etc. Im clurless about how to put any of that together or what i would need. Appreciate it.

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Z MezGar i just used deep cycle batteries with a 1000w inverter. Wouldn’t really recommend this setup unless you are staying long term and have a ton of batteries and solar panels. Not sure I’ll be doing a more in-depth explanation video or not unfortunately. Sorry. I do plan on doing another video like this using a different heat source. Thanks for watching

[@milesrobertson6882]

Nice! Now we’re talking. Something I have a lot of near my house. Too much sun. I have a cool solar set up but haven’t set it up for a lengthy period of time. I do know you can run a traeger portable smoker for 9 hours with that battery set up. There’s nothing like brisket at Joshua Tree national park when you can’t even get running water there. Great video. Cheers.

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Miles Robertson glad you like the idea. Running a smoker for 9 hours on a battery is freaking awesome. I’m sure the brisket was just as good as my brewed cup of coffee from the coffee maker lol. Thanks for watching bro!

[@milesrobertson6882]

@@AdventureswithSpackmann well, I did burn myself on that smoker so it wasn’t totally epic. Ha ha

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Miles Robertson lol I burn myself all the time lol. Doesn’t slow the epicness of the adventures. Lol. So I’ll have another video next week from this same trip. I didn’t get the burns on camera but burn count was up to 3, 2 Jay 1 me. Not bad for 3 days in a hot tent lol.

[@mushercdn]

The solsr panel seems pretty portable; the batteries not so much. Quite a novel concept to test out. Good stuff. Thanks for the video.

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@mushercdn you got that right lol. More for bugging out or even a tiny cabin in the woods. It wasn’t bad getting the batteries to camp, but getting them back up that hill wasn’t fun lol. Thanks for watching

[@Free__Speech]

Positive first then negative. When removing. Negative then Positive on battery Would u not be better with 1 big battery like anker or jackery

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

Thanks for the correction on the disconnect. You absolutely would. At the time I didn’t have a battery bank. Thanks for watching

[@Free__Speech]

​@@AdventureswithSpackmanndid the BLUETTI PV120 survive? Have u tried FlexSolar 120W

[@josephham8855]

the smaller solar panels are for charging a 12volt batteries in a parallel circuit and the bigger of the solar panels is a 24 volt charging system mad to charge the 12volt batteries in a series circuit. so you would need two 12v batteries ran in a series circuit to use the bigger panel to charge the batteries

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Joseph Ham ah ok. So the bigger panel won’t charge the small battery I tried? Thanks for watching

[@Mapleaple]

Idk how thats working the way it is. You even brew coffee without somthing tripping or frying the wires. Was that even set in parallel or in series to that mptt if that is what the red thing was. Well I don't feel so bad I exceeded my volts charging a solar generator past 28v rating. You sir are a legend and risk taker.

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Robert Pion lmao holy shit. You’re the first person to bring up frying wires. I didn’t fry wires exactly but my coffee maker fried! After using it with the battery it smelled like burning metal and I got rid of it. All coffee that came out of it tasted like metal lol. I haven’t had a plug in coffee maker since this video lmao. The red thing is an inverter. As far as I know that changes it from dc to ac or the other way around, not sure. So glad you enjoyed! Thanks for watching!

[@timrobinson3972]

First solar hot tent video I have ever seen you should definitely try a heated blanket

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Tim Robinson really? May I be the first one? That would be cool. I like the heated blanket idea for sure. Like wood stove during the day and heated blanket to help at night. Hmmm. Thanks for watching

[@timrobinson3972]

I am thinking heated blanket on a lower settings might be able to last all night

[@timrobinson3972]

Jackery power station 500 watt says it can power a 60 watt heated blanket for 7 hours

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Tim Robinson that would be cool. Maybe another test video is in order lol.

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Tim Robinson nice! I actually reached out to Jackery and a few other Battery companies but haven’t heard back yet. I need to figure out how many watts these deep cycle batteries are.

[@distantchosen]

What did you insulate the wall with mylar blankets?

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@JoshDavis-iy5mc I used a product called Reflectix(I believe is the name of it) it’s a Mylar like bubble wrap for basements. Thanks for watching

[@daniellafferety4025]

Nice snow boat? Carry all?

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Daniel lafferety I’m sorry I not sure what you mean. Thanks for watching

[@joenolen9421]

Can you put a wood heater in that tent?

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Joe Nolen not yet. 😉 thanks for watching!

[@Dazraff]

We’re did you get the battery pack from?

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

Which battery pack? Thanks for watching

[@Pollaismailly]

Thanks, Nice video and idea, but could you please kindly provide us the purchase link of your tent?

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Ranjdar M. Abdullah I’m glad you enjoyed the video. I’ll add the link to the description of the video for ya. Thanks for watching

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Ranjdar M. Abdullah I’ve added the link to the tent in the description of the video. Thanks for reminding me.

[@jeffjackson5331]

Cool! Yeah i would be in contact with the company and see what they say about why the big one didn't work. If i know you, you already did lol.

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Jeff Jackson sure did lmao. Thanks for watching bro

[@jeffjackson5331]

@@AdventureswithSpackmann you are very welcome brother.

[@TheWannabeOutdoorsman]

I'm curious to see how many hours it would run keeping it only at 50° Fahrenheit. Like is there a way to adjust it sacrificing comfort in exchange for non-hypothermia level? I'm sure you could do that for longer. Because if it's an emergency situation I could see that being of benefit but it doesn't seem that should be your standard.

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Dean McEachern I was thinking the same thing. Fully insulated your structure, tent of tiny cabin. Only run the heater to warm it up every so often and see what happens. Thanks for watching

[@leftcoastgardener5661]

Where can I order one of your coffee mugs? Keep shooting content. I enjoy them a great deal. Be well.

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Left Coast Gardener thank you so much! Glad you are enjoying. If you would like, you can find me on Instagram or Facebook and message me. We can talk about a mug there. Thank you for watching!

[@nikolanikolic4872]

Meaby you cen run on that all night only electric blanket becayse for heater most have biger battery end solar...

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Nikola Nikolic a few other people mentioned heated blankets as well. Good idea. Thanks for watching

[@haydenrhodes8782]

If you were to connect the two batteries together you could double how long the heater can run

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Hayden Rhodes do you mean like 50mins+50mins or would it double the time the batteries can run so 200mins? Thanks for watching

[@haydenrhodes8782]

@@AdventureswithSpackmann what i mean is that if you where to connect the two batteries together it would theoretically double the run time of the heat because of the increased ah. So in simpler terms it would be 50 + 50.

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Hayden Rhodes ah gotcha, that makes since.

[@Doug0utside]

Even if those little solar panels were working at their full capacity. That heater was pulling way to many watts. That's probably why those solar panel wires got hot.

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Thedsmith350 the wires that were hot were on the panels that were NOT charging the deep cycle batteries. I only had dc plugs for those panels. I said they were hot as if they were charging but I couldn’t get the small battery to charge. But you’re right even if they were working at full capacity I don’t think they would produce enough power for the heater. What about if you had 3 sets of panels, would that produce enough power to sustain the heater? Thanks for watching

[@four-x-trading5606]

You need a insulated tent

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@four-x-trading I’ve been thinking about getting one. Thanks for watching

[@russellcameron36]

Great video. What tent are you in?

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Russell Cameron thank you, glad you enjoyed! That’s the Instant A Frame tent from Ozark Trail. The one without the awning. It’s my favorite tent ever! If you haven’t seen my Buried in a Blizzard video, go check that out. I used that tent and the snow storm was crazy. Thanks for watching

[@russellcameron36]

@@AdventureswithSpackmann just watched it. That was hilarious and amazing. Can’t believe it held up. Thanks.

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Russell Cameron lol right! I couldn’t believe it! Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed it.

[@surjracer56]

Great vid! One question…what tent is that? Looks like it has a good amount of room.

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Suji-Outdoors thank you! Glad you enjoyed. The tent is the Instant A Frame from Ozark Trail. I’ve added a link to it on Walmart dot com in the description of the video. Thanks for watching

[@bradhamilton4290]

51 degrees you don't even need a heater save the power for nite time

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Brad Hamilton right, just seeing how warm I could make it. Thanks for watching

[@bradhamilton4290]

I don't meen to be annoying it's just I live in Minnesota and 51 is like put on a flannel weather. that being said I am interested in this experiment because I want to run a 250w desktop heater in a tens off a sportsman 1000 inverter generator and see if it gets warm

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Brad Hamilton did not think you were being annoying. And oh yeah 51 is for sure flannel weather. I think this was like a desktop style heater. I want to try it again but with electric generators instead of deep cycle batteries. And again with a heat blanket. See how that does. I have two 500w generators but I don’t think the peak is enough for the initial start up power a heater needs.

[@bradhamilton4290]

That was my thought exactly just use a heated planket. You can get a gas genie from tractor supply for cheep what kind of generator do you have I have big generators at home and I travel with a sportsman1000 inverter gas generator

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@@bradhamilton4290 I have a gas generator but would rather not bring that noise with me. My solar generator are Big Blue and IteHil. They work well. I’d prefer something bigger. Both are 500w.

[@BarnYardOutdoors]

I thought about doing this exact thing. I have a Lasko My Heat 200 Watt heater and tested it on a Rockpals 300 Lithium Power Station. I only got about 45 minutes of run time out of the heater before the battery died. Even with Solar recharging I determined Solar powered heating is just not feasible since it would require a lot of batteries to make it through the night and keep warm. (or a Jackery 2000, which is not in my budget) Plus the 200 Watt heater is more of an under-desk keep your feet warm type of heater. Without an insulated tent like an insulated ice fishing tent, the output of the heater would not keep up with the loss. Glad to see you tried some Reflectix insulation, that was a great idea. I think for my setup to work I would need to completely insulate all the surfaces inside the tent with Reflectix.

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@BarnYard Outdoors I agree, too many batteries to make it last all night. My idea was just to warm up before bed and in the morning. Or an off grid bug out cabin or shtf scenario where you can gather as many batteries from cars as you can lol. Many people suggested a heated blanket and I think I maybe trying that next. That’s a great idea. Thanks for watching

[@BarnYardOutdoors]

@@AdventureswithSpackmann I have a small lap sized electric blanket that is USB powered. That little thing works great inside my sleeping bag. Of course it offers no help when getting out of the bag to get dressed in sub-zero temps.

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@@BarnYardOutdoors that’s cool. I have a heated sleeping bag but being able to make my favorite sleeping bag heated now that’s cool.

[@Mapleaple]

The most feasible heating system i found to actually work is a 12v cigarette heating blanket tucked into a sleeping bag. Ran off a solar generator and only draws 70w to 80w from a decently sized blanket. Long as you have a solar panel system that charges more then 70w to 80w then the system is pretty close to being sustainable.

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Robert Pion a few people mentioned a heat blanket and I think I’ll try this next!

[@jasonbrown467]

Electric blanket will use much less power

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Jason Brown a few people have brought up an electric blanket. I may try that next. Thanks for watching

[@bigharrybushcraft8364]

Spackman: Big Blue sent me these solar panels to test, so we are going to see if we can make a solar powered hot tent. Big Blue: Crap! :)

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Big Harry Bushcraft that name lol. Also lol, it is what it is right. Couldn’t get the one to work, cable shattered on the other one. 🤷‍♂️ thanks for watching

[@martinwoollett8468]

why not use an electric blanket instead? uses a lot less power.

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Martin woollett I didn’t think about an electric blanket before this. You’re not alone in thinking about one though. Lots of people have brought that up. Maybe I should try that next? Thanks for watching

[@docink6175]

I think you know that I'm more into van type camping/living and they do a lot with batteries but heating is not one of them. You need a really large battery bank to run a heater like that. A fully charged battery should read 13 point something even 14 point something at 12.9 your battery was almost dead. There's a lot that goes into charging with solar, you have to have the angle of the panel to the sun correct and Chase the sun across the sky with your panels etc etc etc which is why I actually consider them a backup to a backup although many in the van world swear by them. If you have a week of cloudy weather you're not getting fully charged, and where time like your experiencing you're not getting a full charge in the few hours available. I think a diesel heater would be a decent alternative as long as you have your sled. You'll need a battery to run that all night but it doesn't use as much electricity and you'll probably need a half gallon of diesel fuel as well as the heater. They actually sell them in a box but that's way more expensive. You can buy the one without a box and build one that will work fine. Speaking of building one have you considered building a wood stove out of two number 10 cans?

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Doc Ink you’re right that you need a large battery bank to do it. Probably about 20+ batteries or a well insulated small space. Perhaps only use the space heater when fire isn’t an option, morning time to avoid having smoke seen in a bug out scenario or something. Chasing the sun is not fun. My one buddy does it all day to recharge his headlamp and phone etc and yeah it’s an all day process but can be done. Scavenge enough batteries and solar panels anything is possible lol. I have thought about making wood stove out of #10 cans or paints cans, why do you ask? I actually just got a new stove in last night. The thing is huge and beautiful! Thanks for watching

[@CoreyGunzzz]

First

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Corey Gunzzz you’re my boy BLU! Lol

[@magnusdarkhan974]

Try an electric blanket instead of a space heater.

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Magnus Darkhan ohhh that’s a good idea. Any clue on wattage of one? Thanks for watching

[@magnusdarkhan974]

@@AdventureswithSpackmann Check out this video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/iprKlXaMf9CIl7s

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@Magnus Darkhan nice I’ll check it out.

[@night23fox]

Almost 1st

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@night23fox all I can picture is that credit card commercial with that guy with the dollar on the fishing pole saying “you got to try harder that that” lol. Thanks for watching!

[@gamestechvideos]

Bruh use a mppt

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

Mppt? Thanks for watching

[@gamestechvideos]

@@AdventureswithSpackmann Mppt solar charge controller - it 1:charges the battery more efficiently (controls voltage and amperage) and 2: protects battery from overcharging

[@AdventureswithSpackmann]

@@gamestechvideos ah gotcha. Thanks