Getting warmer

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Camping in summer is great. Any other time of year it is chilly so rather than burying myself under a pile of sleeping bags; why not try fitting a Webasto?


Webasto block heaters are great and can be convinced to work just like a heater with the right wiring and control boxes.
The one I went and bought was purely a block heater but it did come with its complete wiring loom, a rear blower with loom, lots of pipe work and even a complete diesel tank so I had the pick up point.
What it did not have was a control box or any ability to do what I wanted of it.

This left me with a few of options:
  • Get the OEM kit to make this heater come on at certain times like a caravelle.
    This would be expensive, loose my nice sun glasses cubby hole and wouldn't do what I wanted.




  • Buy a retrofit thermostat kit to make the magic happen
     to my otherwise bog standard block heater.





  • Try to be clever and program something using a raspeberry pi. What could possibly go wrong?
    Well hopefully I could figure out the triggers for this largely isolated system and with the help of a thermister and some luck, make a heating system for my van.


Safe in the middle

 The middle is a nice safe place where nothing ever goes wrong.
The middle was a retrofit option. More money but surely less hassle?

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