Intro and questions

[Van-dweller]

Hi everyone, very happy to have found both the Afterburner and this forum to discuss it. I'm in the US and frequently camp at elevations 3000m+, so this controller should be a real game changer for me in terms of tuning to perfection while up that high. And yet still have proper functionality at the beach too. 

So right now I've read most of what I can find on the ins and outs of chinese diesel heaters and the afterburner controller. Including the pdf here showing how to assess compatibility or likely compatibility with various heater candidates. So I searched US amazon and ebay for a suitable candidate. Long story short, I could not find ANY that had the round threaded connector shown. They all seem to have a squarish multiprong plug connector. Some had LCD displays that were on the likely approved list, but the vast majority fell into the possibly dubious or no-go category. And of course they never show what the ECU motherboard looks like in the product pictures.

It appears the Chinese have made fairly recent refinements in their electronic control systems in the last 2-3 years (perhaps beyond when the afterburner was first developed). Or maybe Australia/UK has access to slightly different models then here in the states? I checked UK and AUS ebay and the product lineup appeared the same.

Anyway, I did find the controller shown in the ebay link below very commonly available on the units I see for sale. 

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/35cAAOSwr...-l960.webp  

This controller is described in the pdf as "should be treated with caution." So maybe these will work and maybe not. But the ECU motherboard you can get with this controller does appear to be on the list.

12V 24V 2KW-8KW Diesel Heater LCD Monitor Control Board Motherboard Advanced @ | eBay 


And this listing claims this remote/display/ECU has "advanced functions." And it describes entering a password to access the special functions. But doesn't tell you what the password is (in the description anyway). I assume all this means the motherboard from this vendor is in all likelihood compatible with the Afterburner? And it may also mean that many of the diesel heaters that presently have this style controller could or should have the same ECU shown here?

Sorry for the length of this message, just wanted to be thorough. Thanks in advance for any of your thoughts.

[afterburner]

The reason why "treat with caution" is that same blue painted shell is now fitted out either with the (circa 2018) original style controller hardware, or the Chinese have performed a shifty and replaced the ECU with a modern featureless unit and also altered the hardware of the controller's innards.

So controller images these days are a cesspool of "I have no f'ing idea" what you are really going to get.

The ONLY part that matters is the ECU within the heater body.
The controller is NOT required to use the Afterburner.

So yes, the Afterburner is developed around the very decent ECU protocol of 2018, it has progressively gotten worse over time with newer inferior ECUs showing up.
Not the mention "trying to catch up" with some of the ideas first proven in the Afterburner many years ago.

[Van-dweller]

Thanks for the reply. I have ordered this one on ebay:

Diesel Air Heater 2KW 5KW 8KW NEW LCD 12V-24V Car Truck Van Boat Night Parking | eBay

I asked the seller if the ECU is programmable with a passcode and she said it is and sent me a pdf manual indicating as much. So, I took that as a pretty good sign the ECU was compatible with the Afterburner. When I receive it, I'll check it out and then order the Afterburner along with a few spare compatible ECUs I see for sale on ebay as well.

Looking forward to having a full featured and reliable heater for my van that is a fraction of the cost of a Webasto or Espacher. Plus I can service it any time in the field with a few spare parts in hand after going through the process of getting familiar with its ins and outs. 

Thanks again for the info, I will be in touch.

[diyernh]

I have several Espar diesel air heaters, a newer D2  and D4 that has the variable speed and starts up easier in very cold weather.  I also have an older D4 that is the stepped speed fan and doesn't start at cold that easily.

I'm trying to use delta temperatures to maintain one space a little warmer than another.  ie temperature inside my camper/storage is 2C above the outside temps.  What can your Afterburner controller do?

Verbose:
I have disconnected my controllers and just running the  analog wiring (red, brown-white, yellow, grey-red, and soon the external temp sensor wire (color?))

My current Arduino code is looping ever 5 minutes.  Is the inside temp less than 2C above the outside?
   { Then turn on the heater (yellow hot 12V) for 20 minutes in a loop, currently logging to SD card/ website for developement}
else
   {The turn off the heater for 10 minutes for cooldown]

If the temperature outside is below -10C, just turn off the heater, logging data every 5 minutes for development.  Don't try heating the inside temperature when the outside it too cold.

I've got other aspects, like if the delta T is too large, don't do anything.  Diurnal temperatures don't drastically move in 5 minutes.... Something is wrong.. Error... Don't run the heat.

Currently I'm battling the Grey-red temperature control voltage with the intake air temp in the heater.  Not connecting the grey-red defaults to 0C control temp.  I'll need to control the external thermostat and the control temps to max to force the heater into full power operation.  Currently it's barely running on low.  I want all full power to ensure that I don't carbon up the heater.  On/off will be the arduino.

This control algorithm does work with my campers on/off propane forced air heater.  The Espar is more complex than just Full on/ Full off control.