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Hair dryer


manxmike

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Does anyone know if there is such a device as a 12 volt hairdryer that actually works?

The ones we have had in the past have been absolute rubbish, no heat and no blow.

I've even looked at rechargeable ones, but they only blow cold air when on battery, for heat they have to be plugged into the mains.

 

Help!

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6 minutes ago, manxmike said:

Does anyone know if there is such a device as a 12 volt hairdryer that actually works?

The ones we have had in the past have been absolute rubbish, no heat and no blow.

I've even looked at rechargeable ones, but they only blow cold air when on battery, for heat they have to be plugged into the mains.

 

Help!

 

We have never found one that works. We started looking over 35 years ago when first started caravanning.

 

Good luck in your quest but I fear it is a lost cause.

 

 

Edited by The Happy Nomad
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I don't think such a thing exists. The problem is that 12v sockets are usually limited to 15 amps, so that's what 12v hair dryers draw. That is equal to 180 Watts, which is next to nothing in heating terms. So on a warm day you might feel slightly tepid air blowing from it but that will be about as good as it gets. 

 

Years ago I bought one of those dash mounted electric fan heaters. They are marketed to enable you in instantly clear your windscreen with warm air on a frosty morning......it too was rated at 180 watts. It was next to useless. On a frosty morning I think it sucked in the air at 0 degrees and perhaps warmed it to 10 degrees!

Edited by booke23
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This is an easy one to answer. They dont exist. The problem however is easily solved. Dispose of the high maintenence female that these things invariably are purchased for. My first missus needed such crap, the present one of over thirty years living aboard didnt have one, she doesnt now even in a house. High cost wimmin are replaceable. Or blokes if you are that way inclined.

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26 minutes ago, Puffling said:

Pick a sunny day to perform the washing of the mane. Towel first, then out in the sun to finish.

So, once a month in winter, strange. 

I keep hair short, towel dry, then put on a big bobble hat if I'm going out. 

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It follows from Ohm's Law that a 1200W heater for a 12V supply would draw 100A, which would require some pretty massive cables.  

 

When my wife's original hairdryer element failed, I found that the fan motor actually ran at 12V DC derived by a tapping from the heater element and a small silicon rectifier. Removing the element,  fitting a 12V car plug and wiring the mains lead to the motor, allowed its use as a cold air blower. Better than nothing, but not by much!

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C uses a travel hairdryer runs off the inverter draws 900w and worked well on a 1k inverter.

Only downside is don't try it on half power as that just puts a diode across the supply and the inverter doesn't like it.

 

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Some excellent replies, thanks to all.

As I thought, it's basically a no go, having said which I am surprised that Mr Dyson hasn't invented a hair dryer that needs no electricity, works off the movement of the planets and can also be used to clean your teeth, trim your toenails and dispose of members of extinction rebellion when they chain themselves to lock gates or glue themselves to slip roads on the M25.

Nanu nanu schazbot!

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2 minutes ago, manxmike said:

Some excellent replies, thanks to all.

As I thought, it's basically a no go, having said which I am surprised that Mr Dyson hasn't invented a hair dryer that needs no electricity, works off the movement of the planets and can also be used to clean your teeth, trim your toenails and dispose of members of extinction rebellion when they chain themselves to lock gates or glue themselves to slip roads on the M25.

Nanu nanu schazbot!

 

Mr Dyson is too busy buying land, he’s something like the 25th biggest landowner in the UK now, must need the grazing for all those ballbarrows that are now put out to pasture ;) 

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22 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

 

Mr Dyson is too busy buying land, he’s something like the 25th biggest landowner in the UK now, must need the grazing for all those ballbarrows that are now put out to pasture ;) 

 

He owns more land than the Queen.

His agricultural business (Beeswax) has been of huge benefit in Lincolnshire and country-wide, particularly his 'environmental' 'energy-crops' and the glasshouses for strawberries so they are available in March and saves thousands of 'carbon miles' importing from Israel etc.

 

How much land does beeswax Dyson own?
We now have 35,000 acres of farmland and we produce 35,000 tonnes of wheat, 9000 tonnes of spring barley, 15,000 tonnes potatoes, 9000 tonnes of vining peas, and 100,000 tonnes of energy crops.
 
If we are no longer importing all our grains from Russia, we may be very grateful for his Wheat keeping 'bread on the table', and Barley in our beer.
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2 hours ago, Loddon said:

C uses a travel hairdryer runs off the inverter draws 900w and worked well on a 1k inverter.

Only downside is don't try it on half power as that just puts a diode across the supply and the inverter doesn't like it.

 

Diana does the same. That another 5Ah it takes from my 24 volt batteries. This is normally in the morning just before I start the engine.

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2 hours ago, Loddon said:

C uses a travel hairdryer runs off the inverter draws 900w and worked well on a 1k inverter.

Only downside is don't try it on half power as that just puts a diode across the supply and the inverter doesn't like it.

 

In series surely, or else       BANG!

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15 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

In series surely, or else       BANG!

Yes I didn't say parallel or series 

It was early is my defence for not being more specific 😉

 

37 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Diana does the same. That another 5Ah it takes from my 24 volt batteries. This is normally in the morning just before I start the engine.

As C takes a while to get ready for the world I am usually already on the move before the dryer goes on 😱

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30 or so years ago it was common for small mains TVs that could also be used on 12VDC,  to have a diode connected in reverse parallel across the 12VDC input. The idea was that, when the power lead was connected with the correct polarity, the diode did nothing, but if the lead was accidentally connected the wrong way round, the diode would put a dead short across the 12V supply and blow the fuse. It's sometimes referred to in industry as crowbar protection, from the concept of sticking a crowbar across the terminals of a power source  in an emergency to provide a dead short in order to trip the supply's own circuit  protection rather than breaking a series connection. When TVs used cathode ray tubes, the alternative of putting a diode in series would have caused excessive voltage drop.

Edited by Ronaldo47
typos
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20 hours ago, Ronaldo47 said:

It follows from Ohm's Law that a 1200W heater for a 12V supply would draw 100A, which would require some pretty massive cables.  

 

When my wife's original hairdryer element failed, I found that the fan motor actually ran at 12V DC derived by a tapping from the heater element and a small silicon rectifier. Removing the element,  fitting a 12V car plug and wiring the mains lead to the motor, allowed its use as a cold air blower. Better than nothing, but not by much!

Not really Ohm's Law (I = V/R) but the definition of Watts = Volts * Amps.

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