Engine Block Heater Controller

The Power Badger’s patented function is a major leap forward in energy savings and reliable cold weather vehicle starting.

Here’s how it works: Simply set your desired “Ready Time” and the Power Badger™ does the rest. By controlling the block heater (or pad heater/s) installed on your engine, the vehicle will be ready to start at your desired “Ready Time” using the minimum amount of power necessary.

  • Senses outside temperature and adjusts automatically
  • Saves energy and $$$ ... Pays for itself in 1-2 seasons!
  • Rugged, weather resistant design, made for harsh winters
  • Two Modes:
    • Ready your engine for a specific start time
    • Maintain your engine ready to start anytime
  • Controls: engine block heaters, pan/tank heaters, battery warmers, etc…
  • 1800 watts capacity

The Power Badger was specifically engineered to function in extreme cold, snowy, icy and wet conditions. The unit’s rugged, water resistant design is intended to endure years in harsh northern environments, offering continually flawless performance, year after year.

Until now engine heaters were inefficient, uncontrolled energy wasters. Most engine block heaters use energy all the time (as soon as they are plugged in). The majority of people simply plug in their heater when the get home and let it run constantly, all night long, often wasting 500-1500 watts of power per hour. That’s $1.15-$5.45 of wasted energy per day (depending on your heater wattage, climate and local power rates). In cases like these, the Power Badger™ could pay for itself (in energy savings) in less than one season’s use, and will almost always pay for itself within 2 seasons use.

Use the Savings Estimator below to see how much you could start saving with the Power Badger!

Savings Estimator

Wattage of heater
What time do you generally plug in your heater?
Vehicle location
What time does your vehicle need to be ready to start?
Savings Timed Mode Maintain Mode
Daily Savings
Monthly Savings
Season Savings
Payback Time

Canada province average temperatures and savings are based on 0-350 km north of US border. Savings are based on average winter low temperatures by state as published by the US government agency, NOAA, and by Canadian provinces as published by Meteorological Service of Canada Electricity rates (by US state, are shown in US dollars) based on data as published by US Energy Administration 09/18/2017 and do not include taxes and fees Electricity rates (Canadian provinces, are shown in Canadian dollars) based on data as published by hydrorates.ca 09/18/2017 and do not include taxes

The Power Badger

How is the Power Badger™ different (and better) than a timer?

  1. Automatic:  More than just a timer, the Power Badger™ is a block heater controller that does the time calculations for you, based on actual outside temperature. No more guessing about how cold it may be tomorrow, next week or many weeks from now, the Badger will make the timing adjustments for you, automatically, every day.
  2. Maintain:  When a simple timer reaches the set “end” time, what does it do?....... it just turns off,... allowing your engine to get cold if you are not right there to get it started. With the Power Badger™, once the (user set) “ready” time is reached, the Badger will maintain your engine in a ready-to-start condition for up to 9 hours, using as little electricity as the temperature allows.
  3. Durability:  Unlike most timers, the Power Badger™ is designed for the extreme cold and is water resistant. In tough winter conditions the Badger will easily outlast most every timer on the market.
  4. Capacity:  The Power Badger™ can safely handle up to 1800 watts of heater load. Most timers can only take a fraction of that wattage.
  5. Memory:  Loss of electricity changes the timing on a manual timer, but not with The Power Badger™. The Badger has a built-in battery backup that saves your settings and maintains accurate time during the outage, up to 6 months! When the electricity comes back on, the Badger picks up right where it left off. No adjustments for power outages necessary!
  6. Long Cords:  The Power Badger™ has 5’ long cords on either end (for a 10’ total reach) allowing it to be used as an extension cord itself. Most simple timers have a very short pigtail and a plug outlet, requiring the timer to be hung on a wall right next to a power outlet and necessitating the use of a separate extension cord.
  7. Smart:  No power usage when temperatures are above 40° F.

Power Badger – How does it work? – explained

The Power Badger has two selectable active control modes:

  • Timed Ready Mode – (most efficient) use this mode when you know about what time you will be using the engine.
  • Maintain Ready Mode – use this mode when you need the engine to be ready to start anytime / all the time.

Below explains what the device is doing during each of these modes:

Timed Ready Mode:

  • When the Power Badger is put into “Timed Ready” mode, the user will have already input their desired “Ready Time” (their intended start time of the engine) into the device (during the initial setup process). The unit uses the outside temperature sensor and factory pre-programmed algorithm to calculate the optimum time to begin heating the engine ahead of the selected “Ready Time”. The unit will turn on at the calculated time (temperature dependent) and remain steady-on until the selected “Ready Time” is reached. Once the user programmed ready time has passed, the unit will automatically switch to “maintain after ready” mode for the user selected amount of hours (0-9), thereby keeping the engine ready to start for that amount of time.

Example; if the controller is set with a “Ready Time” of 6:00am and 2 hours are selected for “maintain after ready”, then the engine would be ready to start at 6:00am and then remain ready until 8:00am. Once the user selected amount of hours to maintain after ready has elapsed, the unit will shut off the heater and ready itself for the next programmed event.

The Power Badger’s factory settings will not allow heating to begin if the sensed temperature is at or above 40°F (5°C).

Maintain Ready Mode:

  • When the Power Badger is put into “Maintain Ready” mode, the microprocessor senses the outside temperature and calculates a duty cycle for the heater. It divides the hour into 6 cycles (of ten total minutes each) and calculates how much of that ten minutes will be heater on and how many will be heater off. Example; at 28°F / 2°C the unit would be at a 50% duty cycle. A 50% duty cycle would mean that the controller turns the heater on for 5 minutes on then off for 5 minutes,… repeating that cycle for 6 duty cycles every hour.

The Power Badger’s programming begins a duty cycle calculation at 39°F (4°C) and colder. As the temperature drops, the Power Badger will increase the duty cycle, until it is at 100% (which happens at -22°F / -30°C and colder). No cycle “on time” will be assigned at temperatures above 39°F (4°C).

TESTIMONIALS

“We have a ‘97 Cummins 5.9 truck. In the cold it starts allot better when I plug it in. the Badger seems to be good at getting the truck ready when I need it.”

Private Truck Owner (Idaho)

“Tugs, tractors, trucks, gen-sets,… if its got a diesel engine and we need it in the winter, it has to be plugged in up here. The Power Badger helps keep our equipment ready to start and saves on energy.”

Airport Equipment Maintenance Manager (Minnesota)

“I used the Power Badger at home and brought it to work for my boss to try.He liked it so much, he just ordered 5 for the company trucks and 2 more for equipment at our job sites!”

Heavy Equipment Operator (Ohio)

“I am a volunteer fire fighter in the western mountains of North Carolina. I drive a 2003 6.0L ford diesel that hates to start in the cold. The Power Badger helps me keep my truck ready to go in a place that can be 60 degrees one day ...

“I use the Power Badger with my ‘04 Chev, and it does what it says. The truck is ready to start when I need it and I save 20-$30 per month from when I had it plugged in all the time.”

Private Truck Owner (Wisconsin)

“Our department has started using a Badger (in “maintain” mode) to keep ready one of our older trucks that can’t always be kept inside during the winter. To date, it has started fine each time when plugged in to the (PB).”

Municipal Fire Department (Iowa)

 “It seems to be most beneficial during the transitional seasons when I used to have to adjust the timer I was using at least once a week due to the outside temperature changes; now the Badger does that automatically.”

Private Truck Owner (Illinois)

“I didn’t know if it would work for me because it gets really cold up here, but so far this season the PB has worked as advertised.”

Private Truck Owner (North Dakota)

“Way easier than the old-fashioned timer I had used.”

Private Truck Owner (Massachusetts)

“We were having an employee come in at 3 am every school day just to plug in the busses; now the Power Badger gets the fleet ready and saves on our district’s power costs at the same time.”

Bus Fleet Manager (Colorado)

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