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Posted by David Sherman on Wednesday, June 03, 2009 at 03:11:29 :
Sportsmans Guide is selling NOS military surplus MRE heaters for $30. The unit consists of an insulated bag about the size of a lunch box, with a rubberized heating element zig-zagging inside of it. You can fit about any kind of food you can put in a baggie or wrap up in foil in it. They claim they run on 24 volts only, but I find it works just great on 12 volts. The heater is thermostatically controlled at about 170 degrees, and has an on/off switch on the cord. I replaced the plug that came with it with a standard cigarette lighter plug that you can get at lots of places or scrounge of a junked cell-phone charger.
It ought to take 4 times as long to get hot at 12 volts as at 24, but it still heats up to where the thermostat shuts off within a couple minutes. It even has magnets on the bottom to keep it from sliding around if you stick it on a metal part of your cab. I haven't taken it on a road trip yet, but it should be real handy for warming up left-overs, burritos, stew, or tea.
Just thought I'd pass it along, especially the part about it working fine on 12 volts even though the description says "24".