Winter coolant heater quick detach idea

Hey guys, I remember looking at a promising tech a few years ago for my 7.3 pickup where the plug to your winter coolant heater/frostheater was magnetically held together. In theory, you could pull out of your driveway/wherever and it would automatically detach. I don't remember the name of the original product, but it looks like they were bought out/renamed to "VoltSafe" and still haven't released anything to backers in however many years its been.

This made me want to look into alternatives available already on the market, and while there's nothing designed specifically for powering our coolant heaters, I came across a similar idea for trailer lighting by "EZ-Connector". It has more contacts than is necessary for AC power as they're designed for 7 or 14 pin trailer connectors, but you could gang a few together to help reduce resistance. I have yet to contact the company, but plan to ask them if they have any testing/specs for voltage and current rating. I was thinking about using the 7 pin connector, model "EZS7" and using 3 pins each for hot and neutral, one for ground. I'm sure someone is cringing about using an electrical connector for something other than it was designed, but I like to live dangerously I guess

What do you guys think? Here's a good link to the product page of what I'm considering: http://shop.ezconnector.com/c/ezs7-new-self-closing-model

I realize this isn't even remotely necessary, but is a "cool" upgrade that might save me/someone backing out of their driveway in a hurry and dragging their power cords/breaking something in the grill.

If you're thinking about installing the female connector on the vehicle (which would make sense), well, that would make the male plug a 'suicide plug', thanks to those nice, exposed contacts.
Just sayin'...

2X... that connector is perfectly safe at the 12 volts it was designed for, but potentially lethal if operated at 110 volts.

cuppie said:

If you're thinking about installing the female connector on the vehicle (which would make sense), well, that would make the male plug a 'suicide plug', thanks to those nice, exposed contacts.
Just sayin'...

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Oooh, you're right bleh. I can't think of a good solution that doesn't involve some overly complex electronic continuity check on one of the pins. Thanks for the heads up, I concede.

you could wire in a relay on the house side that would turn power on and off to plug when it is is plugged together. Use 2 extra pins in the plug. on the car side, jump the pins to make a loop back to relay. This could be low voltage or dry contact. when contact is made, the relay turns on and allows high voltage to go through the connection.

Im not an electrician but i have seen similar things done on automation.

vandermic07 said:

you could wire in a relay on the house side that would turn power on and off to plug when it is is plugged together. Use 2 extra pins in the plug. on the car side, jump the pins to make a loop back to relay. This could be low voltage or dry contact. when contact is made, the relay turns on and allows high voltage to go through the connection.

Im not an electrician but i have seen similar things done on automation.

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Now that would work quite well!
I'd suggest a doorbell transformer for the relay coil circuit. Then just find a relay who's coil runs at ~16v, with contacts rated at *at least* 120vAC / 15A.

I don't think you would like the look but we use auto ejects on all our fire trucks. As soon as you hit the starter it pops the end of the extension cord out and you drive away.

https://www.feldfire.com/Weatherproof-Auto-Eject_p_490.html

vandermic07 said:

you could wire in a relay on the house side that would turn power on and off to plug when it is is plugged together.

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Hmm I actually like this idea quite a lot. I wonder what the actual size of those trailer contacts is though, whether they'd handle the ~6A@120AC.

Dave89 said:

I don't think you would like the look but we use auto ejects on all our fire trucks. As soon as you hit the starter it pops the end of the extension cord out and you drive away.

https://www.feldfire.com/Weatherproof-Auto-Eject_p_490.html

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Wow, automatic ejection even! Clever! Expensive for personal use, but very intriguing

Thank you for your suggestions!

I just park head into the cord so if I back out in the morning she pops out without a fuss. Instant ejection and free of money (my fave). I’ve only done it once but there was no harm done.