Voltsafe - Magnetic Block Heater Cord w/App Timer

[Thorvald]

Discovered this new device thanks to this forum. Their website is www.voltsafe.com and they are starting to be sold in a few store chains in Canada and the USA.

My order arrived today, shipped out quick from the manufacturer even though they used Canada Post (regular mail, usually not a good idea for speed but good for costs). The App was recently updated so now it supports scheduling and appears to keep the schedule even after powering off (based on quick testing).

One item that needs work is the cover, it's pretty loose and looks like it might flap around easily. Thankfully the magnet is on the vehicle mounting side so I'll just silicone or superglue a small ferrous nut inside the cover over the magnet and that should hold the cover closed at all times. Something I'll suggest to the manufacturer that they add. The power cord is about 10 feet long and contrary to what some of the info I heard from videos, it did not include an adapter for normal plugs. So you'll need to bring the cord with your if you need to plugin at your destination. I'll post up a YouTube unboxing later.

For those that do not know about this device, its a magnetically attached power cord for your block heater that is app enabled. If you (or your better half) forget to unplug the vehicle when leaving, no issue, it just pops off without dragging a cord down the highway. Also very easy to just "click" connect it at night without needing to get down under your license plate/bumper to find that blasted block heater cord.

Very impressed by the unit so far (they were on Dragons Den years ago), now I just need the weather to get actually cold again to use it!





Inside the box was the unit and three zipties plus a foam pad. The foam pad just sticks to the back of the unit so it doesn't scratch up your grille (also compresses nicely with the zipties). It fits perfectly on the 3500 lower grille and can be easily removed in the summertime since it's just two zipties.

 

[Wmhjr]

I bought this kit myself some weeks ago. However I have a Baja Designs light bar in that lower grill, so I could not place it there. Unfortunately that also meant that due to the active grill on our trucks, there was no real way to mount it to my HD so I had to return it. I wish they had a different form factor. I liked the magnetic connection.

 

[H3LZSN1P3R]

I have no idea how people can forget to remove the cord

 

[Great White North Eh]

Awesome find! How many Canukle bucks?

 

[Thorvald]

Unboxing video posted now:

It retails for $139 CDN from their site but no idea what Canadian Tire and others will sell it for.

 

[Great White North Eh]

Good video. Hey do you know/test how close to the cord you need to be to be able to program it? Thank you

 

[Thorvald]

Well it got it‘s first tests.... passed with flying colours (or should I say flying cords lol):

1. Wife used the truck for work the other morning and forgot about the cord... I found it laying nicely in the middle of the driveway. Thankfully magnets did their job, no damage at all.

2. Oldest son came home from work at night and tripped over the cord...made a comment about how easily it came out... didn’t know about the magnets.

This in only the first two days of using it lol. I suspect due to the larger thickness of the cable and not easily laying flat is why it’s more of a trip hazard (crappy Canadian Tire Extension cords never did that but they are thin as hell and just freeze to the driveway anyways lol). I feel that 10 feet is just too short for the cord though.

—-

I also now know why it doesn’t save your programmed schedule and I’m happy they don’t. Wanted to plug it in on the weekend during the day and forgot about the schedule... if it had been saved the truck would not have warmed up. Thankfully it did. They are apparently working on a way to do this but for now I prefer not saving the schedule upon power loss. I ended up simply plugging it into a SmartPlug that I can control via a WiFi app (I used EmporiaEnergy) and I control the schedule via that. It has the ability to easily ignore the schedule or turn off/on different schedules. Much easier.

One item they need to sell is a spare cord for the truck so I can just leave it plugged in at hone and have one for the road. I’ll make a follow up video in a few weeks after we get some real winter temperatures.

Cheers
Tim

 

[Great White North Eh]

Thx. Ya for the price it should come with two cords. When you need to plug it in at work kind of defeats the purpose because you have to unplug the male end of the cord and bring the cord along.

 

[Wmhjr]

I think they really need to have another option for mounting. The truck side magnetic plug could easily be adapted by them so that you would be about to mount it in a different way. If you have a '19+ and you have a light bar in the lower grill along with parking sensors, you cannot use the Voltsafe.

 

[Thorvald]

I actually saw someone’s solution to this, I’ll see if I can find the picture again. They simply zip tied it to the front tow hook, didn’t look as bad as I thought it would.

i’d like to add a light bar as well but I don’t want to block any of the cooling rads that are in behind there. Will find a different method.

 

[el_barto]

This is pretty awesome. The MagSafe cords on MacBooks were always smart to keep your laptop from falling off the table if someone tripped over your cable, or even just protect the plug from damage if it gets pulled on.

I’ve been looking into a block heater + battery tender on my power wagon, and was considering an auto eject plug, like we use on all our fire apparatus ... but this is neat (no extra wiring needed) and a bit cheaper.

 

[Wmhjr]

I actually saw someone’s solution to this, I’ll see if I can find the picture again. They simply zip tied it to the front tow hook, didn’t look as bad as I thought it would.

i’d like to add a light bar as well but I don’t want to block any of the cooling rads that are in behind there. Will find a different method.

I think you'd be surprised in that it's unlikely that the light bar will impact cooling. If the light bar would negatively impact it, then the replacement rock plate would have an even more negative effect.

 

[Thorvald]

Finally decided to put on the winter cover, it’s been pretty mild so far but Jan/Feb are usually our serious winter months. As suspected the grill is totally covered so ther is no place to mount the Voltsafe. I mounted It to to the passenger tow hook which worked well and will be even easier to take off in the summer.

 

[Thorvald]

Well winter is fast on it's way here, just had a little snow today. On a good note the VoltSafe worked perfectly last winter, saved my block heater cord three times from my Wife... lol. This year they have a new phone software in beta testing and they enabled WiFi support on the plug so you can see the status and program the new schedules from inside the house etc.

I am going to pickup another for my Jeep and I now see that Princess Auto is carrying it now (think Harbour Freight in Canada), so looks like it's more widely distributed this year.

Once the new app is out of beta I'll do another Youtube review and cover how it went last year.

Cheers
Tim

P.S. Begging them for CarPlay / Android Auto support, would be cool to see the status right on the radio deck and maybe warn the Wife it's still connected lol!