mad skills I wear it while working ... do not like to leave the heat on too high wile working , makes me sleepy
This is exactly the sort of information that we all need, esp. since the down jacket has no moving parts and works on or off the bike. The price is very right. I owe you at least one beer, and so does every other cold-weather rider.
What my buddy did was use the stuff a seamstress would use for pant cuffs that is ironed on instead of sewing. If you are using a removable jacket liner the stuff won't even be noticeable
Let me know how the gloves work out.. I'm currently using "Grabber McCoal" hand warmers when things get a touch nippy.
Being an Anal-hypen-Retentive engineer and cheap-ass, I've decided to build my own electic jacket. bunch of tight asses', own KLR's do ya? Actually, the thought of me wrapping myself in 30-40 feet of powered wire is an accident waiting to fry, I mean happen, This ain't no hobby boys. just saying
http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html...sin=B000GUNAZ6 Puffer Jacket ? :huh With a name like that, I'll be those are flying off the shelves But seriously, Enjoying the thread. Toying with experimenting with the heated stuff. I like the idea of starting with the Wally World seat heater and advancing from there.
I'll likely get slammed by some EE that shows me some fundamental thing that I am missing here, but I have noted some things in my electrical life that may be of interest here. OHMS law is great and all but it seems to have one "flaw" that I have uncovered in automotive applications. Now first let me say that I do not dispute the laws of physics, or electricity. My observation is simply this. 12v = 1ohm * 12 amps. Use an ohm meter on the bench and I see 1 ohm. Hook up the circuit and I measure 10 amps with an inline amp meter. I go back thinking I have a power supply voltage problem. Nope, total voltage drop is 12v. What happened? The bulb got hot. Resistance changed when the bulb was 600 degrees f or what ever temp it turned out to be. Any chance the unexpected results some have gotten are related to this behavior?
so it's better to buy a commercial vest with 30-40 feet of powered wire? ever see an electric blanket? ever hear of fusing? spend that consumable income never use anything that isn't approved by somebody best advice is to never try and do something yourself, it's probably not a good idea to change the oil in yer bike neither, you probably ain't certified
I have nothing to get over. Just seemed that a positive temperature coefficient could be the issue with the less than stellar performance of some of the designs here. I'll quit messing with bulbs as soon as they stop showing up in vehicle applications. Soon enough I suspect.
Sorry dewd, I was just joking around. Don't take me too seriously. I like building shit, it's just something to do in the winter, and it's kinda fun having these little projects sometimes. The winters are too long.
I did have one thought for tempreture controlls.. LED indicator relays, these are set to a certain time and not off load, so adding a varyable resistor where the set resistor for "time on" would normally be you'd get much the same effect as a PWM controller.. just a thought.. Or otherwise how about a thermostatic switch? seems to make allot more sense? seeing as it would react to the tempreture without you needing to pish about turning it up/down all the time.. you'd not even need a controll other than on/off then.. any reason that wouldn't work?
People have used turn signal realys with some success even. It seems like you need either no heat, some heat, or lots of heat. If it works for you, use it!
I have my jacket completely wired now. As I posted earlier, I tailored the mesh liner to fit snug against my body while allowing the outer shell to keep a loose appearance. I threaded the 30ga. wire between the outer shell and mesh liner, only poking through the liner every few inches to keep the wire in place. The small amount of wire poking through the liner does not burn my bare arms while wearing only a short sleeve shirt. In my first attempt, I tried to wire the entire jacket with 34' of wire. I ran out of wire just before I finished my wiring pattern, so I had to add a few feet to the length. I plugged-in the PWM and checked the heat level. I was running about 48 watts in this configuration and I could tell just standing beside the bike that it wouldn't be enough. I decided I would rewire the jacket with two 30' lengths of the 30ga. wire, each covering half the jacket, and wired in parallel. I removed the first wiring job and installed the two 30' lengths. The biggest PITA is finding a wiring pattern that uses all the wire you want without running out before you end your pattern! I had to pull some wiring a couple of times to get it right. Final outcome is the jacket has 1.7 ohms resistance, draws 8.5 amps and cranks out a whopping 122 watts at 14.4 volts!! I wasn't afraid of having too much heat since the PWM worked very well on my test run and will turn down to zero output. For comparison, the Warm N Safe men's jacket has 1.6 ohms resistance and would draw 9 smps and put out 130 watts at 14.4 volts. The PWM sits in a project box in my tank bag and can be reached easily by unzipping the bag zipper just a few inches. I'll be wiring a pair of pants as soon as they arrive (I altered the first pair in a way I don't like and can't undo). I'm planning to put two 40' sections in the pants to match the heat output of the jacket (I figure around 90 watts total). Here are my supplies: Jacket http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4939314 Pants http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4939294 Hook Up Wire http://weicowire.com/cartadd.asp?sPartNumber=2330&sProductType=Hook%2DUp+Wire MX033 Pulse Width Modulator http://store.qkits.com/moreinfo.cfm/MX033 or http://www.aseanexport.com/Division/TechnologyKit/MX.php Project Box http://www.hobbyengineering.com/H2041.html SAE flat connectors http://www.solarseller.com/low_voltage_dc_pumps__lvm__teel__accessories__plugs_and_extensions.htm Kev.
On my first trip to Copper Canyon one of our group rode a CX500 south out of Bato to the Rio Urique on a road that I have never seen a big trailie on. Nuthin wrong with a CX500.
I have a little Minolta camera that I always carry on the bike. The only problem is, the batteries freeze up. If I carry it inside my jacket, it' too much of a pain to take it out all the time. So, I bought this little automotive baby bottle warmer, and plug it into one of the SAE plugs in my tankbag.