Well it was a chilly 50 degrees this morning and time to break out my new Synergy 2.0 heated jacket and leather gloves for the first time. For the last week I was getting the bikes electrics ready, making the direct connection modification from the Reg/Rectifier to the battery, added a digital voltmeter and made the swap to led's for all the lights, I'll be keeping the halogen headlight for now but will eventually swap it out for an HID. That will be savings of 35 watts if I need it. The DRZ400 only has a 200 watt stator so I have to be careful. Never had to worry about that on the Wee Strom. I already own a Tourmaster heated jacket but it's a size large (way too big) and only has a single controller. Yes I could have added gloves for it but from what I read you really need dual controllers, gloves need a higher setting than the jacket. So what the heck let me get the new version jacket in the right size and some leather gloves then I'll put my old size large jacket up for sale. Everything worked fine, jacket was perfect using the first of the five control setting and the heated collar is an nice addition. The gloves needed to run at the second setting and were toasty what a difference from heated grips. I always had an issue with heated grips, in order to get full heat transfer from the grips I always found that I needed thin gloves and I had to grip the bars firmly, so much so I would lose some circulation in the hands which sort of defeated the purpose of the grips. As far as the charging voltage goes it was a non-issue the voltage never dropped below 12.6 volts even at idle and the duty cycle appeared to be 50/50 according to the voltmeter readout. The reg/rectifier never even got hot. So the thermostats in the jacket and gloves did their job. Now I'm even thinking about doing the swap to HID's (saving 35 watts) so I can get the heated foot pads When I get some initiative I'll dig out my DC amp meter and get some real time wattage readings a much better indication of how the charging circuit is working.. That's it, so far so good, I'll come back in another few months with a better info on how they work in real cold weather. Ron W.
Thanks for the ride review, I'm looking at a pair of their vers. 2.0 textile gloves. Keep us updated on how well they perform. My bike also has a lower electrical output compared to some bigger bikes, so the power usage info is nice too. Tony
Can you tell me the plug size? I have deficit which are 5.5x2.5mm. Tour master has better chord selection.
I don't know what size the connectors are but their called Coax. Those are the connectors most of the heated gear manufacturers use, the other style is SAE. Ron W.
