$35.00 Heated Jacket Liner (DIY)

[65 Flathead]

NOTE: I have postd the Heated Glove build on page 4 of this thread.


(Original)
Ok, so I had my finger on the button last weekend, the “Confirm Order” button. I had decided on a Gerbings heated jacket liner and T5 gloves. I had to look at the competitors one more time, then read a few more reviews, and, well you know the story. 5 hundred bucks ain’t no chump change to me! Well, I studied it so much that I realized, hell, I can build all of that! So here goes…

I found this wire on an ADV Rider post. It’s .30 AWG with a high temp silicon coating. They call it “hook-up wire” (Hook a brother UP). I found it here http://www.mouser.com/Wire-Cable/Wir...=83000&FS=True It’s made by Belden, PN 83000-???.
??? represents color.
I ordered a 100 foot roll for 25 bucks, plus 6 something for shipping. Living here in Bum Stuck Central Louisiana, there’s not a lot of outlets for this type of thing. I went to Wally world and bought a nylon workout jacket. Really thin, and with a mesh liner, Perfect! The wire came in yesterday so with torrential downpours not making my scheduled ride out west look too appealing, I went to work.

I started everything in the right corner. I meant to start in the left corner, but I got dyslexic when I turned everything inside out.



I found a couple of conflicting wire resistance charts, giving 30 AWG between .103 - .105 ohms / ft. Wanting to be more precise, I thought “Hey, I have a hundred feet of the stuff, I’ll check it myself. I came up with .109, stupidly forgetting the impedance factor of 100’ of wire being wound up in a 2” coil. Well, anyway…I’ll spare you all the gory details and fancy pants mathematics of it all (unless you really want it, and I’ll post) but to give me the 80 watts of heat I wanted (3 more than Gerbins) I decided on 2 forty foot sections hooked in parallel. This made routing easier because pulling anymore and I would have given up. For anyone out there with ADD, don't even start this project, just run around thinking about it all day!

Here’s the first section installed.


I ran the strands about two inches apart in the body, and six strands down each arm. On the far side (from the power cable) I ran one strand though the collar, and down by the zipper back to the power connection.

Helpful hint* If you have one of those friends that majored in underwater basket weaving, employ their skills at all costs. This is some tedious crap. After the first side was complete, I was done. As a reward, I went and bought a bottle of rum and made myself Fru Fru drinks the rest of the night.



This morning I got up early planning on riding to Monroe and Shreveport to hunt a new modular helmet, but the Fru Fru drinks still hadn’t completely left my system so I went back to work on the liner.

Here she is all wired up (Almost)



On this section, I ran 2 strands though the collar (making 3 total). The collar doesn’t fit too snug, but I’m thinking of putting some Velcro on it.

I put it on and plugged it in to my bike. 5 amps, perfect! He bile was only idling, and running around 13.8 volts.



The jacket heated up nicely, and the collar felt like a heating pad on my neck. This is going to be SWEET!!!

I soldered everything together and sewed / hot glued the main power cord to the hem of the liner.



All there is left is run the wires for the gloves (next thread) and build the controller.

And here she is!!!

[nigelcorn]

That is awesome, nice work.

[TheMan]

Looks good! How does it work? Got any comparison to a Gerbing?

[65 Flathead]

Originally Posted by TheMan

Looks good! How does it work? Got any comparison to a Gerbing?

It hasn't been cold enough here to give it an actual test run, but when I turn it on, even at 70 dgee ambint temp, i can feel immediate heat.

I've never seen a Gerbing in person, but they advertise 77 wats, mine's 80.

[12voltclothing]

Use coax connectors on your gear. More efficent than SAE connectors

Depending on how they rate their gear, Gerbings are only 70 watt liners

[router.exe]

nicely done!

[65 Flathead]

Originally Posted by 12voltclothing

Use coax connectors on your gear. More efficent than SAE connectors

Depending on how they rate their gear, Gerbings are only 70 watt liners

That's exactly what I had planned. I was leaning towards Gerbins liner ONLY because of the lifetime warranty, but I was going to buy your heat troller, because I figured if it is good enough for the others to copy it, then I'd go with the original. I have been thinking abou heated gear for years now and had thouht of using a PWM setup eeven before I knew that they were in use for this. But, since I'm oing cheap, I'll build that too. There are some preassymbled for 20 bucks, but they're 555 timer based, and it has always been my expriance that the 555 gets squirely when ambiant temp changes. I'm thinking more of a duel op amp type setup.

By the way, in case I decide to go with your gear in the future, I want to be compatible. What size are the coax connectors?

[trumpet]

The troller I've been using for the past 10 years is 555 based and other than popping the driver mosfet has given no trouble.

The mosfets heatsink planes underneath the 555 and helps stabilize things. Probably $20 in parts and can be built on perf board and a RS project enclosure.

I can post some pics tomorrow if that'll help.

[65 Flathead]

Originally Posted by trumpet

The troller I've been using for the past 10 years is 555 based and other than popping the driver mosfet has given no trouble.

The mosfets heatsink planes underneath the 555 and helps stabilize things. Probably $20 in parts and can be built on perf board and a RS project enclosure.

I can post some pics tomorrow if that'll help.

I hadn't thought of it like that. The 20 buck version would certainly be less time consumiing. Pics, yes please!

[GalenEvans]

Originally Posted by 65 Flathead

By the way, in case I decide to go with your gear in the future, I want to be compatible. What size are the coax connectors?

5.5mm X 2.5mm jacks. Plugs are 5.5 X 2.5 x 12mm long.

[BuddingGeezer]

I built one 3 years ago and just redid it last week into a jacket similar to the one shown. I turn mine inside out to keep the outer wires from contacting me. I have ridden for hours at 30 degrees F comfortably and for 1 hour at 14 degrees F and stayed warm.

I see the wires in the pic cross the shoulder blades. Your shoulder blades have very little fat (insulation) on them and it can get uncomfortable in a hurry with the wattage 30' of 30AWG wire provides.

Ralph Sims

[tslewisz]

About how many feet of wire did you use? I see BuddingGeezer uses 30'.

Would just wiring it into a Powerlet get too danged hot?

[65 Flathead]

Originally Posted by tslewisz

About how many feet of wire did you use? I see BuddingGeezer uses 30'.

30 ft gives about 52 watts, and I am SUPER cold natured so I was afraid that I couldn't get the coverage with one strand @30 ft.

For max coverage and to get my resistance right, I used 2 runs of 40 feet and then wired them in paralell. The wire has a resistance of 0.105 onms / ft. 40 feet gives me 4.2 ohms an 39 watts at 12.8 volts. When you put two of these 40 ft strands in parallel, you get a totla resistance of 2.1 ohms, and 80 watts. So all together there is 80 ft of wire in the jacket.

Originally Posted by tslewisz

Would just wiring it into a Powerlet get too danged hot?

Yes

[papaduc]

Originally Posted by trumpet

The troller I've been using for the past 10 years is 555 based and other than popping the driver mosfet has given no trouble.

The mosfets heatsink planes underneath the 555 and helps stabilize things. Probably $20 in parts and can be built on perf board and a RS project enclosure.

I can post some pics tomorrow if that'll help.

I had a Gerbings controller go T/U recently. The controller is about 8 years old so no warranty. I was thinking about making one, if you have some info and pics you could share that would be very helpfull.

[65 Flathead]

Originally Posted by BuddingGeezer

I built one 3 years ago and just redid it last week into a jacket similar to the one shown. I turn mine inside out to keep the outer wires from contacting me. I have ridden for hours at 30 degrees F comfortably and for 1 hour at 14 degrees F and stayed warm.

I see the wires in the pic cross the shoulder blades. Your shoulder blades have very little fat (insulation) on them and it can get uncomfortable in a hurry with the wattage 30' of 30AWG wire provides.

Ralph Sims

Actually, I think this is an optical illusion because of the jacket being inside out in the photo. While reaserching for the build, I had read an article warning against this, so I didn't run any wire over the boney parts of the shoulder.