Maplin currently have lots of heated kit on offer, it all runs off AAs but could easily be converted to run off the Bike. With winter on the doorstep this could be a cheap solution.

Well spotted - the vest actually looks quite good - just like a sleeveless fleece.

It would be a bit dodgy using on a bike though, for a start you would have to put a minimum 14v through the vest designed for 9v and I bet the heating element is weedy probably less than 10w since otherwise the batteries would be flat in 10minutes!

I dont know how much 10w would actually heat you up? looks like you need 60w + for a vest.

it's amazing how much these things cost, i'm sure it would be pretty easy to make your own, just a bit of resistance wire, and old fleece and a connection to your bike....

There's a thread somewhere in here on this very subject - search and you will find!

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Dave

I've seen a few comments about buying the Maplin (battery powered) vest and converting it to run off the bike "because it's cheap", with the comment "9V is close to 12v so it can't be that hard" !!

No is the most likely answer. This jacket runs off two sets of 3 x AA batteries, so each pack is only 4.5V. Most likely the heated wire elements are set to run off each side independently so the overall wire resistance can be low and also get a reasonable battery life. So making a guess that this jacket generates say 10w from each battery pack (any more would pull too much current), the wire resistance that would be attached to get that power dissipation is about 2ohm. (P=Vsq/R). This would draw around 2.25A current (V=IR).

Upping everything to 12V will generate 70W !! Given bike voltage is more like 13V then the power would be even higher. Power is related to the square of voltage, not simply linear. If your fuse doesn't give out then it's goodbye jacket and you in flames !

Bike heated clothing also has to cope with a lot of wind chill factor so their typical power dissipation is around 45-50W, warm enough without burning. The electronics is designed around this, namely the wiring element, to dissipate that power from 12V to 14V needs to be a resistance of around 3ohms drawing a current of about 4A max.

I've made some assumptions but the message is it's not that simple to take lightweight garments like this and make them bike suitable.

If you google DIY heated clothing, you can find various instructions about how to make it. Maplin do a pulse width modulator motor speed controller that can be used to control the 12V bike supply and get a variable heat control. But the Teflon coated wire of resonable resistance is only available from RS components (a trade supplier). You will then be faced with working out how to get about 30-40 feet of cable inside a jacket !

I'm thinking of giving the Heat4Jackets kit a go, anyone tried it? Reckon it would need some kind of controller but the motor controller mentioned above might wel do the trick

you can get the components from

ABELtronics - Electronic Engineers for the LED dimmer - can work with 12v DC
www.farnell.co.uk for the wire 30 AWG cable.
buy battery connectors from Halfords

read a little about electronics before trying anything like this
it is necessary to know what is ground what is live +ve, what
is potentiometer. etc etc

safe biking....

The Heat4Jackets kit works fine, we bought one before doing Alaska to Ushuaia last year. Sue stitched hers into her new bike jacket liner she bought in Anchorage, fairly straightforward just make sure you fasten the lead securely to the liner. Cheap as chips and in hindsight we should have bought one for the lining of the trousers.

Graham and Sue

DUE SOUTH

Here's a pretty detailed article on rolling your own heated gear.

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Sandy & Mike Dimond

That is where my diy heated vest came from.

That's a very useful article if you're diy minded. I've been p*ssing about trying to make my own heated clothing on and off since the 70's (!) and always stumbled at the where do I get the wire from stage. Now that the cold weather has arrived I'll probably give it another go - once my fingers have thawed out.

think I may give the inner soles a punt and just try running them off batteries for a while. Figure if the feet start to get nippy turn them on for 15 minutes each hour.

Guys, if you are looking for a cheap solution the answer is to buy second hand off eBay US in June/July/August.

At that time of the year the yanks are happy to sell off last year's kit for bugger all.

I purchased a Gerbings socks/jacket/gloves and dual-controller combo for around US150 - much cheaper than you can make it for. 2 years on and I love it.

... and yes, it does get chilly down here in winter in Southern Oz.

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Garry from Oz - powered by Burgman