Heated jacket for winter riding

steven7601

10 W
Joined
Apr 22, 2017
Messages
81
I am trying to build a heated jacket for winter riding
I am wanting to use a potentiometer to controll the current thus the amount of heat I already have the step down converter going from 100volts two 12volts at about 4amps I tried to just wire a potentiometer in line and turn it up and down but I think the current is still to high going threw the switch because I can see it spark inside the switch when I turn the knob can someone tell me what I need to do to make this work.
 
I used carbon fiber yarn or "tow" in crimp connectora and silicone to mount it and made my own heated pants and jacket. I was a little surprised, but you only want about 50-100watts of heat over your whole body even in very cold weather.
 
Some other threads about heated clothing that may help:
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/search.php?keywords=heat*+winter*&terms=all&author=&sc=1&sf=titleonly&sk=t&sd=d&sr=topics&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search

There's some other threads not in the above that are in the list here:
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/search.php?keywords=heated&terms=all&author=&sc=1&sf=titleonly&sk=t&sd=d&sr=topics&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search
though not all of the results are relevant.
 
Be careful. I made one a few years back, when I needed to do a 2 x 200 mile motorcycle ride in sub-zero temperatures. I used a 12v heated pad from a car seat, which I sewed into the back of my jacket. I tested it first. Sitting on its own it just got nicely warm. During the journey, it worked perfectly. Every time I felt a little cold, I pulled my shoulders forward and enjoyed the warmth of that pad. I had a thick woolen jersey between me and the jacket. I did the first leg down to my parents' house in the morning. At about 17:00, I could feel a little pricking sensation in my back, like when you get a strand of copper wire stuck in your clothes, so I lifted my tee-shirt and asked my mother to see if she could remove whatever was causing the problem. She said, "That's very strange, you have a great big square blister on your back". At no time did I feel anything hot, and it took about 6 hours before I felt the effects. I can't explain why I got burnt like that.
 
The old frog in the boiling water thing. Gradually lets himself boil because the heat increase was so gradual.

If the trip is shorter, perhaps some affordable battery powered heated socks on your chest?

To warm your hands and feet, add another layer to your torso. You can go very thick on vests without making it feel like you can't bend arms and legs. Old snow ski trick. If you overdo, easy to cool off with an unzip. Can't do that so easy if you are too thick on the pants. Just saying don't hesitate to pile on a down vest, double up pile vests, etc.

Of course, I assume you already upgraded hat, gloves, and shoes/socks, so you can't go much more there.
 
Feeling cold is more about tension than heat. I mean, when you can relax it does get much more comfortable. Sub zero here, is almost half of the year. Yet most riders are not wearing heated garment. They do on snowmobiles, because the rides are usually all day long trips. On a bike in the winter freezing weather, the rides are normally limited to the essential, or short sport trips.

Multi-layer clothing on your chest is enough to ride at -20 for an hour IMO. Keep your heart warm, and you won't freeze. Of course, face and extremities (hands and feet) must be well protected from wind chill. Frozen toes and knuckles are very painful when they defrost. :wink:
 
I made my own. I started w/ a reversible jacket that has pockets inside and out. I got some little "heat grids" from China and taped them to cardboard the size of the 2 inside chest pockets. They are powered by 2 sm. LiPoly bricks of 22.5V. that go in the inside hand-warmer pockets. Each has an alarm, but it never goes off. The batteries last hr.s, longer than my avg. ride. Works great, if anything, it gets too warm.

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I also wired heated grips, using the type of grids that motorcyclists install under the grips. The non-throttle side works great, but I couldn't make the side w/ my half-twist throttle work. Intionaly, the one grip got too hot too hold on 22.5 V(I didn't use the 3-position resistor switch supplied w/ the kit), so I installed Grab-ON foam grips and the heat is perfect. I also like the foam grips.
 
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