Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Heated Clothing Instructions

[Venturing Sole]

I've been a member here for a few years and have met a lot of folks at Don's Maintenance Day and on Meet-N-Eats and the Asheville Rally, but unfortunately my "site time" is sporadic and I mostly lurk (I am not nearly as clever and humorous in my limited contributions as many others are).

I ride year round (to work) unless there is snow/ice on the road. My hands were always the part of me I couldn't keep comfortably warm. I tried heated grips but the tops of my hands and fingers still got cold. I was going to buy heated gloves, but was not attracted to the thought of every morning and every evening having to pull the connecting wires down through the sleeves to plug the gloves in and containing the spaghetti wiring harness inside my jacket like loose intestines.

I read as many other posts as I could find (on site and off) regarding making your own heated clothing. I did a lot of thinking and planning and procrastinating and built up the courage to buy parts and put holes in a perfectly good riding jacket.

I documented the experience with the intent of putting it on the site so that anyone else (cheap like me) feeling adventurous and possessing opposable thumbs with an aptitude to follow instructions might want to follow suit.

Essentially for the cost of heated gloves and about $50 in electrical parts I built the spaghetti wires permanently inside my armor jacket and put radiator-like heat in the jacket liner.

The attached instructions are a kind of long, but include pictures and hopefully enough detail that someone could tailor the procedure to their particular jacket, gloves, and requirements without a great deal of re-inventing the wheel.

 

David Nelson

Venturing Sole

[Guest tx2sturgis]

I want to compliment you on three things:

 

First, going about this the hard way. Anyone, including me, can BUY the stuff, but you built it. Hats off to ya.

 

Second, going to all the trouble to document this well, including pictures.

 

Third, for putting it all in PDF format! Thats the way these things SHOULD be done. Its about the only multi-platform document that retains all the original fonts, and looks the same on ANY computer, and is easily printed locally.

 

Well done.

 

One request though: Post more often!

My

Edited December 29, 2008 by tx2sturgis

[pegscraper]

Looks like a nice job. I was hoping you made your own gloves, too.

 

I noticed you halfway wished you had made the jacket a little warmer. I used a 28' piece of wire in my jacket, which makes about 70W of heat and draws about 5A. I put a little more wire in the front of the jacket than I did the back. I thought that if I ever needed a lower power output, I might put a few diodes in the line to drop the voltage and use a switch to bypass them for high/low heat. Three or four diodes in series ought to do it. I haven't seen any real need to do that yet though. I like to be warm.

 

Now we just need to get someone to do their own gloves and show the rest of us how to do it.

 

I sometimes get comments from people about how in the world can I tolerate riding in such cold weather. I usually get a chuckle out of their responses when I tell them I have a heated jacket. I've gotten outright shock as they've never heard of such an idea and want to know how it works, and I've gotten comments like, "That's cheating."

[Guest tx2sturgis]

.... I thought that if I ever needed a lower power output, I might put a few diodes in the line to drop the voltage and use a switch to bypass them for high/low heat. Three or four diodes in series ought to do it. I haven't seen any real need to do that yet though. I like to be warm.

 

 

I sometimes get comments from people about how in the world can I tolerate riding in such cold weather. I usually get a chuckle out of their responses when I tell them I have a heated jacket. I've gotten outright shock as they've never heard of such an idea and want to know how it works, and I've gotten comments like, "That's cheating."

 

Or maybe instead of the diodes, which might make a small difference, you could add in say, 10 more feet in series, that can be switched out or bypassed. The extra resistance would reduce the heat when needed. I just use a variable controller on my electric vest.

 

I remember when I had to return an electric vest because the size was not quite right, and the lady at the Post Office counter was asking what was in the package, you know, routine question. I told her its an electric vest. She said a what? I said its a heated vest for riding motorcycles in the cold. She snickered and I told her hey, you got a heater in your car? She said yeah... I said...Same thing. She seemed incredulous. Oh well.

[cecdoo]

Hey David nice article and great to hear from you, after careful review of the instructions I think it would be easier for me to move to Florida than build that clothing:rotfl:Looking forward to riding with you next year. Craig

[mother]

very nice job, and the attached pdf file with all the calculations is awesome.

your setup is a very nice system.

 

about three years ago, i did a homemade heated fleece jacket for my wife who does not like the cold. on my first try i only had wire running down sleeves and back up for each arm, the rest of the wire on the back and front. she complained of arms not warm enough and her back was hot. rerouted the wires so that there are four runs of wire like you have done in the arms, and i had less runs up and down the back. my setup uses a cigarette lighter plug on the back of the bike and she just plugs it in and has been very happy with the warmth. my cost was around 20 bucks for a wire only kit that someone was selling on ebay. now she is toasty warm and doesnt complain about our rides in cool weather.

 

cheers, Scott

[Freebird]

Very good. I also copied the original post to the "General Tech Library"

[pegscraper]

Or maybe instead of the diodes, which might make a small difference, you could add in say, 10 more feet in series, that can be switched out or bypassed. The extra resistance would reduce the heat when needed. I just use a variable controller on my electric vest.

 

Yes, but then you have to figure out where to stick ten more feet of wire and still keep the heat balanced in the jacket. I'm sure a variable heat controller works well, but the cost doesn't compare. A few diodes and a switch can be put together in a key fob sized case for less than $10. Perfect for those of us already rolling our own heated jacket.

[Guest tx2sturgis]

Yes, but then you have to figure out where to stick ten more feet of wire and still keep the heat balanced in the jacket. I'm sure a variable heat controller works well, but the cost doesn't compare. A few diodes and a switch can be put together in a key fob sized case for less than $10. Perfect for those of us already rolling our own heated jacket.

Keep in mind the heat generated by the current flow across the junctions in those diodes...they will drop a half volt or so for each one, and put off some heat, not much, but it may be too much for a keyfob sized case...not to mention that your gonna need lots of 5 or 10 amp diodes...which are small but not tiny.

 

Good Luck.

Edited December 30, 2008 by tx2sturgis

[pegscraper]

Three diodes ought to do it. They'll drop .7V a piece and are available in a 6A package for less than a buck a piece. That will turn a 70W jacket into a 50W one. Just don't hook them up backwards or you'll get a zero watt jacket.

 

14^2 / 2.8 = 70W

 

11.9^2 / 2.8 = 50W

[SaltyDawg]

Nice writeup. Just wondering how much if any air gets to your body? I know the liners are not really meant for real cold weather riding.

 

Also you can pull the fuse for the carb heaters and get that wattage back. I have never had any problems with my fuse pulled and I have ridden in 14 degree weather. It's an easy way to get 60W back.

 

Looks like something I might be interested in doing. I too hate pulling those wires through the jacket every time I use my gloves, which is a lot this winter. Then having to get the wires out of the sleeve and still keep the gauntlet tight is a real pain.

 

It is an option worth looking into. I have a dual heat-troller that runs my socks and gloves I imagine I could use this setup and have the gloves separate while controlling the socks and jacket with your current circuit design. Just a slight mod to isolate the gloves completely.

 

So how do you keep your palms warm? Heated grips? That's my biggest problem the gloves are great for the back of the hand and fingers but useless in keeping the palms warm.

 

Again great writeup.

[Venturing Sole]

Nice writeup. Just wondering how much if any air gets to your body? I know the liners are not really meant for real cold weather riding.

 

Also you can pull the fuse for the carb heaters and get that wattage back. I have never had any problems with my fuse pulled and I have ridden in 14 degree weather. It's an easy way to get 60W back.

 

Looks like something I might be interested in doing. I too hate pulling those wires through the jacket every time I use my gloves, which is a lot this winter. Then having to get the wires out of the sleeve and still keep the gauntlet tight is a real pain.

 

It is an option worth looking into. I have a dual heat-troller that runs my socks and gloves I imagine I could use this setup and have the gloves separate while controlling the socks and jacket with your current circuit design. Just a slight mod to isolate the gloves completely.

 

So how do you keep your palms warm? Heated grips? That's my biggest problem the gloves are great for the back of the hand and fingers but useless in keeping the palms warm.

 

Again great writeup.

 

“Just wondering how much if any air gets to your body? I know the liners are not really meant for real cold weather riding.”

The Fieldsheer liner that zips into the jacket is advertised as water resistant and wind resistant. In actuality, “resistant” is probably a good description (vice “proof”). I’ve encountered some light rain and not gotten wet through the liner, but I usually put on my rain gear for steady rain. Cold wind has a tendency to press through the liner some. Normally I am only wearing a dress shirt and tie under my riding gear, so even with heat I’m not quite toasty warm if it’s windy and the temperature is below 25 F or so. Best results for the heated jacket are when the temps are between 25 – 40 F. I sometimes will wear an extra fleece vest (200 weight fleece) under my Fieldsheer or I wear my reproduction HEAVY shearling lined B-17 bomber jacket if the temperature is going to be below 25 F all day. With the bomber jacket I have never been cold (almost sweat), but of course I have to snake the separate wires through the sleeves for my heated gloves.

“So how do you keep your palms warm? Heated grips? That's my biggest problem the gloves are great for the back of the hand and fingers but useless in keeping the palms warm.”

My “Warm Gear” heated gloves do a pretty good job of keeping my whole hand warm.

 

I rode hard core in the cold for years and my fingers would feel almost frostbit, by the time I got to work. Now I'm a convert and heat is great. The folks in my office think I'm an idiot, but I just smile and say "hey there's no snow or ice on the road".

 

David