Heated Clothing

[ctraylor]

Well guys I did it. I ordered some 30 gauge multistranded teflon coated wire and sewed it in my jacket and WOW! It is great. I just ran it through a 10 amp fuse and a switch and plug it in and I have instant heat. I am going to try to ride all winter. Total cost was about $40.00. I bought a second hand work coat at the thrift store for $5.00 and the wire cost $28.00 and the plug and wire was $7.00 to hook up to the battery. I can't believe how warm it is and pulls less than 5 amps from the battery. This is alot cheaper than the $400.00 for a heated jacket.... :cool10:

[pegscraper]

How many feet of wire? Did you use a thermostat on it, or do you need one?

[hipshot]

hey curtis. you ain't gettin' off that easy. we need supplies list, suppliers, pictures etc.

THEN you can ride all the way to mount ida ,and hot springs, for all we care!

lol

 

seriously, i would like more info on a source for wire,switches ,etc.

just jt

[ctraylor]

I just sowed the wire under the quilting of the jacket. I think I used about 40 feet because I done the sleeves also. I bought a two wire plug from Auto Zone and ran through a toggle switch with a ten amp fuse. I used a tye rap to attach the plug to the coat and just plug it in and turn it on. I ordered the wire from http://www.bulkwire.com/ it is 30 gauge multi-strand teflon coated wire. I think it has about 1 ohm resistance per foot. I don't have a thermostat on it yet but I think I will use a blower motor switch with a built in resistor. I am going to take a 110 mile trip tonight and will let you know how it goes. I is supposed to get down in the 20s.

[ctraylor]

Made it back guys. Got down in the 30s and I was fine. If anything it was too hot. I have two hot spots that I will address. The wire that runs down the sleeves is just in front of my underarms and when I reach forward to hold the handlebars, it burns my arms. Other than that it is great. I told you wrong on the ohms resistance, it is 1 ohm per 10 foot of wire. Be sure that you keep the wires away from your underarms. I will install a reostat so I can adjust the heat. The faster you go the hotter it gets. I guess the voltage goes up at a higher rpm. Guys this works great you have got to try it.

[mm482]

I got my 30 gauge teflon coated wire from Radio Shack, I think it was about $8.00. That was three three years ago.

 

Earl

[ctraylor]

I went to Radio Shack first here in town and he acted like he didn't know what I was talking about. I just hate going into a store and talking to someone that doesn't know anything about the product they sell. I found this on the internet and believe me it isn't easy to find there either.

[ctraylor]

Hey Hipshot, how do you know where Mt. Ida is? Not many people know that town. I don't think you can get there from where you are.... I used to live about 40 miles from there in Fourche Valley and drove through there on the way to Hot Springs. It is kind of ironic that you would mention those towns. I traveled for 15 years with a gospel quartet and we were based out of Hot Springs.

[pegscraper]

Is that teflon coated wire the stuff they call magnet wire? And I'm sure the guy wasn't acting either. I haven't come across anybody in a Radio Shack for quite a while who knows JS about what they sell. Lori went with me into one once when I was looking for a strobe lamp. She stood there in amazement watching every employee in the place tripping over themselves measuring out antenna cable on the floor while a few others of us waited at the counter to be helped. These guys looked like the three stooges. I'm standing there thinking to myself how many Radio Shack employees does it take to measure out some cable. Long story short I finally got what I went in there for after arguing with the guy about whether they carried it or not. As we left, I'm trying to restrain myself from making any comments and just forget it all when Lori says that now she understands why I have nothing but complaints about those places. They must be paying those guys in rocks and leaves. Combine that with them not printing catalogs anymore and as far as I'm concerned they can go out of business.

[ctraylor]

I think magnet wire is a solid core wire. You need a multi-strand teflon coated wire. The magnet wire isn't coated with teflon. The solid wire is not as flexable as the multi-strand. It took me awhile to find it. The internet site is in a previous post. Shipping and all was 28.00 which is a site cheaper than the $389.00 they want for a Gerbing jacket.

[pegscraper]

I wonder how difficult it would be to wire up gloves and socks. Knowing how I typically am in cold weather, I'm thinking that's all I really need. Keep my extremeties warm and the rest of me will be fine.

 

Radio Shack's motto: "You've got questions, we've got stupid looks on our faces."

[oldandcrotchety]

Hey, I'm with you, pegscraper. RS used to be a good store decades ago, but something has happened. Maybe it is because long ago most of the store owners were electronics geeks that loved the business and now it is just a store that someone bought as a business venture with no knowlege of electronics. Another trend i've seen over the last decade or so is to hire kids to run stores (not just RS, but all kinds of stores). So many of the kids are clueless about anything, but i guess they are cheap. Here is what happened to me one time with radio shack. When I was living in Prairie Grove, i went over to Fayetteville to the Radio Shack and bought this little tiny soldering torch. It's the kind that has a little bottle of propane about the size of a co2 cartridge. very useful for soldering when you aren't close to electricity. Anyway, bout ten years ago we moved down here to logan county and one day i go into paris RS to buy new propane cartridges for it. when i asked where they were he said "that's not a RS item". I say "really? when did they stop carrying it?" Him: "Never was a RS item" Me: "sure it was, that's where i bought it from" Him: "no, you must have gotten it somewhere else, RS has never had anything like that" Me: "look in the catalog, you'll see it" Him: "no need to look, I know it's not there, RS has never had such an item, you'll have to go to where you got it from is all i can tell you"...............well ok, i give up.

so, I drove over to the town of Ozark which is 15 miles away and when i walk into the radio shack the bottles i was looking for were right there on an end cap next to the door. go figure. clerk said they were always in stock. popular item.

[pegscraper]

I remember seeing that torch in the catalogs. But now there's no way to go in there and point to something in the catalog. Is RS even a Tandy company anymore or did Tandy unload them? I have numerous frustrating RS stories and not just from one store or even my general area, but across a few states and even Canada. But I won't bore y'all. I won't go in them anymore unless there's absolutely nowhere else to get something. And there always is.

[Bigfoot]

Made it back guys. Got down in the 30s and I was fine. If anything it was too hot. I have two hot spots that I will address. The wire that runs down the sleeves is just in front of my underarms and when I reach forward to hold the handlebars, it burns my arms. Other than that it is great. I told you wrong on the ohms resistance, it is 1 ohm per 10 foot of wire. Be sure that you keep the wires away from your underarms. I will install a reostat so I can adjust the heat. The faster you go the hotter it gets. I guess the voltage goes up at a higher rpm. Guys this works great you have got to try it.

 

But this would require that we know that the hell you are saying. Ohms, reostat. Sounds French.

[ctraylor]

ohms is how much resistance the wire has. Ohms law states that

 

Amps equal Voltage divided by resistance

 

40 foot of this wire has 4 ohm resistance so if you are running 14 volts while traveling down the road, divide 4 into 14 and you get the amperage draw on your battery which is 3.5 amps. This is good to know because you can overload your charging system. It also allows you to know how big a fuse you need. You can also figure how much heat it will generate.

 

Power (watts) equal amps X voltage

 

3.5 amps X 14 volts equals 49 watts of heat

 

Now going furthur you can figure how many BTUs of heat it will generate.

 

BTU equals watts X 3.413

 

49 X 3.413 equals 167.24 BTUs of heat will be generated per hour.

 

To put into perspective, imagine how much heat a 50 watt light bulb might generate and you can get a pretty good idea how much heat it will generate. The shorter the wire the more heat it will generate so you will probably need at least 30 foot of wire or it will be too hot.

 

Now a reostat is a divice that will limit the amout of voltage to the coat. In the past you could buy a universal blower motor switch so you change speeds on your heater blower motor. This switch would vary the voltage going to your coat thus turning the heat up and down as needed. I hope this kinda explains the concept to you.

[dray]

i been going to do this for some of my carharts for ice fishing and setting in the tree stand should work to take the chill off:fishin:

[RedRider]

Curt,

 

That is a great explaination of the electrical properties of this setup.

 

I wonder what the minimum length of wire would be before you begin to blow fuses (since you are making a direct short to ground with this system). As long as the wire is long enough, you should have enough resistance.

 

This might come into play with wiring gloves only.

 

Thanx

[ctraylor]

I would say that 30 foot would be the shortest you could use and not be too hot without using some type of resistor. You could use the same equasions to figure the amps. The shorter the wire the lower the resistance and the hotter it gets so you have to lower the voltage by using a resistor.

[mm482]

I agree with Curtis, anything less than 30' will get too hot.

 

I checked with Radio Shack today and they have kynar insulated wrapping wire, 30 gauge in 50' rolls. The price is $3.95 per 50' (15.2m) roll and the part # is 278-503.

 

For a vest or coat I would suggest using a length of 32' to 34'.

 

Earl

86 VR

00 RSV

[stardbog]

Good job ctraylor. you DIY guys may want to take look on this afordable DC Controller. Good add on for home made heated clothing. I have saved this one from VR site before big chrash.

 

http://store.qkits.com/moreinfo.cfm/MX033

 

Good Luck.

[pegscraper]

I checked with Radio Shack today and they have kynar insulated wrapping wire, 30 gauge in 50' rolls. The price is $3.95 per 50' (15.2m) roll and the part # is 278-503.

 

Old thread, I know, but still good information. The usual wire mentioned for wiring your own is teflon insulated stranded wire. This wire mentioned here is neither teflon nor is it stranded. Does the insulation type really make that much difference? The stranded vs. solid I suppose will relate to flexibility. Will this wire work just as well anyway?

[Guest tx2sturgis]

Old thread, I know, but still good information. The usual wire mentioned for wiring your own is teflon insulated stranded wire. This wire mentioned here is neither teflon nor is it stranded. Does the insulation type really make that much difference? The stranded vs. solid I suppose will relate to flexibility. Will this wire work just as well anyway?

 

I dont know what the melting temp is for teflon but its WAY up there...probably above 700 degrees or so...some of that other stuff will get all soggy at just over 150 -200 degrees...

 

 

[whozleft]

E Bay has this listing. i think it was posted on here before. May be worth looking into. Everything you need. I believe they also have a controller if you wanted one on E Bay.

 

http://tinyurl.com/3ddt56

[mother]

that ebay link is where i bought my kit from a couple of months ago, this seller puts the kits on for 19.99, check his store list as that is what i payed and he delivers quick.

i made a heated jacket for the wife. flexible wire is needed as we dont realize how much movement we actually do getting on and off the bike. the teflon coated wire withstands the high temp.

i installed the wire on the fronts of the sleeves staying away from the armpits as earlier stated, more up and down passes on the front chest area of the vest than on the rear. the only complaint my wife had is that she found the shoulder blade area is too warm, so i will reroute the wire away from this area. i used a tiewrap to secure the lead in wire to the coat and left some slack where the teflon wire attaches to the lead in wire, soldered and shrink wrapped it. i used a cigarette lighter plug on the end of the lead in wire as i have a lighter plug on the back of my 86. my wife is real happy with it. she plugges it in and leaves it on.

when i was looking into doing heated clothing, i googled heated clothing and here are a couple of pages that came up, one of them good for you Lynn as the guy did some heated gloves and socks. Lynn i didn't know you were looking into doing this, as my daughter Janice had the heated jacket on under her jacket during your last covered bridge hunt/meet and eat and she was toasty warm and had to unplug the vest as the afternoon warmed up.

www.shadowriders.org/faq/electricvests.html

www.ibmwr.org/otech/heatedclothing.html

 

cheers, Scott

[pegscraper]

I see, the teflon insulation is for the high melting temperature. I don't know what the melting point of the Kynar 460 insulation would be. That's not given on RS's website.

 

Thanks for the links, Scott. The first one I had seen, the second one I hadn't. I'd been wondering how I might do gloves too. I would really rather buy premade stuff, but I'm just too broke for it right now. It's too bad I didn't know Janice had a home grown heated jacket on. I would have liked to have taken a look at it. Did you do the sleeves too?

 

By the time I got home that night at around 8 PM, I was one tensed up wadded up knot from the cold. I'm pretty sure that's what put me in the chiropractor's office two days later with my neck out of place. I was wishing that night that I had some heated gear on.