Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Accessories Electric gloves & vest

Hey all -
Is anyone using any of the heated riding gear? What brand, what types of hook ups to the bike. Any problems with power draw?
This time of year, a pair of heated gloves would REALLY be nice. Maybe a vest too!
Thanks all
Becky

Becky,
I have been using Gerbing electrics for the past 7 years and never had a problem. I use heated gloves (about $140) and their thin jacket liner (about $200). The jacket has long sleeves and both items do their job well. I also have a gerbing heat control unit (about $70), their portable type which I velcro to the front of the plastic inside of the fake left side air cleaner. I plug the controller into the accesory socket, it uses a BMW type plug. When not in use I have the plug velcroed just behind the accesory socket. I also velcro the plug in for the jacket to the left side passenger foot peg holder at the top, inside. The plug coming off of the heat controler plugs into the jacket and if you use gloves they plug into the sleeves of the jacket liner, or you can use the gloves alone with a wiring harness supplied with the gloves.
larryshep

I have the Gerbing thin jacket liner and LOVE it. I also have thier glove liners (same electronics as the full gloves, but in a soft cloth liner that fits under your gloves). Together they draw 99 watts on max but I usually set the digital heat-troller at 1/2 to 3/4 which pulses power to the Gerbing gear thus sparing the charging system somewhat.

I have the Gerbing pigtail (Type N coax power plug) direct to the battery and then use the heat-troller velcroed to my tank bag.

Becky,
For what it's worth... I've been using Gerbing gloves, socks, pants liner, and jacket liner for several years. Generally the socks and gloves are all I use until around 20, as my Triumph retro paddock with supplied liner work surprisingly well. That said, the gear (minus jacket liner) did suck out enought power to kill my bike last week. Traffic was going so slow that I was afraid of burning up the clutch, and the bike died and wouldn't restart. After a few hours on the charger, things are ok. On a 17 mile commute, I'll crank up the heat on the highway, but when I get into DC traffic will turn things off so as not to kill the batt (should have known better that one day).
Unless you have extremely well insulated boots (boots that good tend to degrade shifting) get the socks and gloves. You'll be amazed. There are a few manufacturers (Gerbing, Widder, Aerostitch, and a couple other lesser known) and it's not going to be cheap. They all connect to the battery or accessory socket with some kind of switch (cheap) or rheostat ($$$). Gerbing gets good reviews from everyone (I recommend them) and they have a lifetime warranty on the electrics (not the surface material). The gloves are the warmest gloves I've ever seen before turning them on, and they're waterproof (for a couple of hours).
Do your research, shop around (Ebay is good), and maybe find someone close by with gloves you can check out. They really do make cold weather riding more than just tolerable.
And whatever brand you get, get it all the same because it's a royal pain trying to get different brands to work together.

One thing that helps with this stuff is a simple LED volt meter like this:



The LED goes in the tank console in one of the existing holes. All the wires go underneath.

It's green when your good and red when you're sucking the life out of your battery.

Get one here

Great idea, Todd. I'm ordering one today (about a week late).

Thanks guys! Great information. I just need to find someone who stocks these items. Gloves for me are like shoes and boots, I have to try them on before buying, otherwise I am sending 'em back 4 times to get the right size. I think for me, gloves and maybe vest or jacket liner will work. So far, the worst part for me has been frozen fingers and then I can't pull in the clutch. The rest of me seems to stay pretty warm. I have new boots that seem to keep my feet pretty toasty. I haven't had frozen toes yet. And if its that cold, I probably won't be riding as there will be ice and snow and too many cinders on the road.
Again THANKS!
Now I just need to find a dealer...maybe in Phoenix.
Becky

check this out

http://webpages.charter.net/hondapotamus/heat.htm

The Gerbing homepage http://www.gerbing.com/pages/dealers/thedealers/AZscottsdale.html
says the nearest authorized is in Scottsdale
www.bmwofscottsdale.com
but BMW of SD doesn't say anything about it.
There appear to be 7 Widder retailers in AZ http://www.widder.com/html/Dealers/index.htm
But if you have a choice, go Gerbing. Got my wife a pair of Gerbing gloves to wear in the car, Her hands turn pasty white in the cold, and it's great for her to be able to plug the gloves in her car.
Happy Hunting

I have the Widder electric gloves and vest. This time of year, they are as good as gold. No problems with power drain so far. I'm on my 2nd winter with them.

Just to clairify my earlier post about the battery monitor (LED): I installed the LED in the tank console by drilling a 1/4" hole in the center of the black plastic plug that fills the hole on the left side near the Neutral light. I tapped into the 12v power lead for the tach light bulb and ran a ground down to the horn mount.

FWIW, I can run my Gerbing jacket liner and vest PLUS the Triumph light bar with no problems. That means there must be at least 150 extra watts to play with, maybe more.

Thanks Todd. I was wondering where to tap in, I didn't think about the tach light.