DIY heated clothing

[Eric S]

Personally, I would file this under the "Just because you can doesn't mean you should" file:

 

http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-heated-clothing/

 

 

[Albert]

To me this conjures the image of Clark Griswold having an electrical fire in his pants.

[Fightingpiper]

Although my heated jacket is of brand name I did make my own heated pants out of some cheap work-out pants from Target. I have about $15 in them instead of $200 for some Gerbings. They work great. Kept me nice and toasty coming home from the Fall BRR when it was 40 degrees out and on those really cold fall/spring mornings back in Minnesota. I have them connected to a gerbings controller so I can adjust the heat output.

[tomk99r11]

Check out a gear thread on ADVRider where a guy has made some gloves which are fugly but work according to him. He used some home mechanics work gloves. Suppose part of the "they work" conclusion is the home made aspect, and budget.

[VinnyR11]

After looking at their directions, my Gerbings jacket looks like a steal.

[Starfighter]

My first heated vest was a DIY for $11

Worked fine for 2 years.......

[Danny caddyshack Noonan]

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=519318

 

It isn't rocket science. Fairly simple trade. Do you have the necessary skill, time and interest or, do you have the money?

 

 

[KDeline]

My first heated vest was a DIY for $11

Worked fine for 2 years.......

 

 

I did the same but the problem I kept having was the wire I could get was not like the wire in the factory heated gear and they broke constently. Of course I ride all year so it was used a lot. Finnaly just got a Gerbings, they can deal with the wires I break.

[EffBee]

In a way, it's not rocket science (as has been stated). In another way, there is a goodly amount of science, experience and testing that goes into good heated clothing.

 

If you're cold, and you make something for yourself that delivers heat, ANY heat, then that's an improvement on being cold and to THAT extent it is successful. We understand this when we read people raving about other clothing brands, some of which we know to be decently designed but others of which are junk. "How can they like that stuff?" Well, as I said, if it makes heat, it has an element of success in it, even if the heat is unevenly distributed, leaves glaring gaps in the coverage, has hot spots, isn't properly insulated from the body (it's easy to burn the skin without there necessarily being a visible burn --- damage which shows up years later) and many other things that go into a well-designed heated garment.

 

We have a full R&D department that works side-by-side with our Product Development team, in order to ensure proper design. That, too, tries to take into account many creative, unintended, silly, and sometimes downright dangerous ways that people find use your products. We can't cover them all, but we try our best to cover those we can foresee. (just one quick story about a customer who tried to wear our heated clothing under a wet suit, connected to a battery, so he could swim in his pool during the winter --- oy!).

 

Anyway, while I can't recommend that you try and make your own heated clothing, and do suggest that you leave it to the professionals, if you do decide to try it the chances of you doing something fatally dangerous are probably low, and if you do burn yourself at something below a mild second-degree level, blisters eventually do go away. Heck, the first Hodaka cylinder I ever ported myself made more horsepower, even if the bike was literally unrideable (once I got it pushed fast enough to start it) and blew the rod within about 15 minutes. Live and learn, I suppose. Sometimes you know God is good because he lets us survive relatively unscathed when he should have smacked us upside the head with a good admonition of, "I thought I made you smarter than that!"

[Danny caddyshack Noonan]

You had a really dumb customer...should have used a sheet of decaying uranium under the BC to avoid electrical burns. Everyone knows that.

[effexer1]

I made my heated vest, and it works great. No hot spots, no cold spots, just nice, even heat for $20.00. This winter I will add heat to my jacket liner and my pants liner, so I'll always have the option to "plug in and get warm".

It is easy and safe for those who are handy. I enjoyed the challenge (it only took an evening).

[BeemerLover]

Been there, done that... made a heated jacket. It is not as easy as it may seem. You need to pick the right garment and then get a small amount of the the right wire which is hard to find (Newark Electronics) in small lengths at a reasonable price. You need to figure out how long the wire should be to generate a certain amount of heat vs using a certain amount of electricity. Lots of working with Ohm's Law and a multimeter. Then you need to divide the project up into different circuits if needed and plan where the wires go so there are no hot or cold spots. Then you need to either use a needle and weave the wire into the garment or to use hot glue and glue it on. I found the hot glue method was the best but required the installation of a liner. Then you must figure out how to control the heat. The Gerbing controller is great but expensive. You can buy a pulse width modulator for $20 and build one which I did. It was an interesting project and did work but I use my Tourmaster Synergy heated jacket instead. Wouldn't do it again....

 

Gael

[Eric S]

If it would ever stop freaking raining here I would get me a Gerbings...

[BeemerLover]

For those interested here are some links:

 

Pulse width modulator for Gerbing type controller:

 

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

 

How to make heated clothing:

 

http://www.mototour.us/technical/electricclothes.htm

 

Also: http://www.ibmwr.org/otech/heatedclothing.html

 

Resistance wire:

 

Go to the Newark Electronics web page. I used Belden wire #83043-009, bought a 100' roll.

 

Also, http://www.resistancewire.com/mainpage.php?page=alloytrade