Female Coax Panel Mount for Heated Jacket

[madnance]

I have a Gerbings jacket and it is the best accessory I have purchased. I live in the SF Bay area and it gets cool alot. The controllers all have a female plug on a wire that you are suppose to dangle somewhere to connect the male from your jacket into. I hate this arrangement and want a permanent coax female connector I can mount somewhere so I can plug it in with one hand without fumbling around when I am riding.

 

I have not seen Powerlet or Gerbings offerings like this. I am OK making my own but am uncertain of the connector size. Does anyone know? Is it a standard 2.5 mm ID coax connector like they use for computer battery chargers?

 

I know I can go a powerlet connector route but its bigger than I need and I'm afraid I'll plug a battery trickle charger into it or something and blow my controller, so want to stick with the smaller Gerbings coax connector.

 

Help appreciated

[EffBee]

Gerbing's has a female coax panel mount plug coming out in the next two months. It'll make for a very clean install and will come with a neat rubber cap for when not in use.

[Peter Parts]

Truly good quality stuff from Gerbing's.

 

Dimension-wise, coax is same or close to the familiar audio "RCA" plug" albeit Mil-spec or better. Their nice coax plug comes close to my criterion of "pulls apart instead of tearing the f...... wires".

 

After running a 43-minute simulation on my Cray Computer of wire lengths, tripping hazards, and elderly riders with dementia forgetting to unplug, the computer has concluded that the best location for the clothing power is about where the stock accessory socket is. Others may differ.

 

Ben

[dirtrider]

Hi madnance

 

Hopefully that that new Gerbings coax plug will fit your bill. Unfortunately most RCA type plugs are not robust enough to handle the current required to power a jacket liner and other heated gear. They are mainly sized for speaker type current loads especially the light duty split center contact.

 

I have a couple of coax panel mounts on some of my older bikes and 4 wheelers. It is a simple matter to use the standard Gerbings coax rubber female ends with a small snap ring on each side of the panel. I actually install a rubber grommet in the panel with a center hole a little smaller than the OD on the Gerbings coax dangle, then install a small snap ring on the dangle near the wire end, then push it through the grommet from the back side, then install another small snap ring on the exposed rubber end of the dangle.

It works fantastic one handed, doesn’t look too out of place, and disconnects quite easily with an accidental pull on the garment wire.

I found some rubber vacuum caps that just push over the open exposed end of the dangle to keep the water out when not in use.

 

 

 

[madnance]

Great info and what an ingenious solution Dirtrider! I was afraid stock connectors for PC's would not handle current, or exposure to elements. Funny I asked Gerbings if they had something and they sent me to Powerlet. Powerlet has not answered my email. I look forward to Gerbing's release. It sounds perfect!