Gerbings micro jacket driven w/First Gear heat troller?

[Danny caddyshack Noonan]

Just doing a sanity check before the morning commute tomorrow. With the Motoport jacket, the insulated liner is too bulky for me so I went with a Gerbings instead.

 

Anyone running a Gerbings microwire jacket with a First Gear version xtreme version heat troller?

 

Rode to the bay area and back yesterday. Too warm to wear it in the am when I left...of course it got cold on the way so I froze. Coming home I turned it on and found it very hot. It seemed that the setup was either:

Very binary (on all the way or off) behavior or the Gerbings puts out a ton of heat at the lowest rheostat setting on the controller. I had FG gloves plugged into the sleeves of the Gerbings as well.

It is always possible that the Motoport wind liner insulates the Gerbings so well that the heat loss to the environment is small.

[Peter Parts]

If you're handy, you can buy an MX033 DC controller from kit vendors and make your own. I have one sitting around but seem to continue to live OK with just an on-off switch. There's enough heat inertia to make that work OK for me without switching any too often during a trip (anyways, what else are you doing during a freezing ride).

 

Ben

[moshe_levy]

You can use any of these controllers with any of the heated garments. I tested them all for MCN, mixed and matched, and came up with a solution I like best - and the best controller, hands down, is EXO's. Compared to W&S or Gerbing's, it's also half the price, 10x easier to mount, and 100x more ergonomic for motorcycle use. So I run an EXO controller to W&S jacket liner to Gerbing's G3 gloves. Perfect.

 

-MKL

[RockBottom]

I'm running Gerbings gloves with a FirstGear controller and jacket with no problem.

[Danny caddyshack Noonan]

I'm beginning to think I may have been more chilled than I thought when I switched the jacket on. Did a test in the garage today and it really didn't seem as warm as it did last night. I'd been riding 2 hours in about 50 degree temps before switching on so might have had a chill.

[dazzz]

MKL:

What is a W&S jacket liner?

Thanks,

Don

[ESokoloff]

....

Very binary (on all the way or off) behavior .....

 

Could the polarity have been crossed to the controller?

That is what happens on my Widder controller with reversed polarity upstream of controller (no polarity downstream).

[moshe_levy]

Don-

 

W&S = Warm 'N Safe = FirstGear. All the same thing. http://www.warmnsafe.com/

 

-MKL

[BeemerBerg]

EXO??

[ESokoloff]

EXO??

EXO2.

[moshe_levy]

Eric-

 

I haven't seen that European site yet, but the US site is http://www.exo2theheatinside.com/ and after testing their products, I came away quite impressed, especially with the controller which is head and shoulders above Gerbing's or W&S's.

 

See http://www.exo2theheatinside.com/media/manuals/mcnheatedgear.pdf on page 4 for a pic of the controller on my R1150RT as published in MCN.

 

-MKL

[racer7]

Am using a W&S Dual REMOTE controller that is battery powered (2032). Battery lasted me all last winter but you do need to turn it iff when not in use. Being small and battery powered, it can be velcroed anywhere on a bike and simply moved to another bike. My gloves are Gerbings G3 and the jacket is an older Gerbings Signature. Not claiming the jacket is as good as the latest crop but it works well. The gloves are OK but not the most waterproof stuff around. I use a set of Barkbusters on my RT also to keep wind off my fingertips (most of my riding is in the 60-80 mph range) and the above stuff (under a RevIt Scirocco 3/4 jacket with RevIt Cayenne pants) works fine for me in anything I encounter which is only down to about 20 degrees. All the cruiser guys are long in the barn by that point- my bike was usually the only one in the company lot in mid winter.

[Danny caddyshack Noonan]

Follow up.

It's me not the gear. Most of my usage has been in the early morning. I leave my gear outside in the garage. It's cold when I put it on. Turning the heat on makes the jacket warm against my, now, cold skin. Kind of a mild thermal shock.

I keep the liner inside now and don't notice the jacket being so hot.

 

The longer ride was similar, I waited too long to turn it on.