Can I run my heated gear on half power from accessory socket?

[Over]

Weds next week sees me trading the 2013 RT for a 2015 model.

 

I have a full set of WarmNSafe heated gear and remote troller whic currently have a hard fused wire directly to the battery.

 

I asked the dealer if they could swap the wires over, but it's more than their jobs worth and BMW engineers cannot fit non BMW parts on premises and they are not insured and it's probably too difficult and they will all be too busy..

 

Could I run them on half power for the 200 mile round trip via the accessory socket which i see is rated at 10a and is an electronic cut out (as opposed to a fuse that needs replacing)

 

Weather has turned cold and I've been using heated gear for a few years now, and don't have the many layers that I used to use ( OK I cannot get my jacket and pants on with the many layers for non heated runs).

 

Would it last ?

[dirtrider]

Afternoon Over

 

About all you could do is try it--

 

In the past I haven't seen it work out very good but it REALLY depends on your controller & it's pulsing / phasing.

 

Even at 1/2 power setting your controller could pulse full power long enough to trip the circuit.

 

On my personal dual Garbing's controller it will usually work for while on mid power setting but sooner or later both channels will pulse on together long enough to trip the 10 amp breaker.

 

Probably the only way you will make the heat work (dependably) is to only use part of your heated gear OR (pre) make up a jumper harness to allow your heated gear to work in series.

 

OR-- make up a power harness to allow you to hook your controller directly to the battery using rings or clamps with a fuse in the pig tail. (just run it out from under front of seat)

 

 

 

[Over]

I only need it for a short round trip journey.

 

As soon as I get the bike home, the direct connection to battery is going on.

[TEWKS]

I run a Gerbing's jacket and gloves full blast on a 14 RTW through the on board socket. No problem at all.

 

Pat

[Skywagon]

Sames as Tewks. Gerbing jacket and gloves full blast and with seat heater and grips on. Jacket and glove dual controller plugged into accessory outlet. Worked great on my 1150RT and works just fine on my 2014 1200RTW....Can't take high on the gloves very long as they get really hot.

[realshelby]

I have been wondering about this too. I have Gerbings heated jacket and gloves as well. If I could get by on the forward socket on those, could I run the heated pants and insoles on the rear socket? Or is the whole circuit rated at 10 amps, not 10 amps per socket?

 

Might still end up with a PDM 60........

[dirtrider]

Or is the whole circuit rated at 10 amps, not 10 amps per socket?

 

 

Morning realshelby

 

 

Look on (or about) page 160 in your riders manual--- "max 10 A, all onboard sockets together"

 

SO, using some heated gear on front & some on rear won't really gain you anything except more wires, more complexity, & a 2nd controller to fiddle with.

 

[realshelby]

Thanks Dirtrider, I missed that in perusing the manual.

 

Looks like my best option is a PDM 60. I want some forward LED lights anyway and that will also give a better way to control dash mounted farkles like a radar detector and hide the wiring.

[Nesbocaj]

Why not un-wire and wire at the dealers yourself?

[EffBee]

The Gerbing controller is a pulse-width timer, with a 1-second duty cycle. That duty cycle is split into on/off modes, and the length for each mode depends on where you set the knob. Effectively, at the halfway point, the controller would be on for .5 seconds and off for .5.

 

Half power is not the issue. Half power is an average of full power, for half the duty cycle, and zero power for the other half. But it's never half, nor 1/4th, nor 10%. It's either full on or full off. Therefore, if you have a 8A jacket hooked up to it, it passes 8A. But only for a fraction of a second up to a full second, depending on the knob (duty cycle) setting. If you have gloves on top of that, add about 2.8A. If the gloves are on a second circuit, then as Dirt Rider explains above, those circuits do not flash in sync, nor in opposition to each other, but independently based on each's setting. It is reasonable to believe that every other second up to once every few seconds, both circuits will overlap and be on at the same time, and you would have to add their output for the duration of the on-duty overlap.

 

The question becomes, how sensitive are the settings for the software in your ZFE controller for the CANbus system? I know they're quite sensitive for such circuits as the lights. But what about the accessory port(s)? Did BMW realize that accessory demands would fluctuate and let the software account for a bit of overload, or were they strictly set at 10A and set to shut off at 10.01A? If you're going to exceed the preset limits on amp draw, your answer lies there.

 

 

 

 

[realshelby]

Thanks for confirming that EffBee. I have jacket, pants, gloves, and insoles. I prefer one controller. Looks like the best course of action is an auxiliary power source and be done with it.