Heated Gear

[cwatc]

I have a pair of Gerbing's G3 heated gloves and am looking at also getting a Gerbing's heated jacket liner as well so that I can extend my riding season. Has anyone successfully used a pair of Gerbing's heated gloves and a Gerbing's heated liner (at the same time) on the S1000RR without it affecting the electrical output of the bike? I ask this because I know that the output of the alternator is not that great. On Powerlet's site (BMW S1000RR 2009 - Present - Powerlet Products) the Excess Electrical Capacity (EEC) for the S1000RR is rated low. I noticed in a post by member Mack (Riding in Winter Weather) that he chose the Warm and Safe liner for this very same reason (i.e. lack of high alternator output). Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

[Karlb]

personally I would ride with the jacket liner and ditch the gloves just to be safe

[sajonf]

Originally Posted by Karlb

personally I would ride with the jacket liner and ditch the gloves just to be safe

Exactly the opposite for me - I have a windproof jacket with a thick microfiber liner that keeps my torso nice and toasty. What I couldn't find was a pair of gloves that would keep my fingers from getting frostbite within a half hour. I tried everything, glove liners, goretex, etc. to no avail. I got a pair of TourMaster heated gloves and now my entire body stays warm on long rides down to about 30 degrees (haven't tried any cooler), actually my hands/fingers are the warmest part of my body!

To the OP - I haven't done two pieces of heated gear but I routinely run my heated gloves on med- high and have never had a problem. I usually ride my bike once a week or two, so it never sits too long.

[Kman]

I just asked my dealer last week the same question you raised. Service manager said jacket and gloves draw too much. Gloves only would be OK.

[dattaway]

There's enough power for a full suit.

[awelch85]

Not Gerbing related, but Heated Gear related:

I got Columbia's Circuit Breaker Softshell heated jacket. I've had it three days or so and am very disappointed in it's heating ability. It barely feels lukewarm. As a jacket it very nice, as a heated jacket it sucks, especially for the price. I'm sending it back, hopefully they refund me since I've taken the tags off. Maybe they'll tell me it is a defective unit and let me try another. I got my wife a Gerbings and I'm so jealous of the heat

[shashankmittal]

I use Powerlet jacket liner (110W), Gerbing T5 gloves (27W) and First Gear heated pant liner (35W) and they have worked perfectly for the last 1yr. I use a Gerbing dual temperature controller to power them.

I would recommend two things:
1. If you are putting a lot of electrical load on your battery, then it would be advisable to charge it using a tender (or a good charger like Optimate 4) on a regular basis. I typically do it twice a month during winter and my Optimate brings up the amperage from 0.4 (or less) to 0.8 (optimal). This will help you get continuous power supply to your heated gear. In addition to powering my heated gear, I have hardwired GPS and I also have HIDs.

2. The Gerbing and Powerlet heat controllers supply power in bursts, which means that your heated gear won't draw power continuously but would still maintain warmth. This puts less load on your battery.

I have been using my gear without any issues and have done several day rides (upto 8-10hrs) without any power loss.

[Mack]

Interesting reading from Powerlet:

Calculating Excess Electrical Capacity - Learning Center - Powerlet Products

I know my Gerbing's full-heated suit has a 15 amp inline fuse in it. The dual controller is supposedly a pulse-duty cycle which should draw fewer amps. I know on the other BMW bike group that BMW has some liner that was design for their Can-Bus bikes that tripped the auto-breaker at 5 amps so they made their jacket for those. It was only an amp or two lower than the Gerbing liner. I know on my GT, the jacket only got luke-warm as the Can-Bus throttled it on and off so it really never got hot.

I looked in the S manual and didn't see the output spec's for the bike. I think it has a 40 amp main fuse though so maybe 400 watts max (I'd guess more like 380 maybe?). If the Powerlet data says 285 watts to run the fuel injected things (I found the fuel filter drawing twice the watts if plugged interesting: 60 to 120 watts!) you should have 100 watts to play with. I run some extras like a GPS, Autocom, and radar unit so I don't know how much extra I have already in my actual numbers so I may be under 100 watts for my reserve (hence the stingy Warm-and-Safe liner at 60 watts and their gloves at maybe 25 watts?).

Aside.
Here is a photo of one of my Gerbing jacket liners (I got several, plus defunct Widder gear, plus Warm-and-Safe the most recent.) where I had to replace a failed plug on the road. The thing started getting very hot at the connection and more than the jacket itself. It finally melted. Too much flexing of the wires at the connection led to the break (maybe) and it generated more heat at the break or thin spot than the wires in the liner. Their gear seems to be either made in China or the USA. My Cascades Extreme 4 season heated suit of theirs was Chinese made and the Velcro pulled loose in the first week from bad stitching quality. They took 2-3 months to fix it with repeated calls and the fix was something a 6 year old on a machine could have done (and maybe it was?). I thought they would have just exchanged it as it was new. Wait to fix it took me through the riding season.



Point being is if you have thin spot anywhere in your charging system and pulling a lot of current through it, bad stuff can happen. That's what takes the stator windings and connections going to them down in most bikes.


Mack

[cwatc]

I got a Gerbing’s heated liner and hooked it up with a Gerbing’s G3 heated gloves using Gerbing’s portable dual temperature controller. I tested it out Saturday night on a 120 mile round trip over three hours. Each way was 1.5 hours which consisted of 30 minutes of highway and 1 hour of back roads. The temperature at the start of the ride was 36 F and 31 F when I got back home. Since this was my first time wearing any type of heated gear and not knowing 100% what to expect, I wore an under armor type shirt, a t-shirt and a thermal (all long sleeve.) (I hear you shouldn’t necessarily layer when using a liner but I just wanted that extra bit of security.) I had the liner over these and my leather jacket over the liner. For my legs I wore an under armor type pants, thermals, jeans and a textile overpant (which I usually wear in warmer conditions). For my feet I wore a pair of Aplinestars Thermal Tech Socks (Alpinestars Thermal Tech Socks - Dirt Bike Motocross - Motorcycle Superstore) and Aplinestars S-MX 5 boots. On my head I wore a Sweatvac beanie and on my face a Biker's Comfort in Action Bike Pit Neck Gaiter (Neck Gaiters - webBikeWorld ). The heated gear definitely delivered. Here are some of my other observations:

• I couldn’t see the temperature controller which was on the left side of my jacket and I had to get used to adjusting the knobs while riding. It’s a good thing that I remembered which knob was for the gloves and which was for the liner. A permanently mounted controller that lies in front of you with a knob and is lit might be a better way to go. (Gerbing’s has these.)
• I noticed that I definitely felt the liner’s heat in the arms and back, but not so much in the chest. My chest was never cold, but I didn’t feel the same intensity of heat as I felt on the back and arms. Maybe it’s because my chest is really my windshield and therefore taking the brunt of the wind.
• About 1/3 of the way through the trip I noticed that my hands were getting cold despite turning up the heat level. It turns out that the cord from my jacket got disconnected from the cord from the battery. (My son actually told me before I left the house that the lead from the battery looked a little short. Turns out he was right.) I pulled over and pulled out more of the cord that comes from the battery, reconnected it to the jacket and was good to go for the rest of the trip.
• When parts of your body are warm you begin to notice the other parts of your body that are not. My face initially felt cold for the first 10 minutes but after that it was comfortable. My feet started to feel a little cool midway through the ride and I felt the wind in my legs at about the same time as well. (Next time I’ll wear 2 pairs of socks. I’ll probably invest in heated pants next year.)
• What seemed to be the longest part of the trip was actually the pre-ride of hooking up the cables, storing the cables and attaching the temperature controller to my jacket. I know it was my first time and that subsequent uses will be quicker. Also, I don’t have the temperature controller cover that comes with a belt clip as yet. I’m looking forward to a much easier connection solution. The connections remind me of hooking up a laptop via an Ethernet cables vs. using a wifi setup.
• I got the liner on Friday (12-16-11) and noticed that it didn’t come with a PDU (Power Distribution Unit) which makes connecting the cables easier. I was concerned about having purchased an old liner but I did some research and apparently Gerbing’s is doing away with their PDUs on their latest jacket liners (ADVrider - View Single Post - Gerbings Jacket Liner PDU/Wire leads).

Overall, I enjoyed the ride and am so glad that I invested in the heated gloves and liner. I’m looking to continue riding until it snows.

[dattaway]

I have the temperature controller for my Gerbing's suit. I've used it once...ten years ago. I found it's easier just to open up the zipper to regulate temperature.