First Gear Heated Gloves/Jacket Review

CAJW · Jan 29, 2008

Tried out my new 90W First Gear Heated Jacket and Carbon heated gloves today. At a chill factor of 23 degrees, everything heated was toasty with the dual heat troller running about 50% of max for most of the time. Ran the Cal Sci windscreen about 3 inches below full up which kept the face the warmest. Jacket and gloves performed as advertised although I think my Aerostich KEL was better on the backs of the arms. (Probably cause' FG puts stretch material there!). Wore a long sleeve t-shirt, heated jacket, fleece pullover, https://www.schampa.com/Item.asp?IID=1088 dickie and my 2 pc Roadcrafter. Long johns, two pr socks, jeans and Oxtar Matrix Gortex boots kept me nice and warm.

The alternator (stock) performance was impressive which read 14.0-14.2V most of the time and when I kicked on the SOLTEK Fuegos dropped to 12.1V for about 6-8 seconds (till the Fuegos warmed up) then back up to 12.5V and held steady.

Items running at the time were:

Heated Gloves 50%

Heated Jacket 50%

Heated Grips on High

Headlights on Hi-Beam

SOLTEK Fuegos on

Escort 8500 on volt readout

Conclusion - First gear stuff works well together with the sleeve exit wiring for the gloves being long enough to plug in easlily. Had to purchase hook up wiring for my Powerlet from https://www.powerletproducts.com/products.php?mid=1 as Cycle Gear only sells the jacket, gloves and heat troller. 2 thumbs up for this set up!

ngarider · Jan 30, 2008

12.5 is danger zone, just remember:

With a good charging system, and a healthy, properly charged battery I would offer these guidelines for sustained voltages:

≤12.8 volts at the battery terminals – the charging system is over taxed, the battery is being discharged, and the stator is in danger of being permanently damaged.

12.8 to 13.2 volts – entering the danger zone, the battery is no longer being trickle charged and the stator is being taxed to the limits.

13.2 – 13.7 volts – undesirable but sustainable, the stator is taxed but the battery is being charged.

13.7 to 14.5 volts – schweet

12.7-12.8 volts – good battery, fully charged, disconnected from the motorcycle, 70°F

pasted from ionbeams post elsewhere on the matter.

CAJW · Jan 30, 2008

ngarider said:
12.5 is danger zone, just remember:
With a good charging system, and a healthy, properly charged battery I would offer these guidelines for sustained voltages:

≤12.8 volts at the battery terminals – the charging system is over taxed, the battery is being discharged, and the stator is in danger of being permanently damaged.

12.8 to 13.2 volts – entering the danger zone, the battery is no longer being trickle charged and the stator is being taxed to the limits.

13.2 – 13.7 volts – undesirable but sustainable, the stator is taxed but the battery is being charged.

13.7 to 14.5 volts – schweet

12.7-12.8 volts – good battery, fully charged, disconnected from the motorcycle, 70°F

pasted from ionbeams post elsewhere on the matter.

Thanks for the heads up. After reading up on Ion's post on voltages, me thinks I'll kick off the jacket and gloves if the Solteks are needed. I might consider getting an upgraded stator for sustained loads.

madmike2 · Jan 30, 2008

One could get very used to heated liners! (Though mine are not FirstGear.)

A couple of weeks ago I left Sonora @ 7:00 PM and turned on the liners and gloves. When I got to 99 North my feet got a little "chilly" and past Galt they felt a bit cold running at FJR nominal highway speeds (And you KNOW what that is between Sac and Galt!). When I got home I checked the thermometer on the wall.....Just what is the "chill factor" of 41 degrees ambient @ 75 mph?

Ahhhhh, I think I'm going to like electric liners! :yahoo:

CAJW · Jan 30, 2008

madmike2 said:
One could get very used to heated liners! (Though mine are not FirstGear.)
A couple of weeks ago I left Sonora @ 7:00 PM and turned on the liners and gloves. When I got to 99 North my feet got a little "chilly" and past Galt they felt a bit cold running at FJR nominal highway speeds (And you KNOW what that is between Sac and Galt!). When I got home I checked the thermometer on the wall.....Just what is the "chill factor" of 41 degrees ambient @ 75 mph?

Ahhhhh, I think I'm going to like electric liners! :yahoo:

Mike,

Best calculator I could find only went up to 60 mph and with your 41 degree temp shows a chill factor of 26 degrees F. https://www.srh.noaa.gov/ssd/html/windchil.htm No matter, anything below about 45 degrees on a bike a guy needs some help keeping the blood flowing!