Heated Gear - Made the leap

[900gc]

Whomever came up with heated gear first should be elevated to sainthood! It's one of those "why the heck didn't I do this sooner!" experiences.

 

[Bill Lumberg]

I'm doing the best I can to resist getting a jacket liner. I have good warm stuff. The decrease in bulk is what's attractive.

 

[hppants]

Bill - just do it. You will never regret it.

Another advantage of the liner is, with the tweak of a switch, you have more range of temperature in the comfort zone. As the sun comes up and it warms up, if you go with the heated liner and plug it in to start, it might have to get 15-20 degrees warmer before you have to stop and shed a layer. I find this especially convenience now that I have a bike with heated grips. I used to tour with 3 sets of gloves. Now, only 2.

 

[BkerChuck]

One of the best arguments I can make in favor of going heated is this....Get caught in a cold rain sometime when you're wearing it. I don't care what you have on under your jacket in terms of layers or materials then. There is simply no substitute for turning that thermostat up another notch to take that chill out of you when it's damp or wet.

 

[Bill Lumberg]

I may get a heatroller and a jacket liner from warm and safe. I ride every day unless it's wet and below freezing. If I run a liner and glove liners, trying to decide whether to get single or dual controller.

 

[Poolboytoo]

I just installed gen 4 warm n safe heated gear with wired dual controller. Pants and jacket. Haven't used it yet but will have on tomarow morning . Curious about opinions on battery powered controllers opposed to wired. I figured if it's wired the battery will never be an issue.

 

[BkerChuck]

I use the wireless dual controller and zip tie it onto my front brake master cylinder lid. If I recall its a AA battery and I just pop a fresh one in when I put it on in the fall. Batteries are cheap enough and I've never had an issue with it making it through until spring when I remove it for the summer.

Jacket liner plugs into bike through a pigtail I used to let stick up between front and rear seats. This year I drilled a hole in the left side cover under the seat and mounted it in that space. Of course my seat is in the high position so that option isn't for everybody.

Not sure if they still offer it but Warm & Safe used to offer a FJR forum discount. They did about 3 years ago when I bought my stuff.

 

[st4gary]

Warn-n-Safe offers a 20% discount if you're an AMA member. Can'r recall the code but you can access it when you log into you AMA account and look at the member discounts tab.

I've used their wireless controller since it came out years back. It allows me to move from a few different bikes a ride by simply moving the controller. I usually just Velcro the controller to either the clutch or brake master cylinder. I always have a local 12v connection straight to the battery on all the bikes too that I plug the jacket into.

I just ordered one of the newer controllers that uses either AA or AAA battery. The first gen uses a large watch style battery that hasn't lasted as long as I'd like and is a bit of a pain to replace.

 

[Niehart]

I just installed gen 4 warm n safe heated gear with wired dual controller. Pants and jacket. Haven't used it yet but will have on tomarow morning . Curious about opinions on battery powered controllers opposed to wired. I figured if it's wired the battery will never be an issue.

That's a better way to go unless you have more than one bike or want to remove it in the summer time.

 

[Bill Lumberg]

ETA- if I run only gloves, jacket liner, and the gloves are plugged into the jacket, there's no reason for a dual controller, right? I put a gen 4 jacket liner and heat troller in the shopping cart, but couldn't make myself pull the trigger. Came close though. Right now I'm using the lightweight pigtail and a Y splitter (run down my coat sleeves) for gloves alone.

 

[Bill Lumberg]

Alright you watery tarts (OP excluded, of course). Now that I've sunk an additional $309 in the latest heated kit based upon hanging around the wrong people here (OP included), do you have any suggestions on the best way to run the power? I've been using a pigtail from the battery that peeks between the right fairing and the engine for a year for my glove liners. It works fine. Going to replace those wires with heavier ones that'll power my new big money liner. I can do the same as I have, but a hard mount point might be nice, especially if the pillion needs to wear my or their own electric gear.

 

[st4gary]

I went Warchild's route and installed a direct connection to the battery from the left fairing using a Powerlet outlet. It's held up real well over 3 years now. I use it for heated gear, trickle charging and an air pump. Here's a link to his installation.

 

[Spud]

Having used my heated gear (just a jacket liner, heated grips and disposable insoles for cold days) I'm convinced it makes riding in the cold much safer. Cutting down on the bulk lets you be more maneuverable on the bike. Keeping your core temp up helps keep you way more alert. Most of all, man is it FUN to ride in the cold! No bugs, cheap hotels, bike runs great.

You do have to listen to common sense though (something I need to work on). My recent trip to Canada this October had the Del Bonita border crossing agent staring in disbelief, told me to get south as they had 10" snow forecast for that night. That was after sitting in my motel room in Lethbridge until noon waiting for the flurries to clear out so I could get out of there. Your know those "bridges may be icy" signs---yeah...

And on that trip a can of beer ruptured in my top case after spending the night outside in Butte, MT. Yeah, that trip was kinda cold... still fun as hell though!!

 

[BigOgre]

[D]o you have any suggestions on the best way to run the power? . . . . [A] hard mount point might be nice, especially if the pillion needs to wear my or their own electric gear.

This. I find it very easy to reach down with my left hand after mounting up.

 

[mcatrophy]

Alright you watery tarts ... but a hard mount point might be nice, especially if the pillion needs to wear my or their own electric gear.

I would hate to have a hard mount.
The reason is that I inevitably forget to unplug when I get off (me being a watery tart). With a flying lead, the plug and socket straighten out and disconnect with minimum strain on anything.

Picture below shows the lead simply draped over the edge under the seat (yes, there's plenty of clearance).

(Click on image for larger view)

 

[Bill Lumberg]

I forget to unplug too. Never thought about that angle. (No pun intended).

 

[BigOgre]

Alright you watery tarts ... but a hard mount point might be nice, especially if the pillion needs to wear my or their own electric gear.

I would hate to have a hard mount.
The reason is that I inevitably forget to unplug when I get off (me being a watery tart). With a flying lead, the plug and socket straighten out and disconnect with minimum strain on anything.

Good point and I have done this more than I care to admit. However what sort of saves it here is that in order to connect to the Powerlet hard mounts you'll most likely need one of their short adapters, in my case a Powerlet to SAE. Should you put any pull on the wire I find it usually comes apart at the SAE end. I'd imagine a coax connection should pull apart even easier there.

One other thing I've found at this same connection point (SAE) is that for whatever reason I'll occasionally find it has come apart, usually soon after getting on the bike. Five or ten minutes of me wondering if I'm feeling heat and fiddling with the controller when I'll look down and see the connection separated. First time I saw the pigtail flopping around by the wheel was the last. My solution was to take a simple twist-tie attached by one turn onto the wire on both sides of the connection. Not only will it help hold the ends together should the connection come apart but by using only one turn it also won't prevent it from breaking apart at that point should you dismount and forget you're connected. Sorta like a fusible link if you will.

 

[Greenham]

ETA- if I run only gloves, jacket liner, and the gloves are plugged into the jacket, there's no reason for a dual controller, right? I put a gen 4 jacket liner and heat troller in the shopping cart, but couldn't make myself pull the trigger. Came close though. Right now I'm using the lightweight pigtail and a Y splitter (run down my coat sleeves) for gloves alone.

Like many I have had heated gear for 15 yrs. Started with Widder, then went to Gerbing. When I switched I bought the dual controller, and found it to be a PIA. I only run gloves and liner and thought it would be handy to be able to separate the warming of each... I found pretty quickly "not so much" If my hands are cold enough for power/heat so too was my torso.. Having the two linked ever since has never been an issue.

I don't like the "bulk" of the Gerbing gloves I have that are now 10+ years old. I switched to heated grips this year and so far (50 degrees) that were more than enough. I am hoping they will suffice to about 40 degrees. After that the bulky gloves will make an appearance.

IMHO a dual controller will only be necessary if you are using a connected sock arrangement. But man what a PIA it will be to "wire yourself in"

 

[Niehart]

I'm doing the best I can to resist getting a jacket liner. I have good warm stuff. The decrease in bulk is what's attractive.

One of the good things about heated gear is that you can warm your core back up if you get chilled. I found that with layers, if I got cold I had a tough time getting my core temp back up.

 

[Kelvininin]

Someday, I'll hop on this band wagon. I am good to about 40°F, then I start driving the truck. As I get older I dislike cold more. I do have heated grips, first mod I do to all my bikes.