Heated gloves question

[smokinjoe]

So since I bike commute year round for 20yrs, I have finally broken down & bought heated gloves. Question is, can I just run them on a 12v supply or do I absolutely need a controller of some kind.

I ask since the controllers seem pricey just to switch heat levels. Cant I just wire a resistor in like heated grips?

Thanks for any wisdom.

[nhbubba]

Yes, you can wire like grips. The controller will just let you modulate the heat they produce, nothing more. The only thing that is required in my view is a fuse for safety.

[01xj]

Even if you can, you won't be happy with one level of heat. Your going to want to change it around based on your comfort level. I sprung for heated gloves this year and they get hot enough to be uncomfortable with the wire touching my skin on high. I run them on high to get nice and warm then turn it down to med. or low.

Believe me I am equally as cheap as you probably are but the heat controller is worth the money. Cycle gear has a pair that gets you OTD for about 120$ with a lifetime warranty and mine are the older Tourmaster Synergy gloves that run about 130$ and include the heat controller and wiring harness.

[Falko]

I was told that the resistor set up will still draw as much power as the gloves running on high, the resistor just takes the additional power. The heat controllers are usually a pulse function so overall they draw less power. If power consumption is an issued (like it is with many people who use multiple electrical devices) the heat controller has that benefit. Again, I am not an electrical engineer, so I do not know if this is totally true.

[jasnmar]

As others have said, yes, it is possible.

As others have said, I'm not sure you will be happy.

I don't know what gloves you have, but the Gerbing gloves are capable of 135º, which is less than comfortable on your skin.

I do know people who have run a simple switch setup like http://gerbing.com/collection/on-off...ed-switch.html.
I do know people who have run a "third party" PWM set up like http://www.suntekstore.com/goods-140...er_w_knob.html
The 3rd party thing seems really great until you get a housing for it and all of the needed connections, which may still be cheaper, but it does take some time and effort.

I can tell you that my glove liners and jacket liner would not be comfortable at full temperature (of course I'm not riding in -25º temps either).

So, you won't hurt anything doing this, but you might not be happy.

[GearHd6]

That is exactly what a resistor does. It still sends the full line voltage to the resistor and then just turns the excess voltage into heat. They're basically a power waster.

Just buy a controller, you'll be glad you did. I've got the Gerbings dual controller and you can run a jacket, gloves, pant liners and boot liners all off it. I can't imagine running any of those on high all the time. You'd be well done by the time you got to your destination.

[whynot]

I've used the Tourmaster dual controller for four trouble-free years

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com...e-heat-troller

[Chippertheripper]

Yes, yes you can.
I have the TM synergy ii's, and even in full tilt they still don't get THAT hot. The manual says something absurd, but they aren't even close to that. (I sent the first pair back because I thought they were defective)
When I get unlazy I'll do some 'sperimenting and see if I can't find something that'll melt my hands off.

[nhbubba]

Again, I am not an electrical engineer, so I do not know if this is totally true.

You have it right. The PWM controllers rapidly switch between full on and full off. The variable control changes what percentage of the cycle the power is full on vs off. Net effect is that you perceive the heat being at a lower level and less energy is used vs a resistor setup.

My coworker has a great story about almost crashing a motorcycle after he bought heated gloves with no resistor or controller and almost couldn't control the bike because all he was thinking was "daaaaaam that's hot!". He said his hands were bright red when he finally stopped the group to ditch the gloves.

[MattR302]

Two cheap ways to limit the power-

1) build a little controller box with a SPDT/on-off-on switch. Left is full power, direct to battery. Right goes through a 2-pin turn signal flasher - which pulses the power on and off for a ~50% duty cycle.

2) search Ebay for "LED Dimmer" and use that. I bought one of these below for $5 and tested it on an oscilloscope at work and proved that it works.



Edit- also, another way is to use a DPDT switch, and wire it so that one way they are in parallel (100% power) or the other way they are in series (25% power). I don't remember how the switch is wired, you can search for it if you're interested.

[Kenn157]

I have first gear heated gloves and liner. with just a single controller. The gloves run hotter which is why I'll get a duel controller. My Explorer has a 950w power supply. I have heated seats. Run fog lights, GPS and Adaptec radar plus a powered SW motech powered tank bag.

[smokinjoe]

Thanks for the responses guys. MattR302, thanks, that is exactly what I was thinking.

So I already went ahead and bought a 2 or 3 level controller since I anticipated the anger I would feel if I got the gloves and really needed it.