Heated jacket on an Auxilery Battery

[haildamage]

i had been running my heated gear on my PCX electrical system. however, i had to switch it off at every stoplight and that meant that the jacket didnt really get a chance to warm up in urban riding.

i wanted to try to run it off of an auxilery battery under the seat. luckily i found myself around the campfire with an electrical engineer and got some valuable advice. firstly you need to use a deep cycle/marine battery type battery. i dont understand these things so well but basically these batteries are designed to be charged up and run down repeatedly unlike the automotive batteries most of us are more familiar with.

as he is a nice guy, he advised me on what kind of battery i needed to run my Warm and Safe 90 watt jacket for two hours:

90w for 2 hours at 12 volts.
90w/12v = 7.5 A
7.5A x 2 hour = 15 A hour needed

since i actually only ride around 45 minutes each way and i dont turn the jacket up much higher the 50%, i went with a 12V12Amh battery as i wasnt sure what would fit under the seat. i bought this battery from amazon. it is enough for my needs and still allows me to put my road emergency gear and my 12 inch laptop under the seat. if you want to run for longer or use heated gloves you might consider the 20Amh hour battery assuming it will fit under your seat.

so far this system is working very well for me. however, the real test will come when it is down close to zero in the morning in a few weeks!

i am using a CTEK smart charger. i soldered the charger connector and the warm and safe jacket socket directly to the battery.

[you you]

i had been running my heated gear on my PCX electrical system. however, i had to switch it off at every stoplight and that meant that the jacket didnt really get a chance to warm up in urban riding.

i wanted to try to run it off of an auxilery battery under the seat. luckily i found myself around the campfire with an electrical engineer and got some valuable advice. firstly you need to use a deep cycle/marine battery type battery. i dont understand these things so well but basically these batteries are designed to be charged up and run down repeatedly unlike the automotive batteries most of us are more familiar with.

as he is a nice guy, he advised me on what kind of battery i needed to run my Warm and Safe 90 watt jacket for two hours:

90w for 2 hours at 12 volts.
90w/12v = 7.5 A
7.5A x 2 hour = 15 A hour needed

since i actually only ride around 45 minutes each way and i dont turn the jacket up much higher the 50%, i went with a 12V12Amh battery as i wasnt sure what would fit under the seat. i bought this battery from amazon. it is enough for my needs and still allows me to put my road emergency gear and my 12 inch laptop under the seat. if you want to run for longer or use heated gloves you might consider the 20Amh hour battery assuming it will fit under your seat.

so far this system is working very well for me. however, the real test will come when it is down close to zero in the morning in a few weeks!

i am using a CTEK smart charger. i soldered the charger connector and the warm and safe jacket socket directly to the battery.

Are you using heated gloves too?

[haildamage]

[quote="you youAre you using heated gloves too?[/quote]


no i am using the honda heated grips. they are good as they know when there isnt enough power and go into sleep mode automatically. i also have the tucano urbano bar muffs. with that i am fine with uninsulated leather gloves. if you wanted to add heated gloves, you would neet to consider that in what size Amh battery and how long your commute is.

[you you]

[quote="you youAre you using heated gloves too?

no i am using the honda heated grips. they are good as they know when there isnt enough power and go into sleep mode automatically. i also have the tucano urbano bar muffs. with that i am fine with uninsulated leather gloves. if you wanted to add heated gloves, you would neet to consider that in what size Amh battery and how long your commute is.[/quote]


As long as you are keeping the extremities warm it'll make the most put of a heated jacket

[haildamage]

according to the theory its more the opposite. if you keep the core warm with a heated jacket, your extremities will stay much warmer. when your core becomes cold the body shuts down blood flow to the extremities to concentrate on the core.

it is nice to have both grips and jacket though.

[maddiedog]

Cool solution.

I'm guessing the stator doesn't output enough charge to also drive the charger for the deep cycle? It'd be cool to have that as a feature. Likely not possible though.

I think another solution would be to replace the headlights with LEDs. The decrease in current draw may be enough to power some jackets, not yours though.

[haildamage]

Cool solution.

I'm guessing the stator doesn't output enough charge to also drive the charger for the deep cycle? It'd be cool to have that as a feature. Likely not possible though.

I think another solution would be to replace the headlights with LEDs. The decrease in current draw may be enough to power some jackets, not yours though.

those are great ideas, but a bit more complicated than what i can manage. maybe somebody else will develop them and show us the way!

[sendler2112]

Why can't you just run the heated gear off of the normal battery. I have Venture Heat jacket, pants, and glove liners running with no charging problems. The PCX has a powerful charging system.

[haildamage]

Why can't you just run the heated gear off of the normal battery. I have Venture Heat jacket, pants, and glove liners running with no charging problems. The PCX has a powerful charging system.

indeed the charging system is pretty powerful at 317 watts. however, my understanding of the charging system is that is doesnt charge at idle or under acceleration. it is very urban where i live with too much time sitting at stop lights and accelerating away from stop lights. i ran it off of the stock charging system for two winters. however, i was always turning the jacket off when stopped and as a result, the jacket really didnt get a chance to warm up. one day i decided to let the jacket run at 1/3 without turning it off. the battery died and i was stuck on the side of the road until the nearby bike shop opened.

with this system, i can leave the jacket turned up to whatever level i like and the worst that can happen is that i will drain the auxiliary battery before i get home.

it would be nice if you put your location in your profile so we could easily understand where you live. i assume you are not commuting in a lot of stop and go traffic if you are running that much heated gear no problem.

[sendler2112]

i ran it off of the stock charging system for two winters. however, i was always turning the jacket off when stopped

Did you ever try just leaving your heated gear on to see if you would have a problem? Or you just assumed the battery would eventually run low. My commute is 80% highway at 50 mph.

[haildamage]

i ran it off of the stock charging system for two winters. however, i was always turning the jacket off when stopped

Did you ever try just leaving your heated gear on to see if you would have a problem? Or you just assumed the battery would eventually run low. My commute is 80% highway at 50 mph.

yes, see the part in red from my previous post.

indeed the charging system is pretty powerful at 317 watts. however, my understanding of the charging system is that is doesnt charge at idle or under acceleration. it is very urban where i live with too much time sitting at stop lights and accelerating away from stop lights. i ran it off of the stock charging system for two winters. however, i was always turning the jacket off when stopped and as a result, the jacket really didnt get a chance to warm up. one day i decided to let the jacket run at 1/3 without turning it off. the battery died and i was stuck on the side of the road until the nearby bike shop opened.

running 80% constantly is a very different commute than what i am doing. i am probably stopped at traffic lights at least 25% of the time. other than that i am often coasting and filtering at no throttle or slow speed. it is really good info to have in this post that you are managing to run so much at those conditions no problem. how many total watts is your suit using?

[sendler2112]

The Venture Heat pant liners spec 46W.
.http://www.ventureheat.com/p-416-12v-he ... liner.aspx
.
The Jacket states 83 Watts but I never turn it up past 50% as it will just about feel like it is burning you.
.
http://www.ventureheat.com/p-419-12v-he ... liner.aspx
.
The glove liners state 24W and have no control but are well balanced and rarely feel too hot.
.
http://www.ventureheat.com/p-423-12v-he ... iners.aspx
.
I also have the heated foot beds but would only use those when I go out of town on a long trip
.
http://www.ventureheat.com/p-421-12v-he ... soles.aspx
.
So I am probably running about 100 Watts of heat with no problems. I still think it is odd that your charging can't keep up with your usage unless you are using the start stop feature which will have the engine off at stops and use up a lot of power to start the engine over and over again.

[you you]

The Venture Heat pant liners spec 46W.
.http://www.ventureheat.com/p-416-12v-he ... liner.aspx
.
The Jacket states 83 Watts but I never turn it up past 50% as it will just about feel like it is burning you.
.
http://www.ventureheat.com/p-419-12v-he ... liner.aspx
.
The glove liners state 24W and have no control but are well balanced and rarely feel too hot.
.
http://www.ventureheat.com/p-423-12v-he ... iners.aspx
.
I also have the heated foot beds but would only use those when I go out of town on a long trip
.
http://www.ventureheat.com/p-421-12v-he ... soles.aspx
.
So I am probably running about 100 Watts of heat with no problems. I still think it is odd that your charging can't keep up with your usage unless you are using the start stop feature which will have the engine off at stops and use up a lot of power to start the engine over and over again.

Just a gut feeling but I don't think a bloke should ever have panty liners.

[haildamage]

i dont think it is odd. i dont have a source at hand but i have read somewhere that the charging system doesnt charge the battery at idle. using a voltmeter confirms that the charging system isnt doing enough at idle. in addition, trying it and running down the battery within 25 minutes also confirms this. i think it might be hard for you to imagine what a commute in the dense and congested urban jungle of osaka is like. if i had a gopro, i would make a video...

at any rate, it is much different than blasting down the road at 50 MPH for most of the journey with the charging system operating at peak capacity.

[dustin91]

Hail, how do you keep the marine battery charged so that it can heat your gear? Do you use a trickle charger when not in use?

[dustin91]

So I am probably running about 100 Watts of heat with no problems. I still think it is odd that your charging can't keep up with your usage unless you are using the start stop feature which will have the engine off at stops and use up a lot of power to start the engine over and over again.

Sendler, how are you connecting your heated gear to the PCX battery? Did you add a connector cable like a quick-connect or coax directly to the PCX battery?

I'm looking to add some myself, and would love some advice!

[sendler2112]

Just connect the power cable that they give you with the heated clothing to the battery. Run the cable out under the seat when you want it or toss it in the storage compartment when not in use.

[dustin91]

Thanks Sendler! I was hoping it'd be that easy... I'm also thinking of adding a voltmeter to ensure whatever gear I get doesn't drain the battery.

I'm sure you get plenty of need for heated apparel up in Syracuse... I did my four years in Ithaca, and know what the weather can bring!

[haildamage]

Hail, how do you keep the marine battery charged so that it can heat your gear? Do you use a trickle charger when not in use?

using a CTEK battery tender/ charger as seen in the last pic. i just plug it in when i get home and it is charged up the next day.

[dustin91]

using a CTEK battery tender/ charger as seen in the last pic. i just plug it in when i get home and it is charged up the next day.

Ah, thanks. Just missed that part!