Heated Controller DIY?

[ParaMud]

I know this is a beat to death subject, but hey, what isnt on the internet? For christmas, my girlfriend and I got heated gloves from my dad. He did not get us a controller. So I am now stuck buying a controller.

If I just needed one controller, I would just suck it up and buy one. But I need 2. Its 70 bucks for a single temp controller, so it would be 140 for both.
We live in So Cal so any coldness is usually just the gloves. We are also doing an alaska trip in the summer. No chance in getting a jacket liner any time within the next 3 years.

We are on separate bikes.


Any cheap methods?

Basically any saved money goes directly into the Alaska gas fund for this summer.
Thanks for any help beating this dead horse.

edit
See the 20 buck one DIY. hmmm

Edit

[duck]

Forget the details but I made one a couple of years ago for some heated insoles using a PWM (pulse width modulator - a.k.a. "LED dimmer") that I scored on Fleabay inside of a little metal "project box." Works great.

[duck]

Not sure what the connectors are but you could probably find something at Radio Shack that would mate with them:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/12V-5A-0-100...item4605cff166

Not sure how waterproof it would be but for the price....

[mwood7800]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B007TH4EN6. I have used this. I have 2 mounted on my rt. one for the seat and 1 for gear. You can dip it in glovit to insulate it or coat it with a hot glue gun. The 2 on the rt are 7yr and still working. I might have used a 15 amp but 10 should work for you.

[Simplyred]

Originally Posted by duck

Not sure what the connectors are but you could probably find something at Radio Shack that would mate with them:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/12V-5A-0-100...item4605cff166

Not sure how waterproof it would be but for the price....

That's only 5 amps..... I wonder if that will be enough....
And it is not a dead horse by a long shot. I am waiting myself as well on some dyi scheme that one can easily assemble (without lots of electronics experience I mean).

I can tell you however that you will need some type of PWM modulator, and you would need to know how much amps your glove will take on full power.
This one comes up regularly and will handle 15amps. More then enough for your gloves. My guess is, that your gloves will take about 10amps.

[mwood7800]

http://store.qkits.com/moreinfo.cfm/MX033. That's the one I used it works jacket and pants, gloves. Make sure you get the one already assembled

[duck]

Originally Posted by Simplyred

That's only 5 amps..... I wonder if that will be enough....

FirstGear heated gloves are 15W each, 30 total. A 5 amp circuit can easily handle that.

[Simplyred]

Originally Posted by duck

FirstGear heated gloves are 15W each, 30 total. A 5 amp circuit can easily handle that.

Duck, Watts is something else as Amps. WebBikeWorld says the following about these gloves:

Firstgear also provides a motorcycle battery harness with the Carbon gloves. The harness has round terminals for the battery and a 15-Amp blade-type inline fuse.

So, if 5 amps would be enough, then why would the manufacturer deliver a 15 amps fuse??

[ParaMud]

From the gerbing website it says
Source 12V DC
Current 2.2A
Watts 27

I am hoping that is for both gloves combined. It should be. That small led dimmer looks perfect.

[MeRide]

Originally Posted by Simplyred

Duck, Watts is something else as Amps.
So, if 5 amps would be enough, then why would the manufacturer deliver a 15 amps fuse??

Watts = Volts x Amps

As to the fuse supplied by the manufacturer.......... the heated gloves can be plugged into a heated jacket so a bigger fuse is required in that case. They don't know what you are/aren't using for gear.

[ParaMud]

Originally Posted by duck

Not sure what the connectors are but you could probably find something at Radio Shack that would mate with them:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/12V-5A-0-100...item4605cff166

Not sure how waterproof it would be but for the price....

I ordered 2 of those, 6 bucks. It should come in about 3 weeks and I will update you guys.

[MeRide]

Not sure how you are going to route the wiring from the battery to the gloves but dependent on that the waterproofness of the controller might not be a factor. Set the controller and stuff it under your jacket.

[ParaMud]

Originally Posted by MeRide

Not sure how you are going to route the wiring from the battery to the gloves but dependent on that the waterproofness of the controller might not be a factor. Set the controller and stuff it under your jacket.

The gloves come with a battery harness, I will just put the dimmer in line. It should be easy to waterproof the plastic seams.

[duck]

Originally Posted by mwood7800

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B007TH4EN6. I have used this. I have 2 mounted on my rt. one for the seat and 1 for gear. You can dip it in glovit to insulate it or coat it with a hot glue gun. The 2 on the rt are 7yr and still working. I might have used a 15 amp but 10 should work for you.

That's similar to what I used for my heated insoles above. I didn't bother including a fuse because the outlet has a dedicated 15A fuse in the bike's factory fuse block.

[duck]

Originally Posted by ParaMud

From the gerbing website it says
Source 12V DC
Current 2.2A
Watts 27

I am hoping that is for both gloves combined. It should be. That small led dimmer looks perfect.

Since the FirstGear ones are 15 each, I'd guess that 27 is for the pair.