heated gear

[Guest]

yeah it's getting..well gotten cold out there...so i was thinking about either heated grips or heated gloves..as my hands..even with good gloves..are getting cold...i'm riding a 1981 gs450t..and i have heard that the electrical system is weak on these bikes..or at least something to that effect...will gloves or grips be too much? how far do i dare go with other heated gear?

[bbjumper]

Check out Oxford Hot Hands @ www.twistedthrottle.com, you can take em back off when the weather warms up. Www. Webbikeworld did a review on them and
stated that the draw was 2.6 amps, the harness is fitted with an inline 3 amp fuse. Sounds simple.

Cheers

[Redman]

I too was concerned about adding more that a few amps to the charging system.
SO I figured that heated gloves was the best use of the amperage (and dollars)

Gloves are 24watts (2 amps) whereas a vest or pant liner is 48watts and entire jacket liner is 72watts.

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[Steve]

I have some heated gear and some other loads of known value, so I did some experimenting. Keep in mind that this was with a good stator and a decent R/R, so your 'mileage' might be different.

With just the bike, I hit peak voltage at about 2000 rpm, then it started regulating.
With heated gloves (about a 2 amp draw), it hit peak voltage at about 2500, then started regulating.
With a heated jacket (a 4 amp draw), it hit peak voltage at about 3200 rpm, then started regulating.
With the jacket and the gloves, it hit peak voltage at about 5000 rpm, then started regulating.

The moral of the story is that, unless you have the engine above the point where the charging system starts regulating, the battery will not receive a full charge. If your ride is going to be a long one at speeds that will keep you over 5000 rpm most of the time, go ahead and gear up, but if you are doing stop-and-go stuff in town, keep the electrical demand low, so your battery can stay charged.

As to whether to use heated grips or gloves? I would choose gloves ANY day, as grips will not heat the backs of your hands. However, some will prefer grips, so they will be there for every ride, and will work with whatever gloves you happen to be wearing.

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