Heated glove power use

[stockman]

Anyone know if I will have any trouble running heated gloves on the R65?   :-/

[Bob_Roller]

How many watts of power do they consume ?

Oh by the way, the first post in this thread, was the 50,000 th post on this site, if anyone was keeping track .

[stockman]

Well that's kind of cool. The gloves are Gerbing G3 -27 watts at 2.2 amps

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

Are you also running a heated vest or jacket liner?

If I were you (in NH), I would get a vest (acceptable load, keeps core temps up) and a pair of Hippo Hands (lets you wear summer gloves with NO load).

http://www.hippohands.com/Hippo%20Hands.htm

[stockman]

I looked at the Hippo Hands and have seen some on other bikes, I was going to get them for my Vstrom 650 which I ride every day until
 It snows. I don't get too cold using a Carhart quilted coverall and layering beneath. just my finger tips. I have heated grips on the Vstrom also. I decided on the gloves because I have osteoarthritis in my fingers and the heat feels really good. I plan on using them some in my truck also. I have been playing around with different materials to make my own hippo hands sort of anyway. I really like making my own stuff. My R has a factory windshield that does a really good god of deflecting the wind even at the handle bar ends.
So will the R65 Handle the current draw?

[Bob_Roller]

27 watts most likely won't cause any issues, as long as there isn't any other major electrical accessories being used at the time .

I don't know if you already put a float charger on your bike when it's not in use, if you don't, it may be a good idea to do so .

[nhmaf]

stockman - are you going to ride until we've got snow on the roads?   You may want to look into some plastic hand protectors if your handlebars have room to add them on.   Keep the wind off your hands (or at least from pushing through the glove seams between fingers) is a big help.

I don't use any electric gear, but I've got quite a layering scheme of insulation, wind-proof layer and protective/armor layer thing going on with my late season riding.

[stockman]

I use a battery tender on my bikes. The Vstrom and my wife's Kawi Vulcan get officially put to bed for the winter-batteries inside the house seats removed etc..... But the BMW I keep in the garage and will take it out during the winter if it's safe (ice considered)
If you see a some nut riding an R65 with orange ammo cases as panniers wearing a ugly brown Carhart work coverall with a grey beard that's me.

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

Just keep your revs up (to 4000 RPM or so) to keep the alternator working.

[Dizerens5]

If the heated gloves do cause electrical problems -- I may have missed out on the best products but I've found good quality ski gloves work better than any intended for motorcycling. I use a pair of "Snowlife" I bought in Switzerland. Bright red! (good for safety). Not sure if they are waterproof against 60 mph rain so in wet I use a pair of light overgloves too.

[suecanada]

There is always the option with extra $$ to upgrade the 280 watt system to a 400 watt system that actually doesn't draw down the power below 4000 rpm. I installed the Euromotoelectrics upgrade but Rick Jones's at Motorrad Electrik upgrade is super too and both dealers are way above average for customer service.

Now I have run an SAE plug directly from the battery to the steering head stem and zip-tied it there for a plug-in for my heated wraps on the grips, then these are available for extra heat inside my "hippo hands". Add a switch to the wraps for an on/off option. I turn most electrics off passing through towns anyway. The only thing I don't like about electric gloves is the thicker feeling and the "just more to plug-in
The hippo hands as Rob says are great as you use your summer gloves.

[nhmaf]

With 27 Watt gloves you should be OK - as others mentioned, just don't spend alot of time idling or low <3K RPM engine speeds if you can help it, and plug in the battery tender when you're back home and you should be fine.  Folks usually get into trouble when the plug in 100+ Watts of heated clothing and other accessories, and just make short, low speed trips around town and don't use a battery tender when back @ the garage.

[stockman]

OK thanks everyone all good advise As usual. I Wish I could spend the money for both gloves and Hippo hands but I got turned down by the finance minister who has control of the check book. I'll keep experimenting with different material and make up something Hippo hand like. I need to figure out how to post pictures.
No motorcycle today as it was raining steady all day.
thanks again.

[Barry]

I need to figure out how to post pictures.  

Click on the picture icon 3rd in from the left. It will say "Insert image" when you hover over it. This will put some img/img code in your message as shown below

Then click the 1st browse button and navigate to the location of your picture and click open.

This will put the path to your picture in the Attach 1 box as shown.

If you have a camera with a 10 trillion mega pixel resolution as most are these days you will need to resize the image first so that it will display at a sensible size. 640 x 480 pixels is a good size to try. Plenty of free software available that will do this for you like paint.net or picasa.

Give it a try and don't worry if it doesn't work first time you can always go back and edit the message.

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

Give it a try and don't worry if it doesn't work first time you can always go back and edit the message.  

Feel free to play around with it in the "Test" forum.