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Gerbing heated clothing/3000 mile report

jim-bob

Pro
Joined
Apr 13, 2003
Messages
127
Location
Skowhegan, Maine
I have now clocked 3000 miles on my Warrior/ I've tighten the track about 5 times and changed the oil and filter twice/ same plugs and belt/ zero repairs or trips to the dealer/ put on Woody duallys (4 inch) and made some suspension adjustments/ that's it/ nothing but ride/ For all 3000 miles I've used the Gerbing heated clothing/ I purchased the whole package, I bought the liners not the full insulated suit / Jacket-pants-gloves and socks/ I didn't use all items every time out as It wasn't severly cold each time/ For those of you who are more prone to getting chilled this is the answer/ this is a wonderful item and makes the ride on the coldest days very comfortable. The cost for all items mentioned along with two 3 foot extention cords and two thermostates was plus $600.00/ Now I know that's alot/ but you don't need an expensive snowsuit to go over it/ lower priced aftermarket wear is plenty/ if you figure it that way it's only slightly more than a suit with a brand logo on it alone. I split the suit into two circuits/the gloves and jacket on one and the pants and socks on the other/ when I felt coolish I would simply shut off the circuit I was using and turn on the other one/ to make sure I didn't overload the system I unpluged one of the headlites (60 watts) to go with the extra 40 watts that the sled already has and there was no ill effect on the system/If your an aggressive rider then you have no need for this item but for those of you who tour or are just subject to the cold this is a great thing/ I did have a problem with the jacket/ I called the factory and they told me to send it in and they'd take care of it- NO HASSELS- the turn around time from when they got it was 5 business days/ I say excellent/Many of you have made recommendation of different products on this site and I've found it invaluable/ now it's my turn to help someone out there that might be considering giving up the sport because of the cold / I hope this helps someone/ later/jim-bob
 

Hi JimBob,
I also have the Gerbing jacket and gloves, and I agree completely with you! IT IS THE BEST ACCESORRY YOU CAN HAVE FOR COMFORT. I don't have the pants and socks yet, but even the jacket alone is GREAT! One day in January up in Quebec the high temperature of the day was -10 far and it got down to -22far by the time we got in, and my buddy on his Viper froze his ARSE OFF :roll: We put 240 miles on that day, and that heated jacket got me in without getting chilled to the bone :D
Now for your information, I have put a meter on the charging system and once your flashing light goes out for the electric carb heaters ( about one minute) the meter is reading 14.40 volts DC, and then I turn the jacket on full to check the draw and it shows 14.28, I then hook up the gloves and it shows 14.22.
So once your electric carb heaters shut down, the electrical system will probabaly handle the whole suit without a problem, so you do not have to disconnect a headlight :D
 
From what I understand the jacket draws 77 watts the gloves 22 the socks 22 and the pants 44/ that's a total of 165/ I'm not sure what the long term effect would be if one were to keep the whole suit on all the time as there are only 40 extra watts available but maybe one of the tech-no-crats on this site could help out with an explanation/ I'm glad to hear that your happy with the items/ I sent Gerbing an E-M and told them that if they were interested that I could offer some suggestions to make the suit more "user friendly" to snowmobilers/ such as an outlet somewhere on the jacket for the heated shield so we wouldn't have but one cord to deal with/ I also think that if they were to target women they'd find a market as women don't tend to ride when it's real cold/ if one of the sled makers were to catch on to this it would sell more sleds to the fairer sex/later
 
I use the full Gerbings suit and gloves on my motorcycle, don't get cold enough on the sled to bother with them.

Best way to go is to use the heatroller electronic controller, as it only uses the power for the given setting. It varies the heat by switching on and off rapidly: turning up the power increases the 'on' time.

So, although the jacket may be rated at 77W, if you use a half setting you are probably not even using 40W.

Nicest option is an onboard controler, that way you can just plug in the cord and go.
 
The "thermostate" that I got from Gerbing works as you stated/ cycling on and off at a rate determined by where the dial is set/ however when the thermo is demanding power, even though it is intermintant, it is still calling for 77watts while cycled on/the thing is I honestly don't understand how electrics work/ from a logical point of view/ since the suit is hooked to the battery one wouldn't think it couldn't bother the charging system as long as the battery wasn't drained to the point of being dead/any insight on this would be helpful/ thanks/later
 
READ THIS AGAIN SO THAT YOU CAN UNDERSTAND :D :) :shock:
Now for your information, I have put a meter on the charging system and once your flashing light goes out for the electric carb heaters ( about one minute) the meter is reading 14.40 volts DC, and then I turn the jacket on full to check the draw and it shows 14.28, I then hook up the gloves and it shows 14.22.
So once your electric carb heaters shut down, the electrical system will probabaly handle the whole suit without a problem, so you do not have to disconnect a headlight :D[/quote]
 
Okay/ Okay/ I got it/ Also when I was at the Yamaha show (in Bangor, Maine) I talked to a rep/ he said that if I had hooked it to the charging system it wouldn't work/ however since I hooked to the battery I was okay/ keeping in mind that the suit does draw more than the charging system delivers/ therefore if one were to run the suit on full all day it could drain the battery/ I explained that that was unlikly as even in the coldest of weather I've only run the thermo at about 25%/ What I've found is that by turning it on low (the suit) early in the ride I don't get chilled later in the day/ also when I'm about a half hour from the end of my ride I shut the suit off/ thanks for the input/ buy the way, my wife loves the RS Venture/ I've been ordered to procure one for her as her '98 Grand touring has 14,000 on it and it's time for a new sled/ up until the show she had wanted the Doo 4 stroke tourer/ looks like another Yamaha in the barn/ we'll get'em- one at a time/ later
 
It dosnt realy matter what you read for voltage. The point is the stator of the sled is rated to produce a certain number of watts. Watts=voltsxamps.
If you attempt to overload the watt capacity of the stator it will eventually fail due to overheating. Be carefull. I think jim bob was wise to disconnect one head light.

Daverx1
 
Jim-Bob, how are ya. how much snow did you get last night. I talked to my brother who was up in Jackman, he said that they got about 8". I have just over 3300 miles on my Warrior and much like you no problems just matinace and 1 set of hyfax.
As for the ele. system, if you constantly overload the charging system you can and will fry your regulator/rectifer. I have seen this on some R1 street bikes were the guys had neon lights on the bikes and leave the lights on for long periods of time.


Pullinfront.
 
We got 6"/ just back from Monson/ they got about 8"/ Thanks for the heads up on the electrial/ I'm sticking with what's go me to this point/ having only one headlite doesn't mean diddly-squat during the day/ and believe it or not there's not a tremendous difference at nite- on top of that I do little riding after dark anyway/later
 
The electric carb heaters are drawing quite a bit! They are hooked up to a 15 AMP fuse. Once they shut down ( a minute or less) You now have much more than 40 available watts according to the testing that I have done. On several days in January I ran the jacket and the gloves at full tilt, all day while the outside temps dropped down to -20 farenheit. IT WAS NICE TO HAVE MAXIMUM WARMTH WHEN NEEDED! The reading on the multi-meter was 14.22 volts DC with jacket and gloves on full.
The inline fuse from Gerbing is 15 amps, the inline fuse for the electric carb heaters is 15 amps, once the carb heaters go off you can IMO have the complete outfit on with no problem, and I did not disconnect the headlight which is something that I had originally planned on doing until I found that IT WAS NOT NECESSARY :roll:
 
gerbing heated clothing

Well I now have plus 7000 miles on my '04 Warrior and have used the Gerbing heated clothing to some degree all of those miles/ The clothing is the greatest and I would recommend it to anyone who would to ride all day and come home warm and comfortable/ There has been NO ill effect on the sled or the electrical system/ take note/ this is a very good item/ later/jim-bob
 
Gerbing

I agree that the gerbing clothing is a good product but don't dare rely on such a gimmick if you are on an extended saddlebag trip. If you do you will probably be buying a new coat somewhere along the way like my buddy did. His failed at -30 f and he about froze until he bought a new coat in Hearst. Slim
 


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