Early present: Tour Master Synergy 2.0 heated jacket liner

[vacanefan]

This evening was in the upper 20's and felt colder. So, I ordered an early present for myself in the 72 watt Tour Master Synergy 2.0 heated jacket liner. I've felt guilty for only riding the NT once this week (combination of cold am temps and rain caused me to whimp out and take the car). The heated grips have spoiled me so much that I can't wait to try out my first heated jacket liner. I know some of you (Karl) use this liner and your posts helped guide my purchase.
I also have some Gerbing heated glove liners that I've owned for over a year, but have never used, so I can finally give them a try once I get the dual controller that comes with the jacket wired up.

I will defeat Winter.

 

[karl]

Hope you like yours a fraction of how I Love mine and you will be happy. You may need an adapter for your gloves to plug in. Good luck and enjoy. Let us know how you liked it.

 

[Phil Tarman]

Heated gear.... the best thing since sliced bread.

 

[charlie b]

I wish I could defeat the winter in my driveway Just about to get all the snow gone and we have another storm coming

 

[vacanefan]

I wish I could defeat the winter in my driveway Just about to get all the snow gone and we have another storm coming

We are fortunate here in Virginia. We typically only have snow and ice for around 20 days or so in total each year. Morning temps are usually in the 20's in the winter months. I think I'll ride more this winter with the heated grips and heated jacket liner on the way.

 

[vacanefan]

You may need an adapter for your gloves to plug in. Good luck and enjoy. Let us know how you liked it.

I received the jacket yesterday and wired it up this am. Fortunately, the Gerbing heated glove liners plugged right in to the Tourmaster jacket liner with no issues. Both worked flawlessly with the dual controller that came with the jacket liner. We are in the midst of a "heat wave" here with temps hitting 65 degrees this afternoon, so I haven't been able to truly test them out yet. I also have aftermarket heated grips (although I am not sure I'll need both the heated grips and the heated glove liners on at once). I turned everything on at once, on high, with the bike running and the high beam on to see if there would be any noticeable issues. There seemed to be none. I would tend to think that I could even add heated socks or insoles to the set up without concern. The mornings will be back in the low thirties and upper twenties in a few days, so I'll get to test the overall effectiveness. For the first time in my life, I can't wait to ride in the cooler weather!

 

[Phil Tarman]

Before I bought the heated socks, I'd find a way to test voltage with everythiing you've already got turned on. One of the neat things about the Honda heated grips is that they serve as a sort of voltage indicator. When the draw is greater than the alternator output, the heat level LEDs on the grip control starts to blink. I've got a Kisan Chargeguard on Dudley and can also view system voltage. When I've got the grips on high ( ?? W), my heated jacket on full (95W), my Denalis on (10W), and the low beam (55W) on, everything is copacetic and voltage is around 13.1. When I turn on the high beam, adding another 55W to the load, voltage drops to 12.1 and the handgrip control lights start to blink. I can get voltage back up by simply turning off the Denalis, or turning the handgrips down to the middle of the five positions, by dialing the jacket back a bit, it went back up to 13.1+.

 

[vacanefan]

Phil, I'll throw a voltage meter on the battery tomorrow with everything running and see what it reads. It looks like you are drawing more than I am at highest settings with your jacket using 23 more watts, and the Denalis an extra 10 watts. I do know that my hand grip LED lights also blink when amps are low, then they shut off (I found this out by testing them without the bike running). I know I would likely never use heated socks or insoles unless I was on a long trip. I just looked in the Tourmaster manual and found that their heated insoles use only 14.5 watts at 1.2 amps.
Total added equipment and gear so far:
Show Chrome heated grips: 33 watts
Tourmaster Synergy 2.0 jacket liner: 72 watts
Gerbings glove liners: 27 watts
...If I added the insoles at 14.5 watts I may be ok. We'll see what the meter reads tomorrow. You may be right. I certainly don't want the battery to drain during a ride!

 

[vacanefan]

Thanks, TJ. I can't believe I waited this many years to get introduced to heated gear. Hindsight...what can you do? I'll be sure to test with turn signals on. According to the Owner's Manual, the total wattage used with the high beam, turn signals, license light and brake light activated is 204 watts. That, of course, doesn't take into account the radiator fan and other items. The alternator puts out a maximum of 438 watts at 5000 rpms. I have no idea what that would equate to at lower rpms or at idle. We'll see how it goes.

--Jeff

 

[Phil Tarman]

Gerbings glove liners: 27 watts

Seems like I remember from somewhere that the OEM heated grips pull something like 35W. You ought to be OK with the heated socks, I'd think.

 

[vacanefan]

Ok, this is likely to be a lengthy post, but here are the results of the voltage tests on the NT with various things running:
Bike off: 12.4v
The following are all taken at IDLE:
low beam: 14.17v
high beam: 13.88v
high beam + grips on setting 1: 13.86v
high beam + grips on setting 2: 13.82v
high beam + grips on setting 3:13.80v
high beam + grips on setting 4: 13.79v
all above +jacket on setting 1: 13.75v
all above + jacket on setting 2: 13.73v
all above + jacket on setting 3: 13.69v
all above + jacket on setting 4: 13.65v
all above + jacket on setting 5: 13.35v

Then I added the heated gloves on the highest setting to find:
high beam + grips on high + jacket on high + gloves on high + turn signal + high beam + brake light + radiator fan: 12.8v
With everything on high at idle, the heated grips shut off after a few seconds. This would lead me to believe that the grips automatically shut down somewhere around 13v (aftermarket Show Chrome brand heated grips).
As soon as I turned one or more off the highest setting, everything stayed on and operated properly. I can't see ever running everything on high at the same time as they all get very hot at that setting. I think if I ever wanted to add heated insoles (they only use 14.5w) I would be ok as long as I ran items on medium settings.
Sorry for the lengthy post, but I thought some may find this info somewhat useful.

Now, bring on Winter!

--Jeff

 

[Phil Tarman]

Thanks, Jeff! That's good to know.

 

[karl]

Mods. is there a way to make this information easy to find in days to come? We do have a way of burying the good stuff under the shineola.

 

[Phil Tarman]

Karl, there probably is, but this technically-deficient moderator doesn't know how. Maybe Mellow can do it for us.

 

[karl]

Thanks Phil, The answer to many can I...

 

[elizilla]

I'm thinking that the list should be pasted into a new thread, so they'll be on the first page. The new thread should have a nice descriptive title, instead of referencing one specific brand of jacket, because it matter to everyone. And that thread should be put into the Technical Forums : Electrical section. I think Jeff should do this since he's the one that came up with the great numbers. Once the thread's out there, Mellow can be applied to, to make it a "sticky".

Just 2 cents about how this would be best managed...

 

[karl]

I'm thinking that the list should be pasted into a new thread, so they'll be on the first page. The new thread should have a nice descriptive title, instead of referencing one specific brand of jacket, because it matter to everyone. And that thread should be put into the Technical Forums : Electrical section. I think Jeff should do this since he's the one that came up with the great numbers. Once the thread's out there, Mellow can be applied to, to make it a "sticky".

Just 2 cents about how this would be best managed...

+1 on that if we could please

Thanks

 

[vacanefan]

I've posted the list under the Electrical section of the Technical Forum: "Voltage Output Test for Heated Gear and Farkles". I'm glad the information was useful.