Heated Gloves Not Working - What Am I Missing?

[EX Winger]

Chris, I use Aerostich Triple Digit outer liners if I am going to be in a heavy rain . that is a outer layer to go with my OLd Harley branded Gerbing gloves, NOt sure of the modle of them but they are 01,or 02 vintage.

The only problem I find with the electric gloves is that in wet weather if you fingers get dmp an you pulloff your gloves the insides will wwant to come out with your finger. My preferred comination is the garbing glove liners inside of a large gauntlet leather gloves from Langlitz and the triple digits over them. Many times I also just go with my heated grips and good leather gloves insife of the triple digit outer shells. .

I don't envy you your daily comute for the Seattle area winter. I would mosty likely wimp out and use a cage!.

Eldon

 

[Rmcapozzi]

The heated liner from W&S pulls 90 something watts while the Gerbings only pulls 77. You'll want to take that into consideration when comparing people's setups.

My wife can comfortably run gloves, jacket, pants, socks (all Gerbings), and her heated grips without the charging system going to a net loss situation. She isn't running the garmets at 100%. Maybe 50%-75% for the clothing and grips. If that high, the grips will turn off when at idle due to the low voltage issue (not enough charging). She doesn't run with her highbeam on which uses quite a bit extra energy (55 additional watts).

She does have a set of Motolights that run all the time but those are probably less than 5 watts.

The heated grips are about 24 watts. I think the Gerbing gloves at 100% are 27 so they are very close. The gloves however so a much better job at keeping the hand warm.

 

[EX Winger]

Phil, I do have OEM heated grips. I also have the voltage meter similar , but different from yours. running the heated grips and liners ,or gloves I usurally turn down the rheostat and keep the charging rate on the positive side,oh yes I also have the denies running on the low side plus my extra rear lights etc.

The dual controller is a good investment. If I had one of them I would probably plum it in separately from the dual and use it alone for gloves , or foot warmers in my boots. only problem there is my boots are almost too small fro me when I put in the heated in-soles.

 

[Phil Tarman]

Rob, I've noticed that when I have the liner at 100% and the grips on high, I go into a deficit mode on charging with high beams. If I turn down the grips to the middle position, I'm OK. If I had the heated gloves, it would probably be the same and I might not need the liner turned so high.

Thanks for the info!

 

[Rob]

I sent in my Gerbings jacket for the recall (although I had not had any issue with it) this summer. They said it would take two weeks and I got it back in about 5 days. With any luck Chris, you may be pleasantly surprised! Although I guess it's moot since you snagged the G3's!

 

[Rmcapozzi]

Using the high-beams is equivalent to running 2 pair of gloves set at 100% (55 watts vs. 54 watts). My wife doesn't run her high-beam when wearing all her electrical gear.

 

[Rmcapozzi]

I know my older T5 gloves (original T5 when first introduced) only have the heating elements on the back of the hand/fingers. I heard that the newer T5 gloves have the heating elements all over. Maybe someone with the latest T5 can confirm this? I cover my brake levers with two fingers most of the time and those fingers get a bit cold resting on that cold lever. Elements on both sides certainly would fix that.

What's the temp like when you're riding, Phil? The lowest I've been since I came back from Africa was about 38-39F. I'm not running the Gerbing liner or T5 gloves on full at that temp.

When I stop at a traffic light, I find I need to turn the liner and gloves down a bit to keep from being uncomfortable. The heat builds up without the wind blowing over me. Plus, I'm aware that the electrical capacity is less at idle than at 4000 rpms. Since some of those places (Mercer Street onramp to the Express Lanes) can have me waiting 10 minutes or more at the different traffic lights, I turn the heat down to be more comfortable and I figure it saves on the electrical load as well.

I thought long and hard about heated grips versus heated gloves. The biggest difference that comes to mind is the surface they are heating. The grips obviously heat the palm of your hand and the fingers if you're not covering the brake and clutch. The gloves heat the back of the hand and the fingers. The blood vessels are located on the back of the hand, so it that is warmed up, you'll get more blood flow to the hands and fingers, which will keep them warmer.

Regarding the commute, it really isn't that bad...if you dress for it. If I dress for it, I'm comfortable. I have a boss who is pretty understanding too, and lets me leave early in the afternoon to keep from riding home in the dark and rain. That's my next project...to add some driving lights. When the light grey pavement here gets wet, the color turns to black and just sucks in any light that hits it. And when I ride this time of the year, I don't have to worry about crazy motorcycle riders who don't know what they are doing.

Chris

 

[Phil Tarman]

In late January of 2012, I rode to Texas for my ex-mother-in-law's funeral. I left here (Ft Morgan) at 6PM and the temp was 26F. By the time I got 60 miles or so away, it was down to 10F. About 200 miles away it "warmed up" to 12F. I was wearing my Roadgear two-piece suit with the insulated liners in on both the jacket and the pants. I had my CyCloak Thinsulate/Goretex gloves on and a pair of heavy socks. I was OK temperature wise for most of the trip but my little fingers on both hands got cold. I had the heated grips on the position 3 of 5.

Since then I've gotten fatter (gotta' do something about that!) and probably couldn't get the liners in under the Roadgear jacket. The coldest I've ridden in this year is about 24F and I was getting cold after 2 1/2 hours. Not dangerously cold, but uncomfortably cold.

 

[Warren]

I guess some of us have better circulation in our hands than others. My hands are always cold it seems. Wearing my best winter, non electric gloves, with the electric hand grips on full my hands start to get cold within 20 minutes when its in the 20's. I recently bought a pair of Mobile Warming electric gloves that have solved the problem. I will give a full report on them after a couple more weeks of use.

 

[Rmcapozzi]

20 minutes at 20F? I don't think my hands would even start out being warm in those temps without heated gloves. In 20 minutes I think the feeling in my hands would be gone...until they started thawing out again. OUCH!

I guess some of us have better circulation in our hands than others. My hands are always cold it seems. Wearing my best winter, non electric gloves, with the electric hand grips on full my hands start to get cold within 20 minutes when its in the 20's. I recently bought a pair of Mobile Warming electric gloves that have solved the problem. I will give a full report on them after a couple more weeks of use.

 

[Rmcapozzi]

I rode for many years without heated gear. I just learned to deal with my cold hands. I has zero wind protection. I would alternate placing my hands on the exhaust headers to keep them from completely freezing. I am not blessed with a lot of natural insulation. Works great in the summer, not so much in the winter. Kinda like a Chihuahua that will shiver in 70F temps.

Distance and speed has a lot to do with it also. 20-30 minute commute versus touring all day in sub-freezing temps.

I don't think you "wimped" out by going to heated gear. You just got smart about it.

Those handlebar muffs are pretty amazing on how well they work. I ran with them PLUS heated gloves when I rode my Vstar 1100 (zero wind protection for the hands without them). Without them, my hands were frozen at 32F with my G3 heated gloves. With the muffs and the same gloves, I ran at temps down to the single digits with warm hands).

Hope your T5's get back to you quick. Did you confirm the issue was with the gloves and not the harness in the jacket. I've had the plugs on my jacket sleeve go bad before. Course that was an easy fix as I could run a separate harness for the gloves.

It's doable, but you have to plan for it. I'm lazy and wimping out since last year with electric gloves , but if it takes much longer to get the T5s returned or the G3s I have on order, I'll go back to what worked before. When I went to work yesterday, and later when the temp dropped to @30F last night going and coming back from church, I was fine. I have the Seirus Innovation Men's Thermalux Heat Pocket Liner You can put thermal heat packs in pockets on the back of the hand where the blood vessels flow. The metal threads are supposed to transfer the heat throughout the hand. It looks like they are not producing these any more. The big complaint is that velcro pulls the metal threads out, leaving them a mess. But if you're careful, they work.

The other big thing that worked, was to install handlebar muffs. I put them on once for a short ride, and found they would need the brackets I installed when using them on the Burgman 400. It's just a simple bracket that extends past the brake and clutch caliper to keep the muffs from being pushed back onto them when riding from air pressure. They worked well for years to keep my hands dry and warm, even on commutes of over an hour in the teens. It's how I reached my "Rounder" status.

But like I said, I wimped out last year and bought the electric gloves. It is so nice to simply turn the dial to get the warmth you want.

Chris