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heated jackets

I've found that a vest is all I need (well, my wife uses heated insoles too). Unless you're open cockpit, I think a full jacket would be too much. The vest offers plenty of heat to your core but allows total freedom of movement. And yes, even on low, they put out a LOT of heat.

I have replaced my heater ducts, muff, valves and cables with a 12v power plug and some wire. Best of all, my "heater" is portable from airplane to airplane, won't poison me with carbon monoxide, and stays in the closet when not needed.

tourmaster-synergy-vest-front.jpg
 
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Honestly Scott...never heard of a power tool battery blowing up and that's what those jackets use...in the airplane you wouldn't be using the battery anyway.

They are nice and toasty warm!
 
Gerbing Heated Vest or Jacket

My wife and I use a Gerbing heated vest when we ride our motorcycles. They plug into a 12 volt connector. I use a connector like used on a battery tender. The one my wife has uses a thermostat that she can adjust to her personal preference. They also offer full jackets, pants, socks and gloves. All of the items plug into each other so you only need one power supply per person. I don?t know what the amp draw is but I can saw on the motor cycle and snowmobile I never had any issues. Gerbing is not cheap but I can saw it is high quality. My wife and I have had ours for many years; I think around 10 years or more. Id? purchase again. Plus with a hard wired unit you don't have to worry about dead batteries, unless you have an airframe issue.:rolleyes:
 
The thing to keep in mind with this motorcycle gear is the fact that it's designed to keep you warm in a 65 MPH windstorm. We don't have that issue in our calm little cockpit bubble. Highly recommend something with a thermostat, because in most cases you will find that even "low" is going to be plenty warm. I use mine for the initial part of a cold flight but invariably turn it off once up at altitude.
 
Homade Heated clothing

Ok home builders. You can make your own heated clothing
Vests, pants, jackets. All you will need is 30 gauge Teflon coated
Wire approx 30 ft .per item At 12 volts 3 ohms will require 4 amps ,
an led dimmer to regulate the heat or switch when you are warm a plug,
Thread wire thru the vest or jacket liner ( do not cross the wires)
Bad things happen, do not place wire on pressure points ( you will get a hotspot)
Visit mototour for complete instructions and theory. Another site
home made Electric motorcycle cloths. Enjoy
Sheepdog
 
Hey Pooner,

Been looking at this after your post (and now that we have -2F at Stead today...warm for Montana and Mini, but...yikes!). Couple Q's that I can't seem to find in the specs:

I see it says the batt pack will run the jacket and charge personal electronics via USB, but I don't see a description of a plug in adapter for a 12V outlet (for da plane). Did you make one up, or find one that adapts?

Whatever you did for the 12V adapter, what is the amp draw? Gotta make sure it won't pop the cb for my 12V receptacle.

Thanks, this looks like a Christmas list item! ;-)

For Sheepdog...foolin' wit-ya here...but somehow the concept of rollin' my own on this one conjures up a picture of Wile E Coyote! Plug my home-built version of this in, and I look like an X-RAY...hands, feet...and hair...sticking out in all directions! :eek:

:D

Cheers,
Bob
 
Nasty the cord inside the jacket has a normal DC plug that you would find on a wall-wart to plug into the battery. Easy to adapt to.
 
Scbado said:
My wife and I use a Gerbing heated vest when we ride our motorcycles. They plug into a 12 volt connector. I use a connector like used on a battery tender. The one my wife has uses a thermostat that she can adjust to her personal preference. They also offer full jackets, pants, socks and gloves. All of the items plug into each other so you only need one power supply per person. I don?t know what the amp draw is but I can saw on the motor cycle and snowmobile I never had any issues. Gerbing is not cheap but I can saw it is high quality. My wife and I have had ours for many years; I think around 10 years or more. Id? purchase again. Plus with a hard wired unit you don't have to worry about dead batteries, unless you have an airframe issue.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...


Can't go wrong with Gerbings.
I had all my Gerbing gear on one evening after a dinner ride. Headed home on I40 with oat of 8*, 30 mph wind out of the NW. Had to turn the t-stat down on the gear, got too warm!
 
It appears the Gerbings are the best ones out there. As far as I can tell they are the only ones that have heating elements in the sleeves.
 
Gerbing heated jacket

Our RV8 has the typical cold aft cockpit, so we bought a Gerbing jacket and heated socks for my CP, Marcie. We have flown in 5 degree (F) weather with that setup, and she is toasty warm. The system has a separate controller for the jacket and for the socks. Gerbing makes great stuff!
 
heated jacket liner

I purchased a tourmaster synergy 2 jacket liner online for $160 (on sale). Took me about 10 minutes to install the power lead to the electrical bus. OAT at 6000 feet was in the single digits; and I was comfy warm on the lowest detent. I also have a heat muff installed with some heavy duty stainless steel cleaning pads. I found the heat muff to be inconsistent and inefficient because its effectiveness is largely dependent on OAT and your airspeed. If I had it to do again I would skip the muff and just use a jacket, another lead could easily be installed for a passenger. And the beauty of the jacket is that for $8 I can purchase extra leads so I am comfortable on my other toys like my motorcycle and snowmobile.
 
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