7.4V Heated Gear - Anyone tried?

[bpreynolds]

So for about as long as I’ve been street riding - the last 13 or 14 years, I’ve driven year round in pretty extreme Winter temperatures, all courtesy of Gerbing’s 12V gloves and jacket liner.  A bud of mine is looking for an XL liner so to help him find one I glanced at the market again today, something I haven’t done in several years.  I notice there are now a significant amount of self-contained heated gear with 7.4ish volt rechargeable batteries, controller, and such.  I think he might also like the aspect of no cords to plug into the battery or fidget with per se.  Me, I’ve been using the stuff so long it doesn’t bother me a great deal as I have a good system worked out.  Also, I don’t think these would work for me because my rides are pretty extreme, but for my bud who is not likely to ride in temps below 35 or 40, I wonder how well these would work.  Anyone tried? 

[keener]

So for about as long as I�ve been street riding - the last 13 or 14 years, I�ve driven year round in pretty extreme Winter temperatures, all courtesy of Gerbing�s 12V gloves and jacket liner.  A bud of mine is looking for an XL liner so to help him find one I glanced at the market again today, something I haven�t done in several years.  I notice there are now a significant amount of self-contained heated gear with 7.4ish volt rechargeable batteries, controller, and such.  I think he might also like the aspect of no cords to plug into the battery or fidget with per se.  Me, I�ve been using the stuff so long it doesn�t bother me a great deal as I have a good system worked out.  Also, I don�t think these would work for me because my rides are pretty extreme, but for my bud who is not likely to ride in temps below 35 or 40, I wonder how well these would work.  Anyone tried?

7.4  seems a tad light from what i have sold/seen   12. v is the norm for cordless gear for outside work/construction..  ..the battery should be Lithium charge time will quicker ..  12v systems should also have longer run time

[Wayne Orwig]

Most MOTORCYCLE electric gear that I am familiar with is going to operate in the 50 watt range for a vest, and maybe up to 100 watts for a full vest with gloves.
A 100 watt/hour lithium battery pack is a pretty large brick. It might operate a 33 watt vest for 3 hours.

That would be marginal heat for a marginal length of time on a motorcycle.

Now if you were fishing or something, without the moving air. You might be good with something like 20 watts. And you could get 5 hours time out of that battery brick.

[JohninVT]

I don't think a 7.4 volt battery would produce enough power to keep you warm at 35-40 nor would the heat last very long.  I had a Jett 14V vest.  It is considered the best battery powered vest by Webbikeworld(they have stellar reviews of gear).  It would keep me warm on an unfaired bike down to 40 for 4-5 hours on medium and it lasted 3-4 on high.  If you cut those numbers in half and also realize that a 7 volt just isn't going to put out enough heat to keep you warm at 35-40, or if it does it's going to be on the highest setting and last an hour...I think stepping up to a 14 volt makes a lot more sense.  Just my .02

[charlie b]

A friend has some gloves.

They are designed for 7.4V so they get just as hot as the 12V, they just use more current.  And that's the problem cause it means battery life is not that great.

If you want to get battery stuff I'd get the 12V that can also be plugged into the bike.

FWIW,  with lithium batteries 7.4V is "2 cell",  12V is really 11.1V and is "3 cell".  You cell phone runs off of 3.7V which is "1 cell".  The batteries come in various sizes/capacities, like 1200mAh (1.2 Amphour) or 3600mAh.