Comments on: DIY Heated vest/clothing

By: Brice

Brice — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 07:24:38 +0000

I made my own motorcycle vest. I find 65 watts to be very comfortable. I started with a very form fitting vest, picked it up off a clearance rack for about $6. Then used phone wire, it’s about 22 gauge stranded. Very flexible. Get an ohm reading, remember that a running vehicle puts out 14 volts. Then you can calculate how much wire you need for your desired wattage. Solder on a cig plug, preferably with a switch, available at Rat Shack. I used that sticky stitch stuff from the fabric store, and some strategically placed stitches, start with both ends in one pocket, then run the loop out around the vest, be sure on to cross the wires, they will get to hot and end up shorting out. Then just iron-on a liner so the wires can’t shift. I’ve got about 1000k miles on mine, weather down into the mid twenties (F). No complaints.

BTW, if you pay yourself minimum wage, it’s cheaper to buy one.

By: Coyotecom

Coyotecom — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 12:21:28 +0000

That's pretty cool, I might give it a shot since I just acquired a heated blanket this last winter, and it's already starting to look a bit thread worn.

I have an old leather jacket I could try it on in fact. The lining could do with replacing

By: DossierD

DossierD — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 00:25:23 +0000

These kind of vest exist for quite some time. There are special vesions for motorcyclist and militairy, etc. (search e.g. for exo2).
The newest ones don't use wires any more, but some kind of conductive fabric.

I used an electric blanket which uses a transformer for 16V, and it works fine on 12 Volts.

A photo is at: http://www.dossierd.nl/ap_warmtevest.html
(that page is not translated yet).

By: Joel

Joel — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 22:47:34 +0000

>If only a cooling vest were as straight forward.

In fact, it's more so, if you're willing to settle for some combination of heat capacity & evaporative cooling.

Buy granules of polyacrylamide from (e.g.) Lowe's garden supply section. You might have to be persistant in asking for help/describing what you want, in my experience.

Unfortunately, it's $14 per pound or so, but the good news is it absorbs several hundred times its weight in water, so that a little goes a long way. You can also get similar stuff by sifting the paper pulp out of diaper filling.

Experiment with some of the powder to see how much it expands, then sew the powder in like a quilt.

I've used a scarf-like thing of this sort (I think it was sold as a "cool tie") to good effect.

By: paul geering

paul geering — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 05:27:20 +0000

If only a cooling vest were as straight forward.

By: zach

zach — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 02:31:31 +0000

Wow, thanks for giving me some great ideas.
As a Marine we fight in every climb and place (or so the saying goes) and some of those places are cold, very cold. Perhaps i will create my own heated clothing and run it off of a BA-5590/U battery (used in communications equipment). We so many of these batteries that i don’t see why i couldn’t use them to keep me and my fellow Marines a little more comfortable. Keep up the great work and i hope you continue posting your thoughts on this subject.

By: momotarosan

momotarosan — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 01:27:29 +0000

for motorcycle riding, how about modfying something like http://www.coolorheat.com/ into a jacket...this way you can heat or cool yourself...to be able to wear a jacket in the summer to protect you in a fall.

By: toopriddy

toopriddy — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 00:34:20 +0000

just don’t wear this on a plane. I was on the Paris to charlotte flight 2years ago that was detained for “security issues on the plane” because of someone’s version of this project. US marshals borded the plane and escorted some people off of the plane for questioning.

By: Sashmo

Sashmo — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 00:23:31 +0000

Hey, what about doing that to your wipers on your car instead?? I know where I live that would be usefull…. Acutally, Im gona make some right now… ahahahah

By: pastasauce

pastasauce — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 00:04:59 +0000

Those Black & Decker batteries might be a good power source. It’s the featured item in Woot.com’s fake woot-off. $20. Sorry if I sound like a spam bot.

By: Joel

Joel — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 22:47:37 +0000

Uh…how about those cross-linked polyethylene resettable fuses? They can be run on any voltage, and will cease passing current when they warm up to the glass transition temperature of the plastic.

By: Fry-kun

Fry-kun — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 19:11:03 +0000

Bah! They should’ve made a batch of aerogel and insulated the vest with it, instead! Its thermal properties are up the wazoo

By: jose lope

jose lope — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:40:26 +0000

Ha ha… good one…

April Fools, right?

By: fartface

fartface — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:04:47 +0000

Wow, talk about doing it the hard way. GO to walmart, buy a discounted electric blanket. Strip out the heating element and then use that (in a different length you cut for 12 volts instead of 120 volts)

safer, faster, and already teflon coated. We did this stuff at MIT decades ago.

By: Mouse

Mouse — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:20:26 +0000

Hi, I've made much the same thing but used extra flexible wire that was designed for constant movement, even then it would last for just over one season of winter commuting before the wire would fail due to repeated bending. I think that with single stranded enamelled wire this is doomed to failure after just a few trips out in the cold but as a first go prorotype its looking good.