Heated Jacket

Boy, the last few mornings here is sunny southern California has been 39 and 40 degrees when I have left for work.
( I know, the mid-westerners and east coast folks are laughing right about now, But for us California wusses, that is pretty cold)

I did some checking and the DC accessory port is rated for 10 amps of current draw. I have been thinking of getting a DC accessory for my heated motorcycle jacket and plugging that in on the drive into work.

The jacket and controller consume a max of 5 amps at 100% duty cycle. I am assuming that it would consume much less power than the Climate Control.

Anyone do an calculating on what the Climate control system consumes?

I also figure that the DC accessory port runs directly from the 12volt battery, so when driving, it would be charged by the battery pack.

Thanks

Joe

I have been using my Gerbings heated motorcycle jacket this week in my Leaf. The gauge does not really move. It takes very little energy. Give it a try.

With just the heated vest, seat, and grips on my BMW motorcycle, I could stay very comfortable down to freezing temps. I think you'll be very happy in the LEAF, however, I would get heated socks if you're not wearing warm boots.

If there's any question to the current draw, run a dedicated fused wire from the battery bus or fuse bus. Then you still have the 12v accessory port for other stuff, like a cabin heater!

Run the climate control on defrost with foot mode to keep the windshield defogged qt the lowest possible current draw. If you vest pulled 5amps, that's just 60 watts. The heater "warms up" at 4500 watts!! (and then runs at 1500-3000-ish)

Got the Milwaulkee heated jacket the other day and it seems to work well. It makes a nice car jacket. With gloves, my upper half at least is toasty. We'll see what it's like when the temp dips to 5 degrees F or below. I got the Large which fits me fairly snugly, but with the fleece lining (i.e., not slippery) it takes some work to get it on. If you are ordering one online, you might want to go a size up from what you normally might choose, especially if you like it a bit roomier under the arms.

I especially like the breast pocket for my phone; note there are no inside pockets for a wallet, etc.

Renny

milwaukee is what i have as well. i also have seat heater that plugs into 12 volt socket and its rated at 150 watts but also has 3 different vibration zones each with 2 speeds so guessing that is how the 150 watts is obtained.

just to test it, i ran it with everything on high for about 45 minutes with no issues.

jpitz31 said:

The jacket and controller consume a max of 5 amps at 100% duty cycle. I am assuming that it would consume much less power than the Climate Control.

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much, much less.

Anyone do an calculating on what the Climate control system consumes?

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At 5 amps you'll be consuming 60 watts of power with your jacket. Even assuming that charging of the 12V battery is only 50% efficient, that is 120W from the main pack. The LEAF heater can consume over 4500 watts. In your temperature it would probably settle at around 1200-1500 watts. So that's 10 to 1.

http://daveinolywa.blogspot.com/2012/11/heated-jacket-test-battling-winter.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

my review on the Milwaukee Jacket. also have parts one and two but those are mostly just thoughts on the options and initial impressions.

I prefer this because it allows other 12 volt options be it seat heater or whatever. as it is, i am "plug starved." I have the seat heater plugged in along with cellphone plugged into USB so having the coat with its own battery pack works very well and its got about a 2 hour charge on high setting.

FYI, I've stopped using my black Milwaulkee heated jacket. The black rubs off on the seats, center console armrest and door armrests. They are now visibly darker or stained. I haven't tried cleaning them yet (I figure I need a good upolstery cleaner) -- I really hope the black dye comes out. Also, the jacket is a cute idea, but it wasn't my torso that was getting cold, so I'm back to my good old comfortable leather jacket.

RedMapleLeaf said:

FYI, I've stopped using my black Milwaulkee heated jacket. The black rubs off on the seats, center console armrest and door armrests. They are now visibly darker or stained. I haven't tried cleaning them yet (I figure I need a good upolstery cleaner) -- I really hope the black dye comes out. Also, the jacket is a cute idea, but it wasn't my torso that was getting cold, so I'm back to my good old comfortable leather jacket.

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oh that sucks. mine is red so if it was transferring any dye, I would have noticed it right away. I dont use mine all that much really. probably 10 times this year maybe? I only really want it when temps hit 20's. the normal Winter weather of mid 3-'s to low 40's I can deal with.

are you sure the black is from the coat? my interior is very light colored and I am getting discoloration on the door handles and other places that get touched on a regular basis.

DaveinOlyWA said:

are you sure the black is from the coat? my interior is very light colored and I am getting discoloration on the door handles and other places that get touched on a regular basis.

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Yes. I had the car for a year (driven nearly every day for 20k miles) and the interior was pristine. (BTW, all the LEAF interiors to this point are the same light tan colour.) It was only after I started using the coat every day during the winter for two months when my son noticed it from the passenger seat. I'm hoping that it will come out as the seats are a synthetic material (recycled pop bottles?) and have otherwise been very resilient showing very little wear. Other than the areas I mentioned, the interior still looks like new.