Home made heated sox

[HankPfister]

Well, first, I'm rather electrically challenged. Second, I have some Gerbings heated gear, a jacket, gloves, and pants. I don't have heated sox, and they are $60. I do happen to have a pair of battery powered heated sox, they take a D cell, 1.5 volt battery. What if I took off the battery pouch, and replace it with a plug that would plug into my Gerbings heated pants? So do you think I'd set my feet on fire if I ran 12v Gerbings power thru the 1.5v heated sox? Or do you think it would work to just solder on a plugin and go riding?:scratch I rarely use the heated sox, but the last time I tried them I don't remember getting much heat out of them with batteries. Thanks for any opinions.
Hank

[chfite]

12v into a 1.5 v circuit sounds much the same as a flashbulb.

[BubbaZanetti]

yes, this will be bad. the gauge/length of the wire is designed for the amount of current the 1.5V battery will put out, not the electrical system of your bike.

[AZ-J]

You should not do this, it might burn up the "grids" that heat the sox then blow-out in a flash. You might be able to solder in a down-voltage converter, but by then, with the effort and the cost of the converter, you'd be better off and have a better quality product spending the $60 in the first place.

[grossjohann]

So do you think I'd set my feet on fire if I ran 12v Gerbings power thru the 1.5v heated sox?

Don't test them close to the bike...unless you have great insurance. You could use them on the 12V DC system, but you'll need to step down the voltage first. Ironically, if you use a resistor, it might generate more heat than the sox...

Fun project for a January day, but I would spend the 60 bucks :D

[darencs]

You don't want to run 12 volts through your 1.5 volt socks.

But, I once read an article by a guy that used a "Universal Car Power Adapter" like the one below and in the amazon.com link to wire his battery powered socks to 12 volts. The adaptor has variable output of 1.5v, 3v, 4.5v, 6v, 7.5v, 9v, and 12v. I can't find the link to the article but he said that it worked great and he could vary the heat output by switching it from 1.5 to 3 or 4.5 volts.


http://www.amazon.com/500ma-DC-DC-Universal-Power-Adapter/dp/B000T4FVSS/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1196056064&sr=8-9


Or, you could ask Santa for the $60 Gerbings socks and save some time, and the cost of the adapter, wire, connectors, solder, etc.

[ray82609]

Plug em into 12v and get ready to dance. :-)
-Ray