Heated Gloves on Voltage Regulator/Rectifier

[buzzbomb]

Well, throttle-blipping burned out the controller on my right heated glove. They were still under warranty, and CycleGear replaced them, no questions asked.

They weren't in stock, so Tom in Matthews, NC took my name and address, gave me a receipt and is going to order them and ship them to my house in SC. Can't argue with that kind of customer service.

The problem for me is that blipping has now become second nature. I had wired the gloves directly to the battery and I guess the voltage spike when I blipped is what killed the controller.

Has anyone connected a set of heated gloves to the regulator/rectifier? In essence I'll be connecting a large resister that's going to be turning on an off at pretty random intervals. I don't know what kind of load the regulator/rectifier can take, and I don't want to burn it out.

 

[98Deathmage]

Well, throttle-blipping burned out the controller on my right heated glove. They were still under warranty, and CycleGear replaced them, no questions asked.

They weren't in stock, so Tom in Matthews, NC took my name and address, gave me a receipt and is going to order them and ship them to my house in SC. Can't argue with that kind of customer service.

The problem for me is that blipping has now become second nature. I had wired the gloves directly to the battery and I guess the voltage spike when I blipped is what killed the controller.

Has anyone connected a set of heated gloves to the regulator/rectifier? In essence I'll be connecting a large resister that's going to be turning on an off at pretty random intervals. I don't know what kind of load the regulator/rectifier can take, and I don't want to burn it out.

There should be a fuse someone where in the device, preferably on the positive side before the controller. If there isnt, I would mod it and put a fuse in there. It will help with the gloves overdrawing power and too much power going into the controller. Its not the voltage thatll kill the controller but the amps.

 

[buzzbomb]

There should be a fuse someone where in the device, preferably on the positive side before the controller. If there isnt, I would mod it and put a fuse in there. It will help with the gloves overdrawing power and too much power going into the controller. Its not the voltage thatll kill the controller but the amps.

There was a fuse and it was not blown. Odd, I know. That's why I was hypothesizing it was the voltage. I could try a lower amp fuse, but if it doesn't work I don't to blow another pair of gloves. I don't know that CycleGear would replace them a second time.

 

[98Deathmage]

There was a fuse and it was not blown. Odd, I know. That's why I was hypothesizing it was the voltage. I could try a lower amp fuse, but if it doesn't work I don't to blow another pair of gloves. I don't know that CycleGear would replace them a second time.

If you had a voltage spike, everything on your bike would have died and fried itself and your alternators voltage regulator is shot. Everything electrical would need replacement.

From what I have been taught in school, If the protection of the circuit(fuse in this case) was blown, it says there was a AMP spike. If it wasnt blow, there was a short. And voltage can spike up but amps will raise too so it would have blown the fuse. I think there was some kind of shortage inside the controller itself maybe water got to it or something shook loose but it was not a voltage spike.

 

[adamo3957]

I'll try not to go into too much detail here.

Throttle blipping did not kill that controller. Throttle blipping will raise the revs, however anything about 2500rpm + you regulator will be stabilising the voltage and current.

At idle your bike should be producing around 12v and above 2500 you should see 14.4v at the battery, because that's where the current from the regulator is sent.

If you are blipping and the voltage goes higher than that your regulator is broke.

I would be likely to look at simple things like swapping the cables for left and right glove to ensure that the controller was bust.

Heated gloves are known to suffer failures in the right glove heating element due to flexing of the cables.

Look up work hardening and thing back to the gloves constantly flexing.

 

[buzzbomb]

Thanks ya'll. I'll get to install the replacements in a couple of days. I'll just run them from the battery again.

 

[Final Impact]

Agreed - failure mode was likely due to product not a voltage spike.

Although the voltage on these bikes is all over the map, its not the cause of failure on a heater element. As stated, either flex damage or faulty component.

Lead Acid batteries are ~12.8 - 12.9 volts fully charged. The bikes depending on the batteries depth of charge and run time above 1800 RPM usually hang around 13.8 - 14.2 Vdc... Adding load drops the voltage and the current to charge the battery and run accessories goes up. In your case the gloves controller limits the current to the heating elements so doesn't point to RR issue.

I will say its good for everyone to gain as much knowledge about how the system is performing when all seems well as its helpful when things break. So, grab a DMM and measure the voltage while off, key on, key on and cranking, idling, and running above 15 - 1800 RPM. Just so you know the turning point of charging vs loosing charge from too much idle time.

 

[buzzbomb]

This has been a good learning thread for me. In my head the circuit was stator, battery, RR. Now that I know it's stator, RR, battery. It makes so much more sense that way.

I blew two RRs on my CB900. It took me a long time to figure it out. If I'd have had the correct circuit in mind during troubleshooting I would have got it on the first.

Live and learn. Happy New Year everyone!