Gerbings heated gear question; Gerbings says you should not use a SAE adaptor to plug into the 12V cord they supply to heat their gloves, jacket, etc., I have a Battery Tender SAE plug set up on my bike to charge the battery as many of you do. Gerbings wants you to remove the existing battery tender cable from your battery and install their supplied cable to the battery. Gerbings sells an adaptor to convert coax to SAE so you can still use your battery tender. My question is; does anyone use their existing battery tenter setup to heat your gloves, jacket, etc without using Gerbings setup by using an adaptor. The pictures show;
1. Gerbings adaptor (white)
2. Normal coax to SAE adaptor.

 

I plug a battery tender into my bike maybe once or twice a year. I plug my electric gear in every day. The easiest alternative is to build a battery tender cable that can plug into the coax gear adapter already on the bike. All that is required is a male coax plug. Coax plugs are more durable (can be frequently plugged in and unplugged without wear) and handle higher current loads compared to an SAE connector.

 

I plug a battery tender into my bike maybe once or twice a year. I plug my electric gear in every day. The easiest alternative is to build a battery tender cable that can plug into the coax gear adapter already on the bike. All that is required is a male coax plug. Coax plugs are more durable (can be frequently plugged in and unplugged without wear) and handle higher current loads compared to an SAE connector.

This is all you need, I would double check the polarity is correct though coming off the charger as getting it wrong can cause a lot of damage. My charger for instance uses SAE connectors in a reversed polarity from another charger I had. The inner most connection is POS on the coax connector. You may have to open a connector like the one below and cross the wires to reverse the polarity - so much for standardization with SAE connectors.

 

the heated gear pulls too much power and will melt or short the tenderplugg,maybe even turn u into a rolling ball of fire.

 

fat-Tony; The point I am trying to make is Gerbings says you MUST use their suppled cable that goes to the battery AND use their coax to SAE adapter to use a battery tender otherwise there could be some sort of damage to their heated gear. Your picture shows Gerbings adapter, the one I am speaking of. So, according the Gerbings, you have to REMOVE the existing battery tender setup, install Gerbings power cable to hook up their products. If you want to use a battery tender you MUST use their adapter which is the one your picture is of as well as the WHITE on I show on my
post. I do not see why one could use their existing SAE setup and just get a adapter from SAE to coax to run your heated gear....but Gerbings says no!

 

Not being a wise guy and don't know Jack about electoral items at all. But, you are saying the cable that comes with Gerbings gear can handle more current than the regular Battery Tender cable...Right??

 

yes the garbing is a heavier gauge wire,if u put a bigger fuse in the tender plug u will melt the fine wire b4 the fuse blows,the tender only puts out like half a amp while the gerbing liner and glove can pull 7 or 10 amps.

 

I used it through the tender with an adapter everyday it has been fine. I do gloves and a liner. The dealership even rec I do it this way with the new deluxe.

 

I agree it will work fine thru the tender plug. I used it that way for a while then I hard wired in the Gerbings wire and mounted a plug outlet on my crotch cooler. I left the tender wire on also.

 

If by working fine folks mean your motorcycles haven't caught on fire yet then you are probably correct. Just kidding of course. A fire is highly unlikely in the fused wire harness. Then again all it takes is a little gas and a spark.

Electrical engineers design wires to safely handle the designed electrical loads of the circuit they will be used for. The wires used in the Gerbings, and most other heated clothing manufactures, power cables are a minimum of 14 gauge. Battery tender cables are typically anywhere from 16 to 18 gauge. Over time the extra heat generated from current flowing through under sized wire will damage the insulation and the wire itself. If, when or how the wire fails is dependent on the actual loads they carry and the environment the wires are typically exposed to. It's possible you may never have a failure but it is also possible you could end up with something less pleasant. It is unlikely the harness would get hot enough to ignite unless the wire deteriorates and a location somewhere in the wire develops a significantly higher resistance. A high resistance can cause a lot of heat to be generated in a small area of the wire. Then it boils down to which is higher, the temperature of the wire or the flash point of the insulation. If the insulation deteriorates to the point the wire can short to the chassis then arcing is possible. Even these wouldn't be catastrophic failures unless it occurs in a flammable environment (fuel vapors or other ignitable materials). Yes, I am an electrical engineer so I get paid to worry about stuff like this.

I use heated gear a lot. It's a $16 part so I consider it an investment in my peace of mind.

I don't know what gauge the wire is in the harness that the dealers are installing on new bikes. All I know is mine has a 3 Amp fuse in it. It is never a good idea to put a higher amperage fuse in a circuit unless you know for sure that everything else is designed to operate at higher current levels.

So a dealer said it is OK to power heated clothing with it. Not to be flip but I have heard all kinds of BS from people standing behind counters at dealerships. A better question for them would be what is the wire gauge in the battery tender harness. If they can't answer the question or they don't know the difference between wire gauge and a fuel gauge they aren't qualified to have an opinion. Just my $0.02. Everyone is of course free to do as they see fit.