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Gerbing Wiring Harness

Didn't get a chance to contact Gerbing today with this with this question, so a quick post on here.

My wife has the Gerbings Jacket Liner, been used a few times the last couple of years. We are ordering the pants-liner and it will come with its own wiring harness

The question/needed advice is: Do the pants have the option to plug into into the jacket as an extension of the jacket or will that need to be wired direct to the battery as well. At this time, we are not getting the dual controller option (December gift probably).

We are going to have to order a new wiring harness for the jacket liner as well, the last harness is not available (left it on other bike elsewhere).

Guess what I need to know is what harness should I order to plug both units in?

Scotchale
 
Look at her jacket liner. It probably has a female coaxial connector somewhere near the waistband. If it does then that is where the pants liner is supposed to connect.

And, thus, if so, you only need the fused single connector for the controller to connect to the battery.
 
It sounds like you are going to get the dual controller-there are benefits. With the dual controller it's real easy to use. You could go to Gerbing's site and add up the electrical draw and decide if you want all the draw all the time. Frequently the upper body will get colder then the lower body. You can plug and un-plug on the go but not as easy/safe as turning a knob. http://www.gerbing.com/Products/liners.php Gary
 
I would prefer the controller, but can't put all the money into it at one time. Aux lights are also being purchased. My wife will probably only need the jacket/pant liner for about 30 minutes in the mornings...afternoon, the liners have to come off !

Her test ride yesterday morning, decided she wants some heated pant-liners as well.

For now "Plug and Play" insofar as the harness goes.

Bryan
 
Look at her jacket liner. It probably has a female coaxial connector somewhere near the waistband. If it does then that is where the pants liner is supposed to connect.

And, thus, if so, you only need the fused single connector for the controller to connect to the battery.

Thats what I thought, but didn't have a chance to look at it yesterday.

Thanks,
Bryan
 
Look at her jacket liner. It probably has a female coaxial connector somewhere near the waistband. If it does then that is where the pants liner is supposed to connect.

And, thus, if so, you only need the fused single connector for the controller to connect to the battery.

Thats what I thought, but didn't have a chance to look at it yesterday.

Thanks,
Bryan

How does the controller work w/ pants/jacket and gloves. Are the Pant/jacket on one paddle and the gloves the other? Or jacket/gloves on one and pants on the other? Or..?
 
Gerbing controllers control heat by pulsing the current to the garments. The greater the pulse width the higher percentage of the time the current is flowing. If you have a single controller with the garments interconnected then all of the garments get the same duration that the current is flowing. This might work OK, or maybe the pants are not warm enough and the jacket is too warm, or vice versa.

To be able to provide different durations of current flow for different garments, each garment needs to be attached to a discrete controller.
 
Gerbing controllers control heat by pulsing the current to the garments. The greater the pulse width the higher percentage of the time the current is flowing. If you have a single controller with the garments interconnected then all of the garments get the same duration that the current is flowing. This might work OK, or maybe the pants are not warm enough and the jacket is too warm, or vice versa.

To be able to provide different durations of current flow for different garments, each garment needs to be attached to a discrete controller.

I understand that... Since I have a dual controller I would then decide which needs to be throttled separately.
Jacket/Pants on one... Gloves on the other.
 
Around here it gets into the 20s and on an RT I've never even gotten close to needing electric pants, though I own them. Regular RevIt lined, insulated stuff works fine (not the summer mesh variant). Do need the jacket, of course, and electric gloves on the coldest days and use a dual controller for that because gloves get too hot if one one.
How cold is it for you to need electric pants??

Oh, don't use the electric boot liners either- same BMW All Arounds and Tech Sox in summer and winter.

Haven't tried the above below 20 - just doesn't get any colder here.
 
I have Gerbing G3 gloves, jacket liner, and pants liner. They all plug together through the jacket. I have the dual controller. One knob controls the jacket, the other controls both the pants and the gloves.

Each piece of Gerbing I bought came with it's own wiring harness to connect to the bike. You only need to install one harness. But if riding 2 up, you would need to install 2 harnesses. The harness has an in-line fuse with a max fuse size of 15 amp. If I am running all the gear at the same time, it uses between 10 and 15 amp if I remember right (I figured it out once). So, if you have 2 riders, one harness would not have the amp rating you need.

If you are planning to buy another piece of Gerbing gear, no need to buy another harness as you will get one with the new piece. If you check their web site you will find they sell all those connector pieces separately at reasonable rates. You can buy a Y splitter or a cable with an in-line switch, but I would recommend the dual controller. I have never had my controller turned all the way up for more than a few minutes; it gets too hot. The controller lets you get the heat setting where you want it so you don't have to fiddle with it. I would think with the switch you would find yourself turning it off and on frequently.
 
Gerbing Gear

I have the Revit sand jacket and lined pants but think it would be nice to add a gerbing jacket liner. Any suggestions on the best place to purchase Gerbing for best pricing?
 
RE: Gerbing Gear

I started with gloves and a jacket last year right when the microwire came out. My BMW dealer was selling all of his pre-microwire Gerbing half price, which was an extraordinary opportunity; I had never seen Gerbing discounted before. I even checked on ebay and it was full list price. The dealer told me that Gerbing "authorized" the half price sale because they would not ship them new microwire until they sold all their pre-microwire inventory.

A short time later, I decided I needed the pants liner, and had the dealer ship me the pants based on the measurement instructions on the Gerbing web site. These were pre-microwire and half off. Problem was the pants were not even close to fitting. Dealer took them back for full credit and ordered me the correct size in microwire. The problem was in the measurement instructions. Gerbing said to measure from the top of your belt to the floor and around your waist. I measured with my regular pants from the top of the belt to the floor. When I got the pants I found they have a very high waist. When I measure from the top of the belt with the Gerbing pants on, I came up with a size that was 2 sizes larger than the ones I originally got. Also, instead of measuring your waist, you need to measure the wider of your hips and your waist. So, be careful about mail order on this gear. The best way is to go to the dealer and try them on, like I did with the gloves and the jacket.

If you can still find pre-microwire at a steep discount, I would recommend it for the gloves and jacket, but not the pants. I cannot feel the wires in either the gloves or the jacket, but I could feel wire in the original pre-microwire pants, particularly over my knees. So, I am glad I have microwire in the pants. The other advantage they claim is faster warmup time. They say 10 seconds to full heat with microwire and say that is 10 times faster than pre-microwire. That sounds like a dramatic difference, but if you do the math, the pre-microwire heats up to full in 80 seconds instead of 10. That is less than a minute and a half, and is not a problem for me. I can tell you that you feel heat in the pre-microwire within 10-15 seconds.

The half price sale was what got me off the fence on the Gerbing gear, and I can't imagine riding without it. I ride year 'round, but I carry it with me on trips even in the summer. I have been in some cold rains in August. I think of Gerbing gear as safety equipment as much as for comfort. When I am cold, I find myself hurrying to get to my destination, and it is harder to stay alert.
 
Controller

When deciding to buy a controller, don't overlook Warm and Safe's Dual Remote Control Heat-troller. You only need to plug the power into the Jacket as the controller is wireless to a module that fits in the pocket.

I have the controller Velcro taped to the bike and its so nice to be able to not worry about the hassles of the wired controller. No fiddling to find knobs or unintentional adjustments to them.

http://www.warmnsafe.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=65_71_81&products_id=257
 
I just bought a Gerbing pants and jacket liners. Gerbing told me you need a dual controller or a splitter (2 into 1) $ 15.00 for the splitter or $100 for the controller.
Seems like a no brainer for about 30 minutes.
Come to think of it I received the splitter with my jacket.
 
There is more than one reason to consider a controller as opposed to a splitter/switch combination. I installed a Battery Bug to monitor my voltage after I discovered last year that if I run the jacket, gloves, and pants all at the same time on full I am discharging my battery. I also found that if I run just the jacket and gloves, I can have them both on full without discharging my battery.

The point is that if you are using a switch with enough gear, your battery may be discharging the whole time you have the switch on, depending on your alternator output. Of course, when you turn the switch off, you will be back to charging your battery. My experience with a battery failure demonstrated to me that if the battery voltage drops below a certain threshold, the motorcycle computer shuts down, which can lead to the bike just quitting completely even when you are riding the bike. This actually happened to me. So, it seems possible you could have your gear on full constantly (with a switch) and kill your bike if your battery is low.

During the winter months (I ride all year 'round), I put the bike on the BMW Maintenance Charger every night so I start every day with a fully charged battery. Since the controller is pulsing the Gerbing gear on a one second cycle, if you have the knob turned down half way, the battery is getting full voltage from the alternator every half second. This would keep your battery up.

The Battery Bug has features that are designed specificially for heated gear. If the voltage drops below 12.1 volts for more than 20 seconds (see http://www.argusanalyzers.com/battery-monitors/support/bb-sbm12-family.html#c98) an audible alarm goes off and an icon on the display flashes. The thing I like about the Battery Bug over a plain volt meter, is that I don't have to keep watching it. If I get an alarm, I can dial back the Gerbing. So far, I have never had the alarm go off, but that is because I (so far) have never ridden for more than a minute or two with everything turned up all the way; it just gets too hot. Lowest temp ride last year was 23 degrees and the Gerbing gear had no trouble at all keeping up with the knobs set a little over half.
 
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