Heated Vest!

I have had a Heated Vest made by Eclipse in Ann Arbor Michigan which I have used since 1990 +/- a couple of years. Since I acquired my R1100RT-Police bike, I've noticed the "plug-in connector" gets uncomfortablely HOT! after about a half an hour of riding. Can any of you electrical engineers out there tell me what the problem is? It never got hot on my airheads, the last one being a 1995 R100RTClassic. Thanks in advance.

Fritzc said:

I have had a Heated Vest made by Eclipse in Ann Arbor Michigan which I have used since 1990 +/- a couple of years. Since I acquired my R1100RT-Police bike, I've noticed the "plug-in connector" gets uncomfortablely HOT! after about a half an hour of riding. Can any of you electrical engineers out there tell me what the problem is? It never got hot on my airheads, the last one being a 1995 R100RTClassic. Thanks in advance.

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More than likely the socket on the bike is failing. Replace it AND the plug-in connector.
I had the power socket fail on my '04 KRS. The spring clip that makes the positive connection to the plug came loose and I lost my heated vest while riding through the desert at 4:00am. It was replaced under warranty.
Bruce C

My Bad!

Bruce_C said:

More than likely the socket on the bike is failing. Replace it AND the plug-in connector.
I had the power socket fail on my '04 KRS. The spring clip that makes the positive connection to the plug came loose and I lost my heated vest while riding through the desert at 4:00am. It was replaced under warranty.
Bruce C

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My mistake! I meant the plug-in on my vest!! gets hot. Feels like a knife being stuck into my side! Same advice? Get new plug? for vest or cord?

Vest connector

Probably either the connector in the vest is bad, either the part on the cord or the part on the vest. They are crimp connectors and over time, vibration, sweat, being connected many times can develop resistance. Thus the energy is concentrated at the connector rather than in the wire in the vest. I would send it back to Eclipse for repair.

I too had an old Eclipse vest back in the mid 80s that suffered from this problem. As I recall, there's a diamond-shaped piece of hard plastic that holds the vest-plug on and the cord slides into it and lays flat against it. I first tried to place something over the plug-in point on the vest itself, but that "quick-fix" never quite seemed to stay in one place.

I do believe I eventually lowered the fuse to a 10a, which took care of the overheating but also diminished the overall heating capacity of the vest itself.

Sure wish i had that ol greyish green/black vest today--fashionable in a motorcyclie sorta way!

I would have the vest repaired, as the last thing you need is for it to catch on fire. 12 volts with enough amps has enough oomph to start one.

riderR1150GSAdv said:

I would have the vest repaired, as the last thing you need is for it to catch on fire. 12 volts with enough amps has enough oomph to start one.

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Yessir--that would dampen a good time, now wouldn't it?

I still have one of the Eclipse vests from the 80's and it's still going strong. I have rebuilt that connection at the vest a few times. I believe that Eclipse made that same vest for BMW.

It's a keeper.

SKS46LT05 said:

Yessir--that would dampen a good time, now wouldn't it?

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Yup it would . I'd hate to be the roast in my own honor