Modern Vespa

A couple weeks ago I purchased a pair of Gebring heated gloves. I got the seven volt gloves that are powered by a rechargeable battery. I picked these up for a couple of reasons. First was the ease of use. Second was not wanting to drain my electrical system of power by using gloves that are hard wired to the battery.

These gloves are pricey. Listing at $200.00. But I rationalized the price.

I wore them for a few rides and was frustrated. One day it was 10 F degrees. Getting to work on a 8 mile ride left my fingers cold. Not bitter cold or in pain. Bur my finger tips were cold. That same day as I rode home it was 15 degrees. As I started home, the gloves had no charge at all. NONE. My fingers were very cold by the time I got home.

When I got home, I called Gebring customer support. The kind person that I spoke with said that at such low temperatures (10 degrees) the battery was drained on the way to work and that there was no charge left for the ride home. She said that the gloves were inadequate for my needs and suggested that I return them for a refund. I did return them.

These gloves are wonderful on a day when it is 40 degrees out. But on a 40 degree day, my hands are not cold in a regular pair of gloves.

Just wanted to give you all a heads up that these are not gloves to use when riding in COLD temps.

Bottom line...The cost is not worth the poor performance.

Thank you for that . I was sure thinking of buying them.

In that kind of cold always get the 12 volt wire in gloves. The 7 volt portable gloves just do not offer the range and heat protection.


Joe

I would think your S150 can handle the load of a good pair of electric gloves. Also they were really nice to refund them for you.

Hey, my gerbings heating classic gloves with wires plug to the battery, they draw only 27 watt, only 27, that is not a problem. I have all LEDs and hid kit so just small amount of watts of use I don't have to worry at all

Gerbing will custom-wire gloves for a very good price. I had them do this w a pair of waterproof Joe Rocket gloves, and run them off the battery. Works great!

No problems at all running them off the ET4 battery.

The gloves already fit me well, and I followed this suggestion from a woman who found that Gerbing's own gloves didn't fit her small hands well.

Stay warm out there!

~Deborah

I'm not so sure about that, I know people who have had battery problems when they added electrical items such as heated grips to their LX 150. The alternator isn't that potent and you could risk running your battery down. One thing that would help decrease the load on the system before getting the plug in heated gloves would be to disconnect the running lights on the LX/S, that might open up a bit of extra power for you. Someone else here who has added heated gloves or other electrical items might be able to give you a more certain answer.

Good of you to post your review. I see alot of people with high hopes for these gloves. But Lithium ion batteries lose their capacity in colder temperatures, and as you discovered...don't really work well outside of the store. Ever notice your digital camera crap out in the cold too? Same thing. It doesn't hurt the battery...but it doesn't work when you need it too either.

The best performing battery technology for low temperture discharge is still the sealed lead acid battery. Unfortunately, you need a rather large & heavy one to get any longevity out of it, because deep discharge kills them quick.

Funny my digital camera battery works quite well in the colder temps.

I've used the Gerbing glove set up w no problem on my ET4. It doesn't have much of a power draw [other items, like wired vests, demand more power]. No time to do the search right now, but there are some threads here w detailed technical info about this sort of thing. I would think it would be comparable for the LX/S.

~Deborah

I don't know for a fact, but I get the impression that the alternator puts out more oomph for the ET series than for the LX/S. Does anyone know?

I'm pretty sure the current LX, S or LXV 150 has enough left over for 27 watts for gloves.

I thought I read somewhere that they had like 40 watts left so gloves would be like the only thing besides a cell phone charger or something.

Somebody post the 150 electrical usage. I could only find the GTS when doing a search.

There are some early MV threads (c. 2005) that discussed some of these electrical issues, with technical input from addicted and others as some of us tried to find our way in the wilderness, e.g.:

Some actual (measured) information on heated clothing, etc.?highlight=voltage+et4

Heated grips?

I recall there having been more as well-- hoping that one of the other 'legacy' moderators will recall and weigh in.

IIRC, specs for the ET4 and the LX were comparable, but I can't swear to that.

~Deborah

delete

I was thinking about the battery powered gloves for the same reason you did but settled for the G3's because of the constant power. I have their jacket liner, gloves and insoles and have no problems. Coldest has been 20F and I was toasty warm riding with t-shirt, liner and a Corazzo speedway.

So, I calculated the max load for my lx150, which I would imagine is the same for the s150 too.


By my calculations, we have about 88.5W of normal standing load

55 W x1 = Low Beam
5 W x1 = Parking Light Front
5 W x2 = Decorative Lights Front
5 W x1 = Parking Light Rear
1.2W x4 = Pilot Lights
1.2W x3 = Dash Lights
5 W x 1 = License
0.1W x 1 = Security (milliamps)

88.5W standing load. on an alternator that puts out 115.2W. We've got 26.7W to play with free and clear without going into the red on battery loads. On the conservative side, I'd say 25~30% of that should go towards replenishing the battery or accounting for the fact that one isn't always operating at maximum alternator output; that number is always fairly subjective, and heavily dependent on the type of riding one does (lots of open throttle cruising, vs. inner city stop 'n go).

We have between 17.6~20W of room for accessories. So, that's about 1.22~1.39A.

Original post is way back here. How many watts for accessories?

I use the Gerbing 12 volt glove liners and ride an S150. Also added a thermostat control to my glove liners this year to replace the "on/off" switch and am very pleased. My ride is about 1 hour long and after that time I am just beginning to notice some cold at the tips of my fingers. There is still a limit to how effective the liners will be. When the temperatures are in the 30's all is fine but once you get down to the 10 to 15 degree range, well cold begins to win out. Oh and I have been trying out toe warmers this year and they help with the cold feet I get some days.

I have set my personal limit for cold temps this year to 15 degrees for up to one hour. If it is going to be any colder than that or if some type of precipitation is expected then it's the truck for me.

You just have to be realistic about these things.

If you switched to a PIAA 35 watt headlight bulb which is still plenty bright, especially if you do a lot of city driving, you could save 20 watts right off the top and hardly lose any light. These bulbs are amazing ! They are damn near exactly as bright as a stock 55W bulb but only draw 35 watts.



http://www.powersports360.com/eshopprod_cat_5049-28939-14938_product_635995.PIAA_HS1_35W60W_Super_Plasma.htm?utm_source=VersaFeed&utm_medium=VersaFeed&utm_content=Piaa+Hs1+35W%3D60W+Super+Plasma+Gt-X+Upgrade+Bulb&utm_campaign=base

LED lights in the parking lights, license plate lights and decorative lights can easily save you another 10 watts. For $20 in LED's I'd say it's worth it.

So for about $58.00 in bulbs you could free up 30 watts of instant standing load power and that is HUGE !

If they removed the blue filter, the bulb would burn even brighter

PS: How long do these bulbs last? Looks to me they are designed for less than 12 V, so you burn them higher (brighter) with 12V to get the higher output--at the price of shorter life. Or how else do they do it?

When I worked for Genuine Scooters this was the only performance bulb we recommended to our customers. All the genuine Buddys run a 35watt headlight. Honestly these bulbs work great but are expensive.

+1 on the glove liners for the 150.