Techyguru.net - DIY Heated Vest

DIY Heated Vest for riding my motorcycle

So I wanted to be able to go long distances on my motorcylce
without getting too cold. It wasn't really about hypothermia or anything
like that, it was for comfort. I looked around the internet to find more
about heated vests and found a lot of expensive options I could buy.

The only problem with this is I am very cheap and like to build stuff.
So I start to look for DIY options and find some older references with broken
links and old part numbers.

I did what any self respecting "hacker" did. I dug through my drawers
of stuff and started trying to hack something together. In most of my
reading I found references to teflon coated wire. The closest thing I had
was some 30 gauge enamal coated wire. I also had some teflon tape
(not the stuff to seal up pipes) that was tossed out by a circuit design
and testing company.


I made a sort of heating element with these two by sticking the wire to the
tape in a back and forth pattern. I was guessing with the pattern and length of
wire. Basically the more wire you use the higher the resistance and the less
wattage therefor its not as warm. If you don't use enough it will be too hot
as well as less area of wire and you get burned or light on fire.

Now I'm not quite done yet, it's still pretty gheto and have been trying
it out with my 12v 20A astron powersupply in my house and it makes a nice
back/front warmer. It draws about 3.5 amps so about 42 watts.
Here's what I have so far.

Go there...
http://techyguru.net/diy.html

Don