In the first installment of The DIY Heated Vest, I had just finished testing the wires that will become the heating element portion of the vest. The test was successful and I had a nice warm length of wire that wasn’t too hot to melt the wire, yet warm enough to where you could definitely be toasty when wearing it. This was all very promising, so I was ready to move on to the next part which is attaching the connectors that would hook up to the bike’s electrical system.

For this application I wanted something that would allow easy connect/disconnect but that would still stay together strongly enough for motorcycle use. I got a set of those SAE connectors you see for use on battery tenders and indeed other electric clothing products. These connectors are inexpensive and meet all the other requirements I just outlined. Plus if one already has a battery tender connection on their bike (like I do) then you don’t have to run any new wires for using your vest.

On my bike I have a 12volt cigarette lighter type socket under my passenger seat and I already had a cable that connected this outlet to an SAE connector for connecting my battery tender. This socket sits to the right side of the bike so I decided I would want the jacket connection to be on the back, right side. It turned out later that this was not the ideal placement (one of two mistakes but I’ll get to that shortly).

A Bit of Background

It's been a difficult winter so far this year for those of us who enjoy getting out for a ride or even just want to commute to work on our bikes. Those who know me are aware that it takes pretty low temperatures to keep my off my SV650s but even I don't like the prospect of getting out when the temps get into the low 20's(F) and below.  I usually can pu a few hundred miles a month on my bikesthroughout the Nashville winter, but this year has been rather lean. Add to the low temps more snow and ice than usual and you can see why it's important to be able to take advantage of clear, dry days, albeit cold ones.

Now one way to combat the cold is to layer lots of clothing under your riding gear. This can work ok to point but let's face it, you're only going to be able to put on so many layers before you look like Randy from "A Christmas Story" and your ability to move comfortably will be similarly compromised. The other option is electrical heating.

Two years ago I installed heated grips on my SV650s and this was one of the best investments I have made for increasing comfort when riding. Heated grips let you wear lighter gloves than you would normally and also let you ride in much colder weather than you normally would with your heavy gloves, but I digress. Since the temperatures have been so low this winter I started looking at using some more electricity to keep me warm elsewhere in addition to my hands.