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Dingus McGee
Social climber
Where Safety trumps Leaving No Trace
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Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 12, 2014 - 08:48pm PT
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My first heated thread purchased was the M12 Milwaukee Heated Jacket in hopes of keeping me warmer than the Mountain Hardware super duty down jacket does. Last year Makita introduced their heated jacket to places like Canada, Austrailia and England but it is still not available in the US.
A snug fit will seal better so if you are of the flat stomach type the M12 Milwaukee will do you better over the Makita. I say this since neither of them are as warm as I would like for Wyoming outdoors.
My situation is possessing some 40- 18V Makita lithium batteries, mostly 3Ah but some 4Ah, 5 Ah and 6 Ah. The Makita coat came with its battery adapter but I wanted to run more power through the Milwaukee M12 than 12 volts. A fresh fully charged Makita 18v battery will read over 20 volts so a direct hook up of the Makita batteries to the M12 was likely to melt some plastic or burn some skin.
The Chinese sell step down DC converters on eBay for $4 or so. aka Buck converters. I had one in stock from the solar van building days that could do 2A continuously. Both coats use Type M DC terminal connectors which are available at Radio Shak. The M12 has about 8.87 ohms resistance in the heating coils and uses some kind a per cent duty cycle to get its other 2 lower settings perhaps Pulse Width Modulation.
The power in a heating element circuit is Power = Voltage * Voltage / resistance so I increased the volage carefully to the Buck Converter's limit = 15v.
An operational convenience of the M12 coat is that the coat can be plugged into the any 12V car outlet while you sleep. While this sounds not much different than using an electric blanket the feel is quite different. This warm jacket gives a feeling like being in a continual water shower of just the right temperature- your hands soon get that glowing warm feeling. How green is this for heating you bed room? 12.6 volts at 1.68 amp = 18 watts. 18 watts for 8 hrs can be done over the night leaving enough power to start that engine for car motion.
M12 powered by Makita 18v is my choice for warming in the winter at a sport belay.
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John M
climber
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Oct 12, 2014 - 08:59pm PT
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In Local news..
Man Freezes to Death when Jacket Shorts out.
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
extraordinaire
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Oct 12, 2014 - 09:44pm PT
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Heated Threads like lollie's "men are cowards" ?
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Oct 13, 2014 - 08:58pm PT
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Don't fall into a stream.
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Dingus McGee
Social climber
Where Safety trumps Leaving No Trace
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 20, 2014 - 05:47am PT
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couchmaster
climber
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Nov 20, 2014 - 06:23am PT
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Working mans dream. A roughneck in North Dakota working the oil filed all freezing winter long or a on site mechanic would love it. Of course, probably just a matter of time till a ski resort mods it's chairs with plug ins to catch a quick recharge on the ride up:-)
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Gunkie
Trad climber
East Coast US
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Nov 20, 2014 - 06:32am PT
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Heated wetsuits are now beginning to become more prevalent in winter line-ups here on the east coast. I can only snarl to hide my jealousy.
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Dingus McGee
Social climber
Where Safety trumps Leaving No Trace
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 20, 2014 - 06:37am PT
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Right on Couchmaster! Sean, a climbing partner of mine got an oilfield job last week near Cheyenne--Windier than Laramie. He bought my DeWalt heated jacket yesterday and wanted a booster battery pack over the voltage that the coat normally operates. The 12 v DeWalt heated coat will not work long with voltages above 14.5.
Yes, plug-ins at a ski area would sometimes be quite comforting.
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Dingus McGee
Social climber
Where Safety trumps Leaving No Trace
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 20, 2014 - 06:44am PT
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But all the heating aside I did add a hood to my best down coat.
During the just past -25F coldspell here I used both this jacket and the heated jacket for dog walks. The hood keeps the down in close competition to the heated jacked but cannot produce a toasty, toasty ... CORE with that level of exercise.
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Nov 20, 2014 - 06:48am PT
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About 5 years ago scuba divers started using heating elements in their dry suits for cold water diving.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Nov 20, 2014 - 08:05am PT
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Those batteries look awfully heavy to be taken climbing, even by Lollie.
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Flip Flop
Trad climber
Truckee, CA
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Nov 21, 2014 - 07:37am PT
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The 'bad music' thread is getting pretty heated. Nothing is sacred.
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Dingus McGee
Social climber
Where Safety trumps Leaving No Trace
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 21, 2014 - 07:39am PT
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I never reveal my sacred sites.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Nov 21, 2014 - 07:46am PT
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Working mans dream....climbers potential nightmare. An oil worker in North Dakota can always go back to the truck and turn on the heater should his garments heating source fail. A climber on a remote peak doesn't have the same option.
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
mammoth lakes ca
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Nov 21, 2014 - 07:50am PT
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I'd be worried about the lithium battery reversing the chakra flow and throwing my cundilini out of whack..
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Nov 21, 2014 - 09:03am PT
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RJ, in Italy the latest thing is cundalini alfredo.
And more than yer chakras could be threatened by lithium batts. I had a friend who was a
chem prof at CalTech and was Mr LithiumBatt. He had a lab at JPL where he would blow
them up. This came about after the Navy started putting lithium 'D' cells in their sonobuoys
that they dropped out of P-3's to listen to Ivan's subs. Something went wrong and a brace of
'D' lithiums blew and took the azz end off of a P-3! He cautioned me not to try that at home.
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Dingus McGee
Social climber
Where Safety trumps Leaving No Trace
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 26, 2014 - 07:18am PT
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Remote peaks?? Jupiter? They would be hot.
should his garments heating source fail. A climber on a remote peak doesn't have the same option.
No worry yet as the lithium tool batteries do not work very below 0 F.
An ST member as if a barrel connector could be fitted into the case?
here is the prototype:
Apparently there are advantages both ways for whether you have a wire or not as Makita does and Milwaukee does not.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Nov 26, 2014 - 09:00am PT
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The hood is the most important part,
so I am not surprised that when you finally added a decent hood to your down jacket,
it was competitive with the electric jacket.
I imagine an electric hood is not included with the electric jacket,
because these are used mostly in construction and people are wearing helmets / hard hats?
Or is there some equivalent electric helmet / hood?
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Nov 26, 2014 - 09:26am PT
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Big D, when you cruise the bumps these days, do you wear heated boots?
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