Warm & Safe heated glove problem

[DeanR]

Trying to figure out why my W & S gloves seem to not be heating. Fingers got chilly the other day.
All connections look fine , batteries ok, liner working fine. Single controller, which has always been adequate for me.
When checking continuity on the glove connectors (kinda hard with the coax connectors), does it matter which probe goes where?
Not a great user of a multimeter.
Which part of a coax connector is pos/neg ?

 

[tonythecarguy]

The center will be positive and the outer negative. Just checking continuity it won't matter which way you check it.

 

[Uncle Phil]

Based on my past experiences with them, probably a wire is broken or the connector went south.
I hope for you sake they are covered under their 'warranty' - which excludes wires broken from normal wear and tear.
Otherwise they will be glad to sell you a brand new pair at a discount so you can experience it again.
If both gloves are cold, I'd check the wires coming out of the jacket liner to see if they are 'hot'.
If just one glove is 'bad', swap the good glove to the 'bad' jacket side and see if it works.
I have three pairs of their gloves - two are dead and one left I just don't trust to take out any more.
First pair died within the 12 months, second pair died at 13 months (out of warranty).
But I wore mine pretty much every day during the winter.

 

[rdmsttrav]

Trying to figure out why my W & S gloves seem to not be heating. Fingers got chilly the other day.
All connections look fine , batteries ok, liner working fine. Single controller, which has always been adequate for me.
When checking continuity on the glove connectors (kinda hard with the coax connectors), does it matter which probe goes where?
Not a great user of a multimeter.
Which part of a coax connector is pos/neg ?

I have three pairs of their gloves - two are dead and one left I just don't trust to take out any more.

I'm having the same problem with a pair of gloves I haven't used that much but are older. I live right down the road from them and will take them in this week to see whats going on. It started when I bought a new water repellant heated jacket from them so it might be the jacket at issue. Either way I'll report back...

Which heated gloves do you use now since these are looking as less than dependable ? I was out on a cold ride when I had it happened not pleasant but did have grip warmers so made it home with my hand intact.

 

[Uncle Phil]

Which heated gloves do you use now since these are looking as less than dependable ? I was out on a cold ride when I had it happened not pleasant but did have grip warmers so made it home with my hand intact.

FWIW, I went with Gordon's Heated Gloves which are a great product.
But they (Gerbing family) closed as Gordon's - appears Covid killed their business.
Their gloves were made by Churchhill Gloves, an American company still in business and Gordon's added the 'heat'.
I have a message into Churchhill to see I can buy just the gloves from them as there is a person who says he can add heat to any gloves.
The two pairs of Gordon's I have are working great with no issues but I'd like to have a 'backup plan' if need be.

 

[jodog]

TRy these:

Gerbing 12V Heated Gloves - The Original Heated Clothing

Gerbing Heated Clothing - The Original Heated Gear

gerbing.com

 

[RaYzerman]

Check the resistance of each glove, and if one has no continuity, it could be from the solder joint failed from all the pulling on the wires.... ie, don't pull on the wires too hard..... I'd contact W&S and have them repair them, you might get a surprise discount..... they are very good about it.

If both gloves aren't working, check continuity at other connections..... I had a wire broken near my connector from all the abuse I put it through on the power cord.... I just chopped it off and spliced on a new one on that I had kicking around.

 

[Daboo]

During winter months, I carry both a quilted jacket liner and winter gloves with me. You never know when one of those wires will break.

A few years ago, I was out on a short local ride. Temp was down to 25F. My left glove quit working. I didn't have my "backup" non-heated gloves with me, so I just had to endure it. My Gerbing T5 gloves seem to breathe. Probably to keep from getting sweaty hands. In this case, it was adding a measure of windchill to the 25F temp. I can't remember when I've felt so much pain.

I've never had the glove itself fail. It's always been in the wires in the jacket arm, about 6 inches up from the connector. If you need to replace the entire coax end, you can use a wiring harness from a hard-wired controller. That'll give you the proper end and a length of wire to work with.

There used to be a place in the Olympia area that repaired Gerbing heated gear, but they appear to be out of business. If someone has found a place still in business, please post the contact info.

Chris

 

[Uncle Phil]

Having been 'caught' out on a long trip when I really needed heated gear, I now carry an extra set of heated gloves and a 'bypass' in case the heattroller goes south. I've three pairs of heated gloves fail - Gerbing T(3 or 5 - don't remember) and two from WarmNSafe. It was not the connectors or the jacket, it was the wiring in the gloves themselves. This microwire is fine stuff but it seems to be pretty fragile when used a lot. I have an old set of Gerbings when Gerbing made them and they still work fine. So far no issues with the Gordons as they put out more heat than any heated gloves I have ever owned - and I've owned all the major brands - going all the way back to Mr. Widder.

 

[Nexus]

does it matter which probe goes where?

Things you don't want to hear in the doctor's office!

 

[Uncle Phil]

I got a response from Churchhill gloves - the 'unheated' version they sold to Gordons is model CGTW and they still make them.
So now I have to see if that guy can put heat in them.

 

[RaYzerman]

If he can't Ken Phenix likely can........ reportedly the hottest heat

Phenix Flaming Hot Heated Motorcycle Gear | Colorado Springs CO

Phenix Flaming Hot Heated Motorcycle Gear, Colorado Springs, CO. 1,527 likes · 47 talking about this. Specializing in higher wattage carbon fiber heated motorcycle gloves with genuine Gore Tex. I can ad

www.facebook.com

Meanwhile DeanR should contact W&S since one of his gloves has no continuity/resistance.... likely the internal solder joint inside the glove. W&S has excellent customer service.

 

[DeanR]

Yes, I will be contacting W & S.
Ken Phenix sounds like the glove guy, but I found no website.

 

[Uncle Phil]

Yes, I will be contacting W & S.
Ken Phenix sounds like the glove guy, but I found no website.

He's on Facebook but does respond to email (email addy on his Facebook page).
We are communicating about whether he can 'heat' those Churchhill gloves.

 

[rdmsttrav]

I did go down today and talked to Warm N Safe. My left glove stopped working, which are the ones they said stop working the most due to the movements of the left hand with the clutch. Not fixable by them. I'm riding tomorrow out of town so bought the discounted new heated glove from W&S. I also emailed Phenix to inquire about the setup Uncle Phil is talking about, I'd rather pay a lot and have something like that work than pay less several times with failures at the most inopportune times.

 

[DeanR]

I did go down today and talked to Warm N Safe.

Thanks for following up with W&S.
It is my left glove as well that has no continuity. I'll be out on the bike tomorrow and will verify what is not working. I thought it was both gloves when I was last out.
Not fixable by them. Why not? Did they say?

 

[rdmsttrav]

Thanks for following up with W&S.
It is my left glove as well that has no continuity. I'll be out on the bike tomorrow and will verify what is not working. I thought it was both gloves when I was last out.
Not fixable by them. Why not? Did they say?

It still is worth a call to them, especially if it is still under warranty. He said something about it being glued together preventing them from fixing it, I think he meant the waterproof membrane on mine. My guess about them not being able to fix it is they aren't setup to do repairs on a large scale its probably more cost effective to offer a discount on a newer glove. But I'm speculating on that one.

 

[Uncle Phil]

I did go down today and talked to Warm N Safe. My left glove stopped working, which are the ones they said stop working the most due to the movements of the left hand with the clutch. Not fixable by them. I'm riding tomorrow out of town so bought the discounted new heated glove from W&S. I also emailed Phenix to inquire about the setup Uncle Phil is talking about, I'd rather pay a lot and have something like that work than pay less several times with failures at the most inopportune times.

I'm not surprised - it's due to 'normal use' which is not covered by their warranty.
I won't go into the details of what I went through as I finally gave up on the whole deal.
But if moving the hand to operate the clutch 'breaks' the glove, it does make one wonder about the quality doesn't it?
And the 'solution' is buy another 'discounted' glove so you can go through the whole process again? Hmm...
I hate that Gordon's went belly up as their gloves are excellent.
If Mr. Phenix can 'heat' the Churchhill gloves (which is what Gordon's did), that should be a great solution.
BTW, the Churchhill glove model is the CGTW - as they emailed me back and let me know which one it is.

 

[Mykllee]

Reading this thread just reinforces my decision not to buy from Warm N Safe. I did a lot of research when looking to buy new electric gear, and saw a lot of comments along the lines of "don't worry, they will make it right" concerning their warranty. So they know there is a problem with left gloves because of movement? Why not beef up your design? There is no wiring on the palm or the inside of fingers, so a couple of inch movements using the clutch can possibly do it in? And not repairable?... baloney! Of course it's repairable, they just don't want to do that. Yeah, why bother, easier to sell another glove and still make some money, even with a discount.

 

[Uncle Phil]

FWIW, I 'dissected' one of the WarmNSafe gloves since they were not working and I was not going to buy anymore.
What I discovered is that the heating wire is so fine it is impossible to resolder the connections - the wire melts if touched with a low heat soldering iron.
I understand that using 'fine' wire is to reduce feeling it in the gloves.
IMHO, the quality of the 'heat' wire is the real issue.
IIRC their gloves are made in Pakistan (unless they've changed suppliers) where quality control could be an issue.
Now their HeatTrollers seem to be a great piece of kit and I have had very little trouble with them - I have 4 of them though one did finally fail.
And so far one of their jacket liners has worked really well though it has not seen a lot of service and I don't think it is a 'microwire' one.
On the other hand, I had a pair of Gerbing's T5 gloves die also that were 'microwire' while the old G3s are still working.