BMW Heated Jacket Comes Unplugged

[andyclift]

Anyone found a solution to the plug coming adrift on the BMW heated jacket.

It's a great jacket but the tiny little plug is a nightmare. I have tried fixing the cable to the jacket as a strain relief and taping the plug to the socket but it still comes out which means stopping, undoing jacket, undoing heated jacket, push plug back in, wait to see if it heats up and do everything up again.

Ideally, a solution that still alows the plug to be removed as the long heavy lead is a nuisance when walking around.

 

[squid]

I have placed a very small tie wrap around the plug - if you look close you will see it needs to splay open to come apart.

I have then added a tie wrap to the lower zip and cable to stop the plug pulling.

To save further hassle I have cut the cable just after the controller and added an in line power plug. This means I leave the long cable on the bike when nipping into the petrol station etc.

The controller end I loop through the press stud on my jacket pocket which keeps it from dangling and handy to adjust when riding

 

[andyclift]

To save further hassle I have cut the cable just after the controller and added an in line power plug. This means I leave the long cable on the bike when nipping into the petrol station etc.

Thanks for the reply. I have tried a cable tie but it seems that the plug has worn so it does not need to splay to come apart.

I like the idea of disconnecting after the controller but what 4 pin plug/socket did you use. The only practical four pin ones I can find are 4 pin XLR but they are heavy and bulky. If I put a break in the cable maybe I can glue the stupid little plug in.

 

[stroller]

I too had this problem. I tried following the suggestion made by BTBR in fixing another of the same type of plug & socket lower down the cable so it is more accessible. (these plugs & sockets are quite expensive for what they are).
They are also very small and my lack of manual dexterity and poor soldering ability meant that I made a complete bollox of it.
I can't seem to locate a better type of plug & socket so I have made a temporary lash up in the hope that someone might come up with a better alternative.
In hindsight, I should have taken the jacket back to BMW and demanded my money back!

 

[squid]

Its only a straight forward 2 pin inline power plug you need.

There are just the + and - wires from the acc. socket coming to the controller. It changes to 4 wire between the controller and vest.

The controller I keep attached to the vest via the cable tie on the lower zip pull. I cut it around 6inches down. This means plugging and unplugging is easy, not the blind fiddle it is.

The only down side of fixing it in with glue will be washing the vest - you'd have to sponge it only.

 

[JimboGSA]

Solution?

Yeah i had this problem with mine, after having 3 replaced due to such a crap design and the plug falling out all the time, I got it replaced under warranty, sold it on ebay and got myself a widder one, half the price and with a proper firm industrial looking 2 pin plug on it I've had no probs.

 

[andyclift]

In hindsight, I should have taken the jacket back to BMW and demanded my money back!

That's the way I feel as well and am only trying to solve it as I've lost the receipt and I bought it 90 miles away.

My wife has a Klan jacket without a thermostat, just a switch on the bars. It cost just over £100, is 100% reliable and the plug never falls out. The BMW jacket is more high tech with clever conductive fabric and a thermostat but it's not reliable due to a major design fault and not worth £200.

 

[JimboGSA]

That's the way I feel as well and am only trying to solve it as I've lost the receipt and I bought it 90 miles away.

My wife has a Klan jacket without a thermostat, just a switch on the bars. It cost just over £100, is 100% reliable and the plug never falls out. The BMW jacket is more high tech with clever conductive fabric and a thermostat but it's not reliable due to a major design fault and not worth £200.

if you bought it from a BMW dealer they'll have it on record against your name so taking it back for either a refund or a replacement wont be an isse. Failing that a copy of your bank statement at the time of purchase would suffice and you can take it back to any bmw dealer as the warranty covers you in any uk bmw bike shop.

I was shocked at such a major design flaw. The second time I swapped it the one they tried to give me in the shop was already broken before I took it out of the shop! really dire! I believe they've stopped making them now?

 

[Kritou]

I too had this problem. I tried following the suggestion made by BTBR in fixing another of the same type of plug & socket lower down the cable so it is more accessible. (these plugs & sockets are quite expensive for what they are).
They are also very small and my lack of manual dexterity and poor soldering ability meant that I made a complete bollox of it.
I can't seem to locate a better type of plug & socket so I have made a temporary lash up in the hope that someone might come up with a better alternative.
In hindsight, I should have taken the jacket back to BMW and demanded my money back!

Just bought some of these to rewire my Klan jacket/gloves - cheap as chips and a chimp could solder them

 

[Kritou]

That's the way I feel as well and am only trying to solve it as I've lost the receipt and I bought it 90 miles away.

My wife has a Klan jacket without a thermostat, just a switch on the bars. It cost just over £100, is 100% reliable and the plug never falls out. The BMW jacket is more high tech with clever conductive fabric and a thermostat but it's not reliable due to a major design fault and not worth £200.

BTW Giali/Klan are bringing out a thermostat/controller in the new year

 

[shugie]

That little socket has very poor strain relief as well, I've soldered the connections up on my jacket and put heatshrink on the connections. There are four wires, two blue and two grey from memory, one pair, the heavier wires, are to the heating element, the thin pair to the temperature sensor. Don't mix them up!

The current is small, 4A tops, on the heavy pair, so even a modest connector would be fine for those, and something much lighter would suffice for the sensor pair.

Shame they got the connector bit so wrong, the jacket works really well otherwise.

 

[cookie]

In hindsight, I should have taken the jacket back to BMW and demanded my money back!

that's what i did.

pity really. a first rate jacket totally ruined by the crappy cabling

 

['Nuffsaid]

I had 5 BMW heated jackets in two years, to their credit the Dealers (Vines) were really good at replacing them, however I couldn't rely on the jacket when I needed it and went for the Gerbing offering ( With heated sleeves! ), which is exceptionally well made and really warm

 

[andyclift]

There are four wires, two blue and two grey from memory,

Must be different versions. I have just bitten the bullet and cut the plug off and soldered the wires. Mine are two red and two black. The black are heavier on the cable end but they are all the same in the jacket.

I stipped the outer insulation from both jacket and cable to get to the wires. Then with the plug in the socket cut each wire in turn, put a continuity tester across the plug/socket wire ends to make sure I had a pair and numbered them and soldered them.

I have cable tied the joint to the old socket plastic backing and will now as suggested, put a plug further down the cable.

Thanks for everyones input

 

[andyclift]

Now finished the job by fitting a plug/socket on the lead. I used a 4 pin XLR so it can go close to the jacket.

More details on http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/clift/vest.html