BMW heated jacket wiring

[shugie]

Trod on the cable to my heated jacket, which no longer works. Investigation shows that one of the black wires in the switch end of the jacket connector has become disconnected.
The plug has no strain relief anyway, so I am going to remove the plug and socket, and then solder the wires together and heat shrink the result.
But, anyone know what the wiring colours are?

From switch, two reds, two blacks, my guess is that you get 12V between one red/black pair or both red/black pairs
In jacket two blues, two grays, again my guess is that each blue/gray pair is a heating element, and you can have either one or both elements on. They do not appear to be interconnected.

But, with only one cable disconnected in the plug connected to the switch, neither element in the jacket powers up.

Anyone done this job, and so can confirm the two circuits should be independent?

 

[shugie]

Answer there came none.

So yesterday I did some furtling and found that the controller was a bit more clever, and much less waterproof, than I had anticipated. It has no form of sealing at all, so keep it dry, would be my advice.

The wiring is not what it appears either, rather than two seperate heating elephants to give warm and hot, there is but one elephant that can be made to work more often. The two black wires from the controller carry the heating current into the blue wires in the jacket, and the two red wires carry the thermostat signal back to the controller from the two gray wires in the jacket. Neither circuit seems to be polarised, and there is no connection between the two circuits in the jacket.

Working now, thankfully.

 

[White Cloud]

Shugie

I would like to rewire my BMW vest so that I can remove the switch completely and just have a simple two pin plug and socket arrangement, which I have on my Chilli vest.

I find the low setting too low anyway on the BM vest and if I get too hot, I'll just disconnect the plug.

However, I don't have any basic electrical skills, so I need to know how to connect all of the wires to achieve the above.

Please can you offer me any help ?

Cheers !

 

[shugie]

Shugie

I would like to rewire my BMW vest so that I can remove the switch completely and just have a simple two pin plug and socket arrangement, which I have on my Chilli vest.

I find the low setting too low anyway on the BM vest and if I get too hot, I'll just disconnect the plug.

However, I don't have any basic electrical skills, so I need to know how to connect all of the wires to achieve the above.

Please can you offer me any help ?

Cheers !

I haven't measured the current flow into the heating element, but I suspect that if you just connect 12V straight into the two blue wires into the jacket, you will get very warm indeed. But, if the jacket melts, don't blame me!

I removed the plug/socket then soldered the wires together and enclosed each connection, and the whole lot in heat shrink. I don't have any plug in the jacket, probably not the safest plan, to be honest.

If it were my jacket, and it was working, I would not seek to modify it. Bear in mind that there is more than one sort of BMW jacket, mine looks like a waistcoat, and has a silvery honeycomb finish.

 

[Charliefox]

Warm & toastie

Hi Shugie

Thank God for your inquisitive nature

I thought I'd got a bargain on Ebay when I bought a nearly new BMW heated waistcoat for half price. "Be careful" said the seller, "when you plug the jacket into the controller as the wiring is delicate".

How right he was! I'm assuming the electricity must have had mind reading capabilities on his bike when it arrived at 2 broken cables and wondered which way to jump the gap!!

I removed both plugs and rewired the connection, succeeding in achieveing a vest temperature just below that of the surface of the sun. I've now rewired the vest in line with your instructions and it works perfectly

The drinks are definitely on me if we ever meet up

Thanks for the help

 

[tlr-pat]

Missing Controller

Hi Shugie,
I have acquired a BMW heated vest but it is missing the controller. I have read the threads and gathered that connecting 12V to the 2 blue wires will heat the vest.

What can be done to control the temperature?

Do you know if i can buy a thermostatically controlled switch from say Maplins to control it??

Any advice would be appreciated as i am also an electronic numpty