BMW Heated waistcoat - Vest end plug

[Archie Beag]

Honeycomb, two heat settings type.

Gents, the harsh realities of another Jockinese winter are about to kick in so I need to fix my beloved heated waistcoat if I can.
Searches on here tell me the need to re-solder the vest end plug to its control lead is not an uncommon occurrence. The wires can twist, short out and pop the bikes auxiliary socket fuse. Everything then goes cold and the plug needs to be re-soldered onto the lead to sort it out.
That’s what happened to me too. So, nothing unusual so far I hear you say.

Problem is I now need a new plug and I’ve no idea where to get one. The original is well and truly bug*ered beyond any possible reclamation.

I’ll not go into the hideous details as to why all this came about, suffice to say it involved a cordless soldering iron, a myopic Architectural student with a piece of balsa wood and a 4” bench vice.
I’ll never leave the garage door unlocked again…………..never, ever

Has anyone any idea where to source a new one?
It’s the wee four pin female that plugs into the jacket itself. I’ve looked through the RS components catalogue to no avail. Has anyone access to the Farnell’s catalogue that could have a look for me? Or does anyone know of any other possible source for this wee blighter of a thing.

The winters looking very bleak ‘n blue without my wee body warmer

Archie

 

[Womble]

I take it there's no possibility of posting a photo of the remains? It might help for those of us who know about elastictrickery, but haven't got a BMW jacket.

In the meantime, have a ferret around this website.

 

[BTBR]

I think that you will find the exact same plug/socket in the RS Book, or go to www.rswww.co.uk

Sadly I cannot remember the make or the type, so you may have to do a fair bit of searching. Or maybe give them a call and get them to send you the RS books, as they are FOC.

I altered mine as you would expect. I added glued heatshrink to the connection inside the waist coat, coz the dam thing kept pulling out. Then added the same type plug and socket into the lead about 8" from the connection inside the waistcoat.

No worries now about the lead coming undone, and plus the fact you dont have to strip everything off now to connect it.

 

[ChrisK]

If its under 2 years old get it changed under warranty

 

[Archie Beag]

Thanks guys for that feedback.
I’ll continue to trawl both those web sites to see if I can recognise the wee Blighter.

I thought I was moving along nicely in the RS one until I noticed I was only up to around the 600 mark on ‘Circular multipole connectors 4 way’ out of a possible 9500 that their search engine threw up!

Tobermory – The state of the plug is unrecognisable sad to say. A total mess. Even if I wasn’t getting home until next week (I’m away Offshore in sunnier climes just now - Hence the panic about returning home to freezing Scotland) it would do no good to see the photo except maybe to give you a laugh. Thank you for that thought though.

BTBR – It’s not occurred to me to look inside the lining of the vest. You’re saying you opened yours up (carefully I suspect) to get at the internal wiring and connector.
If so, am I right that it might be feasible to change things a bit and either connect up and utilise a ‘similar’ type plug and socket – not necessarily the exact same make and type as the original
OR
possibly connect the wires from the control lead directly to their counterparts on the inside of the jacket. Therefore doing away with any plugged connection altogether?
I guess there’d need to be something to take the strain of any pulling forces on the control lead if I did that but that shouldn’t be too hard to do……..…he said hopefully.
Any thoughts on those possibilities would be appreciated.

Chris – The vest is over two years old I’m afraid.

Archie

 

[Womble]

If you're going to replace one connector, you're going to be doing some wiring anyway. If that's the case, why not bite the bullet and replace both connectors for something that is suitable, but which you can buy from a suitable supplier?

The only fly in the ointment is working out which wire goes where, but that would only be an issue if the previous connector was massively trashed, in which case it's a problem even if you can find the right connector.

I'm trying to work out why the vest needs 4 wires - does the power controller have different settings that click as it rotates, or is it continuously variable?

A wiring diagram would be really helpful right now. If you're really lucky, there are 3 circuits that are all joined together, and you could get away with a 2 wire connector, but if it's more sophisticated, you really will need a 4-way connector and a mapping for what wire goes where.

 

[BTBR]

BTBR – It’s not occurred to me to look inside the lining of the vest. You’re saying you opened yours up (carefully I suspect) to get at the internal wiring and connector.
If so, am I right that it might be feasible to change things a bit and either connect up and utilise a ‘similar’ type plug and socket – not necessarily the exact same make and type as the original
OR
possibly connect the wires from the control lead directly to their counterparts on the inside of the jacket. Therefore doing away with any plugged connection altogether?
I guess there’d need to be something to take the strain of any pulling forces on the control lead if I did that but that shouldn’t be too hard to do……..…he said hopefully.
Any thoughts on those possibilities would be appreciated.


Archie

No, dont open the jacket up whatever you do

Simply push the plug onto the connector inside the jacket as you would normally do. Then add a small piece of glued heatshrink over it and with gentleheat, to avoid any damage to the lining, shrink it to make a semi permenant connection. I put a piece of shpaed cardboard around the plug while I was using the heatgun, just in case.

Then put you normal bike gear on, then cut the cable so that there is just enough exposed and is just accessible. Cut to length and then fit the new plug and socket and continue to use as normal. Apart from the fact that you now do not have to undo the waistcoat to connect the lead up.

 

[Tony T]

The plugs you need are Radio Spares part no 464-404, series 719 4-way cable socket,3A.
http://rswww.com/cgi-bin/bv/rswww/s...hkhlcefeceeldgondhgj.0&cacheID=ukie&Nr=avl:uk
I thought I could rewire the Battleship standard cableing on the original jacket when it pulled off the plug. I got the plug and spent ages trolling the net to try and find suitable cable. The original cable from the controller to the jacket is four core, two of which are slightly heavier carrying the current and two smaller ones presumably carrying the "thermostatic feedback". The only 4-core I could find which came anywhwere near sizewise was still slightly too big to fit in the end of the plug ( I have 50metres if anybody wants some!). Luckily my jacket was within warranty and I changed it for the "modified" one, which had the outer cable glued to the plug! If only BMW could sell a modified controller with a longer cable to the jacket socket!!?
Possibly the best way to sort it would be to use the original cable to a new plug and then lengthen the cable from the controller end which would stop the controllers weight pulling on the plug, also find a way to attach the cable to the jacket such that it doesn't pull on the plug(Don't forget the controller is NOT waterproof!).
I finally bought an EXO2 jacket, so simple yet so much better!
Tony

 

[Womble]

There's a session ID in the link above, which has expired. This should work - RS 4-way connector But don't ask me why the picture only appears to have 3 pins!

 

[Archie Beag]

Tony T you’ve saved me a whole dose of heartache by coming up with that RS code number.
I was feeling a bit despondent at the thought of trailing through the other 9,000 hits I had left in the RS search engine. I’d have done it for sure but……….thanks to you I won’t have to now. Phew!
The chances are I’d have missed it anyway ‘cos as Tobermory says the picture only shows three pins

That’s three sets of connectors now on order. One to make good the damage, one to make an extension lead like BTBR’s (I understand now. A damn good idea that) and one spare should anyone out there suffer the same fate as me and need one. That’s only fair after the help you guys have been.

That’s it then. First job when I get home next week is to recharge the soldering iron and then LOCK THE GARAGE DOOR so there’s no danger from half blind, model making, student daughters!

Cheers Guys. I owe you all a beer for sure

Archie

 

[BTBR]

Close up shot inside the jacket, careful application of the glued heatshrink.

 

[BTBR]

Cut the lead coming from that connector about 9" long and add the plug

 

[BTBR]

Fit socket to the other end....perfect solution.