Cold weather and gloves

[stopintime]

I bought waterproof lobster claw overgloves today and went for a 100 miles test ride, 40 F.
They made my hands comfy/ok for an additional 30/40 miles compared to riding without them.
The comfort/warmth with these on, was about the same as riding in weather 10 degrees warmer without them.

I'm going to try the battery heated liners, I think.

[He Man]

I bought waterproof lobster claw overgloves today and went for a 100 miles test ride, 40 F.
They made my hands comfy/ok for an additional 30/40 miles compared to riding without them.
The comfort/warmth with these on, was about the same as riding in weather 10 degrees warmer without them.

I'm going to try the battery heated liners, I think.

which ones are you looking at getting? If anything, make sure they are powered by Lithium Ion.

If they advertise to run on NiMH, stay away, NiMh batteries dont work in the cold, or when they are vibrated.

[stopintime]

which ones are you looking at getting? If anything, make sure they are powered by Lithium Ion.

If they advertise to run on NiMH, stay away, NiMh batteries dont work in the cold, or when they are vibrated.

I ordered the ones you linked to here   http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=30401.0

If they don't perform as expected, I'll blame you

The battery pack can be used with NiMH or AAA. Upgrade option was rechargeable Lithium.
I can't use the US charger, so it's AAA for me. They will probably be used only a few times a year, so the cost of AAA is OK. If the cost or battery box becomes a negative I can hook them up directly to 12V.

[He Man]

That wasnt me who posted that, it was my twin!

Seriously though, AAA NimH will NOT work in the cold. They discharge extremely quick. Unless you have it up against your body keeping it warm.

And for $160 you can get a nice set of Gerbings, but the controller would set you back another 70US shells.

[orangelion03]

Third day using my new Firstgear Glaciers and the sewing on one of the cuff velcro tabs tore.  I only paid $40, but there are supposed to be $100 gloves. 

[leonardc9]

which ones are you looking at getting? If anything, make sure they are powered by Lithium Ion.

If they advertise to run on NiMH, stay away, NiMh batteries dont work in the cold, or when they are vibrated.

I'm a bit of a battery nut  (or at least, so says my GF  ) so I wanted to add my $0.02. NiMH are quite good in low temp situations. You'll take a hit of approx. 10% for freezing temps, but it's not bad, particularly compared with other cell types like alkaline that have higher internal resistance.

Here's a link to low temp specs for one of the current best NiMH batteries in the AA and AAA form factor: http://www.eneloop.info/home/performance-details/low-temperature.html

Confusingly, there are a bunch of different battery types all under the lithium category: primary lithium batteries (e91, CR123A), lithium ion, and lithium polymer to name a few common ones. These are all different with different characteristics not to be confused with one another. The specific one mentioned, lithium ion, is actually known for its poor low temp performance (see http://www.osti.gov/bridge/servlets/purl/7203-trKhAA/webviewable/7203.pdf for more details). The others work well. Given this is a AA form factor, if you want to go lithium, I'd stick with a lithium primary AA battery like the Energizer Lithium series.

I'm not familiar with any literature on vibration with NiMH, but given these are dry cell vs. wet cell like our 6v motorcycle batteries, if the wet cell with its fragile plates can withstand the vibration, I'd be very surprised if the NiMH batteries were problematic. NiMH is the common battery technology well tested in both hybrid cars and for bicycle lighting which are both exposed to shock without many issues.

[He Man]

thats some good info. But then why does do my Go Pro camera with NiMh only work for ~30 mins on the motorcycle but ~2-3 hours when i have it mounted on my bicycle?  When the GoPro is mounted on my motorcycle it vibrates as much as my bike's engine is revving at...

The energizer Lithium Batts are GREAT. But they are $$$.

[leonardc9]

thats some good info. But then why does do my Go Pro camera with NiMh only work for ~30 mins on the motorcycle but ~2-3 hours when i have it mounted on my bicycle?  When the GoPro is mounted on my motorcycle it vibrates as much as my bike's engine is revving at...

Short answer: I'm not sure without more information. 

Long answer: Often I find low runtine on NiMH issues are typically due to one of three factors:

• Improper low voltage cutoff
• Bad contacts
• Bad batteries - typically due to poor care and feeding

Since you're using the same device and the batteries are the same, I'd focus on the second option. As just a guess, I find my motorcycle's bumpiness finds more issues with contacts as it is repeated high amplitude vibration vs. on my bike. So if you have a spring or contact that is not pressing with suitable force against the battery or if the battery is not snug within the battery compartment to reduce movement (different batteries have different thinknesses as the form-factor standard provides for some variation -- you can try fixing this by using tape to increase diameter), this can bring out low battery behavior.

The real way to test this is to connect a multimeter to your camera as you ride around to see if there's a difference in voltage and current draw. But short of that, the other thing you might want to try to see if it really is a NiMH issue is another brand of NiMH battery or even alkalines to see if there's a difference there. If so, it's likely the contacts vs. the battery chemistry.

The energizer Lithium Batts are GREAT. But they are $$$.

Definitely -- main benefits to them are they have amazing shelf life (10-15 year), are extremely light (50% that of NiMH), and work in extreme conditions (-40C). But they are terrible on the wallet! 

[He Man]

Good info!

I have a multimeter,ill mount the cam and let the bike idle at varying RPMs and see if there is a voltage drop as i rev along...
.

[redxblack]

I just ordered a pair of Eskimos. It's been pretty chilly here, so I'll post a review after they get here.

I've not ridden with these yet as they arrived today. They feel thick - like decent winter snow gloves. I had tried a pair of RevIt H2Os and liked them a lot because they had a lot of feel. These don't seem to. They do have a lobster claw over-glove that can pull from a wrist pouch. They would make excellent snowmobile gloves, but don't have the tactile response of the RevIt gloves (that are the same pricepoint when the fieldsheer are not on clearance).

[He Man]

post up when you get a chance to try them out. Its 40 degrees tomorrow, i got ALL of my gear minus gloves. Im still using my Firstgear hipora gloves....yea they dont work that good, but my hands can take a bit of morning frost, so they will have to make due.

[Howie]

If anyone is thinking heated grips, think about heading down to your BMW dealer.  Some of their winter gloves are designed to work with heated grips.

[ute]

just ordered some Tour Master Winter Elite gloves ( because of the review in Motorcycle Classics review .."The warmest non heated gloves we have ever tried ")


will let you know what there like

got them off e-bay on a buy it now ..make an offer  for $82

[He Man]

http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=69.msg536646#msg536646

Just picked up G3 Microwire gloves and a $15 on off switch from Gerbing at 20% off DIRECTLY FROM
www.gerbing.com

Subtotal: $154.90
Promotional Discount (GM20): -$30.98
Shipping (FedEx Ground): +$11.10
Grand Total: $135.02


DISCOUNT CODE
    GM20

cheers

[He Man]

Nah i ordered it when i posted it. It should ship soon and i should get it shortly afterwords. The discount is great and I searched last time when i tried to order but couldnt find anything so im glad i waited.

Microwire is suppose to heat up instantly compared to copper wires and all reviews say these suckers are HOT at 40 degrees and very warm in 20s. perfect!

The T5 gloves are new, and the few remarks i found online says they arent worth the extra $30 bucks. Im pretty broke after buying my Scorpion XDR gear so i stuck with an on/off switch that ill ziptie to my frame (like a side mounted damper).

You should pick them up if you are thinking about heated gear before the coupon expires (dont know when... dealers are also offering 20% off in their winter presale so if you have one local check it out). gerbing has a 30 day satisfaction guarentee as well!