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MN Renovator · 12-01-12, 06:02 AM

As long as you don't let any wires that would normally be a significant distance apart in the length of wire touch, it won't short out but you do need to be careful that you never get the beginning and the end of the length of wire near eachother.

Also if you aren't satisfied with the heat output at 12v you could always raise the voltage a few volts to add a little more heat. I might do exactly what you did but with my experience of using my 12v electric seat heater and the fact that most coats are insulated fairly well, I don't think I'd need to add additional voltage, I'll probably maintain the same switch for hi/lo and be sure to not run over the normal max voltage of a car's 12v system for the controller electronics to not burn up. That way you could still have control of reducing the heat. Although I'm not sure what method they use for the low setting, could be a crude 1 second on, 1 second off type thing. I have a mattress pad heater in my house that outputs 18.5v and uses a PWM where it will cycle every 2 seconds and vary the on time in increments so the lowest setting is about 1/4 second, wait 2 seconds, another 1/4 second. I'd imagine creating such a PWM circuit is possible but at the same time once you get warm, the coat has insulation and you could turn it off and wait until you are ready to turn it on to add a little warmth again as the temperature swing up isn't too fast.

Great idea Ben. There are some people who use a low voltage heated blanket setup with their EV to add heat to their battery pack in their EV in a similar way wiring up the wires under the cells and far away from any HV conductors.

I just need to find a coat to do this with, I don't want to cut up my daily coat since I don't usually get too cold in it unless I'll be outside for a long time. Might be a good thing to use a thrift store coat or a cheap Wally World one.

12-01-12, 06:02 AM	#6
MN Renovator Less usage=Cheaper bills Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Minneapolis, MN Posts: 939 Thanks: 41 Thanked 116 Times in 90 Posts	As long as you don't let any wires that would normally be a significant distance apart in the length of wire touch, it won't short out but you do need to be careful that you never get the beginning and the end of the length of wire near eachother. Also if you aren't satisfied with the heat output at 12v you could always raise the voltage a few volts to add a little more heat. I might do exactly what you did but with my experience of using my 12v electric seat heater and the fact that most coats are insulated fairly well, I don't think I'd need to add additional voltage, I'll probably maintain the same switch for hi/lo and be sure to not run over the normal max voltage of a car's 12v system for the controller electronics to not burn up. That way you could still have control of reducing the heat. Although I'm not sure what method they use for the low setting, could be a crude 1 second on, 1 second off type thing. I have a mattress pad heater in my house that outputs 18.5v and uses a PWM where it will cycle every 2 seconds and vary the on time in increments so the lowest setting is about 1/4 second, wait 2 seconds, another 1/4 second. I'd imagine creating such a PWM circuit is possible but at the same time once you get warm, the coat has insulation and you could turn it off and wait until you are ready to turn it on to add a little warmth again as the temperature swing up isn't too fast. Great idea Ben. There are some people who use a low voltage heated blanket setup with their EV to add heat to their battery pack in their EV in a similar way wiring up the wires under the cells and far away from any HV conductors. I just need to find a coat to do this with, I don't want to cut up my daily coat since I don't usually get too cold in it unless I'll be outside for a long time. Might be a good thing to use a thrift store coat or a cheap Wally World one.