Warmandsafe Heated Gear, Heated Jackets, Heated Clothing, Heated Gloves in the UK and Europe

Most problems are the cause of two things.

1. Reverse Polarity. This can happen to the smartest guys and the biggest shops. I even did it. It is a very easy problem to diagnose since the LED will not go on and the heat will stay full on even with the switch turned off.

You can do a visual check. simply go to the plus post of the battery and take the wire from the battery harness in your hand. Run your hand up the wire and see that the fuse holder is attached to that wire. If not then you have the harness on backwards. If you have the fuse holder there, then continue up to the plug on the end of the harness and make sure that the side of the plug that is covered is attached to the wire you have been following. Some times these connectors can be put on wrong.

If you are using a BMW plug and you did not get it from us then you should test it to see if that has been wired correctly. The ones we make are filled with hot glue so there is no way to look inside to see how it is wired. You need a meter that will tell you continuity. the easiest ones to use will make a noise when there is continuity. Simply put one probe on the center tip of the BMW plug and one probe on the covered side of the SAE connector at the end of the cable. It should be where you plug the Heat-troller™ into the adapter. It should show continuity, these two points are attached. You should also test to make sure that if you have an after market BMW socket installed that it also has the polarity correct. Set your meter on Volts DC and using the red probe in the center of the socket, touch the ground probe to the interior side of the socket. it should show a 12 to 14 volts. if it shows a minus number then the socket is not wired up correctly.

2. Short in the Clothing. A short in the clothing can be caused by a number of things and it is usually seen in the gloves or socks where the connector wire and the resistance wire get a lot of stress. The sign in the past was for the Heat-troller™ to get very hot and show signs of melting. The fuse on the battery harness would sometimes blow. We now install a thermal fuse in the Heat-troller™ that will kill the unit if it encounters this problem or anything similar. The sign of this problem is that right before the Heat-troller™ dies, the clothing will go to full heat. Often people assume that the problem is in the Heat-troller™ and will get a replacement and at some point, it will happen again. Because the short is floating and depends on just when the wires touch, it can be months between episodes. In one case a customer had a short in one of four socks. He would kill the Heat-troller™ when he just happened to pick that one sock to wear.

Testing for a shorted thermal fuse is easy if you have a meter. Set for continuity test, put one probe in the covered side of the white banded Power Out connector and one in the uncovered side of the red banded Power In connector. If the internal fuse is good, then you will have continuity. If you do not, then the fuse has died and you should do a quick check of the clothing. Although, I have to warn you that unless you get the wires just right, they may not show the short. Set the meter to check for resistance. Put one probe in one side of the connector to the clothing and the other probe in the other side. Below is a list of what it should show, more or less. If you get a zero then you have a short.

Gloves: 9.8 each
Pants: 2.6
Jacket: 1.6
Socks: 9.7 each
Full suit (with socks): .8

Do not bother to do a continuity test on the clothing. It will tell you nothing of use. the resistance test above will tell you everything you and us need to know.

OK, YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY A SHORT IN THE CLOTHING IS NOT BLOWING THE FUSE OR WHY IS NOTHING GOING WRONG WHEN YOU PLUG THE CLOTHING WITH A SHORT DIRECTLY INTO THE BATTERY HARNESS.

Maybe we need to find another word because people seem to get the wrong idea when we talk about a short. Most people think it is just like taking a screw driver and sparking it against the bike ground while having it attached to the hot side of the battery. the spark will tell you that you have a short and it will blow the fuse. But at the same time the power going though the screw driver will heat it up. Guess what, that is the way that your heated clothing warms up. power is run through it from the battery to the battery just like a short. the difference is that it is not shorting on the frame of the bike. Most of the power is wasted in the resistance wire. the value of the resistance wire and it's length is key in getting the Amps that are being drawn through the Heat-troller. if you reduce the length of the wire, you increase the Amps draw. The heat-troller is designed to handle 15 Amps and there are parts on the board that will take up to 20. But if there is a short, some where the wire is touching another wire or the wire is touching itself and reducing the draw. this increases the Amp draw and burns out parts on the heat-troller. But if you plug the clothing directly to the battery, the battery does not have this draw limit and the fuse will put up with the draw for a long time until it gets too hot and blows. Again the but, if you have an ON/OFF switch, then the fuse will not get hot enough to blow.

I hope this is clear.

Weird Problem 1.

The Heat-troller™ is plugged into the battery harness correctly, the battery harness is connected to the battery correctly and the heated product gets warm but it cannot be controlled by the Heat-troller. Plus the heated clothing gets warm even with the controller turned off. The LED is lit all the time. The customer ran some tests himself and complained that the heat-troller unit was defective.

1. Some problems are easy to solve, others take time. Some we never solve. After going round and round with this one we were convinced that we had a problem that we had no solution for until the customer solved it himself. In all the times we talked to him he forgot to tell us one crucial piece of information. He wanted to test the drop of power between the battery and the heated liner he owns. He plugged a probe into the plus side of the glove connector at the end of the sleeve, and then plugged the other probe, the common side of the meter, to the battery. Exactly correct for making this type of test. However, he didn’t tell us how he ran the test. If we had we would explain why the controller was coming on with this type of test. Remember, there is no way you can or would do this in real use of the products. He told me that the solution came to him as he lay in bed. Being that we are using DC power not AC, our Heat-troller, like all normal DC devices, switch power to the ground side. That means that if you stick a probe to the plus side of output and the other side to the battery, you have just completed the circuit. Or turned the Heat-troller™ on.

We had three customers with the same "problem" in one week. In each case none of them mentioned that they were using a test probe but because one customer was good enough to stay in touch and not feel embarrassed by his confusion, we were able to solve this problem for other customers. We had already built him a new unit to see if there was a problem in his but he declined and said there was nothing wrong with his. We still get people doing variations of this. The latest was due to grounding a BMW socket to the frame.

Weird Problem 2.

When the Heat-troller™ is turned on, I find that my headlights strobe to the pulsing of the LED.

1. The cause of the problem is simple. The cause is that you are trying to draw more power from your charging system than is available. You can cut back demand to equal the ability for your charging system to keep up.

Weird Problem 3.

The Heat-troller™ stays on full even when turned off and the LED stays on dim or may flash when the Heat-troller™ is turned off.

On the new Mounted Heat-troller, the board that holds the switch can get covered with road grime and soap to the point where, if it gets wet, there is enough resistance between the solder points of the wire going to the Heat-troller™ box that a connection is made. Solution is to take Radio Shack Color Tuner Cleaner or alcohol and a toothbrush and clean the solder side of the board really well. Then cover the solder points with either dielectric grease or nail polish.

Weird Problem 4.

The knob turns too easily.

Is the rotation of the switch too light for your needs? Is it being bumped and turning too easily? We have a clean solution. Get an O-ring at your local hardware or plumbing store. Ask for a 2-201 size. Then remove the knob on your Heat-troller™. Push the O-ring on to the shaft. Replace the knob. The knob has a small indentation that the O-ring will sit in. As the shaft and knob turn, resistance comes from rubbing along the O-ring. How deep you place the knob on the shaft will can change the resistance, and change the ease in which the knob turns.

Weird Problem 5.

The LED glows even though the switch is off and then clothes are unplugged.

This Problem showed up on the new Heat-troller™ 6. If the exposed pin of the white connector (the one that plugs into the jacket) makes even a poor connection to the bike frame, the LED will glow. The better the connection, the brighter the glow, but that doesn't indicate a problem with the controller. It will not cause much of a drain on the battery and will not damage the bike. Even water could act as a bridge between the connector and the frame.

	Trouble Shooting Guide
	Most problems are the cause of two things. 1. Reverse Polarity. This can happen to the smartest guys and the biggest shops. I even did it. It is a very easy problem to diagnose since the LED will not go on and the heat will stay full on even with the switch turned off. You can do a visual check. simply go to the plus post of the battery and take the wire from the battery harness in your hand. Run your hand up the wire and see that the fuse holder is attached to that wire. If not then you have the harness on backwards. If you have the fuse holder there, then continue up to the plug on the end of the harness and make sure that the side of the plug that is covered is attached to the wire you have been following. Some times these connectors can be put on wrong. If you are using a BMW plug and you did not get it from us then you should test it to see if that has been wired correctly. The ones we make are filled with hot glue so there is no way to look inside to see how it is wired. You need a meter that will tell you continuity. the easiest ones to use will make a noise when there is continuity. Simply put one probe on the center tip of the BMW plug and one probe on the covered side of the SAE connector at the end of the cable. It should be where you plug the Heat-troller™ into the adapter. It should show continuity, these two points are attached. You should also test to make sure that if you have an after market BMW socket installed that it also has the polarity correct. Set your meter on Volts DC and using the red probe in the center of the socket, touch the ground probe to the interior side of the socket. it should show a 12 to 14 volts. if it shows a minus number then the socket is not wired up correctly. 2. Short in the Clothing. A short in the clothing can be caused by a number of things and it is usually seen in the gloves or socks where the connector wire and the resistance wire get a lot of stress. The sign in the past was for the Heat-troller™ to get very hot and show signs of melting. The fuse on the battery harness would sometimes blow. We now install a thermal fuse in the Heat-troller™ that will kill the unit if it encounters this problem or anything similar. The sign of this problem is that right before the Heat-troller™ dies, the clothing will go to full heat. Often people assume that the problem is in the Heat-troller™ and will get a replacement and at some point, it will happen again. Because the short is floating and depends on just when the wires touch, it can be months between episodes. In one case a customer had a short in one of four socks. He would kill the Heat-troller™ when he just happened to pick that one sock to wear. Testing for a shorted thermal fuse is easy if you have a meter. Set for continuity test, put one probe in the covered side of the white banded Power Out connector and one in the uncovered side of the red banded Power In connector. If the internal fuse is good, then you will have continuity. If you do not, then the fuse has died and you should do a quick check of the clothing. Although, I have to warn you that unless you get the wires just right, they may not show the short. Set the meter to check for resistance. Put one probe in one side of the connector to the clothing and the other probe in the other side. Below is a list of what it should show, more or less. If you get a zero then you have a short. Gloves: 9.8 each Pants: 2.6 Jacket: 1.6 Socks: 9.7 each Full suit (with socks): .8 Do not bother to do a continuity test on the clothing. It will tell you nothing of use. the resistance test above will tell you everything you and us need to know. OK, YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY A SHORT IN THE CLOTHING IS NOT BLOWING THE FUSE OR WHY IS NOTHING GOING WRONG WHEN YOU PLUG THE CLOTHING WITH A SHORT DIRECTLY INTO THE BATTERY HARNESS. Maybe we need to find another word because people seem to get the wrong idea when we talk about a short. Most people think it is just like taking a screw driver and sparking it against the bike ground while having it attached to the hot side of the battery. the spark will tell you that you have a short and it will blow the fuse. But at the same time the power going though the screw driver will heat it up. Guess what, that is the way that your heated clothing warms up. power is run through it from the battery to the battery just like a short. the difference is that it is not shorting on the frame of the bike. Most of the power is wasted in the resistance wire. the value of the resistance wire and it's length is key in getting the Amps that are being drawn through the Heat-troller. if you reduce the length of the wire, you increase the Amps draw. The heat-troller is designed to handle 15 Amps and there are parts on the board that will take up to 20. But if there is a short, some where the wire is touching another wire or the wire is touching itself and reducing the draw. this increases the Amp draw and burns out parts on the heat-troller. But if you plug the clothing directly to the battery, the battery does not have this draw limit and the fuse will put up with the draw for a long time until it gets too hot and blows. Again the but, if you have an ON/OFF switch, then the fuse will not get hot enough to blow. I hope this is clear. Weird Problem 1. The Heat-troller™ is plugged into the battery harness correctly, the battery harness is connected to the battery correctly and the heated product gets warm but it cannot be controlled by the Heat-troller. Plus the heated clothing gets warm even with the controller turned off. The LED is lit all the time. The customer ran some tests himself and complained that the heat-troller unit was defective. 1. Some problems are easy to solve, others take time. Some we never solve. After going round and round with this one we were convinced that we had a problem that we had no solution for until the customer solved it himself. In all the times we talked to him he forgot to tell us one crucial piece of information. He wanted to test the drop of power between the battery and the heated liner he owns. He plugged a probe into the plus side of the glove connector at the end of the sleeve, and then plugged the other probe, the common side of the meter, to the battery. Exactly correct for making this type of test. However, he didn’t tell us how he ran the test. If we had we would explain why the controller was coming on with this type of test. Remember, there is no way you can or would do this in real use of the products. He told me that the solution came to him as he lay in bed. Being that we are using DC power not AC, our Heat-troller, like all normal DC devices, switch power to the ground side. That means that if you stick a probe to the plus side of output and the other side to the battery, you have just completed the circuit. Or turned the Heat-troller™ on. We had three customers with the same "problem" in one week. In each case none of them mentioned that they were using a test probe but because one customer was good enough to stay in touch and not feel embarrassed by his confusion, we were able to solve this problem for other customers. We had already built him a new unit to see if there was a problem in his but he declined and said there was nothing wrong with his. We still get people doing variations of this. The latest was due to grounding a BMW socket to the frame. Weird Problem 2. When the Heat-troller™ is turned on, I find that my headlights strobe to the pulsing of the LED. 1. The cause of the problem is simple. The cause is that you are trying to draw more power from your charging system than is available. You can cut back demand to equal the ability for your charging system to keep up. Weird Problem 3. The Heat-troller™ stays on full even when turned off and the LED stays on dim or may flash when the Heat-troller™ is turned off. On the new Mounted Heat-troller, the board that holds the switch can get covered with road grime and soap to the point where, if it gets wet, there is enough resistance between the solder points of the wire going to the Heat-troller™ box that a connection is made. Solution is to take Radio Shack Color Tuner Cleaner or alcohol and a toothbrush and clean the solder side of the board really well. Then cover the solder points with either dielectric grease or nail polish. Weird Problem 4. The knob turns too easily. Is the rotation of the switch too light for your needs? Is it being bumped and turning too easily? We have a clean solution. Get an O-ring at your local hardware or plumbing store. Ask for a 2-201 size. Then remove the knob on your Heat-troller™. Push the O-ring on to the shaft. Replace the knob. The knob has a small indentation that the O-ring will sit in. As the shaft and knob turn, resistance comes from rubbing along the O-ring. How deep you place the knob on the shaft will can change the resistance, and change the ease in which the knob turns. Weird Problem 5. The LED glows even though the switch is off and then clothes are unplugged. This Problem showed up on the new Heat-troller™ 6. If the exposed pin of the white connector (the one that plugs into the jacket) makes even a poor connection to the bike frame, the LED will glow. The better the connection, the brighter the glow, but that doesn't indicate a problem with the controller. It will not cause much of a drain on the battery and will not damage the bike. Even water could act as a bridge between the connector and the frame.