Help ! Gerbings Heated Gear

[iron cg]

Hello fellow trikers ; looking for info. and advice on how my gear was installed . I went out on a nice chilly fall day with my new heated jacket , and along my travels , I stopped to ask for directions , started on my way , and all of a sudden I had no throttle and the engine light came on and stayed on . When the Harley people installed the heat , the guy recommended that I buy an " extender " to the battery tender so he could hookit in that way . When I got home I looked at the directions again and there is no mention of an extender mentioned . Could the loss of throttle be due to incorrect installation ? I think it confused the input to the computer . I waved down a fellow biker and he turned the ignition switch back and forth trying to reset it, and it did get me going again enough to get back home . Any ideas and opinions needed and welcomed .

[wobray]

Sorry about your problem. I have used Gerbing's heated wear for many years. The ONLY way that I know of to hook it up to the bike is by direct wiring to both poles of the battery. It comes with all Gerbing heated clothing with a FUSE in it.
I can not explain the problem with your motorcycle and relate it to a simple wiring harness. I cannot figure ANY correlation.
Good luck.

[trikermutha]

wondering what your volt meter was at the time of the problem?? (Volts)

[rhino 2]

If the hook up [extender] was installed wrong i would think you would have had the problem immediately, If thinking by extender you mean Pigtail, I don't see how that could cause the problem, Unless your jacket is drawing too much juice from the battery. Do you have any other electrical gadgets connected and on when the jacket is on.

[Gorilla]

I just purchased heated gerbings gear and they told me the same thing. Not to hook to the battery tender pigtail but directly to the battery. They stated that what happened to you was a possible result. I do not understand why also because the pigtail should go direct to the battery. I have an "07" and I have not installed the gear connections yet.

[screwball]

Hmmmm Wife and I have used the heated jackets for years on 3 different bikes. The battery buddy plug is just an extension of the battery posts, it is wired directly to the battery. The heated gear isn't polarity conscious, it doesn't care about + or -. I know in the 'old days' some of the heated gear drew a lot of power, in the case of my old Softail, more than the alternator would put out. The trikes are 90 amp alternators, shouldn't be any problem. My guess is it is a coincidence. Curious what Harley said. Good Luck!

[Sloufoot]

If your instal was done improperly you could have developed a short in the wiring. This could have been too small a wire, wired too close to the heat & melted insulation, pinched wiring, or when you unplugged the plug could have shorted if the positive battery was exposed.(hooked up backwards) etc etc.
Did you have any cranking problems ? Also it was the engine light, not the battery. Check what code was stored in the ECM.

[iron cg]

Thanks for your input ; I have no other gadgets installed . Something else that happened, not sure it's connected though , when I turned on the radio, it was full blast and it wouldn't allow me to turn it down at the volume control . The engine never stalled, just had no throttle power .

[msocko3]

Thanks for your input ; I have no other gadgets installed . Something else that happened, not sure it's connected though , when I turned on the radio, it was full blast and it wouldn't allow me to turn it down at the volume control . The engine never stalled, just had no throttle power .

I think you have something else going squirrely, for some reason your ECM went into limp mode. If you would have been starving it for electrical power it would have started missing while going down the road and then if severe enough it would have stalled. Have you had different bars installed on the Trike?

[msocko3]

The trikes are 90 amp alternators, shouldn't be any problem. My guess is it is a coincidence. Curious what Harley said. Good Luck!

To the best of my knowledge the stator is still a 50 amp 3 phase, I haven't seen any increase in output mentioned in any of the technical documents from HD.

[iron cg]

I did have different bars installed last year , this is the second riding season for them . To be clear , is everyone saying that its not necessary to use the battery harness, and its ok to use the batterty tender pigtail ? I'm taking my trike in Tuesday ; I appreciate everyone's input on this matter , thanks .

[GARYD]

I've been using the same plug (BT and Gerbing) for at least 10 years and never had a problem.

[trikermutha]

Does the newer Gerbing have a single plug now?? or do they make adapters for the BT to the new gerbing plug??

[iron cg]

The battery tender adapter was suggested by Harley people . The harness was never installed at all , Gerbings literature insists that the harness be installed .

[GARYD]

I have the 2 prong (male/female)to 1 prong adapter.