It needs to be connected constantly and require roughly 2A USB power source, otherwise it will not want to turn on. If you remove the button altogether and make a direct connection, this will work but your power sorce may not want to deliver it's max current if it's underrated.
If you sew this in and don't mind soldering cables from time to time it should last few seasons easily. Only thing that happened with mine is that USB cable broke off the board (it' why I made more recent video: th-cam.com/video/ii1L2FzPZGI/w-d-xo.html ). You can even skip the button altogether if you want to use it at full power. Heating pad itself feels rather durable and should be ok. It's constantly on since the video I made, so 25 days and still works 🙂
@@pandaengineering I'm planning on buying a set of 5 heating pads that comes with a switch for 3 temperature settings. I want to extend the reach of 2 of the heatings pads by about 4 ft in my project. Should I use a larger calibre conductor so as to reduce voltage drop ? Manufacturer recommends a 5V2A power bank; can I use a 5V3A power bank without burning the circuit ?
4 ft shouldn't be too bad for voltage drop, but you may want to look at higher quality cables if it will be sewn in (flexible copper cable with coating of your choice). Copper AWG 18 should be enough according to some guides I looked at (should be about extra 0.1V drop across 8ft in both ways). Depending on your use case, you may want to skip the button completely or replace it with a switch for all of them, because I think the transistor in the button is sized for current of just one pad. That 3A powerbank rating just means that it can deliver that power, so you'd be fine. Keep in mind that most powerbanks with two ports are only able to deliver their rating in total rather than per port, so you may need to test that beforehand to see it it will work in your case. As for safety, I can say for sure that pad is generally ok - I ran it continuously for a month at about 4.5V (after voltage drop) without any issues.
By "coating of your choice" I meant that cheaper coatings will become hard and brittle on cold temperatures which can be annoying if you have it sewn in 🙂 I have some very thick jumper cables that had some cheap PVC coating that just split longwise after few winters.
I doubt that, it switches intensity so there is some logic there, but if you omit the switch completely and just connect the heating element I'd say that it *should* work with a bit higher voltage. Not so sure that it would withstand a full 12 volts though :) I think adding the aluminum foil to the fabric (on the top, without shorting the wires) could help with better heat dissipation in case of higher voltage. I didn't tried that because I was already concerned that because this came from AliExpress, some parts of the wire could have higher resistance or be too thin and would burn the skin. Note that once this wire will wear a little bit due to bending of the fabric, it's resistance may increase before it will break.
@@pandaengineering I see, I have a different approach though. I am going to use a heating pad which is for car seat works on 12V. I was just chewing over whether I should use a pwm switch or the switch on your vest. I finally order that silicon button switch since it looks so cool and simple. I will test before at length I sew and solder everything. Many thanks!
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Does the button flash up when charging
Can it work without battery plugged in, or does it always needs to be connected to vatter?
It needs to be connected constantly and require roughly 2A USB power source, otherwise it will not want to turn on. If you remove the button altogether and make a direct connection, this will work but your power sorce may not want to deliver it's max current if it's underrated.
What do you say, will it last a few years? Or will it stop working after one season or something.
If you sew this in and don't mind soldering cables from time to time it should last few seasons easily. Only thing that happened with mine is that USB cable broke off the board (it' why I made more recent video: th-cam.com/video/ii1L2FzPZGI/w-d-xo.html ). You can even skip the button altogether if you want to use it at full power. Heating pad itself feels rather durable and should be ok. It's constantly on since the video I made, so 25 days and still works 🙂
@@pandaengineering I'm planning on buying a set of 5 heating pads that comes with a switch for 3 temperature settings. I want to extend the reach of 2 of the heatings pads by about 4 ft in my project. Should I use a larger calibre conductor so as to reduce voltage drop ? Manufacturer recommends a 5V2A power bank; can I use a 5V3A power bank without burning the circuit ?
4 ft shouldn't be too bad for voltage drop, but you may want to look at higher quality cables if it will be sewn in (flexible copper cable with coating of your choice). Copper AWG 18 should be enough according to some guides I looked at (should be about extra 0.1V drop across 8ft in both ways). Depending on your use case, you may want to skip the button completely or replace it with a switch for all of them, because I think the transistor in the button is sized for current of just one pad. That 3A powerbank rating just means that it can deliver that power, so you'd be fine. Keep in mind that most powerbanks with two ports are only able to deliver their rating in total rather than per port, so you may need to test that beforehand to see it it will work in your case.
As for safety, I can say for sure that pad is generally ok - I ran it continuously for a month at about 4.5V (after voltage drop) without any issues.
By "coating of your choice" I meant that cheaper coatings will become hard and brittle on cold temperatures which can be annoying if you have it sewn in 🙂 I have some very thick jumper cables that had some cheap PVC coating that just split longwise after few winters.
@@pandaengineering super answer...many thanks
Work with 10w plug A?
It should, I think it's just looking for 2A 5V so exacly 10W. Later I bought a whole vest with same specs and it works very well with a power bank.
Do you think that that switch would work on 12V 1.5 A conditions ?
I doubt that, it switches intensity so there is some logic there, but if you omit the switch completely and just connect the heating element I'd say that it *should* work with a bit higher voltage. Not so sure that it would withstand a full 12 volts though :) I think adding the aluminum foil to the fabric (on the top, without shorting the wires) could help with better heat dissipation in case of higher voltage. I didn't tried that because I was already concerned that because this came from AliExpress, some parts of the wire could have higher resistance or be too thin and would burn the skin. Note that once this wire will wear a little bit due to bending of the fabric, it's resistance may increase before it will break.
@@pandaengineering I see, I have a different approach though. I am going to use a heating pad which is for car seat works on 12V. I was just chewing over whether I should use a pwm switch or the switch on your vest. I finally order that silicon button switch since it looks so cool and simple. I will test before at length I sew and solder everything.
Many thanks!
I've already tried 12volts through the exact same thing and it didn't work,it fried the resistor inside the button
@@charleslane2735 thanks for the reply! Did you try DIY heated vest also? what kind of heating element did you use?