How to make a Heating and Cooling Jacket

Step 17 Heating System

Materials

•  3 feet of insulated Teflon wire (or a cheap/old heating pad)
•  1 model airplane battery, 15 volts
•  1 solid-state relay

 

Creating the Heating System

1.       You will need to purchase either a cheap heating pad or some insulated Teflon wire. In our case, we took apart a heating pad and worked from there.

2.       Testing for the correct length of wire that will heat your jacket is key. You want to run about 15 volts (or however many volts your battery is) through certain lengths of wire. We found that a 30-inch section of Teflon wire was heated well by a 15 volt battery. Be sure that you change this to your liking, making sure it is not too cold or too hot to burn.

3.       Once you have an appropriate length you should create ends on the wire that will be possible to sew. We did this by soldering on metal loops to the ends and heat shrinking them together to give us a secure and sew-able heating wire.