rslaback
Well-known member
Let me start this thread by saying the part that I made is now commercially available as a replacement part from Ridgid. It is also $40 plus shipping which for what it is, I find excessive.
Last spring I bought a Dewalt heated jacket from CPO as a clearance item. I also bought a drill kit so that I could scavenge the batteries. I sold the drill, driver and charger and ended up getting the batteries for free. This gave me 3 batteries that I could use with my coat.
Everything worked fine but I've been trying to consolidate my cordless tools into all one battery pack type. I've already built an adapter to use Ridgid batteries on Ryobi tools. Making my jacket use Ridgid batteries was the next step in that endeavor.
This past Sunday night however, that plan changed a bit. I was able to find a unicorn. I bought a Milwaukee M12 heated hoodie kit for $38.02. I think my plan is to keep the Milwaukee hoodie and sell the Dewalt. Luckily for me, the power needs between the two manufacturers are identical so the adapter works with either jacket.
This is the power supply that I came up with.
When I was making my adapter I bought extra power connectors. The shipping was the same for up to 5 of them and they were only about $3 each so it was foolish to buy just one.
I probed the power supply of my Dewalt jacket. The power supply puts out 12vdc power and the center of the connector is positive. As my batteries are 18v nominally I needed a step down module. I picked up this one from eBay for about a buck and a half.
It is rated at 3A (the Dewalt PS is rated at 1A) and is adjustable so I can get exact voltage. It was perfect.
I also knew I'd need the female dc jack. I did some measurement on the coat jack and determined that the dc jack is a 5.5mmx2.1mm connector. For ease of installation I wanted a jack on a pigtail. That led me to purchase this pigtail. The cost was again minimal.
Finally, to put it all in I bought an electronics project box. I got this 100x60x25 box off eBay.
As with buying anything from China, the money you save is paid for in time that you wait. Eventually everything came in.
The first thing to do was to use the template that I made for the adapter project to transfer the size and spacing of the holes I needed for the lock tabs and the connector onto the project box. I did this by taping the template on the box, drilling a small hole and then connecting the holes. I also created a small slot in the end of the box for the dc jack to come out.
Those holes were then cut out with a jigsaw and cleaned up with a knife. Next I did the soldering to connect all the parts together. In doing this, I made sure that the center pin of the dc jack would be positive.
I probed the output terminals on the circuit board and adjusted the circuit until I got an exact 12v of power with a fully charged battery in the connector.
Next I installed the battery connector into the box with a couple of rivets and backing plates. Then I used hot glue to solidly place the circuit board so that nothing could move around and short out. Finally I glued in a small piece of white plastic that I stole from the lid of a jar just to keep the box a bit more water resistant.
I scavenged a belt clip off a free Harbor Freight tape measure and used a rivet to install it to the box cover. I wanted to steal Ridgid's idea of using a belt clip so that the battery can be supported on my belt or in the jacket pouch.
Instead of gluing the box shut, I have it taped around the edges right now with masking tape. Just in case anything ever comes loose inside I wanted to be able to access it. I am planning to switch out the tape to either a good brand of electrical tape or black duct tape the next time I open it.
The only thing left to do was test it out. It passed those tests with flying colors.
Last spring I bought a Dewalt heated jacket from CPO as a clearance item. I also bought a drill kit so that I could scavenge the batteries. I sold the drill, driver and charger and ended up getting the batteries for free. This gave me 3 batteries that I could use with my coat.
Everything worked fine but I've been trying to consolidate my cordless tools into all one battery pack type. I've already built an adapter to use Ridgid batteries on Ryobi tools. Making my jacket use Ridgid batteries was the next step in that endeavor.
This past Sunday night however, that plan changed a bit. I was able to find a unicorn. I bought a Milwaukee M12 heated hoodie kit for $38.02. I think my plan is to keep the Milwaukee hoodie and sell the Dewalt. Luckily for me, the power needs between the two manufacturers are identical so the adapter works with either jacket.
This is the power supply that I came up with.
When I was making my adapter I bought extra power connectors. The shipping was the same for up to 5 of them and they were only about $3 each so it was foolish to buy just one.
I probed the power supply of my Dewalt jacket. The power supply puts out 12vdc power and the center of the connector is positive. As my batteries are 18v nominally I needed a step down module. I picked up this one from eBay for about a buck and a half.
It is rated at 3A (the Dewalt PS is rated at 1A) and is adjustable so I can get exact voltage. It was perfect.
I also knew I'd need the female dc jack. I did some measurement on the coat jack and determined that the dc jack is a 5.5mmx2.1mm connector. For ease of installation I wanted a jack on a pigtail. That led me to purchase this pigtail. The cost was again minimal.
Finally, to put it all in I bought an electronics project box. I got this 100x60x25 box off eBay.
As with buying anything from China, the money you save is paid for in time that you wait. Eventually everything came in.
The first thing to do was to use the template that I made for the adapter project to transfer the size and spacing of the holes I needed for the lock tabs and the connector onto the project box. I did this by taping the template on the box, drilling a small hole and then connecting the holes. I also created a small slot in the end of the box for the dc jack to come out.
Those holes were then cut out with a jigsaw and cleaned up with a knife. Next I did the soldering to connect all the parts together. In doing this, I made sure that the center pin of the dc jack would be positive.
I probed the output terminals on the circuit board and adjusted the circuit until I got an exact 12v of power with a fully charged battery in the connector.
Next I installed the battery connector into the box with a couple of rivets and backing plates. Then I used hot glue to solidly place the circuit board so that nothing could move around and short out. Finally I glued in a small piece of white plastic that I stole from the lid of a jar just to keep the box a bit more water resistant.
I scavenged a belt clip off a free Harbor Freight tape measure and used a rivet to install it to the box cover. I wanted to steal Ridgid's idea of using a belt clip so that the battery can be supported on my belt or in the jacket pouch.
Instead of gluing the box shut, I have it taped around the edges right now with masking tape. Just in case anything ever comes loose inside I wanted to be able to access it. I am planning to switch out the tape to either a good brand of electrical tape or black duct tape the next time I open it.
The only thing left to do was test it out. It passed those tests with flying colors.
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