Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Heated Seats - A Better Alternative?

With winter just around the corner, and given my love of driving Monty top down, I've been looking at retro fitting heated seats.

https://allonwhite.co.uk/morgan-car-interiors-trimming/morgan-seats/heated-seats

However, at almost £500 it's not a cheap option, so I started to investigate alternative ways to stay cozy in the cold season while still enjoying the alfresco experience Morganeering is all about.

The solution came in the form of a Keis J505RP Premium Extreme heated jacket.



This jacket is designed for motorcyclists who need to stay warm while riding through the depths of winter, so I figured it should be more than adequate for my needs. As the name suggests the Premium Extreme J505RP Jacket is designed to deal with extremely cold conditions, powered directly from the 12V battery, heat is always on-tap when I need it and even with the impressive 78W the jacket is capable of pumping out, current draw is only around 6.5A on the highest power setting so it won’t put undue stress on Monty's electrical system.

Direct wiring also means the ciggy socket remains free to charge my phone.



Heated seats are great, but they only put heat into your bum and back, while the Keis J505RP jacket uses Micro Carbon Fibre heat panels to provide and even spread of heat across the chest, back, arms and collar. These new tech Micro Carbon Fibre panels are thinner and more flexible than traditional wired elements, and more reliable too.

Simply hop in the car, plug the jacket into the pre-wired connector, then use the controller to turn the jacket on and select one of the three heat settings.



I tried it today, in fairness it was quite a mild day but within just 20 seconds the 'High' setting was already way too much, in fact I think even 'Medium' will be plenty on a cold day, during today's short test I ended up using 'Low' which was super warm and will probably be the setting I use most, even during the winter months.

The Keis J505RP Premium Extreme heated jacket was £200 from J&S Motorcycle Clothing, a saving of £275 over heated seats, although obviously you do get heat for both driver and passenger with the heated seats option. Saying that if you bought a second Keis heated jacket for your other half it'll still be £75 cheaper than retrofitting heated seats, and the jacket is very warm even if you're not powering it up.

The fact is it's a very practical winter garment even when you're wearing it away from the car, I'll update this post with a full review when the UK temperatures start to plummet

Looks like a good solution and better than the bulky sheepskin lined flying jackets that are often proposed for winter top down driving. I do however like a nice top down winter drive with the heating blasting and the seat warmers switched on. You move along the road in a protective bubble of heat. The top of the head gets a bit chilly though.

Keis kit is good, I have their vest and gloves from when I used to ride all year round.

There are cheaper options than AW. The heated seat panels/switches/wiring can be bought for around £40, then you just need a tame trimmer to squeeze them in, or you could do it yourself. Probably going to add a set to my MGB at some point,

I had a set put in my Mog when I had the front and back seats retrimmed.

I find my Irvin jacket with heater keeping legs warm more than enough. It's bulk is acceptable without passenger. I remember when flying Piper Arrow that I couldn't quite align with control column due to thickness of jacket against left side of cabin, though not an issue otherwise.

We have three setting heated seats in the Mini but find them pointless for other than taking away cold soak when car left outside. No way can I leave them on even with coolest setting.
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I use them often in winter though not for long on the highest setting , if you don't react fast you cook.

I have a MMC flying jacket, rarely use it because its so good I break out in a sweat unless its really cold, meanwhile my plus 8 has heated seats specially ordered by Swmbo, lovely...

Of course electrically heated clothing is nothing new.





It's just that technology has improved immensely, which means less bulk and far better thermal efficiency.

A lot of the M3W community use Keis heated jackets for the cooler months.

That's good to know Rog

Interesting read. What I can’t work out is do you wear it under another jacket or coat and on its own. The video looks like he’s wearing a different jacket on top but I’m not sure.