Does anyone use heated base layers?

[RedSeaDiver2]

Just a random thought - instead of buying a very expensive heated undersuit - has anyone tried using a good quality set of heated base layers like are available for motorcyclists etc? I'm not talking the stuff from Temu or Aliexpress, but rather something like Warm & Safe Men's 12V Heat Layer Shirt - The Warming Store with Warm & Safe Generation Windblock Men's Heated Pants Liner - The Warming Store - it would enable you to have your heating and vary the undersuit you wear over it to suit the water temps.

 

[ahereng]

Many divers over here use the Gerbing MC-jacket, and that is usually used as a layer between baselayer and undersuit as you would with a heated vest.

E-liner Heated Jacket | Gerbing

A modern classic and our number one seller. Designed to be easily worn under outer garments with just a single layer underneath.

gerbing.eu

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

Are these going to be ok when the drysuit floods? My Venture Heat heated vest is designed to be waterproof to 100 meters and can be safely worn under a wetsuit.

 

[RedSeaDiver2]

Are these going to be ok when the drysuit floods? My Venture Heat heated vest is designed to be waterproof to 100 meters and can be safely worn under a wetsuit.

I think with any undersuit I would be turning it off if the drysuit floods. Some of these baselayers can be easily made to work with a battery that is outside the suit like a Light Monkey or UWLD. Frankly the thought of having a lithium battery without a flood inside my suit would worry me more than having an external battery and a suit flood.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

Some of these baselayers can be easily made to work with a battery that is outside the suit

That is cool and is the safest IMO.

Having the batteries inside my drysuit as with the Venture Heat vest is not optimal.

 

[ahereng]

The MC-jacket users here all use external batteries.

 

[Tassi Devil Diver]

Light Monkey have a heated base layer I have been considering, but those Venture heated vest look like the way to go, deigned to be used with a wet suit so no issue if the dry suit floods.

 

[davehicks]

That is cool and is the safest IMO.

Having the batteries inside my drysuit as with the Venture Heat vest is not optimal.

The batteries on the Venture heat vest are potted in solid epoxy and the connectors are sealed with an o-ring. There should be very low risk. They are designed to work fully submerged.

 

[RedSeaDiver2]

The batteries on the Venture heat vest are potted in solid epoxy and the connectors are sealed with an o-ring. There should be very low risk. They are designed to work fully submerged.

That may stop them leaking, but it doesn't stop a li-ion battery suddenly deciding to go into thermal runaway or do any of the other nasty self-destruct things that they do.

 

[Whitrzac]

If a canister floods and catches fire, youre not getting it off before it melts the suit and burns you either.
Canisters areexposed to outside water pressure and are much much more likely to flood, internal batteries are not

Either way, 20 years in of lithium batteries and heating systems and it hasnt happened yet. Do whatever makes you feel warm and fuzzy at night.

Every burn ive read about has been because the elements crack and create a hotspot.