Heated Insoles: What's the scoop?

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Originally Posted by gregorys

Color me _very_ skeptical about this setup. Heating requires a lot of energy. If the batteries are embedded in the insole, either the insoles are like platforms (to hold enough battery capacity) or the capacity of the batteries is very small, and thus won't provide much heat for very long. (There's a cheap Chinese version, without the wireless charging on ebay and Amazon.)

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Yeah I’m familiar with the cheap Chinese versions, but those are too thick for ski boots AFAIK. I’m also familiar with the thermodynamics involved but it appeared these would try to mitigate that with smart cycling. At any rate, the Swiss design and Italian mfg were moot points since it appears (based on the comments section) the enterprise failed.

hotronics

been moving the insoles from old dynafit shell to the next ....

Anyone have an in/contact with Hotronics or Thermic or Lenz?

I bet we could put together a group buy to end all group buys if so.

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Originally Posted by Danno

Anyone have an in/contact with Hotronics or Thermic or Lenz?

I bet we could put together a group buy to end all group buys if so.

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anyone?

Got the Hotronics S4+ Custom insole heating system last season and installed them myself on Superfeet Green insoles. Improved foot arch support and foot comfort with added game-changing all day warmth on an overnight charge. Only drawback is that I can't believe I bought a product with an NiMH battery in 2020. Someone needs to give Hotronics a heads up and get a lithium-ion battery variant in their insole heating system!

The more I look into the options I am sort of leaning towards socks as I'm not sure insoles would work well with my feet in these mountaineering boots... But with all the options out there I'm pretty much going to go on battery capacity as I'm often outside for 12+ hours and the 5000 size batteries seem to be the best option for battery life. I'll likely try an inexpensive pair and see how the whole things feels and works, but thanks for all the input.

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Originally Posted by gsattler

Got the Hotronics S4+ Custom insole heating system last season and installed them myself on Superfeet Green insoles. Improved foot arch support and foot comfort with added game-changing all day warmth on an overnight charge. Only drawback is that I can't believe I bought a product with an NiMH battery in 2020. Someone needs to give Hotronics a heads up and get a lithium-ion battery variant in their insole heating system!

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Battery nerd in me would say that the NiMH offers a couple of things over Li-ion. One is that it has a lower operating temperature. Below 14 degrees F, Lithium ions kind of shit the bed, and for NiMH it’s like -4 degrees F. NiCd has even better low temp performance, but NiMH is less susceptible to memory effect from disuse, so is generally a better option. Another issue is that Li-ion needs kind of a fancy charging/state of charge circuit, to maintain capacity above 20%, or you can brick the battery. I don’t know how this low end is affected by cold. I think discharge stops when the circuit shuts down, and self discharge is not as affected by cold, or all of our phones would be getting wrecked all the time. They should be able to farm out a design for a Li-ion charging circuit. I don’t know why they wouldn’t.

If you can keep it warm and have the necessary charging circuitry, Li-ion would be the clear choice. I don’t know where the battery sits, but if it’s above the boot cuff, I would think that outdoor ambient temperature could be present a problem.