Battery Heated Socks

Bottom: the sock from the outside with no wires showing. Top: the sock turned inside out to show how the wires are woven into the material

Cold feet during the winter while fishing is not only painful, but probably dangerous, and I have always had cold toes during these times. Since I have had the problem with my spine, another problem directly connected to the spinal problem is ‘Neuropathy’. The toes on my left foot, even during the summer, get so cold they hurt, and I have struggled to find ways of keeping them warm. At home I have an electrically heated foot warmer, and a pair of slippers that are filled with linseed that you place in the microwave for a couple of minutes to warm them up and just slip your feet into them. Both of these have two disadvantages, firstly you can’t take them with you when you go fishing, and secondly they warm up the whole foot and my problem is that it is only my toes. Both of them result in the whole foot being too warm and then the foot becomes increasingly uncomfortable.

I cannot move the toes on my left foot and they have no strength of their own and when I put my foot into any kind of shoe the sock drags on the bottom of the shoe as you push your foot into them, and as the toe area of the sock tightens and with my toes not being able to resist the force they get pulled down under my foot. Normally I wear open-toed sandals so that I can always make sure my toes are straight. The moon boots have a new inner but I just cannot get my foot into it when wearing socks, as the socks drag so much on the material which the inners are made from so I have not been able to use them, which is a pity as they would obviously provide a bit more insulation and heat.

So what is the solution?

Searching the web I found that it was possible to obtain battery heated socks; now that seemed a sensible thing to explore as they should keep my feet warm, and I would be able to take them fishing, as they require nothing other than batteries. I had no luck trying to get some more information, so I took the plunge and ordered a pair. At £ 40.00 a pair they are far from cheap. So, what are they and how do they work?

The 3 AA battery holder that produces less heat

The socks are to all purposes a standard pair of thermal socks in dark blue, and are warm in their own right. There is a plug at the top and a wire that goes down the inside of the sock to what I think is a small resistor. The wire then carries on but now looking to be naked, it wriggles a few times under the toe area and then makes it way back via another resistor up the sock alongside the first wire to terminate in the plug.

This set-up appeared to be ideal as it would only provide heat to my toes and not all of my foot. I eagerly put them on and plugged in the battery pack and waited to be surprised. Well I was, and within a couple of minutes I had to pull the plug out as the toes on my left foot felt as if they were being burnt. I took the sock off and turned it inside out so that I could see and touch the wire where it went under the toes. Holding this wire between my fingers I put the plug back in again. Within a couple of minutes the wire was hot, in fact it felt too hot. There is no way to regulate the heat output as it is either on or off.

I e-mailed the firm from where I had purchased them and explained my situation regarding the ‘Neuropathy’ in my left toes. I was advised that it was not possible for the wires to burn as they had been designed not to. I asked if it was possible to regulate the heat in some way and was told that it was not possible. A few days later two further battery packs arrived and it took me a few minutes to realize that the new packs were for three batteries and the original ones were for four batteries. I had not requested them and the firm concerned had been good enough to send them free of charge in the hope that they would help. The three battery pack would give out less power (heat) than the four battery pack. I put on the sock and plugged in the three battery pack and waited. At first it was difficult to feel any heat at all, but within a few minutes a very slight warmth could be felt. The difference between three batteries and four is very pronounced.

I have been using them for some months now both at home and while fishing. When fishing I have my battery sock on my left foot and on top of that I have a big loose woolly sock and then put on my Boom 80 moon boots, and bear in mind this was August. Sometimes I am able to get through the session without plugging in the sock and other times my toes get so painful that I have to plug in the three battery pack, and this certainly helps. The good points about the socks are that when the weather is not too cold I am able to go fishing and not be upset with the cold pain. I have yet to try them now that the weather has turned far colder.

The inner toe area. You can just make out the red wire which is the heating wire that only goes under the toes and not over the whole foot. It is made just to heat the toe area only

The heater element wire used in the socks is made from four strands of 44 gauge copper, manganese and nickel resistance wire stranded together for strength but allowing complete flexibility. These wires are then wrapped in PTFE for insulation purposes. The resistance wires and the lead wires are then hand threaded into the knit of the socks. The battery holders used are the only type of holders that are available in the U. K. at this point in time. These socks are supplied to the NHS Hospitals and Trusts specialising in rheumatoid and circulatory problems.

The negative points about the socks are firstly the cost of £ 40.00 which I think is a lot of money for a pair of thermal socks with a standard cheap plastic type of battery holder that does not appear to be very substantial and you can see the ends flex outwards when you insert a set of batteries, but by far the biggest complaint has to be the wires where they are joined to the battery pack, they are just soldered onto them and within 2 days of using them one of the wires had broken off. I have re-soldered them on a number of occasions and have now put a cable tie around them to stop the wires from moving, and this seems to have done the trick. I have purchased a couple of spare battery containers from Maplins so that I always have a few spares. When I go fishing I presently take two of the three AA battery packs and two sets of fully re-charged batteries. A point to remember about the soldered joints is that any type of joint will create a weak spot.

Knowing nothing about electronics I think that there must be a far better way of housing the batteries, what about a torch style holder where the batteries are slipped into the torch case and the end screwed on, and at the other end which would normally be where the bulb is situated there could simply be modified to have a socket where the plug from the battery holder can be plugged into. For me personally with my own set of problems an adjustment for heat control would be great.

To sum up, the socks work really well for me as they keep just my toe area warm and not the whole of my foot, and they enable me to go fishing at the present time which on some days I would not be able to do without them. The downside is the poor design of the battery packs and the wiring in particular.

The socks can be found at www.de-icers.co.uk.