The Nosewarmer

10 Feb 2026
electronics bicycle 3d printer lasercut

In winter it gets quite cold, but I still cycle. To make that more comfortable, temperature control is important.

Gloves and big shoes keep the hands and feet warm, but the nose is still exposed to a cold wind at all times. Putting cloth like a scarf or hood over it is a solution I tried before, but it doesn’t work well when breathing a lot. Also the cold bites through when outside temperatures go below 0°C and it almost doesn’t work below -10°C.

The power of electricity! #

So I decided to try something: using resistors to actively produce heat, next to my nose to keep it warm. Starting with simple through-hole-component resistors, they work and can heat up. But burning the skin is an issue, especically when numbed by the cold.

There needs to be an insulation between the heat source and the skin, both to spread the heat evenly and not make any burns.

Spread the heat #

Thick (0.3mm) aluminium foil is great for thermal conductivity. It spreads out the heat to make a uniform heat “cloud” from the multiple resistors, and it can be bent into the shape that matches my nose.

Assembly, with just a copper wire as the frame: keeping with “it can be bent into a comfortable shape”.

Here are the three resistors hidden inside. With taped-over wires to prevent short circuits through the aluminium.

Buffer the heat #

For insulation though, the aluminium won’t do. So in this version there was a black piece of cloth, taped on between the aluminium and the skin. It works well as a heat buffer, to smooth out on/off spikes of the resistors: instead of a burning sensation when they are on and the usual cold when they are off, the cloth equalises that to a pleasant warmth, that takes 1-2min before turning to a burning sensation (enough time to turn the heater off).

Insulate #

After a few more prototypes and daily testing, another thing came up. The whole nosewarmer seemed to stop heating when outside temperatures got colder than 0°C. This was because the cold air was able to cool down the resistors faster than they were able to keep their heat. In this case, the two-pronged approach worked: increase power, and add more insulation, especially frontal insulation where the cold wind is hitting.

For the insulation material, I chose bubble paper because it’s lightweight, traps lots of air and I had lots leftover from post packages.

This much insulation is comfortably enough for about -10°C to -15°C.

Newer heating element #

The standard resistors weren’t powerful enough, so after a few tries I settled for higher-power rated resistors (5W each). From the outside, it still looks the same with aluminium around the heating zone:

But the resistors are much beefier. Here are some spares. laid out in the same fashion as the actual resistors inside the aluminum wrap underneath.

I also use the blue paper insert (here lifted up), which needs to be exchanged as it absorbs sweat and after a few days needs to be thrown out. It’s easy to exchange because it just clips between the aluminium and the skimask, no tape. This solved the problem of the previous prototype where the black cloth was non-exchangeable…

The paper is absolutely important, as just touching the aluminium to the skin burns when it’s on and almost freezes when it’s off. The paper provides thermal damping so that I can turn the heater on for a while and then let the heat dissipate for another while: It’s a rudimentary PWM.

This setup also elegantly solves the “dimming” problem: sometimes the weather and wind are warmer, sometimes colder and I need to regulate the heating power to not burn myself (when waiting at a red light). Just turning on when it’s a bit cold and off once it gets cozy warm is super simple and works great.

Control panel #

The nosewarmer doesn’t need a full control room, but I wanted one main function: easily turn heating on and off, including with gloves. This is the solution I’m using every day in winter, so it also has an additional feature: display power consumption and battery voltage. The electronics are conceptually very simple: just a switch to turn on/off the heater.

With three 100Ω resistors in parallel, it makes a 33.3Ω effective total. Theoretically it should consume:

Which reasonably matches reality. Also the cables and connectors between everything are good with <1A.

Empty control panel housing. To prevent rain from damaging the electronics, it’s painted with metal paint sealer (based on resin; and it repels water well).

The power meter PCB is mounted on the inside, and an acrylic glass protects it and makes a watertight seal (some glue inbetween actually). In orange, a 3d printed spacer to keep the display in position.

Mounting #

Faces don’t generally come with conveninent hooks to loop a nosewarmer in, so after a few experiments with straps I settled for a modified ski mask. It already provides a big and sturdy shape along the eyes and rests on the cheeks. The nosewarmer just needs to attach from there. To not damage the ski mask, I settled for using stiff copper wire to wrap the nosewarmer’s aluminium part around, and hooking that into the outline of the mask.

The electric wires are also just ziptied to that for strain relief. This solution, like the aluminium, is also easily readjustable for a more comfortable fit. The first few rides I would sometimes just stop on the side of the road and bend the wire to fit more snugly. Nowadays it fits without adjustments, just because once adjusted I didn’t have a need to disassemble it again.

For a good heating performance below 0°C, the nosewarmer also needs to have a firm “mounting pressure”. The skimask geometry already helps a lot, but a last addition made a big difference: one more strap from above. This presses the heating assembly onto the nose. Without that strap, the heating assembly just pivots arounds its copper wire attachment, and does not press on the nose strongly enough to transfer enough heat.

Full System #

Here is a test of the whole setup not yet on the bicycle:

With the power source: a 18V drill battery. That has enough energy to last at least an entire day, even a full week when it’s above -5°C.

When heating is off, the control panel displays (unloaded) battery voltage.

Conclusion #

I’ve been thinking whether this can be made into a commercial product, as lots of people cycle in cold winters. But because of the high power resistive elements very close to the face, the risk of burns is too dangerous for commercialisation…

If you’re comfortable with electronics though, feel free to consider this as some DIY instructions and learnings to make your own.

Future plans #

I consider the nosewarmer working well and “finished”, but… every winter I’ve found more improvements to do (previous ones in order):

• power upgrade from USB 5V to drill battery 16..21V
• resistor upgrade 15W total, added control panel, added second strap
• clear glass (custom lasercut 1mm acryl) for better visibility at night

So there may still be some things to improve, we’ll see next winter!