heated grips
 

Hi guys, any good for fitting them? Straight to the battery or ignition live? If ignition live where do you pick the feed from?
Posted this in another section earlier but then noticed this one, excuse the durr moment!

you could wire direct to battery but if you forget to switch them off, or a fiddling oik switches them back on for you, then you will soon get a flat battery. Better to either splice into an existing switched circuit that can take the additional load (radiator fan live is a good one as its unlikely the fan will be on at the same time as your heated grips); or even better, both splice into a switched circuit AND feed the grips via a relay. If you use a relay you can splice into any switched circuit regardless of the current it would normally draw as you are only using that circuit to trigger the relay.

Good luck with the install. I use Dr Bike grips on the basis that they are the cheapest I can find and seem to be a copy of old model Oxford heated grips that are twice the price. ALso a nice easy to use dial type switch. J&S accessories.

I'd go for a the fused relay option - a much more safe and reliable solution in the long run.

On the XTZ you have several choices for getting a live feed, the most popular are by tapping into either the brown feed to the rear brake light switch, or the blue/red feed to the tail light; whichever is the easiest to get to. Those two are good options if you're mounting a relay under the seat. The other alternative is the spare connector under the dash, behind the panel below the clocks.

Be aware that the tail lamp option and the spare connector under the dash are both live when the key is in the 'P' position and removed.

If you ever park in public you don't want the possibility that someone turns them on and drain tour battery ....

I've used a relay and controlled it by the switched power from behind the headlights. I've hidden the relay in the side of the fairing.

http://www.tenere.dk/forumnew/forum_...ID=72331#72331

It is cheap grips from hein gericke with a controller from mccoi.de

So am I right in saying you have used the switched wire behind the dash as the 12v feed to the relay? Or do you still need to run a 12v feed from the battery as well, quick description of what wire goes where would be dead handy, I'm pretty good with wiring but sometimes need a little pointer!

Only use the ignition switched feed to trigger the relay. The supply to power the grips must come straight from the battery (via a fuse) and connected through the load terminals on the relay.

Here's a circuit diagram I did for wiring lights. Same principle applies to wiring grips (but you might not necessarily want to include the isolation switch).

http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/a...psf59de448.jpg

So, 4 pin relay
1 to earth relay
1 to + side of battery with inline fuse
1 ign live trigger wire
1 wire to heated grips

Sounds good to me, I suppose now just a case of finding a suitable place for relay

Yep. Just look at the diagram on the underside of the relay to see which pin does what. Pin 85 and 86 are the trigger terminals, pin 30 and 87 are for the load.

You may find it easier to find a home for the relay if you use one of the trigger taps under the seat? Otherwise, as has been mentioned, stick it under one of the plastic covers on the tank sides.

I only use the switched wire to trig the relay and then cables with a fuse directly from the battery. I also plan to use the same relay for some extra light.

try google for a picture of a relay intallation. This is just one of the fist hits.
http://www.classictruckshop.com/club...ch/foglite.jpg

Just forget atbout the switch that triggers the relay and wire you switched 12V directly to the relay. Enstead of the lamps you connect the controller for the heated grips.

My post from another forum:

So I bought some heated grips (well, tis the season) from www.windingroads.co.uk

Thought I'd let you know how I got on with fitting them.

This is what comes in the package:
http://www.windingroads.co.uk/shop/s..._kit_uk_rr.jpg

As you can see, they aren't heated grips, but heat pads (kinda like underfloor heating)
This means you can keep your existing grips which is what I wanted to do.

They draw a maximum of 3A, my bike has about 9A to spare so this is fine (check your user manual)
However, I didn't want to forget to turn them off and come back to my bike to find a flat battery.
So i needed to find a way to make sure they only came on when the key is in the ignition

First thing then - A fused relay.

A relay allows a circuit to be switched on when it receives current from another circuit.
What I've done is to use the rear tail-light as the switch (only comes on when the key is in the ignition)

This is how it works:


https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...Bike/relay.jpg

When current flows through the 'Switch Live' (i.e. when the tail light is on) the coil draws the plunger towards it through electromagnetism, thus closing the circuit and allowing current from the battery to flow to the grips.

Here you can see the 3A fuse inline and the relay being fitted:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...2_171107-r.jpg

Bits I needed:
Fuseholder
3A Minifuse
14A 12VDC Relay
17A cable (one red, 1 black) 5m each
Various crimp terminals (rings, bullets and sheathing)
Heatshrink

I got all my bits from CPC, but you can get them from Halfords, Maplin, or any car parts store.

Next, tap into the tail light circuit to provide that 'Switched Live'

I snipped the positive wire of the tail light, and added another cable to go to the relay.
Where I snipped, I added a bullet connector each end, reconnected and heatshrinked it.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...2_173845-r.jpg

The blue crimps are for easy reconnection, the heatshrink prevents any cables from coming loose at a later date.

Final stages here are to connect the battery live and battery ground terminals to the relay(I used ring terminals directly onto the battery)

And here it is in place:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...2_181333-r.jpg

Looks like it was part of the original wiring, doesn't it? Good, it's supposed to!
(Clue, it's held on with a cable tie)

So the next step is to create a small loom to run to the handlebars, the positive comes from the relay, the negative runs straight back to the battery.

So I took my two 17A cables, measured the length and then heatshrinked them together.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...3_125504-r.jpg

Very boring job but neat and tidy.

This ran under my seat, under my tank until it met the original forward wiring loom where i cable tied it to that and ran it to where I wanted the switch on my handlebars.
Make sure you still have correct movement in your handlebars!

Ready for the grips!

There are 3 items you will need now:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...3_181023-r.jpg

WD40 - To remove the grips... lift the edge of the grip, give it a good soaking inside and give it a wiggle. Most should come off easily enough.

Switch cleaner - Or any IPA-based solvent (No, not Indian Pale Ale... IsoPropylAlcohol!) After your grips are off, give the bars a thorough clean, dry and then do it again to be sure! No sticky bits!


We'll come back to that last can in a minute.


The heat pads go on easily enough, they have a sticky backing but I made sure by wrapping them in electrical tape to hold them in place.

You'll want to place them about 1/2" from any controls. The throttle is a little trickier, as you need to make sure the cable can move as you twist the throttle.

Here's one fitted:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...3_173924-r.jpg

They don't fit all the way round the bar, so I placed the gap where the palm of my hand would be.
We want heat on our fingertips at the front!

I placed it so the cable can travel with the throttle and also is well away from controls in that area.

Once it's stuck down it's ready to use that last can:


Hairspray??? - Yes, hairspray. I found this is the best way to get the grips back on again after. Once you've fitted the heat pads on, give them a liberal soaking of hairspray and the grips should just glide back on. Eventually, the hairspray will set solid, like glue. Sorted!

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...3_181103-r.jpg

Now, we need to fit the switch and complete the wiring.

The switch can be mounted into a fairing or panel (requires a 19mm hole), or you can do what I've done here and just mounted it on my handlebars for easy access.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...6_204938-r.jpg

The bracket for mounting is included in the kit.


As you can see, the switch has a Hi and Lo setting.
Both of these need to run to each grip.
Also, from each grip there is an earth/ground which needs to run back to your battery

Here is a final wiring diagram:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...ike/relay2.jpg


The last thing to do is to tidy up all the wiring, cable ties are your friends here!
I also put heatshrink over all the connectors so they can't short circuit in the rain.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...6_204925-r.jpg


Job done, finished, put the kettle on.

(Oh yeah, I also bought Tucano Urbano Muffs and I now wear summer gloves all year round!)


Stay toasty,

Weave.

Done all the wiring tonight and they all work! All I have to do now is the fitting of the grips, take the tank off and run the wires from the bars to the multi plug under the seat but I think I will leave that for Sat morning as I want to use it for work to rack the running in miles up!

I found you don't need to do this.
The wiring comes down the forward loom alongside the clutch cable, then a short leap alongside the carb to the frame near the air filter.

I pushed it through from under the seat forwards, cable tying it where I could.

Ok, it'd be a lot neater with the tank off, but seems like a lot of effort for just that...

Might as well do your valve clearances while you've got it off :D

valve clearances!!!! its only done 157 miles. lol

:smilies0966:

Take the tank off Steve. If nothing else it'll give you a bit of practice for when you might need to do it in a hurry. Also, many of the fasteners that hold it (and the grey plastics) on corrode and seize - it would be a good opportunity to Copper Slip the threads early on in the bike's life.

Particularly problematic are the ones that hold the lower plastics covering the coolant reservoir and headers. The serrated (not very) captive nuts in the inner plastic tends to strip out and need supergluing back if the fastener gets even the slightest bit stuck/sticky.

In fact it'd be a damn good idea to do treat as many threads as you can get to all over your new bike before the worst of the winter - a stitch in time saves nine and all that...

Hi WeaveMcQuilt,

quite liked your setup and got my Symtec heated pads yesterday on the post.
I am about to do the shopping for the bits needed for the installation and have a few questions:

- The 3A fuse goes between the positive battery terminal and the relay?
- I could only find a 30A 4 Pin relay on Halfords. I guess they will do the job fine?
- I guess 5A crimps terminals (bullet and ring) will do the job?
- When you snip the tail light cable, how did you join the cable (or what you recommend to do it) that goes to the "switch live"? --> just saw in the pic that you hook the tail light and switch cable together in the bullet crimp :)

Thanks and sorry for the silly/basic questions! :003:

HI there,

I just installed the symtec heat pads. Following indications found on the forum, I ended up with a nice setup, fitting the switch button by drilling a hole in the plastic just under the dashboard. Looks great!

I have one question. I only test run the heated grips for 10 minutes, but I noticed that the clutch side provided less heat than the throttle side. Does it happens because the pad on the clutch side sits on the metal of the handlebar? Maybe I should have put the heatshrink tube that comes with the Symtec kit?

Cheers

Usually the reasons for the throttle side being hotter the clutch side (particularly with cheapo kits) are two-fold: Firstly the rubber is thinner on the throttle side because it has to accommodate the throttle tube. Secondly the metal of the handlebar does indeed act as a heat-sink on the clutch side.

Symtec pads though should give even heat both sides anyway, as the throttle and clutch sides are different outputs to account for the above problems. Daft question probably, but did you fit them the right way round?

And yes, with hindsight, you should have fitted the Mylar tape that you got with your kit? ;)

Of all the grips I�ve tried over the years the Symtec pads were definitely the best and most reliable, giving a good even heat.

Thanks Pleiades. I would say I fitted the each pad on the right side, but I will check again with the multiimeter. As you said, the resistance on each pad is different.
If the position is right, I will then have to remove the pad on the clutch and fit the heatshrink underneath the pad. The question is, will I damage the heat-pad if I take the grip off using WD40?

Re-fitted today the clutch side pads, this time with the heatshrink between the handlebar and the actual heat pad. Both sides now warm up evenly.
After taking out the heatpad, it wasnt as sticky as before, but some electrical tape did the trick :)

Couple of pictures of the switch under the dashboard. Hopefully it will be a bit more protected and will last a bit longer :)

http://imageshack.us/scaled/medium/51/x844.jpg
http://imageshack.us/scaled/medium/19/hbvf.jpg


Thanks for your help.

HI guys,

Happy New Year to everyone.
This is a call for an electrician in the room :)

Today I went for the first ride after fitting the heated grips. After riding for 10 minutes the grips stopped working.
I have checked the fuse and it was gone and a bit burnt in the middle:

http://imageshack.us/scaled/medium/856/y7nc.jpg

I was wondering whether the 3A fuse is too small for the Symtec heated grips (power connected directly to the battery through a fused relay) ?

All connectors and cables look OK.

Did this happen to anyone with the Symtec heated pads?
Cheers!

They draw a continuous ~3A in the high position, so a 3A fuse is not going to be enough. As with all resistive loads, there will be a spike in current on start up (particularly if you do so in the high setting), which could well trip a 3A fuse. If you use a fuse of the same rating as the current draw of the accessory, it will blow (eventually).

A 5A fuse would be more appropriate.

As a general rule of thumb, always select a fuse that has the next current rating up from that stated as the continuous load on the equipment it supplies.

Thanks Pleiades. I will fit the 5A one then. As you said, these pads draw 3A to consume around 40Watts, but there may be some spikes.

Quick question. Why has the fuse "burnt" instead of tripped straight away? Is it because the current has been slightly above 3A for some time, but not high enough to trip the fuse?


Thanks!

Maybe, it's difficult to say. Automotive fuses are cheap and cheerful and are not made to exacting tolerances, so they blow in different ways, no two are the same. Chances are if you could look at ten different blown 3A fuses they'd all look slightly different in the way they've gone. The burnt area you see is due to a very brief arcing across the air gap left after the fuse wire melted.

That makes sense. Thanks for taking the time to reply.