Heated grips

First topic message reminder :

E-Bay I bought 2 pair
Just fitted one pair to sv
$20 a pair ,Fantastic value

Just to clarify.
Positive wire from battery to relay. Relay earth wire to a good earth point on chassis. Light cct wire turns on relay when you turn ign on. Wire from relay to grips +ve. Grips earth wire to good earth point on chassis.
Most relays have a diagram on them showing which pins are which.

gus wrote:Recommend  or DON'T recommend  I did notice the wire going to the park light was thin . Ive used this wire before but I;m no auto electrician  so up for advice .


Fused feed from Battery ?
A wire direct from battery with a fuse in line to heated grips ??????? Hang on that's no good , that means currant is always live when I forget to switch
grips off . That's a flat battery in the morning .

A headlight wire is a larger diam. wire which turns OFF with ignition .

Gus, the bulb feed energises the relay coil.  It draws very little current.  When it's energised it closes a heavy duty internal switch that connects the battery to the grips via a fuse.  It only turns on with the bike ignition, so you can't forget to switch them off and it protects your bike.  

The bulb feed would go to terminals 85 and 86 and I have a simple diagram on my blog:  http://kewwibike.blogspot.co.nz/2011/11/wiring-heated-grips.html

A relay is the way to go for anything that wants a bit of juice, as while things may not blow a fuse initially, a new headlight switch is expensive, as is a burned wiring harness, or worse still, a fire

These Relay/Fuse combo's are great - available at most auto and electronic stores for a couple of dollars, rated up to 30amps (normally).  

As mentioned tap across the front bulbs for wires 85 & 86, join 30 to the battery and 87 to your controller switch.  Controller still switches everything on and off but it only gets juice when the relay is on, the relay is only on when the lights are on.  So even if you are one of the 0.0001% of riders that switch the bike to ACC you can turn the grips off at the controller.

I don't know, I'm reading through all these post and I I didn't already know how already know how a relay worked I'd be confused.

Gus quite simply a relay is an electric switch. You activate it using something like a the park light circuit, it uses very little power to activate it.

In this diagram of a standard 12v automotive relay, terminal 86 and 85 complete the circuit to activate the relay, (requires very little current so you can get away with the light gauge wire from your park light circuit)

The relay once activated (closed) completes the circuit from 30 to 87 & 87a
This way you can use a heavy gauge cable from the battery to terminal 30 and a heavy gauge cable from 87 & 87a to your accessory.
Put an inline fuse between the battery to terminal 30 or use a fuse relay like Barry suggested.


Hopefully this has cleared things up for you

Yes I'm half pissed!   

Get a relay, some leads with crocodile clips, a bulb and a battery.  Once you try it a couple of times it will seem easy.

Avoid the standard crimp connectors and those horrible flat crimping tools as wires pull out.  Get a decent crimper from Jaycar and you can get insulated terminals that crimp but have a clear heat shrink on them so crimp, heat and permanent fix.

Almost.....the diagram and its wording is correct, however MM your explaination has a slight inconsistency (must have been that last glass of red)....    

Terminal 87a is the normally closed (connected) link to Terminal 30, with no power applied to the relay windings (85 & 86) then there is a link across 30 & 87a termainals.  

When the relay is operated, the internal solinoid moves this link to Terminal 87, thus breaking the connection between 30 and 87a and making it between 30 and 87.  

This "normally closed" link is not used all that often, so a lot of relay manufacturers no longer have this 5th pin.

barry_mcki wrote:Almost.....the diagram and its wording is correct, however MM your explaination has a slight inconsistency (must have been that last glass of red)....    

Terminal 87a is the normally closed (connected) link to Terminal 30, with no power applied to the relay windings (85 & 86) then there is a link across 30 & 87a termainals.  

When the relay is operated, the internal solinoid moves this link to Terminal 87, thus breaking the connection between 30 and 87a and making it between 30 and 87.  

This "normally closed" link is not used all that often, so a lot of relay manufacturers no longer have this 5th pin.

Not what I've seen, every relay I've worked with 87 and *87a are the same. 30 connect to both 87 and 87a at the same time. Used for 2 spotlights or 2 horns etc. I'm not that pissed yet!
You must be talking about a different type of relay that switches between the two.

There's different versions available.  Some have 2 #87 terminals to connect two devices - eg SPST (single pole single throw) with 4 or 5 terminals, SPDT (single pole double throw) etc.  87A is always normally closed.

Maybe I'm more pissed than I think I am   

Wouldn't be the first time   

Your all pissed   . I have no idea what you are on about .   totally confused .      , I may as well crack a beer also . 

This covers it all well:  http://www.mp3car.com/the-faq-emporium/117895-faq-relays-how-they-work-and-how-to-wire-it-up.html

barry_mcki wrote:These Relay/Fuse combo's are great - available at most auto and electronic stores for a couple of dollars, rated up to 30amps (normally).  

As mentioned tap across the front bulbs for wires 85 & 86, join 30 to the battery and 87 to your controller switch.  Controller still switches everything on and off but it only gets juice when the relay is on, the relay is only on when the lights are on.  So even if you are one of the 0.0001% of riders that switch the bike to ACC you can turn the grips off at the controller.

What Barry said is the easiest explanation to follow Gus......

Here's the easy way or sorting out all this electrical 'magic'  out Gus.
Link (fixed).
Piece of cake to install - taps into tail light wire with a positap (which we don't like) or just solder it up.

The link is not working, try this one ... Eastern Beaver 3 Circuit

They used to sell a small wiring kit that you just plugged into the rear combo light connector, makes it even easier to get running.

I got their PC8 (8 circuits) but have maxed it out already  

Just bought the new Oxford heated grips. The new model you connect them straight to the battery. The controller has a sensor in it which detects when the battery is no longer charging and turns the grips off automatically. An an electrician, wiring a relay is no big deal, but I'll see how these work out with the sensor.

Speed Dealer wrote:Just bought the new Oxford heated grips. The new model you connect them straight to the battery. The controller has a sensor in it which detects when the battery is no longer charging and turns the grips off automatically. An an electrician, wiring a relay is no big deal, but I'll see how these work out with the sensor.

A mate had those on his DL1000 and they flattened the battery just enough to stop it starting

Speed Dealer wrote:Just bought the new Oxford heated grips. The new model you connect them straight to the battery. The controller has a sensor in it which detects when the battery is no longer charging and turns the grips off automatically. An an electrician, wiring a relay is no big deal, but I'll see how these work out with the sensor.

There are several reports over various forums of the Oxford controller flattening the battery to the point the bike wont start. I'd be still using a relay.

Gus. Any update on the effectiveness of these grips. Our recent weather should have given them a real work out. Have you got a site for these?

I've been waiting patiently for any updates too   
I bought a pair off ebay ($16 delivered), still waiting for them to come from Hong Kong.
Will report back when I've installed them.

Rather than create a new thread, I'll add to Gus' (hope that's ok ?)

Bought from: http://r.ebay.com/JZq8du
Additional Info: link   
I received them, quality looks passable, the grip rubber is higher up on the plastic scale than rubber, probably crap with no gloves on, but who does that ?   

No instructions, comes with a green and a black wire for power, funnily enough, black was positive   
I've never used the Oxfords, but these appealed to me for the following reasons:

* They replace the standard throttle tube, so the cable that powers them on the throttle tube doesn't move up and down like oxfords.
* They almost look factory when fitted, very minimalist.
* Completely reversable in minutes, no risk of damaging the stock grips or the throttle tube.

I pulled them apart and sealed the plates and screws with silicone, and sprayed some white lithium grease inside them. I'll probably drill a hole below the switch as that doesn't look waterproof at all.

Fitting was fairly straight forward, the throttle side is fiddly, pull the rubber boot back on the throttle cable and loosen the retaining nut and the screw to give as much throttle play as it will allow. Fit the pull cable (top) first, then the push cable (bottom) last using long nose pliers to get the cable in place.  Remove the rubber from the ends of the grips too.  I also had to pull the bar weight sleeve out a smidge so there was no binding on the throttle at all.  They probably make your bars about 1cm wider on both sides.

Other side is easy, use compressed air and the grip comes off in 2 seconds, tighten up the hex screw (not too tight - remember chinese quality

I wired it all up using a relay triggered from the number plate light.

I've only used them once, on setting "I" (not "II") from the pic, "I" should be hottest (not what you'd assume) and my hands were toasty warm after 5-10 mins.  

I'll report back later on with how they are going.


The most respected name in aftermarket motorcycle accessories: (oh yeah, the screw heads came like that too

Just fitted the same heated grips Gus + Buford_T did... $16.50 delivered from ebay..bargain!! 
Wired through a relay as per suggested....simple.
And the best bit...they work great.

I can not remember why buy I hated them in the end .
I 'll go back  to my favourite vsm  heated grips thank you .

gus wrote:I can not remember why buy I hated them in the end .
I 'll go back  to my favourite vsm  heated grips thank you .

Something electrical and that cheap always scares me, I get visions of holding onto burning handle bars

gus wrote:I can not remember why buy I hated them in the end .
I 'll go back  to my favourite vsm  heated grips thank you .

Where do you get them from, Gus?

Heated handgrips in Darwin?
Don't park under cover 
http://www.bom.gov.au/nt/forecasts/darwin.shtml