Cold Weather Riding

[pdedse]

Just saw this on another forum.

Heated Motorcycle Grip Cover Pad

I'm going to give these a try.

I ordered the above and they arrived the other day. Some photos:

The heating grips wrap around your mc grips and velco together.




The wiring instructions are minimal


If not legible, says "the red wire is connected to the positive output wire of the electric door look (ACC) and the black wire is connected to any negative electrode on the motorcycle" .... Positive output wire of the electric door lock? What?!

The fuse and wiring ends.


I learned about this product while on a Suzuki DR650 forum, so different bike. I asked there about connections, and if one could wire into a battery tender. Someone suggested solder/heatshrink or positap an [url=https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BL2TTVNN?linkCode=ogi&th=1&tag=sofferscom1-20]SAE connector like these:

[url=https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BL2TTVNN?linkCode=ogi&th=1&tag=sofferscom1-20]https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BL2TTVNN?linkCode=ogi&th=1&tag=sofferscom1-20

And then others expressed concern about amps / watts "discrepancies" between battery tender and heated grips 5amp fuse. Electronics being somewhat of a black hole for me, I figured I'd ask here as well, mainly for the CB1100.

Other info: the heated grips have 3 temp settings, and the power draw is:

Hight Temperature(Switch Red light) 25w
Medium Temperature(Blue Light) 20W
Low Temperature(Green Light)15W

So questions. 1) w/out doing anything to the wiring (using the spade connectors), can I simply connect directly to battery terminals? Will there be a constant draw on the battery if I do? There is an on/off button/switch that's supposed to be fixed on the handlebars for easy temp control access.

2) what I'd rather do is add the SAE connectors to the existing wires of the heating unit. a) that would allow me to use the same grips on different bikes b) by disconnecting at the battery tender, would eliminate any draw on the battery.

Last night I wired them directly to the battery terminals just to test them out, and the mid temp setting was nice and warm in two minutes. Max temp was pretty hot.

I have grip puppies on the CB and my W800. These thicken the grip and the velcro wrap-around heating element for this product isn't quite enough for it to velcro together. But they would have enough reach for stock grips. I'll have to secure them, maybe with rubber bands wrapped around them.

Any feedback appreciated.

I ordered the above and they arrived the other day. Some photos:

The heating grips wrap around your mc grips and velco together.
...
Sometimes I forget my brother is a long-time mechanic for autos and trains and has done his fair share of electrical work, so I gave him a call, sent him photos of what I wanted to connect, and he seemed to think the following would be fine:

Battery tender pigtail (3amp fuse) -- to SAE connecter with 14 gauge wire -- to heated grips wiring (thinner, 16 gauge wire?) with 5amp fuse would work ok. He cautioned to simply try it out, let it run for 5 mintures and check for wires / connectors for heat.

Connected SAE connector to heated grips wires


Did a loose-fit on the CB1100, started, cycled through the temp controls of low, medium and high. All worked, could feel the grip heat begin to build after a few seconds, maybe a minute, minute plus 30 to get to full temp. Blue (medium) seemed like it would be good, red (high) got pretty hot. Off button did what off buttons do.


Checked all along the wiring, fuses, connectors, and couldn't detect any heat at all. The velcro doesn't quite reach around as I have extra girth with the Grip Puppies, but I can secure with thin zip ties.


Now I'll figure out the routing and where to attach the on/off/temp control switch. I went this route adding the SAE connector so I could plug into the pigtail instead of at battery for two reasons 1) so i could transfer from bike to bike 2) to eliminate any possible draw on the battery by disconnecting from the battery tender pigtail. But the units only cost $26 so--if this works ok--I'm thinking of buying a couple more for the W800 and DR650. Looking forward to some dry days, but forecast is for snow and ice and mid 20s for highs the next few days. I can wait till high 30s/low 40s return.