Hot grips / ignition wiring

[steeevvvooo]

I fitted hot grips a couple a weeks ago, but wired them directly to the battery. I've been a bit paranoid about leaving them switched on and draining my battery, so decided to try to wire them to the ignition.

I found a couple of accessible wires to the front righthand side, behind the horn, which run into some thicker cables along the frame towards the back of the bike. They show 12v with the ignition switched, zero when off. Easy huh? :dunce:

When I connected everything up, and switched the grips on, they show about 5v, and only 3v when switched onto "start" mode, which is basically a turbo heat up. They also don't seem as hot?

My question is...

Am I being a muppet and connecting them wrongly (I'm a bit of a noob with electrics) :scratch: :banghead:

or

Is there somewhere better to connect them so the grips are only live when the ignition is on? :scratch:

[steeevvvooo]

Anyone have any ideas? :scratch:

If not, I'll have to wire direct to my battery again, and don't really fancy doing that :(

[harry_hyde]

One thing I'd definitely do if I was you is to run the wires to a relay and use the relay to control the hot grips.

Reason being that the wire you have chosen may not be up to the current the grips will draw. If this doesn't blow a fuse, it may burn out the wire you're using. A relay however doesn't take much current at all so should be safe.

You can then fuse the wire you run from the battery to your hot grips.

I'd suggest you did this and then looked at the readings you get then.

If they're adjustable, the voltage may read differently depending on what current the grips are drawing so it might be worth putting an ammeter in series and getting a reading off that as well.

Hope this helps.

If its dry at the weekend I'm going to take off the broken oxford grips I have and replace them with some tech 7's I bought the other day. If I get chance I'll take readings and let you know what mine say.

Cheers.

Jody.

[steeevvvooo]

Cheer Harry. Would you just run the relay (that’s just like a switch right?) “inline” on the wires connected directly to the battery?

Apologies for being a bit dumb here, I’m not too familiar with electronics. What does the relay do exactly? :dunce:

If you could give a brief idiots guide, it might save a much loved monster going up in flames!! :on: :shocked:

[harry_hyde]

you're right, relay is just a switch. A small current operates it and it closes a switch which can then handle a much bigger current.

You only need a 4 pin relay. You'll also need some spade connectors, and a fuse holder. Should only cost a fiver or so depending on where you get the bits from.

look at this site for the picture for the wiring.

http://www.ado13.com/techs/relay.htm

The wire from your switched feed goes in to pin 86. Not sure how you've taken the supply from the wire you have found but effectively you just need to run a wire from the switched wire to the relay.

Pin 85 can just go to a good earth.

With this connected in, when you turn the ignition you should hear the relay click. If you hold it you should feel it. This will tell you that you've wired it in right.

Connect a thick fused supply from the battery to pin 30. Don't forget the fuse, it might save your bike.

Run a thick wire from pin 87 to the positive side of the hot grips.

Run the negative side of the hot grips to earth.

When your ignition is on now the realy switches and supplies power to the hot grips. They will only use this power if the grips themselves are on.

When you turn the ignition off, the relay will break the circuit so even if you've forgotten to turn the hot grips off, they won't get any power.

Hope this helps.

If you get really stuck, I can give you a hand but not sure how far from Lewes you are.

Jody. (Harry is just a name I use on the forums, long story)

[steeevvvooo]

Thanks Jody, that’s brilliant!!! I’ll have a go at it this weekend (providing the weather holds up) and let you know how I get on… :thumbsup:

[harry_hyde]

No worries.

Like I say if you get really stuck I'll be happy to help you out.

It might be easier to run long wires to under the seat as there's more space there for the relay. Just run long wires back to the hot grips then.

Cheers.

Jody.

[steeevvvooo]

Any idea what ampage relay I’ll need? I’ve had a look on Maplin’s website, and there are 22 different entries for “relay”, some with multiple amp ratings?! :eyepopping:

Think I'm ok with how it should all work, once I get the right bits!!

[harry_hyde]

Funnily enough I found a handful of relays that I thought i had the other day.

Do your hot grips have a power rating on them?

Should be a max W or kW on them somewhere.

If its kW multiply the number by 1000 to give W (Watts).

Then divide the number you have in Watts by 12.

This gives maximum current in Amps.

If you don't have a power rating on the grips but your set up does have an inline fuse fitted, just go with a relay which has a current rating higher than that of the fuse.

Cheers.

Jody.

[harry_hyde]

Looked at Maplin.

You can use this one.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=6436

or either of the 12V ones off here as long as they rate higher than the fuse you have.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=37526

get some of this too to go over your connectors. Helps keep water out. Can heat it with a hair dryer or if you're careful a lighter.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=222855

cheers.

jody.