I looked at many postings about heated hand grips and I wanted to know how everyone's grips are performing after a season or two. Has any one had any issues? I was looking at something like this from amazon due to the super clean switch location. http://amzn.com/B00ASHL08G
My $19 Cycle Gear heated grips are doing awesome. You don't need to buy the entire assembly like what you posted. You already have dual throttle tubes installed on your bike. All you need are the heating elements and a switch. Most heated grip switches have a Hi/Lo function with a resistor. Meaning that no matter what the setting is, you're pulling "Hi" level power. On "Lo", your just dumping some of the power in the resisitor. Resistors get extremely hot and take up space. I recommend this pulse-width modulator switch from Hot Grips. I installed it in the headlight housing, and there is plenty of room for it there. It works great, and basically controlls heat output infinitely using "on/off" cycles. I wouldn't have heated grips with any other style switch, period. http://www.hotgrips.com/store.php?c...=0&PHPSESSID=fad53620d806a72c3a3176855289c62d
These are the same grips I have on my Terra. The supplied wiring is all long enough to tuck in behind the headlight shroud. After about a year the switch siezed up. Looked like maybe some of the adhesive in the grip might have leaked into the switch mechanism or something? not sure.. anyhow, for $10 I just bought another set. But don't buy it at that price from Amazon. I have seen the same grips from China for about $10 including postage on ebay. eg http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-Pair-Moto...166?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item540bc62646
It's a bitch to peel back and reapply the stock grips. But, if you're willing to put in the elbow grease these have worked great for me so far: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-...ycle-Handlebars-12V-wholesale/1386301539.html Tapped onto the headlight and grounded onto the triple tree. Switch is heat shrunk sealed and zip tied to the bottom side of the bars.
These are basically what I'm running. The set I have retail for $19 at Cycle Gear, but I think I only paid $12. The switch is the weak point. Adding in the pulse width modulator makes a huge improvement. What most people don't realize is that even factory heated grips are a similar if not same design. The $300 you'd pay from Husky just adds this type of kit to what is already there, but with a fancier switch.
These are good IMHO : http://lghttp.26404.nexcesscdn.net/...78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/1/6/1600_1a.jpg with this switch http://lghttp.26404.nexcesscdn.net/...78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/1/6/1600_1a.jpg. Used it on my Girlie for almost 20 k miles, have had it on my Terra for more than 10 k miles with no problems. Good, reliable, easy to install product from a good company.
I like your option nev.. They are cheap and if I screw them up or they burn out it's only $15. Also the switch is in a great spot and it looks clean. I read through the description and it says they are for ATV use only and will not work with a twist throttle... Are these the exact ones that you ordered or are the a little different?
Donkey, did you add the modulator after your initial install? I picked up the cheap cycle gear kit and was planning to do the install this week and hadn't considered using a modulator at all.
Actually used mine for a few miles this weekend. Mine just have the Hi/Lo switch, Lo was still too warm. Back when I installed them, I searched for a PWM, but seemed like they were all bigger than I wanted to use, or could hide
Yeah, I did it after the fact. The Hi/Lo switch just sucked, and that resistor gets SUPER HOT. I first eliminated the low function altogether because of the resistor melting things. Then I found the modulator courtesy of an inmate on ADV. I first installed it on the left side of the headlight housing, then moved it to the rear when I did my LED lights. You'll see the knob on the back of the headlight housing in this photo. (I was doing the OAT when I took this picture, hence the excessive GPS mounts). My first location was to the left where you see the LED coming from. I put the switch there, then changed to the PWM module, then moved that to make room for the LEDs.
While I don't have heated grips on my Terra/Strada as yet, I do have this model Heat Troller: http://www.warmnsafe.com/single-handgrip-heat-troller/ Installed inside the left switch housing on my FJR. The main box can easily be hidden elsewhere. On another bike I have this one: http://www.warmnsafe.com/semi-mounted-handgrip-heat-troller/ mounted with velcro to the clutch slave reservoir. As a side note, I've been using their heated gear for many years --- very good and durable.
Hey, Glad I found this thread! I'm bringing home my new Terra in another week ( !) I'm already having a First Gear dual heated troller installed for the heated jacket I bought. I'm supposing I can have my shop install the warm n safe grip wrap and connect the electricity to the First Gear Heat Troller, no? I am a noobie, though I've owned a couple bikes I don't have the expertise nor a garage to do the work myself. Particularly now that the rainy season is upon us here in Seattle, a lack of a garage can make mods a little more challenging. Anyway, does anyone have a strong opinion against this set up? I'd be curious... Thanks Folks. (I'm SUPER excited about this bike. Can't WAIT to start rollin'!)
Your First Gear heat-troller is setup to handle heated gear, not grips. It is semantics, but what we're talking about is the port that your heated gear uses to connect to the controller. Your grips won't have this port. Yes, you could splice and dice to make it work, but then you eliminate you're being able to run additional heated gear on it in the future, and you're going to spend an hour or more of shop labor to do it, and it will likely still be a sloppy install. I'd run a switch for your grips completely independent of your First Gear stuff.
Wire your heated grips directly to the battery as hopefully you have wired the heat troller. They should be on separate circuits like Mr. Dinkey said above. I just finished up installing my Oxford Adventure heated grips on my Husky. I have tried many different styles and brands of heated grips and these seem to work the best for me. I have them on my Ural and love them. Other grips work good but these will actually get hot quickly. They have enough settings they can be used for cool or cold days. The biggest pain about installing these is the weird grip tubes on the Husky. I did away with the left one and just glued the grip to the bar, but on the throttle side I had to grind off the lip on the end of the throttle tube to get them to fit. They don't expand much like you can do with normal grips. Marc
