Heated grips help for a CBR125

[nutter]

I already have heated grips fitted to my bike, but i have a choice of either main beam or dipped, with grips......basically, it appears my dad (bless him) wired my grips into the dipped light circuit.

Well after the last few very cold nights i've decided to re-wire them properly. Anyone know which circuit and where to wire them into, and if you know the easiest location to do it that will be even better.

Honda said something about the front brake switch, but one of the electrical flexi-tubes has the wrong coloured wires and the other one goes straight under the fuel tank (that i dont want to remove as I've never done it before)

Many Thanks
Mark
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Current bike is kawasaki ZR7 - Previous is CBR 125 (40,000 long long miles). Mod 2 passed 11/08/11 - Hope to become an instructor

[P.addy]

Mine are wired to the battery... and have been since I bought them. Just remember to turn them off.

[Kickstart]

Hi

What kind of control unit do they have? If the older style ones that do not turn themselves off automatically then I would wire them through a relay, taking their power directly from the battery. I would use a wire from the rear brake light switch to trigger the relay (make sure you use the right wire at the brake light switch, otherwise you will have grips that only work when you are braking which would be even worse).

This way you are putting no real extra load on the wiring anywhere but will still have them turn off automatically when the ignition is off.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[nutter]

Their daytona grips (on, start and off). I always turn them off anyway, and by chain oiler so that wont be a problem, i'd prefer to wire them to the battery as it sounds easier, do you just spin the naked wire around a screw on top of the battery or something?

Also, because the grips have been on there so long (2 years), me nor my dad can remember which wire is positive and negative, but my dad did say he wouldn't wire it directly from the battery as there is no fuse in the circuit
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Current bike is kawasaki ZR7 - Previous is CBR 125 (40,000 long long miles). Mod 2 passed 11/08/11 - Hope to become an instructor

[Kickstart]

Hi

Easy to add a fuse. Halfords will sell you a fuse holder you can wire in. Basically +ve terminal to fuse holder, through fuse and to +ve feed on heated grips (might not matter if they are just a crude switch), and then the other wire from the grips to the negative battery terminal (or any secure earth on the frame).

I would advise a relay. Far too easy otherwise to completely kill the battery, or suffer from someone switching them on when you are parked.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[stinkwheel]

How to wire in an electrical device using a relay.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[nutter]

Thank you both.....think I'm going to fuse and relay it from the battery.....but i've going to have to wait 2 weeks til payday (I have 31p to my name till then lol

Thanks
Mark
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Current bike is kawasaki ZR7 - Previous is CBR 125 (40,000 long long miles). Mod 2 passed 11/08/11 - Hope to become an instructor

[Adam.I]

Just a quick question I have, but not wanting to start another thread. How long do heated grips take to get to a suitable temperature?
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Veni Vidi Vici

[Kickstart]

Hi

Depends on the grips. One set I had were pretty useless. Oxford ones work OK, but I seem to have killed the control units loads of times. With a switch wired up instead they warm up within a mile or so.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[Phoenix]

I've had a couple of sets, a pair of Daytona ones included which were pretty good, transfered them across 2 bikes aswell. The switch has high, low and off, if you set them to low they will never get warm so you have to set them to high and eventually they'll get too hot so you have to set it to low, they then cool down until they're virtually useless so it's back on high again, pain the backside. They only took a couple of mins to get nice and hot on high.

As you've already decided, a fuse and a relay is the way to go, it gives it it's own fused circuit so you don't risk blowing other circuit's wiring and it also prevents you from forgetting to turn them off.

To be fair to your dad, heated grips often tell you in the instructions to wire them directly into the low beam circuit using scotch locks, the circuit is perfectly capable of supporting them as they only draw an extra 50watts and as long as you ride with your lights on then then they'll only be off when you switch to high beam, if you're riding for long enough periods with high beam on for them to cool down then you either live in the middle of nowhere or you're blinding everyone.

[nutter]

Middle of shropshire, at 10pm lol, so in the middle of nowhere on quiet roads lol.

Thanks for all the advice....and BTW, mine take about 3 mins to be noticable, but when I turn them from start to on they go off again :/ but they'll do, once wired correctly lol
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Current bike is kawasaki ZR7 - Previous is CBR 125 (40,000 long long miles). Mod 2 passed 11/08/11 - Hope to become an instructor

[Noxious89123]

[molex]

[stinkwheel]

Switched lives (ie. wires that are on only when the ignition is on) on a CBR125.

Choose from:
Brake switch feed: (white and green attached to either brake switch)
Headlamp feed: (blue and black, going into RH handlebar switch)
Flasher relay feed: (also white and green)
Radiator fan feed: (blue)
Sidelight feed: (brown)

[nutter]

WOW, thank you Stinkwheel

I am going to wire it in with a relay, just as a back up, because I do have forgetful moments, but would I need one if I wired it in to on of the switched lives.

The reason I'm considering a completly new circuit is that in my first winter (about a month into using them) they blew the lighting fuse on a stormy night, whilst 10 miles from home.

Many thanks
Mark
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Current bike is kawasaki ZR7 - Previous is CBR 125 (40,000 long long miles). Mod 2 passed 11/08/11 - Hope to become an instructor

[stinkwheel]

[nutter]

Well to prevent overloading I was going to put the fuse after the grips come off the main circuit, would I be able to run it in parrel to the radiator, saving the need for the relay, and so if the circuit did get overloaded only the grips would fail

As a side note, the engine is gettin on a bit (36,000) and she does sometimes get quite warm in cities like wolves (and I do ride no matter what, even when it's below -10 (always fun lol)
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Current bike is kawasaki ZR7 - Previous is CBR 125 (40,000 long long miles). Mod 2 passed 11/08/11 - Hope to become an instructor

[stinkwheel]

A 4-pin automotive relay costs £2.75 delivered on ebay. I really can't think of a good reason not to use one

You connect terminal 30 to the battery, terminal 87 to the switch for your grips, terminal 85 to one of the switched lives and terminal 86 to either the frame or battery negative.

Connect the other wire from the grips to either the frame or the battery negative.

That's it, everything else is working out where to put it and routing the wires.

This is the right way to do it. If you do this, your grips will work whenever you switch them on, the headlight will work as normal and it will be impossable to leave the grips switched on when you park the bike. You will not need to worry about blown fuses or melted wiring.

[Robby]

I fitted a set of symtec ones to my CB500 yesterday. Ran it into the power supply to the horn switch leading up to the left hand grip, which is a switched live on a 15A fuse. the circuit runs the horn, indicators and brake light, so crucially if I blow the fuse I still have my headlight and tail light, and will know the fuse is blown if the indicators stop working.

The circuit can handle grips on full power, indicator and brake light on, and operating the horn.

Found an error in the symtec instructions though, the wiring into the switch is wrong on their diagram so my grips are on high power at the low setting and vice versa.