Evening chaps.. Today I've been installing a hrc qat and r&g heated grips ! Im not a lover of electrics and my question is: Where is a nice easy live to tap into near the battery so it only gets power when the ignition is turned on ?
Hey G! probably best bet is to take a live feed from the back of the ignition. The Oxford grips i bought have an auto cut off so I didn't need to do this, just straight onto the battery.
Heated grips need to really get the power from the battery, most new heated grips will detect just ignition on and will shut off unless they detect charging voltage.. Have you read the instructions ? Most ignition feeds can't coupe with the ampage that grips can demand .
My R&G ones have run off the tail light feed without issue for 4+ years now, I know there is prob. a more suitable feed but it was any easy one to locate in the tail section (from memory that is where we spliced into it - def. was the tail light though)
Or power a relay from the lights to open/close the relay when the ignition is ON. Then run a fused supply from the battery through the relay to the grips.
Mine not that easy, and i would have gone for the oxford if it wasn't for not wanting "oxford" stamped everywhere.. Yep, read the instructions, (after i fitted the grips, which was a bitch as they told of an easier way of getting them on which didn't result in a mallet and cursing), and it says to find an ignition feed, or direct to battery but will run battery down if left on, which isn't ideal ! First i was gonna go straight to the battery for ease, but the voices then started telling me id keep leaving it on... Which is more than likely ! I did tap into the live that went to my back light. A brown and white one i think and thought happy days, but then realised it still made the multimeter beep when ignition was turned off, so then had to piss about de-soldering it and taped it back up
This is why the Oxford and the Datatool one's are superior, voltage detection and easy of installation!
i leave mine on all the time and just as well it has the auto cut-off.. couldn't trust myself otherwise
Most of the wiring will be rated to the demand they serve, you add more demand and you can compromise the fuses and the wires themselves. (insurance problem if a fire results) A direct supply from the battery is the gold standard, A very good solution to the switching problem has been suggested, hook a relay into the lights. Mike.
Gotta admit a relay is the way I would go....in fact it's the way I went when addin power accessories to my bike so they would automatically power off as soon as the ign was turned off!
Relay Googled it and see what you all mean now ! Stupid how they don't supply one in the kit, as it does have an inline fuse attached ! So should have paid more attention in physics...
Can anyone foresee a problem with this ?? I did a bit of research and found that as long as i tapped the live into a big enough feed then i wouldn't need a relay. I wanted to keep it as neat and minimal as possible and wanted to keep under my seat clear for other bits, so what I've done is gone in under the left fairing to the fusebox and found a thick live going in that i think was for the headlight and piggy backed it (with an inline fuse), and then run the earth to the frame via the radiator bracket ! Looks nice and neat and works, but can anyone see why i might get any problems or its the wrong way to do it ? Thanks for any feedback....
You will probably be ok but you need to know what you are tapping in to. The grips may have an inline fuse but if that if higher rated then the line you are connecting to then it thrn obviously the other fuse will (could) blow first and something will stop working as well as the grips. Not the best thing if it is dark and you lose your headlight. If you want to do it that way then I would tap into the main beam feed. I believe it is on a separate fuse to dipped and at least that way you will have dipped beam left if it blows in the dark.
I always run a relay, buy one with a build in fuse, then one side of coil to ground, other to light or ignition, battery plus to one side of normally open contact, other side to your grips. Simples
You say "Simples" Arthur, i say "Need to lay down coz head has gone foggy"... Cheers dude ! Its electrics, and I've got the phobia... Thought id cracked it with what id done...
Ground (-) ------~~~~------- Rear light power (+) relay coil Grip (+) -------./ _------- battery (+) relay contacts How about a little diagram... Sounds like you've done it anyway mate.
