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OEM Heated Grip "Upgrade"

M

mcgyver74

Member
Member
Ok
So I've been working on an idea for a few months now where I want to replace the factory heated grips with a set of Symtec's yet retain the factory heat control.  This way I can be free to use whatever set of grips I like rather then  be stuck with grip puppies or trying to put murhps grips OVER the stockers.  (The stock grips feel just like concrete...Only harder)

So according to the manual, the factory ckt looks like this:

OEM%252520Heat.jpg


So what I am thinking is connecting the Brown (on the right) and black (On the left) wires from the OEM grips to the red (high) wire of the Symtecs, then the Grey wire from the factory (the ground) to the white earthing wire of the Symtecs.

According to Symtec's site, their grip warmers pull a max of 36 Watts (3A) on the high circuit,  However, the problem I am having is that I cannot find out what the spec's on the OEM grip heaters are,  I know the heat system itself is fused at 10A so in theory the OEM controller can handle the symtec, but I'd like to go in and confirm before I splice in.


I'd also like to find a source for the connectors that Kawa uses on the OEM grips that way I don't have to splice into the ckt (keep wiring neat, just plug and crash)

What think YE all :)
 
Be careful, according to your print, they have the OEM grips wired in series. You may want to wire the Symtec heaters the same way. Symtec instructions will have you wiring them in parallel when using their setup.
 
Oy good catch,

Not sure how much extra those grips would pull that way....(Need to calculate it.... Dayum I hate that thar Math stuff LOL)
 
OK, this is just quick thinking and I'm not working on all thrusters today, so take it with a grain of salt here. There is less resistance when in parallel compared to series with two equal heaters (resistance). Which would also mean more current. So if you wire them in series, you may get a lot less heat out of the heaters. But if you wire them in parallel, you could draw too much current and damage something. You may want to check into the OEM heaters just a little deeper first.
 
Good thought and I believe you are correct..

As I recall (and I'm prefectly prepared to be told I'm wrong :) ) there is MORE resistance (Ohms) for circuits wired in series but LESS current draw overall (more Ohms, less watts)... by my back of the napkin math if they are 3A at max on high with a 12v power source (R=E/I) would be 4 Ohms of resistance,  therefore 2 in series (R1+R2 = Rn) would draw 8 Ohms of resistance which at 12V would be 18 watts or 1.5 amps of draw, 

So as long as the stock controller can handle 3A normally, then it would handle the series wiring even better however the grips wont get as hot.  Basically at full blast it would be the equivalent of running the Grips on low (the blue wire)


Unless I'm missing something here... :)


 
Mark, your first sentence is correct.

However, on page 16-84 of the FSM, it states the resistance of the factory heaters as :

Right = 1.13 ~ 1.39 ohms
Left = 1.65 ~ 2.01 ohms.

Since they wired them in series, the over all resistance can be 2.78 (1.13 + 1.65) to 3.40 (1.39 + 2.01) ohms.

Given 12VDC, that would be 4.32 amps  (12 / 2.78) to 3.53 amps (12 / 3.40).  The bike typically runs closer to 14.3VDC when riding (well, mine does), which would put the current range between 4.21 to 5.14 amps.

Based on the basic design principle of using circuit components that have a max rating more than 2x the typical load, the 10 amp fuse would make sense, and the controller should be capable of handling in excess of the fuse.

Does this help?
 
OK, going off C1X's max resistance on the OEM heaters (1.39 + 2.01 = 3.4 ohms in series), and at the higher voltage when riding. @ 14.3volts with the bike running at speed. You could probably figure a max current of about 4.2 amps in series. (14.3 Volts / 3.4 Ohms = 4.206 Max Amperes)
Where as in parallel, the same heaters would be less than 1 ohm at about .8217 ohms. ( 1/1.39 + 1/2.01 = 1/R or .8217 ohms). The OEM heaters would draw a probable Max current of about 17.4 amps, @ 14.3volts. (14.3 Volts / .8217  Ohms = 17.4. Max Amperes) Which means they would over drive that circuit by a large margin wiring in parallel.
So unless the symtec heaters have a much higher resistance of about 4 or 5 ohms per heater (which they probably have to be close). With two symtec heaters at 5 ohms each, wired in parallel. (Which would make the resistance 2.5 ohms) So @ 14.3 volts / 2.5 ohms = 5.72 Amps. Which would be better for the application. Because of this, you probably won't be able to wire the symtecs in parallel and try to connect them in place of the OEM grip circuit. Wiring them in parallel, they would surely blow the circuit fuse. Which means you might have no choice, but to wire them in series. I guess, it would help to know the specs on the symtec heaters actual resistance. They have been posted before on one of the sites. But I do not recall what they were.
Now here's the big question. Whats wrong with the OEM heated grips? Are they so hard or not warm enough that you want to replace them?
 
My back of the napkin math was based on the Symtec's  According to Symtec they draw 3A max when running on high (Red Wire)

R1X's figures are exactly what I was looking for (I couldn't find the resistance of the heated grips in the manual,  then again I never was good at that LOL )

So based on this,  just wiring in the Symtecs like I originally planned would put them in series and they should be fine....  I figure next week I will pull it apart and measure resistance of the stockers to confirm and re-do the math :)


Thanks everyone

(PS, I want to change the OEM's because i find the OEM to be too hard on my hands, I want to put a set of murphs grips on instead as I find them much more comfortable over long trips,  I was going to try putting them OVER the stockers, but then they become too thick which is the issue I have with my current grip puppies....
 
Maybe you could get someone to hook a Ohm meter on the grips heaters and tell you what resistance they read on both grips hi and low. Then you know what your dealing with. Obviously, they would either need to have a pair not hooked up, or un-wire them quickly, to do this. Or you could just spend the $50 and get a pair from Murph and measure them yourself. I'm sure they won't go to waste somewhere.
 
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