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General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> Heated Grips or Gloves?
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Message started by Fishbulb on 09/23/14 at 07:03:10

Title: Heated Grips or Gloves?
Post by Fishbulb on 09/23/14 at 07:03:10

Do our bikes have enough electrical capacity to add heated gloves or grips?

Currently everything electrical on the bike is stock, all standard bulbs, etc.

I know people have swapped in LED bulbs to drop the wattage draw, but I want to be sure everything is still going to work and be visible.

Just want to see what I am working with before I start...

Thanks!

Title: Re: Heated Grips or Gloves?
Post by Dave on 09/23/14 at 07:16:58

Probably not. We have 100 Watts available to run everything and to recharge the battery. Some folks who ride on short trips often run the battery down as the bike doesn't replenish the juice they used to start the bike.

I just did a quick search for heated grips, and the pair I found said it took 36 watts to run them. So with a headlight low beam (55 watt) and the heated grips (36 watt)....you only have 9 watts left over to run everything else on the bike and charge the battery. :-?

I have installed LED's lights everywhere but the headlight, and I am running a 55/65 Watt headlight. The LED bulbs I have used in the turn signals (1.5W) and Brake light (Emergency Beacon) are high power ones......not dinky little 0.2 Watt things. I put the higher power LED's in when it became obvious the RYCA style tail light is not effective. I have ridden behind folks that have put LED bulbs in their turn signals....and they are not visible in the direct sunlight.

Title: Re: Heated Grips or Gloves?
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 09/23/14 at 08:55:17

If you're really determined and willing to go to the lengths of building a battery "rack" you Might be able to put a battery on that just powers the grips. I'm not the Numbers guy,Dave has this stuff down.. I don't know how long a battery would survive using it like that. How long it would keep the grips warm before it needs charged,
If a guy could switch the headlight off for a while,maybe use the juice to feed the spare battery back up some.. It would take some engineering and probably be easier to get some really good gloves.
You can always get some of those things hunters use. They help. I've used them out in the shop.

Title: Re: Heated Grips or Gloves?
Post by verslagen1 on 09/23/14 at 09:41:00

Of course judicial use could make the difference of making it or not.

I find that a half hour at freeway speed will keep a battery fully charged.
And the other side of the coin is, if it's cold enough to need grip warmers... it's cold enough to affect the battery.

I would think glove warmers and/or heated socks would be more efficient then heated grips.

In any event, I'd mount a volt meter to the bike. Last thing you want is a dead battery. Although, pushing will keep you warm. ;D

Title: Re: Heated Grips or Gloves?
Post by Tocsik on 09/23/14 at 12:49:27

My other ride is a Buddy 150cc scooter and those things have pretty anemic electrical systems. I run Oxford Heaterz in the Winter; it's the only way I can survive the 25 mile commute when temps are below 30 or so. I've never had a problem with starting but I keep it on a tender each night in the colder months knowing I use the Heaterz plus the colder temps can eat up a battery.

When my stock battery died, I put in a slightly larger battery (moved up from a 7 to a 9, I think).
That said, I run the Heaterz on either 50% or 75%, never 100%. And, I have the 'luxury' of a kick starter on the scooter, just in case. I bought that scooter in July of '08 and have put 40K miles on it. I've used the heated grips for at least the past 4 years.
But, not sure if I'm gonna chance heated grips on the S40 without a kick starter backup plan. I'm keeping the scooter for now knowing I already have the heated grips and handlebar muffs for those cold mornings.

Title: Re: Heated Grips or Gloves?
Post by Dave on 09/23/14 at 13:17:13

Well...if you choose the extra battery method...our stock battery is 12 amp/ hours. If the heated grips are 36 watts, at 12 volts that requires 3 amps. So the stock battery when fully charged would provide 4 hours of heated grips time....sorta. As you start running the battery way down the voltage will drop and the performance of the grips will decrease drastically.

So....if you had a 30 minute ride to and from work each day...and could charge the battery back up each night.....it might work for you.

Title: Re: Heated Grips or Gloves?
Post by Fishbulb on 09/23/14 at 14:12:40

Thanks for all the excellent info guys! I really appreciate the sharing of the in-depth technical knowledge this board has for these bikes...

Trying to keep things simple with the bike (I have 'upgraded' to many cars into sunny day only machines... :) so I think I will just suck it up and keep holding the cylinder at stop lights!

Title: Re: Heated Grips or Gloves?
Post by jcstokes on 09/23/14 at 17:05:13

What about those fancy and expensive dry batteries? Some think they hold a lot more charge than lead acid.

Title: Re: Heated Grips or Gloves?
Post by gizzo on 09/24/14 at 15:24:21

Or, maybe a seperate, stand alone 3S Lipo battery might do. They are really cheap these days,have massive charge/discharge rates and chargers are cheap too. I've jump started my 3.8 litre v6 car with a 2.2 ah 3S. Have a look at hobbyking.com . I use these in toy model aeroplanes of course, but also in my battery powered tools in the shed (drill, grinder etc) when the stock ones die.

Title: Re: Heated Grips or Gloves?
Post by Fishbulb on 09/25/14 at 08:39:53

That is a cool idea gizzo, thank you! They would be easy to stash as well...

Very crafty!

455F5B595866574442445F525153360 wrote:

Title: Re: Heated Grips or Gloves?
Post by 35thprojectile on 09/27/14 at 17:24:01

Some snowmobile gloves have battery powered, rechargeable heaters built into them.