BMW heated grip wiring

[Pete Bansen]

I recently bought an '05 FJR on which a previous owner had installed BMW heated grips. He did a really nice job and has a built-in Heat-troller to regulate the temperature of the grips. The problem is that the built-in Heat-troller has a long lead between the rheostat/LED unit and the actual controller box, which has about 9 small wires in it, making it an adventure to shorten. Not only that, the rheostat and controller box (and the big bundle of wire) are all jammed in under the right side cover just behind the battery. I'm going to install a Fuzeblock under the seat and would like to relocate the controller box and use it to control an outlet for a heated jacket. I would put in a SPDT switch to run the grips - it's been my experience that "Off - Low - High" is about all that you need with heated grips - the infinitely variable Heat-troller is overkill.

But - I've never wired BMW grips before and there are three wires from each grip - a white, pink and blue. Currently, only the white and pink wires are being used, which I think may be incorrect. Anyone have wiring/installation instructions for BMW grips? I'm thinking that the white is probably ground and the pink is probably "high", which the Heat-troller is cycling on and off, but is the proper wiring white and blue for low and then you ALSO energize pink for high or are the pink and blue wires energized separately, not at the same time?

 

[RaYzerman19]

Not familiar with BMW grips, but if your theory is true, would there not be two different resistance values for white to pink and white to blue?

 

[Pete Bansen]

Not familiar with BMW grips, but if your theory is true, would there not be two different resistance values for white to pink and white to blue?

That seems likely (and any electrical wizards out there, please correct me if I'm wrong) - and it seems like the circuit in the handgrips that puts out more heat would be the one with higher resistance, right?

Regardless, it would be good to know if the design of the grips is that white/blue = low and white/pink = high

OR

white/blue+pink = high

Pete

 

[patch308]

This is ONLY from a recent experience wiring a switch to run my off-road lights on my BMW R1200 GSA. I'm not sure if it will be helpful or not but it may explain the third wire. The factory switch for the aux lights also has 3 wires. Only two of them are for actually running the relay for the switch to lights (one to the hot, one to the relay). The other wire is for running the "on" indicator light on the switch itself. I did not HAVE to hook up the third wire for it to work, but all I had to do was ground it for the indicator light to function with the switch. If I were you I'd call a BMW shop and ask 'em why the 3 wires. I've had great luck dealing with Sandia BMW in Albuquerque, NM. Those guys have helped me with more crap (wiring, parts, etc.) then I ever expected from a dealer. They just like to ride! Good luck!