Honda heated grips

[Silent]

Instead of hyjacking Don's thread about battery voltage, I figgured I'd start my own.

Ok you gurus of all things FJR and the like. Here's an interesting one. I've noticed that my heated grips have stopped working properly. When I turn them on I can only get 2 of the 4 lights to stay on even at freeway speeds. According to my volt meter in my radar detector (Passport 8500) I'm getting good voltage. With 2 lights on on the grips, I'm still over 14v. 3 lights, and the lights flash and no heat. Still over 14v

Back when I did the Calgary run, I could run the grips on high (4 lights) and all my other stuff with no problem. Only time they would flash was if I had the FF50's on at the same time.

With my XM and Radar detector only, and I'm runniong 14.4-14.6

Honda heated grips with about 2 seasons on em. Any ideas?

 

[ionbeam]

Does it feel like your grips are working ok or does the heat output correspond with the 50% power indication?

With the engine running and the grip heat turned completely up, put the black DMM probe on a known good negative battery connection, not a chassis ground or engine ground. Use the red DMM probe to test the two black wires at the throttle grip --> one wire should be very close to battery voltage (14.xx) and the other wire will be between 3 and 7 volts if everything is working correctly. Now probe the red wire right at the thermostat (controller), this should read battery voltage too. Probe the black/green wire at the thermostat, it should read 0.300 or less.

If all these tests pass, the heated grip system is working correctly and the LDC indicator is wrong.

If the two voltages at the right grip are 14.x and >7.x volts the controller is not driving 100%. If the controller red wire is at battery voltage and the B/G wire is close to zero volts the thermostat (controller) is defective.

If the reading at the red wire is low you have a wiring problem. If the reading at the B/G wire is higher than 0.5 volts you have a wiring problem.

If the voltages at the throttle grip are 14.x and 0.00 volts the throttle grip is open. If the voltages at the throttle grip is 14.x and 14.x there is a wiring problem between the two grips --or-- the left grip is open --or-- the harness is open between the left grip and the thermostat is open. Ohm between the right and left grip on the single black wire that jumps them together, read close to 0.00 ohms. Unplug the left grip and ohm across the grip, read ~5-7 ohms. Ohm between the white/black wire at the left grip and the connection of the w/b wire at the thermostat, read 0.00 ohms.

That should do it.

[The 14.x volts at the throttle grip is straight DC, the voltage on the other throttle grip black wire will be pulse-width modulated (PWM) and may not read accurately with the DC setting on the DMM. Both voltages on the left grip will be PWM. Because of the possible erroneous readings with a DC meter I did not ask to have voltage readings taken except at the throttle grip.]

 

[Silent]

Thanks for the direction ionbeam, I knew someone here would have the good info B)

I think it's going to take me a day or 3 to wrap my brain around all those tests :huh: but I"ll do my best to check it out and run all those tests this weekend and post back on the results.

I've run the grips on 2 lights for about 20 min, and didn't notice much in the way of heat getting thru my grip puppies. I hadn't thought to check the grip wiring, one side may have pulled free. At least that I can check in the parking lot at work B)

 

[Harald]

I had problems with my Honda grips initially due to where I got my power from. I used the power wire that was intended for the factory heated grips and found that the Honda grip controller would go into power save mode (lights flashing) whenever I used normal power (say high beams and fans kicking on). I rewired the power to the Honda controller through my power strip (essentially straight to the battery thru a relay) and now they work great. So clearly I had excessive voltage drop through the power wire I initially used. Of course Ion's testing method would show this reduced voltage if that's your problem.

 

[ionbeam]

Your grips are wired in series, if one opens for some reason both will stop working. If I were to make a long distance guess, it would be that you have a bad controller or less likely, a bad ground.

 

[Silent]

Ok, I've run what tests I can, and I think I've found the possible problem.

Harald may have the answer. I tapped into the factory heated grip power wire, and it appears I'm loosing about 1 volt by doing that. I'll re-route power to the heated grips this weekend for sure, and probably tie it into my FF50 relays source power since it's right there and wired to the blue sea.

With the engine running and the grip heat turned completely up, put the black DMM probe on a known good negative battery connection, not a chassis ground or engine ground. Use the red DMM probe to test the two black wires at the throttle grip --> one wire should be very close to battery voltage (14.xx) and the other wire will be between 3 and 7 volts if everything is working correctly

Battery voltage at idle is 13.7

DMM = Caterpillar 6V7070

I couldn't follow your wiring colors, are they are for Yamaha grips?

1 black wire is 12.8-12.9v at idle, the rest of the black wires to the throttle grips are flashing between low numbers and around 12.8

Across the grip wires = 2.5 ohm each side on 200 ohm scale.

resistance of the individual power wires from the controller to the grips is ~.2 ohm

resistance of the black cross over wire is 0.0 ohm

I'm thinking that there's nothing wrong with the grips or the controller, and that the source power wire is inadequate for the job. Since it's dropping 1 volt thru the bikes electrical system, it may be enough of a drop to fool the controller into thinking that the battery voltage is low and sends the grips into power conservation mode.

Sound like a winner maybe?

 

[Silent]

Ok, I got off my lazy arse and went out and re-routed the main power wire and all is working as it should now B)

At idle, I get 4 lights constant now, and the grips get nice and hot. All this grief because of the stock wiring, go figgure.

Thanks guys! B)

 

[ShinyPartsUp]

Well, Mine were wired through the Yamaha harness and I got flashing lights. Earlier this year folks pointed me in this direction and they worked great all year when powered through the blue sea. Now after 2 months I went for a ride and put them on in this chilly 55 degree weather. I'm getting Silent's problem of two solid lights and 3 or 4 lights flashing despite high rpm. I read the previous posts but I'm an admitted mechanical and electrical idiot, and it just sounds like Greek to me. Is there a very easy way to tell if it is the control unit (expensive) or a lose wire somewhere else that is (relatively) cheap and easy to fix? Or alternatively, just print this thread out and hand it to my mechanic and ask him to check it? **sigh** the bike is now going to sleep with some stabil in a full tank for a few months until finances are better. So no rush. TIA for a noobe idiot question.