Those that have Factory Heated grips

[BrettB]

The factory heated grips come with a new throttle tube, but I can't tell a difference between it and the old one. Useless Pickles and Ionbeam give the reasons why they are the same, I just wanted to confirm the "no worries" from the perspective of having done the replacement. So, this shouldn't be a deal killer. I can also confirm that throttle tension, and roll-on behavior is exactly the same from the original setup to the factory heated grips.

I didn't mention this earlier, but another small consideration in my going this route was the fact that the factory heated grips also included a replacement cast housing with an extra outlet and extra space for the heated grip wiring, including the space for the wiring to kind of coil/expand as you twist the throttle. A good tie-wrap job would be almost as good, but in this install, there is no movement of exposed wiring, it all contained within the housing and looks really really clean.

-Brett

 

[ShinyPartsUp]

I can't vote because I have the Honda ST1300 heated grips installed on my FJR as shown in THIS thread. Yes, I'm a traitor using Honda parts on my Yamaha, but they work great and at half the cost. :yahoo: Been working great for over a year now. :clapping:

About adjusting the heat while tooling down the road... I think the factory Yami controller would be easier to adjust than the Honda one, although the Honda is easier to see the setting at night because of the lighted LED's. With gloves on it's hard to feel the button that adjust heat on the Honda controller. Seems like it would be easier to grab a knob and turn it.

I installed the Honda grips but the switch broke within a month...trying to figure out how to get just a switch from Honda without buying the whole setup.... I know, "good luck". Just my experience and hope your mileage varies.

 

[Greb]

Based on the positive results of this poll and desiring the OEM plug and play I took the plunge and ordered the factory grips. 327 bones with shipping :blink: , so I hope they are worth it.

I have the symtec grip heaters on my Versys and they heat up really nice, but I guess for the FJR I just wanted the meant to be there look and function. Thank you to everyone for their vote and opinions.

 

[mehaffydr]

I have an 05 cbought 04/05 The last time I rode the heated grips still worked GREAT>

I should have tried them Today it is 0 Deg here is St. louis today.

 

[Greb]

I tried my new OEM grips for the first time on my Gen II today. First impression is a little bit of a let down since my cheapo symtec/dual star heaters on my Versys get hotter and get there faster than the Yamaha kit. The Versys has steel bars so that might be part of it.

I started out on my morning commute and it was around 35 degrees. It took about 5 minutes before I felt them kicking in at max heat. The thing that bothered me the most is that the throttle grip was warmer than the left by a long shot so I am wondering if the wires are mixed up.

The grip leads have color coded plugs, one gray and one black. easy right? Marine proof you say? Well the bike's female connections are both black. DOH! I was just hoping that it wouldn't matter and I figured I had a 50/50 shot. :glare:

I looked at the factory manual wiring diagram and can't really tell if switching the wires would make a difference. Anyone else run into this problem? Does the controller put out more current to the left grip to compensate for the thicker grip and lack of plastic throttle tube insulator?

I hope someone chimes in because I hate taking the tupperware back off.

The grips felt more comparable on my way home when the temp was in the 50's so I was thinking that maybe my throttle hand was shielding the right grip more since I had to lift my fingers to activate the clutch. What do you all think?

 

[rushes]

I started out on my morning commute and it was around 35 degrees. It took about 5 minutes before I felt them kicking in at max heat. The thing that bothered me the most is that the throttle grip was warmer than the left by a long shot so I am wondering if the wires are mixed up.The grip leads have color coded plugs, one gray and one black. easy right? Marine proof you say? Well the bike's female connections are both black. DOH! I was just hoping that it wouldn't matter and I figured I had a 50/50 shot.

I don't think you can get them reversed. The right grip is insulated from the bar by the plastic tube. A lot of the heat from the left grip is absorbed by the bar from direct contact. I've noticed on mine it takes a little while for both sides to even out.

 

[Greb]

I don't think you can get them reversed. The right grip is insulated from the bar by the plastic tube. A lot of the heat from the left grip is absorbed by the bar from direct contact. I've noticed on mine it takes a little while for both sides to even out.

I figured this could be the case. What I don't get is why would Yamaha make one grip a gray plug and the other a black plug if the receptacle wires aren't side specific.

 

[rushes]

I don't think you can get them reversed. The right grip is insulated from the bar by the plastic tube. A lot of the heat from the left grip is absorbed by the bar from direct contact. I've noticed on mine it takes a little while for both sides to even out.

I figured this could be the case. What I don't get is why would Yamaha make one grip a gray plug and the other a black plug if the receptacle wires aren't side specific.

My guess is to make it even more confusing than the installation instructions.... :wacko:

 

[Greb]

My guess is to make it even more confusing than the installation instructions.... :wacko:

Okay, I looked through the troubleshooting and wiring diagrams in the factory manual. No mention of one grip being hotter than the other and corrective action in the toubleshooting section. The two grips are rated differently with the throttle grip having a lower resistance rating which makes sense to even out the heat. The left grip wire goes to the brown wired connector and the right to the white/black wired connector. Just to satisfy my curiosity and OCD I am going to make sure it is matched in accordance with the wiring diagram to see if it makes a difference.

Thanks for the input rushes

 

[BrettB]

A couple of points in case they help:

1 - I've never had any other heated grips so can't compare to others, but mine are hot enough to not miss heated gloves. Actually with the gloves I wear (new FirstGear model for this year, forget the name, but the insulation is a lot thicker on the outside then on the inside, my hands are a lot warmer then the one day I tried Gerbings). I never run them past 1/2 way as more then that they would make my hands sweat.

2 - They do take a couple of miles to get warm.

3 - I don't notice any difference left to right.

4 - I do notice if I lift either hand off, especially while moving in freezing temps. The grips will get cold and then take a couple of minutes to warm up again (not as long as when first starting out). This is really the only time I notice a temp diff right to left, is from whichever hand I had off the bar.

5 - since the receptacles are both black, maybe I just got it right by chance? or maybe it really doesn't matter, since the difference is in the resistance of the grip, not the power being fed it?

Anyways, I hope you get it sorted out. I'm happy with mine. I do kinda wish they heated up faster, but then again, they get warm before my hands are cold. Remember the point is not as much to feel the heat as it is to not feel the cold. So not feeling heat from the grips while my hands are still warm from the house or office is OK. Before the grip heaters, my hands would get so cold and be painful for most of my hour long commute. Now I can arrive comfortably with warm hands. Which is really the point. Not to feel like I'm holding light bulbs.

 

[Greb]

Very true BrettB, thanks for your thoughts

I pulled the left fairing off today and sure enough they were plugged into the correct wires that the factory manual specifies. I guess I am a little dissapointed that cheapo symtecs that cost me less than 50 dollars outperform the pricey factory set up. I agree that if you take your hands off in the cold the grip cools down and that may be why the left felt cooler after raising my fingers to actuate the clutch constantly.

I think the factory grips biggest flaw are the time to heat up and the peak heat could be better, but it is very nice how everything is plug and play and seamlessly integrated.

If I could do it over again it would be dual stars with a heat troller. The grass is always greener I guess.

 

[Spook]

I tried my new OEM grips for the first time on my Gen II today. First impression is a little bit of a let down since my cheapo symtec/dual star heaters on my Versys get hotter and get there faster than the Yamaha kit. The Versys has steel bars so that might be part of it.
I started out on my morning commute and it was around 35 degrees. It took about 5 minutes before I felt them kicking in at max heat. The thing that bothered me the most is that the throttle grip was warmer than the left by a long shot so I am wondering if the wires are mixed up.

The grip leads have color coded plugs, one gray and one black. easy right? Marine proof you say? Well the bike's female connections are both black. DOH! I was just hoping that it wouldn't matter and I figured I had a 50/50 shot. :glare:

I looked at the factory manual wiring diagram and can't really tell if switching the wires would make a difference. Anyone else run into this problem? Does the controller put out more current to the left grip to compensate for the thicker grip and lack of plastic throttle tube insulator?

I hope someone chimes in because I hate taking the tupperware back off.

The grips felt more comparable on my way home when the temp was in the 50's so I was thinking that maybe my throttle hand was shielding the right grip more since I had to lift my fingers to activate the clutch. What do you all think?

Be very very careful. If you reverse the leads you could freeze your fingers off.

 

[bramfrank]

I tried my new OEM grips for the first time on my Gen II today. First impression is a little bit of a let down since my cheapo symtec/dual star heaters on my Versys get hotter and get there faster than the Yamaha kit. The Versys has steel bars so that might be part of it.
I started out on my morning commute and it was around 35 degrees. It took about 5 minutes before I felt them kicking in at max heat. The thing that bothered me the most is that the throttle grip was warmer than the left by a long shot so I am wondering if the wires are mixed up.

The grip leads have color coded plugs, one gray and one black. easy right? Marine proof you say? Well the bike's female connections are both black. DOH! I was just hoping that it wouldn't matter and I figured I had a 50/50 shot. :glare:

I looked at the factory manual wiring diagram and can't really tell if switching the wires would make a difference. Anyone else run into this problem? Does the controller put out more current to the left grip to compensate for the thicker grip and lack of plastic throttle tube insulator?

I hope someone chimes in because I hate taking the tupperware back off.

The grips felt more comparable on my way home when the temp was in the 50's so I was thinking that maybe my throttle hand was shielding the right grip more since I had to lift my fingers to activate the clutch. What do you all think?

The bike's connectors are the same as those on the harness. One white, one gray and one black and the big blue one for the controller if memory serves.

Mine heat up equally.

Note that they operate at 50% power when you roll at less than 8 mph - if your commute is stop and go, this could explain things.

 

[ShinyPartsUp]

I can't vote because I have the Honda ST1300 heated grips installed on my FJR as shown in THIS thread. Yes, I'm a traitor using Honda parts on my Yamaha, but they work great and at half the cost. :yahoo: Been working great for over a year now. :clapping:

About adjusting the heat while tooling down the road... I think the factory Yami controller would be easier to adjust than the Honda one, although the Honda is easier to see the setting at night because of the lighted LED's. With gloves on it's hard to feel the button that adjust heat on the Honda controller. Seems like it would be easier to grab a knob and turn it.

My experience with the Honda grips as well. But for some reason my grips stopped working for a couple months... I finally found the time to mess with them and a fuse blew. Been great since. No hassles.

 

[dbx]

I pulled the left fairing off today and sure enough they were plugged into the correct wires that the factory manual specifies.

As others have said, and as you've probably noticed in the wiring diagram, the left and right grip heaters are connected in series with each other, so it doesn't matter which grip is connected to which connector.

I guess I am a little dissapointed that cheapo symtecs that cost me less than 50 dollars outperform the pricey factory set up. I agree that if you take your hands off in the cold the grip cools down and that may be why the left felt cooler after raising my fingers to actuate the clutch constantly.
I think the factory grips biggest flaw are the time to heat up and the peak heat could be better, but it is very nice how everything is plug and play and seamlessly integrated.

You could get significantly more heat if you wired the two grip heaters in parallel rather than in series, but at the risk of overloading and possibly damaging the controller. I don't know what it's design limits are, but the factory grips are about 2 Ohms each, for a total load of 4 Ohms when the grips are wired in series. Changing to parallel would drop the resistance to just 1 Ohm (!), which is a huge drop and might be too much for the controller to handle. Maybe one of our resident electrical engineers will chime in.

If I could do it over again it would be dual stars with a heat troller. The grass is always greener I guess.

I have an '07 AE, so I have the factory heated grips. I can't stand the grips, though, so I'm replacing them with Symtec heaters and the grips of my choice. The nice thing about the Symtec heaters, and the same goes for the Dual Stars, is that you have a lot of flexibility in how you wire them, and that means you have a lot of flexibility in how much heat they produce. You can engineer it to get as little as 2 Ohms, or 3.8, 4.6, 8.2, and on up to such high resistance that there would be no heat at all.

I know the Heat-Troller line can handle 2 Ohm loads since my WarmnSafe liner is just a tad over 2 Ohms, and my previous FJR had Dual Stars wired to produce 2 Ohms and they worked perfectly. I'm hoping the Yamaha controller is as robust as the H-T controllers.

 

[FJR Flyer]

I just installed the factory heated grips this weekend. Picked them up on ebay for about $300 from a dealer in VA. Install took about 3 hrs, as I was going the slow and methodical route.

Used them for the first time yesterday, in mild 40 temps. But the real test was this morning. Temps were 22 deg F. I was surprised at how well the grips did. It did take a little while for them to warm up, but once they were cranking, I was happy with the output. Had to turn them down to 3/4 for a while. No problem with the controller adjustment while moving. An indicator light would be nice. Only my left thumb got cold. And I do notice the right side is warmer than the left. But that's always been the case with the HotGrips on my FJ, and expected due to the throttle tube.

With the HotGrips on my FJ, I only have the hi/low/off switch, but I did put an indicator light in the circuit. They've been on there for a while, so I'm not sure if their performance drop-off is age-related. The yammy factory grips on the FJR kept my hands much warmer than the HotGrips on the FJ at these temps.

The instructions indicate that the grips go to only 50% power at speeds less than 8 mph.

I'm pretty happy, at this point, with the grips. The clean factory install is worth it, in my opinion.

 

[clutchless1]

My 06 FJR-AE had the factory grips installed with the AE package. Because I didn't care for the jerkeyness of the throttle entering a corner I needed something to help in this matter. I did install the G2 throttle tube without any problems, so that can be done on these heated grips. You do have to watch out and make sure you re-install the heated grip wire exactly how it was removed. And you really have to watch out how you break the glue loose from the heated grip and the stock plastic throttle tube. I took a small needle valve (the same type as you use to fill a football or socker ball) inserted it under the heated grip and used compressed air to blow it loose. As I was doing this I had someone else use the long tube on WD 40 to shoot some under the grip and the original plastic tube.

If you do use a screwdriver you must watch out for rupturing the wires inside of the rubber grip. If these wires are messed up, once added to a aluminum G2 Thrrottle Tube, you'll have a direct short. I can be done, you just have to pay attention and be careful. I have used the bike on some real cold rides without the use of anything else heated except for the grips them self. I have had the bike for two years now and I have been thrilled these grips came as a package with the AE. I don't believe I would pay this amount of money to have some shop install them on the bike after I purchased it, but it's nice when they're already done at the factory. But I would definitely buy the factory grips and install them myself to save some money.

This is the first bike I've ever had that had the heated grips, and I love the fact ther are right there, all I have to do is turn them on when my fingers start getting cold.

 

[FJRGuy]

Up here in the Great White North, our FJR's come with the OEM heated grips Factory Installed. Love mine and have heard no negative info about them not working. I find adjusting with my thumb with my fingers on the cowling makes it easy to adjust even on rough roads.

Now for a small hijack (Sorry!)

In '08 they fixed the non-linear throttle problem at the throttle bodies by returning the pulley back to a round shape like it was on all Gen Is. There is no need for a G2 on the '08s. Throttle spring tension is a separate issue from the G2, Yamaha simply used Gorilla Springs.

Can this issue be resolved on an '07 by replacing the pulley at the throttle body rather than the throttle tube? Just Thinkin' I'd rather not mess with the Factory Installed grips.

[/hijack]

 

[dbx]

Now for a small hijack (Sorry!)

In '08 they fixed the non-linear throttle problem at the throttle bodies by returning the pulley back to a round shape like it was on all Gen Is. There is no need for a G2 on the '08s. Throttle spring tension is a separate issue from the G2, Yamaha simply used Gorilla Springs.

Can this issue be resolved on an '07 by replacing the pulley at the throttle body rather than the throttle tube? Just Thinkin' I'd rather not mess with the Factory Installed grips.

[/hijack]

Have you checked out the "Fred shim"? It's probably much easier to do than a pulley swap and its effectiveness is reported to be on par with the G2.