Factory Heated Grips - Heat Imbalance

[mhevezi]

I see a couple of threads that discuss availability of the factory grips and install instructions, tips and fixes. Occasionally, this topic is mixed in.
 
I'd like to start a discussion on this topic to find out if anyone has found a solution to the right grip heating up hotter than the left. Presumably from the insulation provided by the throttle tube.
 
I read that someone filled the left handlebar with Great Stuff to lessen the "heat soak" on that side. No real weight penalty there, and this may work. Unk if this works. Bueller?
 
I recently installed mine and although most bikes with heated grips have this issue - it seems pronounced on the FJ-09.
 
Might be simple to add a resistor to the right grip and knock the volts down a few. Move some heat to the resistor. Too bad the factory settings don't allow for a Left-Right balance adjust.
 
OK smart people- Gimmie what you got!

[wessie]

I asked my dealer about this as I got him to fit them when servicing the bike due to my laziness. The fitter declined to add some insulation tape to the left side.
 
Seems it is okay on my bike, but not ridden in real cold conditions yet (although I will have external insulation in the form of Tucano muffs)
 
Simplest solution to me, if you perceive a problem, is unscrew the left bar end and fill the tube with silicon. Not tried it but it can't do any harm.

[traceroz]

IMHO, the grips quickly come up to the same temp. The biggest issue is when you use the clutch, your open hand allows your glove, and the grip to cool off.
This gives the impression that the grips have a significant imbalance. When riding on the freeway, where I'm not using the clutch, the grips are both the same temp.
 
I don't think that the grips would be heating with more than 120W of power, and this is hardly able to compensate for wind assisted heat dissipation.

[wessie]

IMHO, the grips quickly come up to the same temp. The biggest issue is when you use the clutch, your open hand allows your glove, and the grip to cool off. This gives the impression that the grips have a significant imbalance. When riding on the freeway, where I'm not using the clutch, the grips are both the same temp.
 
I don't think that the grips would be heating with more than 120W of power, and this is hardly able to compensate for wind assisted heat dissipation.

Muffs 

[johan]

IMHO, the grips quickly come up to the same temp. The biggest issue is when you use the clutch, your open hand allows your glove, and the grip to cool off. This gives the impression that the grips have a significant imbalance. When riding on the freeway, where I'm not using the clutch, the grips are both the same temp.
 
I don't think that the grips would be heating with more than 120W of power, and this is hardly able to compensate for wind assisted heat dissipation.

Muffs 

Vespa

[wessie]

Muffs 

Vespa

are you some sort of hipster twat now?

[johan]

Not me. You want the muffs. Grow a beard, get retro jeans and ride a Vespa. They come with muffs, and a blanket.

[wessie]

Not me. You want the muffs. Grow a beard, get retro jeans and ride a Vespa. They come with muffs, and a blanket.

I have a Tucano gaucho too!
 
Years before the hipster menace.
 
Used on my commute on a R1150GS in a Welsh winter

[adjuster]

My best results with heated grips:
 
1) Use ATV/Snowmobile type heaters, not the motorcycle ones where they try and keep the clutch side hotter to offset the loss of heat through the bar. (The throttle side is insulated from the bar by the throttle.)
 
2) Cover the heat pads with a wrap of quality 3M electrical tape, slightly stretched out so it's nice and tight while you wrap the heat pad over the stock rubber grip.
 
3) Slide a "grip doggie" or other brand padded grip cover over the entire grip. This is your new "outside" and since it's nice and thin, and now insulated from the bar by the rubber grip, it's going to give equal and even heat to both grips.
 
Never had an issue with melting the grip doggies. They can become VERY hot on high if you are not moving much, or in weather that's not very cold. The low setting is usually enough even at speed, if you have insulated gloves on, if not, you can keep your palms very warm, while the backs of your hands might be chilly, depending on the gloves you wear, and if you have hand guards that work well or not.
 
I personally like the thicker grip size, I have big hands, and it helps to dampen vibes, so your hands/wrists don't go numb as fast. (Found them originally to help with carpal tunnel pain while riding, and then thought to put the heater pads under them, and it worked so well, that's the only way I'll do heated grips anymore.)

[adjuster]

PS: You guys with heated grips on the FJ, do you have to buy Yamaha's setup, that looks like just two heated pads of different heat ranges, with just plugs and when they are plugged in, it activates the heated grip features?
 
What works with the heated grips?
 
Can we just plug in any grip we want, and it works? (That would be excellent, since ATV/Snowmobile grip heaters are cheap and easy to wire in place with the stock plugs.)
 
 

[root]

PS: You guys with heated grips on the FJ, do you have to buy Yamaha's setup, that looks like just two heated pads of different heat ranges, with just plugs and when they are plugged in, it activates the heated grip features? 
What works with the heated grips?
 
Can we just plug in any grip we want, and it works? (That would be excellent, since ATV/Snowmobile grip heaters are cheap and easy to wire in place with the stock plugs.)
 

Yamaha branded grips plug into dedicated plugs for the grips. Those plugs only work with Yamaha branded grips. Once they are plugged in, new menu options appear on the display. The grips are then controlled by the menu controls on the left handlebar.
 
There's nothing stopping you from installing different grips with their own controller connected to the battery though but they won't be controlled through the stock menu and display.

[adjuster]

So, the plugs on the bike are there, gray and white if the color code on the Yamaha grip photos I've seen are correct.
And when you plug them in, the bike's ECU can "see" them, and turns on the menu to control them.
There is no separate control module that plugs into the bike right?
 
Just the heated grips.
 
And is there a "chip" or resistor of some value on the Yamaha stock heated grips?
 
Anyone take a reading of the resistance across the stock grips at the plugs? (If there is a resistance value over what you should see on any heat tape type grip, that might explain what's needed? Or does it have to be inside of a certain value? If there is no such need, than any grips plugged into the stock pre-wired plugs should turn on the controls, and let you run heated grips right?)
 
Anyone tried this before? Or just the stock Yamaha grips that are like 225.00. (And I bought cheap eBay heat pads for an ATV for about 6.00.)
 

[jimf]

PS: You guys with heated grips on the FJ, do you have to buy Yamaha's setup, that looks like just two heated pads of different heat ranges, with just plugs and when they are plugged in, it activates the heated grip features? 
What works with the heated grips?
 
Can we just plug in any grip we want, and it works? (That would be excellent, since ATV/Snowmobile grip heaters are cheap and easy to wire in place with the stock plugs.)
 

Yamaha branded grips plug into dedicated plugs for the grips. Those plugs only work with Yamaha branded grips.  [...] 
There's nothing stopping you from installing different grips with their own controller connected to the battery though but they won't be controlled through the stock menu and display.

There's an ongoing thread about just this kind of hack: 
http://fj-09.org/thread/2372/running-oxford-heated-grips-controls
 
In short form, it looks like it would be easy to get this to work, but I don't think anyone has actually done it yet.  There's enough information in the thread to give it a go, though, if you're capable of measuring the resistance of grips-of-your-choice and wiring in any necessary resistors to match the Yamaha grips.  Wait a few weeks and I bet someone will even post a recipe.

[root]

Yamaha branded grips plug into dedicated plugs for the grips. Those plugs only work with Yamaha branded grips.  [...] 
There's nothing stopping you from installing different grips with their own controller connected to the battery though but they won't be controlled through the stock menu and display.

There's an ongoing thread about just this kind of hack: 
http://fj-09.org/thread/2372/running-oxford-heated-grips-controls
 
In short form, it looks like it would be easy to get this to work, but I don't think anyone has actually done it yet.  There's enough information in the thread to give it a go, though, if you're capable of measuring the resistance of grips-of-your-choice and wiring in any necessary resistors to match the Yamaha grips.  Wait a few weeks and I bet someone will even post a recipe.

I saw that. I'm curious of how that will play out. I'm not convinced the Yamaha grips themselves are any better than Oxford or any other brand for that matter. I just don't like adding control boxes and the Yamaha are pretty much plug and play. The hardest part of the install was getting the old grips off and going to the hardware store for a 12mm Allen / hex wrench as the largest my set has is 10mm. If someone else can get a kit together to use Oxford grips with the factory controls, they could have a pretty good markup and still be cheaper than Yamaha.

[jimf]

I'm not convinced the Yamaha grips themselves are any better than Oxford or any other brand for that matter.

 
They are well made, but so are the Oxfords, which are a third of the price even though they include the control unit.
 

The hardest part of the install was getting the old grips off and going to the hardware store for a 12mm Allen / hex wrench as the largest my set has is 10mm.

 
Hahaha. I'm not the only one! Except the hardware store was closed that day, so I got it off with vice grips and some rubber inner tube to try to protect the metal of the insert (which didn't work perfectly, but well enough).
 
I later found that I had a screw with a 12mm head, so when I put it back together I used that (clamped in vice grips) to torque it up. Then I went inside and ordered a socket kit that had the 12mm size I was missing, and 14mm to boot. (And lots of smaller sizes I already had, of course.)
 
I made a bit of a mess of the aluminum on the other side and never did get it off; a gorilla torqued that one in place. Or maybe it's loctited really well. I ended up filing the notches I'd put in the metal so it was at least smooth, and jamming the grips over the end of the bar end. Good enough!
 
They should have made those bar ends out of steel, not aluminum; the bars could use a little more weight on the ends to cut down on vibration. Not that it's horrible, but it could be better. And I can't think of any reason not to have put flats on those things so you could use a regular spanner on them.