Factory Heated Grips - Heat Imbalance

[skipperT]

Hi, without seeing exactly where you were measuring it is difficult to comment on the voltages you recorded. Also, did you disconnect the grips from the circuit to measure their individual dc resistance?
Another thing with two wire dc resistance with hand held digital multimeters is that unless there is a null function available on the meter to negate the resistance of the actual measuring leads this introduces errors and can easily be 1-2 ohms depending on the quality of the meter.
So could you confirm how you did your tests?
it might also be useful to measure the open circuit voltage output by the control circuit on the different settings without any grips connected.

I measured the resistance before I installed the grips on the bike. The voltage was measured at the factory plugs behind the right side fairing with both of the grips plugged in. I used a craftsman auto range meter for all this so these readings are accurate. You can't measure the voltage without the grips connected because the computer won't send power without them being plugged in

 
 
Ok makes sense. So depending on where your meter leads were attached - you were either measuring the Available voltage, OR the voltage drop depending on if was before or after the (load) grip.
 
Or am I confused ?

Skip

[jimf]

After a few cold days of riding I can confirm absolutely that switching connectors made no difference.  (You EE guys are going "duh," I know.)  To fix this electrically they'd have to be rewired in parallel with a resistor on the left, I presume.  I think the controller has more than enough range to make that work, but I am loathe to try that because I don't know how tolerant the controller is of significant changes to the electrical characteristics of the grips.  I'd hate to wreck something expensive if it goes wrong (I've done that before with my ham-handed electronics).
 
Next up I try the shrink wrap insulation scheme again.  I'm pretty sure I now know how to keep everything from coming unglued while I press the grip on so perhaps this time will be different from the first attempt.
 
 

[estell]

Now I have a heat imbalance but only on HIGH. On HIGH, there is a major imbalance, whereas the grips have equal heat on MEDIUM.
What is worse is that the clutch grip is colder on HIGH than it is in MEDIUM, and the throttle grip is the same on both settings. I'll just use MEDIUM from here on out and forget about the high setting.

[jimf]

Now I have a heat imbalance but only on HIGH. On HIGH, there is a major imbalance, whereas the grips have equal heat on MEDIUM. What is worse is that the clutch grip is colder on HIGH than it is in MEDIUM, and the throttle grip is the same on both settings. I'll just use MEDIUM from here on out and forget about the high setting.

The imbalance is more obvious when it's colder out, presumably because the heat sink is more effective when ambient temperatures are lower.  You're also more likely to use them on higher settings if it's colder out.  So, it's probably more a matter of the ambient temperature than some heat level related issue inherent in the grip warmers. 
 

[estell]

Not on mine. I started out with the high setting and noticed that the clutch grip was colder than the throttle. After 10 minutes I switched to medium and the clutch grip heated up to match the throttle grip. 

[jesmer460]

I was having the same uneven heating of the right and left grips as described in earlier posts. I read in some of the posts that they were installing electrical tape under the clutch grip to insulate the grip from the handle bar. This morning I went out and pulled the Clutch side grip. I wrapped the handle bar from the inside next to the light controls to the outside edge with electrical Friction Tape (double sided cloth tape with sticky surface on both sides) available at any hardware store.  I essentially installed two layers by wrapping at about a 20 degree angle overlapping the tape by 50% on each wrap.  Then I sprayed the Friction Tape and the inside of the heated grip with a quick shot of brake cleaner and pushed the grip onto the bar before the brake cleaner could evaporate.  I filled the end of the bar with silicone and reinstalled the bar end hardware.  After a 30 mile test ride I am very happy with the evenness of the heating of the grips.
FYI, I have been using the electrical Friction tape and either brake cleaner or carburetor cleaner to install grips for over 20 years on our motocross motorcycles.   To later remove the grips lift the edge of the grip with a small screw driver and spray either cleaner into the grip along the screw driver, then twist the grip off.  Simple and easy and the grips never come off when racing.  Always install fresh Friction Tape before installing new grips.

[joeszup]

Holy thread necromancy! I've used the electrical tape method. I put my grips on about a month ago, use them on cold mornings and the heat is pretty even.