Grip Heaters & Ohms Law

[NY_Nytro]

What kind of temps are you guys riding in already that your hands are getting cold?

Most of us in our group don't even turn on our warmers until temps fall in the single digits or below otherwise our hands start to sweat. And when temps get really cold like -10F or below we throw on some gauntlets.

 

[y_guy]

I started mine up last night and i couldnt get any heat even at idle. I know this isn't the best test by my SXr would heat up in about 60 seconds. My viper was worse, but heat is non-existent on my RTX.

I really hope yamaha can fix this.

 

[byoffcr]

Re: Gut feeling

Thanks for pointing that out. I did decide to purchase this years sled. I just hate that Yamaha is aware of the problem and ships all these defective units to the dealer w/ no fix.
This is what R&D is suposed to fix.Last year.Remember as we are getting our 06 THE 07 are already being made. How else can you see the newest product in Feb. in Canada etc.

I am not going to debate this issue any longer. It's B.S. I rather put up w/ paint peeling off the HOOD (really). Not a creature comfort like a hand warmer. If this trend was a Ski doo issue.
We would be all over them.

I AGREE but I guess we will just have to wait. I know it doesnt make it better but?????

 

[Yammerhead]

Thanks for the kind words, Tork. I have quietly read and use alot of valuable information on this site, so I figure it's my turn to give some back.
I had thought about the same thing as you suggested about adding another resistor(s) is series with the parallel grip heaters. In fact, I had already done the calculations with adding a 1.0 ohm resistor and ended up with 5.8 amps of total load. I'm not sure if that is too much or not for the ECU. The wattage at each grip would then be 20.7 watts. I'm not sure if that would make enough difference or not.
Also, there would be 33.6 watts disappated by the 1.0 ohm extra resistor. A guy could mount it inside the handlebar and use it to heat it up from the inside...j/k... Zane

From what I have read, the grip heaters appear to be perminently connected in series and would be designed accordingly. They would only be able to conduct so much current and dissipate so many watts of heat. Hooking them in parallel would double the wattage and I would bet they would fail completely very quickly. Adding resistors could reduce the current draw to the heaters, but it would be a roll of the dice to know how much current they could take before they melted. Also, as it was mentioned, a 1 ohm, 33 watt resistor is a big item. Then you would have to worry about frying the ECU because I seriously doubt it can handle that big of a current increase. The ECU handwarmer control could be bypassed, or used as a control signal for a separate controller fed directly from the battery, but you still have to make sure the magneto has enough reserve capacity to run the extra current as well. If not, you could end up with a dead battery in the middle of nowhere.

There are ways to possibly fix it, but none of them are very simple at this point. I would hate to start cutting into my new sled just yet. If it is unbearable, gauntlets or heated gloves would be my thinking until Yamaha figures this out.

From a manufacturing perspective, I can't see a solution being very quick. Even if they determined it was a simple thing like a bad grip element design, nobody would have a few thousand good ones sitting on a shelf anywhere. They will have to re-engineer, re-tool, manufacture, distribute and install. That doesn't happen overnight........

 

[Capt.Caveman]

So here is my problem I rode around the yard for about 3 or 4 minutes (One mile) on the speedo with the new Attak with no gloves on at 28 degrees outside with the grip heaters on high and they never got warmer than just starting to notice them, 2nd I got on the wifes new 2006 Rage and tried the same thing and they got a little warmer but no were near hot and 3rd I got on My 2002 Arctic cat Mountaincat 800 and just for the guys out there that think it's a windshield issue I took off the windshield on the cat and after about a minute of them being on high I had to stop and turn the grip heaters off and let the bars cool so I could get back to the garage with no gloves on (bare hands )
So the small windshield issue is not even a factor and the problem is in the heaters or power issue

Here's a question that the electrician guys could answer.... What if you tried hooking up a 12 volt power supply directly to the grip without any regulators of any other power to see if the grips are the issue or in the electronics of the sled ???

 

[Tork]

First, Capt. it has been stated that the 13 volts dont come on until the motor is at 4000 RPM and it would have to be above that for a few minutes for them to get warm. Below that RPM it shows like 6 volts. This is not to say there is not a problem with them getting hot enough.

But yes a possible temp fix is to wire them through a 10 amp relay from the battery.

 

[Capt.Caveman]

Has it been done to see if the grip heaters get hot enough and I compared apple to apples on speed and distance on all three sleds

 

[SledderSteve]

IMHO, the area between the rivets gets warm like it should but there's so much "heat sink" from the rest of the bar to the hook that the little area it's trying to heat is simply overwhelmed.

For a highly unscientific test, I ripped around my field to get the grip warmers as hot as they could then noticed that the bar ends remain ice cold then the grip gets progressively warmer as you move your hand in towards the inner most rivet.

Since I really like the grip texture and bar ends, I just bit the bullet and went with an alternative heat source. http://www.gerbing.com/divsnombl/home/snombl.html

I rationalized it by knowing that even with "burn your hands" grip warmers the back of my hands often got cold in sub-zero temps. I also ordered some heated socks as long as I had the credit card out. :wink:

 

[ST98]

Shield

Is there enough power to run both a heated shield and gloves?

 

[actionjack]

IMHO, the area between the rivets gets warm like it should but there's so much "heat sink" from the rest of the bar to the hook that the little area it's trying to heat is simply overwhelmed.

For a highly unscientific test, I ripped around my field to get the grip warmers as hot as they could then noticed that the bar ends remain ice cold then the grip gets progressively warmer as you move your hand in towards the inner most rivet.

I pretty much agree with this. There's a hell of a lot of speculation going on about this. In the end, I expect Y to do something, but reality says it ain't gonna be tomorrow. Whatever the fix is, it's unlikey to be "off the shelf". I doubt that it is a matter of inadequate overall wattage from the sled. It seems that the hooks will need to be heated as well.

I haven't ridden my sled long enough in cold weather to know how bad it is (I hadn't noticed while riding). After I came home from riding and reading the posts I did my own testing on the trailer at idle in ~34 F comparing my SX to the GT. The GT thumb warmer gets real hot, but the grip heaters on both sleds only got to around 70 F with some revving. Next time I get to ride on snow I'll take some readings with my IR thermometer.

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