Fitting heated grips

[Kentish]

Anyone know the best place to pick the live up from? I have taken it off the headlight or sidelight can't remember which one now. But when I turn them on they seem to dip the headlight and tail light!

[garyb]

Mine were already fitted to the bike when I bought it and are wired direct to the battery via an inline fuse, this works fine but the only downside is that you must remember to turn them off  (even after you turn off the ignition). I came out one day after work and the grips were lovely and warm but the battery was almost dead 
 
On a previous bike I took a live feed from a spare supply in the fuse panel beside the battery, which meant that when I turned the ignition off, the grips went off too - I must do this on the fazer sometime

[Skippernick]

As above i soldered mine the positive busbar next to the battery.

[HarryHornby]

I had my previous ones fitted on the same circuit as the fuel pump so when the ignition was off the grips were off, worked a treat.  But I think the new Oxford Hotgrips have a voltage sensor and won't turn on if the voltage isn't that of a battery being charged by the engine.

[Punkstig]

I had my previous ones fitted on the same circuit as the fuel pump so when the ignition was off the grips were off, worked a treat.  But I think the new Oxford Hotgrips have a voltage sensor and won't turn on if the voltage isn't that of a battery being charged by the engine.

Yeah, the new oxford ones are pretty good and also turn themselves off when the battery gets to a certain level, but its still a risk.
Brake light feed is a good place as it doesn't drain anything noticeable like you've found on sidelight/headlights!
(Obviously finding the constant feed to brake lights, not the one that's only on when the brake is applied! )

[Kentish]

What about the horn? I would of thought the tail light was on the same circuit as the headlight

[darrsi]

Don't fit straight to the battery, you will forget to turn them off! 

[garyb]

Don't fit straight to the battery, you will forget to turn them off! 

Been there, done that 

[darrsi]

Don't fit straight to the battery, you will forget to turn them off! 

Been there, done that 

It's just one of those things, it only takes a minor distraction and there goes your battery. 

[Chris]

I found the link in the first post of this thread helpful: http://foc-u.co.uk/index.php/topic,5717.msg50182.html#msg50182

Chris

[Kentish]

Cheers Chris. I have tried them on every switched live on the bike. Still do the same I have now left them in the same connection as the ignition fuse plugged them in with a spade connector behind the fuse box.

The grips I have fitted are "Daytona" they are a good grip. They have an OFF..START and ON position. When I put them in the START position the lights dip ever so slightly. Then after they warm up and I put them to ON the lights go back how they were same as if I turn them OFF.
The instructions say this.

"Start" position of the switch must be used only when starting heat,after one minute must shift to "On" position.
Never use "Start" position while riding,but only "on" or "off" postion otherwise grip may be broken
Can be used for 12v Motorcycles.

The part that interests me is this table on the back.         
SWITCH-----WATTAGE
ON                 12V14.4W
START          12V57.6W (Could this be the reason the lights dip slightly when I have the switch in the start position)?

[Dead Eye]

Yup, they are drawing a fair bit of current so it takes away from what the lights effectively have available.

As for leaving them on, I had a similar issue with my old Golf. Damn buzzer was broken for when you left your lights on and got out of the car. Lost count of how many times I came back to find the battery dead...