A Little Elctrical Help

stein700sx

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Feb 12, 2005
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Southern Manitoba Canada
I've been trying to get my grips to heat on my 02 Viper ER so my hands don't freeze anymore.
Last year I installed 07 Apex bars hoping for more heat (and I like the built in hooks,alot!). I even isolated them from the bars with shrink tubing.No better than the stock grips. I also cleaned the flywheel,changed the stator,CDI, variable resistors and even the battery. Nothing helped.
So today I was doing some testing with 06 ,07 Apex and the orignal 02 Viper
grips.
This is what I found.Running the sled just under 4k rpm I get 13v at the grips.
The 07 and 02 grips get semi warm after about 2 minutes but don't get hot.
the 06 grips get very warm in about 1 minute.If I run the 06 grips in paralell they get hot in about 30 secs. So the question is will I do damage to the CDI or stator running them like that? Or should I keep them in series staying closer to the stock resistence of the Viper grips? Stock Viper grips are wired in series.

Grip Specs in ohms
Series Paralell Single

02 Viper 3500 900 1700
06 Apex 4400 1200 2200
07 Apex 13800 3400 6800

I don't have an amp clamp to check the draw in amps.

Testing all the combo's (directly on a battery) in series and paralell the 06 grips where by far the quickest to heat up and the hottest.

Just a side note. When the brakes are applied, the volts drop to 5. Found that a little strange.
 
04rxw10 said:
I don't know how it will work on a 2 stroke but there is a fix for cold hands on the 4 stroke side. http://www.ty4stroke.com/viewtopic.php?t=67236 . You will need to join 4 stroke side to post there if you haven't already a lot of info there. I have 06 Apex bars on my Warrior and with the YamaHeater I have burnt my hands.

I've read up on that. 4strokes have a diff system. It's still controlled thru the ECM and mine goes thru the CDI. If I was an engineer I might be able to see how the CDI works, but I aint that smrt. :mrgreen:
 
I will call Rock tomarrow nite hes at the TY ride in Muni I know better than to call him during the day hes out on the sled.
 
mind are wired in parallele now can't ride without them ..2 year and still no problem ..i know it pull more amp but can't ride without hot grip...only need to turn the knob one click to get them super hot ...more than that they will melt i think
 
modsrx said:
mind are wired in parallele now can't ride without them ..2 year and still no problem ..i know it pull more amp but can't ride without hot grip...only need to turn the knob one click to get them super hot ...more than that they will melt i think

I tested them like that on a battery and a short time on the sled. Wow, Do they ever get hot!
Thot about adding extra heaters but I don't like they idea of adding extra switches.Just another thing to look for while driving.
 
i didnt had switch .. use all the oem switch i just switch the hardwarmer in parrallele...
 
The difference between running the 02 grip in series and the 06 grips in parrallel is about 0.1 watts. This is based on your resistance values being correct. I don' think you'll have any issues! Hook em up and ride with warm hands.

Ohms law is I=e/r,
I=current in amps
e=volatge
r=resistance

Furthur:
P=e X I
P=power

This is just incase you want to check my math. You should have at least a 300watt stator so I think you will be safe running an extra load of 0.1 watts.
 
Stock in series

I=e/r
I=13v/3.5k ohms
I=3.71 P= I x e P= 3.71 x 13 P=48.23 watts :dunno:

06 in paralell

I=e/r
I=13v/1.2k ohms
I=10.83 P= I x E P= 10.83 x 13v P= 140.79 watts :dunno:

With the resistance being lower by 1/3 should not the power consumption go up by 3?
 
13/3500=0.0037142amps
13/1200=0.0108amps

0.0037412*13=0.0482846watts
0.0108*13=0.1404watts

0.1404-0.0482846=0.0921154 app. 0.1watt or 100milliwatts

It is 3500ohms and 1200ohms not 3.5 and 1.2.

You are correct though. 1/3 of the resistance increases the current by 3. Therefore the power consumption increases as well. But in this case the numbers are almost negligable IMO.
 
Not that I dispute the math here but some aftermarket heaters draw 18 watts or so. I can't image the any magic in these heaters to only draw out only 0.14 watts and still be hot . Missing sumpthin. :dunno:
 
The ohm readings listed above seem to be off by several orders of magnitude.

Is it possible that the meter was faulty or read wrong?
 
The ohm meter is from Mac Tools and has served me very well thru the years. I checked my plug caps with it and it read right close to spec 5k ohms.
Maybe the 02 and 07 grips are shot. The 06 grips get hot. So far I've only tested inside my garage.Hope to get out later today see how they work. Wired them in series for now.
 
Last edited:
Unless he was reading the range wrong. But the numbers seem to follow the correct pattern...i.e. less than single when in parrallel. 5watts or even 10 would not be out of line for grip small strip heaters. My math was based on the resistances given, so he will now be able to go back and measure again and figure it all out and hopefully get to ridding with warm hands.
 
I use the autorange on the meter. That only changes where the decimal point is. I'd be curious to see what stock 02 Viper grips are supposed to ohm out at. When I installed the 07 Apex ones I set them in paralell which got me the same ohms as the stock Vipers wired in series. They also performed just as bad. Only good thing was the hooks.
 


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