Thanks for the great discussion guys. Im a lineman for a phone company, and I have had minor frostbite several times in my hands. I know I need the hot grips and the thumb warmer. I want to install them with the DPDT switch, and a relay. I dont have the grips or the warmer yet, but can you guys give me a ampere rating I need to run them both through the same relay? Radio Shack sells a DPDT relay rated at 30 amp's, but I dont know is thats total amp's or 30 per side.
Could I put the "Hot Grips" HI/LOW switch on one output of this relay and and the thumb warmer on the other output side of the relay? What size fuse would I need in the "feed" wire? I like this relay because its small, and has a optional socket that you can solder the leads on to make a better connection without trying to solder the leads on the relay and possibly heat stressing it.

Also, Who makes the best thumb warmer? I know HOTGRIPS are the best grips.

Thanks for listening and for your replys.

Dave

 

HoRider,

Sounds like we both do a lot of cold weather riding. I just installed the Hot Grips with the hidden wire on my machine and also got their variable control unit instead of the hi/lo switch. We went riding last sunday, it was about 20 degrees out, with the warmers, windshield and handle bar boots I did not even need gloves until we stopped of course. I would definitely recommend the variable switch, I did a lot of snowmobile riding and the variable warmer on the Yamaha's was great. If you find a good thumb warmer company I would be interested.


Keep Riding

 

Dave, I’ll tell you what I did, hopefully that will answer some of your questions. Starting at the battery I ran 16ga wire to a weatherproof in-line fuse holder (10amp) then to an inexpensive 4 terminal fog/driving light relay mounted on the metal “firewall” under the “hood.” With a test light I found a wire that went hot with the ignition switch (any wire) and patched a lead from that to the relay. My DPDT switch is mounted in the bottom half right side of the headlight pod (not the most convenient spot but there’s room there). The thumb warmer (don’t know the make but I doubt there are that many to choose from) comes with a hot lead wire that “Ys”. The single end goes on the output terminal of the relay. One side of the other end has a resistor in it, that’s the low heat lead. The other side is straight through 12v, or the high heat lead. These will go on opposite terminals on one “side” of your DPDT switch with your output to the warmer on the middle terminal. The Hot Grips require a little more wiring but are basically the same principal. Their resistor needs to be solidly mounted somewhere that gets air. To mount mine I popped of the composite bumper (only 4 bolts, easy) and used a metal fuel line clamp to mount it horizontally to the top bar of the primary radiator screen. This provides air and a good heat sink (this thing gets HOT!). Run one wire from your relay output to the resistor, then from the other end of the resistor run a wire to the low heat terminal on your switch. The opposite terminal of the switch will be wired right to the relay output, with the Hot Grips wired to the middle terminal of that “side” of the switch. Of course both the Grips and the warmer will need to be grounded.

So, wired as described above, your 4 prong relay will have 1 wire on from the battery terminal with an inline fuse, one wire from a switched power source, one wire to ground and 3 wires on the output terminal. I know of at least two other wiring configurations that will work, so this isn’t the only method but it’s what I did and it works great.

Writing instructions like this always makes me empathize with those who do it for a living. We’ve all had to “build” things from inadequate instructions (some assembly required, yeah RIGHT ?*!*&^%$). If anything is unclear about the above process don’t hesitate to contact me through the forum or personally. Enjoy your warm hands!

 

Dave

I,d like you to keep in mind, that if you use the dpdt method you may end up with a cold thumb and hot hands. As you know everybody is different. If I take my girlfriend as an example, she will take her gloves off for 2 mins and will almost freeze her hands, whereas I can remove them for 15 mins before they start to get cold.
As Floodrunner mentioned "you can warm up cold hands with the grips". You will not be able to leave them on the high setting for any extended period of time as your hands will get to hot (even my girlfriend). In my case I usually ride with the grips in the low position and the thumb in the high position. I will put the grips in the high mode for a short period if a warmup is needed. If you suferred frost bite on your fingers you will most likely be more sensitive to cold fingers than somebody who hasn't. The thumb warmers setting has a lot to do with the stiffness of your machines throttle. The stiffer it is, the more pressure you need to apply and therfor less circulation through the thumb and subsequently a hotter setting. Again, we are all different.

I can,t really help you when it comes to different brands of thumb warmers, as I have not experimented with others. I use the "Kimpex" brand, which seems to be the only one that I can find. All the snowmobile/ATV dealers in my area sell this brand. I find them good but would prefer it if their heatoutput on high was a little hotter.(for extreme conditions -25 and below) Maybe FloodRunner will have some input here.

For the fuze I would install a 10 amp.

What voltage is that 30amp relay rated for ????

Snowride

 

Dave

I forgot to mention that if you do not have a windshield, GET ONE. Preferably the fiberglass fairing type that also cuts the wind to your hands. The differance in cold weather rideing is amazing.

Snowride

 

Snowride, a couple thoughts on your thumb warmer comments. Although I don’t know the make of our warmers it’s likely we’re using the same one you have. Ours attach to the thumb throttle by enveloping it in heat shrink tubing. There are a couple things you could do to increase the amount of heat you feel at your thumb. The instructions with ours suggest you place the “heating element” on the back side of the throttle, which is what I’ve done. I’m sure if you mounted it on the “front” side you’d feel a lot more heat.

From your description I’m guessing you rarely use the low setting on the thumb warmer. If one wanted to use a DPDT switch for both accessories, and wanted to have the high/low option for the grips but always needed to have the thumb warmer on high, simply eliminate the resisted leg of the hot lead to the thumb warmer side of the switch. Run a lead from the relay output to the terminal on one side of the switch, then a jumper from that terminal to the one on the opposite side. That way the thumb warmer would always be on high (or off) and you’d still have high/low for your grips. Just a thought for anyone else “listening,” I’m sure you have yours set up the way you want it.

 

FloodRunner

I apreciate your comments and you are right that I rarely use the low setting. But some times when the temps are mild I will have the thumbwarmer on low and the grips on off. (we do wear good gloves up here)I have always installed the thumbwarmer on the front side (faceing me). Its funny that you mentioned the shrinktube since I have never thought about it or seen it done until just a few weeks ago when one of my friends bought a new quad and had the dealers mount the thumbwarmer. They used the shrinktube method, but of a red oxide color and it looks terrible. They could have a least used black. Anyway, I have always glued mine to the throttle using "loctite 495". I have yet to see one come loose. On my next quad I will most likely use the BLACK shrink tube.

Snowride

 

Interesting, our kits came with black shrink tube as the means of installation. It was about a year ago that I bought and installed them (both grips and warmers). We rode one winter without them and that was the last time for that! Stopping every so often to warm your frozen hands on the header pipe works, but it sux.

 

I had a good laugh after reading my already posted, post. The part where it says " get to hot (even my girlfriend)". So before any of you smarta$$e$ make a comment !!!!

Wait a minute, it would be kind of nice just to flip a switch.

Snowride