will heated grips drain battery at idle ?

[serge]

I have heated grips on my NC (OEM Honda installed by first owner) and really like them. However, yesterday night while going at 5 miles per hour in traffic through construction zone on a highway the question popped in my mind that alternator probably does not produce enough power for heated grips at low rpm.. I turned them off not willing to find it out.

Has anyone run into such issues ?

 

[Hati]

The "search" function is your friend: http://nc700-forum.com/forum/nc700-technical/1742-extra-power.html

 

[hojo]

I seriously doubt it, then again, I don't know how many watts the OEM grip heaters draw, my aftermarket doesn't draw much and sill does a great job. May I offer a recommendation: a digital voltmeter so you know exactly what your are pulling when turning extra stuff on.

Mini LED Digital Voltmeter

 

[serge]

The "search" function is your friend: http://nc700-forum.com/forum/nc700-technical/1742-extra-power.html

thanks for the link !

 

[serge]

I seriously doubt it, then again, I don't know how many watts the OEM grip heaters draw, my aftermarket doesn't draw much and sill does a great job. May I offer a recommendation: a digital voltmeter so you know exactly what your are pulling when turning extra stuff on.

Mini LED Digital Voltmeter

Thanks for suggestion. I guess I can connect regular voltmeter to battery tender and run at idle to see the voltage drop.. I try not to add more instruments - GPS is enough distraction ..

 

[serge]

I located the manual for the grips and it answered that question. The grips will drain the battery at idle. They will turn off when the voltage gets low and it seems indicator on the turn on/off button also serves as a low battery voltage indicator.

 

[ST13Fred]

My OEM grip paperwork does not say it anywhere but I read somewhere that the draw is 37 watts.
Now there are 3 power settings so one assumes they are not all at the same wattage draw.
But as mentioned above, the grips will drain the battery at idle.

I had a set of snowmobile heated grips on a PC800 using a block resistor that bled heat off the lower
grip heat settings, which drew the same wattage; low setting, the resistor was the hottest, high setting, the resistor was cooler.

 

[showkey]

I think a better answer is .......heated grips can drain the battery at idle. But it depends on other electrical loads, time at idle and other conditions. Under normal use with little other accessories on the Honda grips do not drain the battery. My experience is the low voltage shut off has never turned on and I also use a heated vest often. BUT I never get stuck in idling traffic.

Obviously the worst condition or best condition for the the low voltage trigger shut off would be extended idling with grips on, directional on and brake light on, vest on ( adding radios, Chargers, GPS, while low amp add to the draw and higher wattage lights would quickly add to the draw).

That said the NC has reasonable extra electrical power for a mid size bike.

 

[gboswellsac]

I have heated grips on my NC (OEM Honda installed by first owner) and really like them. However, yesterday night while going at 5 miles per hour in traffic through construction zone on a highway the question popped in my mind that alternator probably does not produce enough power for heated grips at low rpm.. I turned them off not willing to find it out.

Has anyone run into such issues ?

I had this question as I came from a wee (DL650) were they have a switch to go to one headlamp instead of two as the wee only has about 420 watts but the X has 520 watts. With a heated vest, gloves, extra lights and a ham radio (40 watt output) the voltage meter dropped to one green led in continual stop but over 10mph jumped to 2 green leds ....

From the manuf. on the meter....
Our L.E.D. Battery Gauge is an array of L.E.D.’s indicating the operating voltage of the bike’s electrical system. Green L.E.D.’s represent the normal operating range of your charging system, 12.5v to 14.5v. Amber L.E.D.’s warn the rider that the bike is not charging. Red L.E.D.'s will flash if the reading drops below 10v or exceeds 15v to alert the rider of an impending stall or the possibility of damage to the battery &/or sensitive electronic components on the motorcycle.

Since I plan to use both heated vest and pants and gloves on my Alaska trip I traded out the Headlight to an led one (brighter and saves 30 watts) but that was over kill on my part. When you get a volt meter or a led light meter you will see your fears are way over the top, but good to find out. Since my Wing does like 720 watts or something I was a little paranoid. A BMW rider on a 700GS or 800GS has more to fear than you do except that they are higher rpm machines and their milage is much less. The founders of Horizion Unlimited will tell you they both ran heated gear and their R80GS only produces 280watts ......We worry too much.

 

[Old Can Ride]

"I plan to use both heated vest and pants and gloves on my Alaska trip"

When are you going on your Alaska Trip?

 

[DirtFlier]

Why would you have the elec grips ON when you're stopped with the engine idling? It seems like you're making up a hypothetical situation.

I have a Datel digital voltmeter on my bike so I know the NC charging system is OK with having heated elements on during idle.

 

[anglachel]

if the heated grips (i don't have them) pull 37 watts, I wouldn't worry to much... the brake light is something like 40 watts, another 20 watts for the turn signals... assuming that Honda figured waiting in a left turn lane is something we'll do on the bikes that's 60 watts right there in lights that can probably be on safely while idling for a fair amount of time...

 

[gboswellsac]

"I plan to use both heated vest and pants and gloves on my Alaska trip"

When are you going on your Alaska Trip?

Hope to leave May 21 ... new tires and valves to be checked and new plugs this week, already new air filter (that was fun) ... going to do the million $ hwy (like we did in sept) , Chief Joseph, Bear Tooth pass (iffy as opens 5/21 if on schedule) then on to Bannif, Jasper, Prince George, Dawson City, Ft. Nelson, Watson Lake, White Horse, Tok, Anchorage and Homer by 6/03 .... Family in Homer 6/03-6/09 .. then to Denalli and end up in Dawson City for D2D 6/18 then hopefully back to SA by 6/30 .... Not planning to camp so may be $ but probably my last chance to go so what the heck .... See OCR you have been an inspiration, "Why not seize the pleasure at once? .....Shut the frunk up and RIDE !!!!!!!!" Doubt if I'll get the pictures like you do but I'm gonna try... Been wanting to do this since 1999, about time.....

 

[Harald]

It entirely possible that running heated grips at idle could be slowly draining the battery if you also have other loads connected such as brake lights, high beam and turn signal on. But the only way to know for sure is to install a meter like the cyclemax one linked to above. I have one installed in the fairing on my FJR1300 and it looks like it would be possible to do an identical flush install on the NC700.

Basically, if the meter shows 13.2 volts or over you're good (unless it goes over 14.5). Between 12.8 and 13.2 you're barely keeping up with battery charging. Below 12.8 you're draining the battery. But even if you were draining the battery for a short time, it's not going to hurt anything because as soon as you start riding faster the battery will recharge.

I'm not sure what the lowest voltage is before the ECU dies, but I suspect around 9 volts. Not something to try on a regular basis, but if you were stuck in the wilds and the charging system dies you could ride with your now "total loss" electrical system until the bike dies. I know a rider that strapped a car battery to his passenger seat with jumper cables going to the bike's battery to keep the bike running all day after his charging system failed. Took him 2 days to get home with a recharge of the car battery overnight so he could continue the next day.

 

[gboswellsac]

It entirely possible that running heated grips at idle could be slowly draining the battery if you also have other loads connected such as brake lights, high beam and turn signal on. But the only way to know for sure is to install a meter like the cyclemax one linked to above. I have one installed in the fairing on my FJR1300 and it looks like it would be possible to do an identical flush install on the NC700.

Basically, if the meter shows 13.2 volts or over you're good (unless it goes over 14.5). Between 12.8 and 13.2 you're barely keeping up with battery charging. Below 12.8 you're draining the battery. But even if you were draining the battery for a short time, it's not going to hurt anything because as soon as you start riding faster the battery will recharge.

I'm not sure what the lowest voltage is before the ECU dies, but I suspect around 9 volts. Not something to try on a regular basis, but if you were stuck in the wilds and the charging system dies you could ride with your now "total loss" electrical system until the bike dies. I know a rider that strapped a car battery to his passenger seat with jumper cables going to the bike's battery to keep the bike running all day after his charging system failed. Took him 2 days to get home with a recharge of the car battery overnight so he could continue the next day.

that was innovative ... How far did he have to go? approx how far on each full car battery charge .

 

[serge]

It entirely possible that running heated grips at idle could be slowly draining the battery if you also have other loads connected such as brake lights, high beam and turn signal on. But the only way to know for sure is to install a meter like the cyclemax one linked to above. I have one installed in the fairing on my FJR1300 and it looks like it would be possible to do an identical flush install on the NC700.

Basically, if the meter shows 13.2 volts or over you're good (unless it goes over 14.5). Between 12.8 and 13.2 you're barely keeping up with battery charging. Below 12.8 you're draining the battery. But even if you were draining the battery for a short time, it's not going to hurt anything because as soon as you start riding faster the battery will recharge.

I'm not sure what the lowest voltage is before the ECU dies, but I suspect around 9 volts. Not something to try on a regular basis, but if you were stuck in the wilds and the charging system dies you could ride with your now "total loss" electrical system until the bike dies. I know a rider that strapped a car battery to his passenger seat with jumper cables going to the bike's battery to keep the bike running all day after his charging system failed. Took him 2 days to get home with a recharge of the car battery overnight so he could continue the next day.

It is good to know that OEM grips supposed to turn themselves off if battery voltage drops (I do not know to which value though).. I got one of those lithium power bank which can jump start a car and probably last for some time if charging fails on motorcycle .. I am not going far without it..

All-Battery.com: Buy Propel Ultra Portable 12000mAh Lithium-Polymer Jump Starter Power Bank Car Kit -55153

 

[serge]

Why would you have the elec grips ON when you're stopped with the engine idling? It seems like you're making up a hypothetical situation.

I have a Datel digital voltmeter on my bike so I know the NC charging system is OK with having heated elements on during idle.

DirtFlier, the way OEM heated grips operate: you have to press the button for 1 second to turn them on, and they will go to highest setting. To lower the heating level you need to press it again for 1 second and then, when you go to the lowest level, press and hold again to turn them off. Honda specifies that you are not supposed to turn them on/off when riding, and indeed, pressing that button on for seconds while balancing bike at walking speeds in construction zones is not very safe..

 

[mike5100]

I located the manual for the grips and it answered that question. The grips will drain the battery at idle. They will turn off when the voltage gets low and it seems indicator on the turn on/off button also serves as a low battery voltage indicator.

Does anyone have more details on this function. (The dealer who fitted the grips did not give me any instructions). In particular - does anyone know if the switch/indicator thing will give you some kind of low battery warning even if I am not at that time using the grips? This would be useful to see if all my full heated gear (jacket.pants, socks and gloves) were taking too much out of the system.
Mike

 

[gboswellsac]

I had this question as I came from a wee (DL650) were they have a switch to go to one headlamp instead of two as the wee only has about 420 watts but the X has 520 watts. With a heated vest, gloves, extra lights and a ham radio (40 watt output) the voltage meter dropped to one green led in continual stop but over 10mph jumped to 2 green leds ....

From the manuf. on the meter....
Our L.E.D. Battery Gauge is an array of L.E.D.’s indicating the operating voltage of the bike’s electrical system. Green L.E.D.’s represent the normal operating range of your charging system, 12.5v to 14.5v. Amber L.E.D.’s warn the rider that the bike is not charging. Red L.E.D.'s will flash if the reading drops below 10v or exceeds 15v to alert the rider of an impending stall or the possibility of damage to the battery &/or sensitive electronic components on the motorcycle.

Since I plan to use both heated vest and pants and gloves on my Alaska trip I traded out the Headlight to an led one (brighter and saves 30 watts) but that was over kill on my part. When you get a volt meter or a led light meter you will see your fears are way over the top, but good to find out. Since my Wing does like 720 watts or something I was a little paranoid. A BMW rider on a 700GS or 800GS has more to fear than you do except that they are higher rpm machines and their milage is much less. The founders of Horizion Unlimited will tell you they both ran heated gear and their R80GS only produces 280watts ......We worry too much.

Just a follow up .. on my trip to Homer AK and 3/4 back I used the heated vest every day and to my dismay it would bounce between the all green and 1-2 amber back to all green (one or two seconds between fast or slow mostly slow) and it got me wondering. You also need to know I shorted out my Stator for a couple days before I got fixed and added the led gauge, and the shop said it may gradually fail later but not to replace until it did fail. Yours my not act same. I did not add my heated Gloves because of the change from before. Sorry if first post may have been over optimistic but it was what it was at that time.