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No heated grips???

J
Feb 6, 2009
51
2
8
Montana
My heated grips on my 05 800 summit don't work. I used a test light and I have power to the grip with the heated grip switch on and when the switch is turned off the light on my tester turns off. I called my dealer and told them that I thought that my elements are bad and they told me that it was rare that BOTH grips and thumb warmer elements to go belly up at the same time. What next?? Do I need to measure the resistance with an Ohm meter, if so what should it read?? I was thinking about hardwiring the grips to bypass the plug on the handlebars, would this help with anything?? I dunno, I dont want to go buy a new set of elements without checking other possibilities, what are my options??

Thanks,
Jake
 

LiveAlaska

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Dec 1, 2008
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I would agree with the dealer, chances of smokin both grips and flipper elements at the same time is slim.
Does your test light light up on both contacts of the heat grip?? If so, you lossed the ground connection. Don't know what the resistance of the grips, I would suspect some where around 10 ohms. If you have a multimeter, what's the voltage at the grip??
 
J
Feb 6, 2009
51
2
8
Montana
I dont have a multimeter on hand.........I need to just go buy one. But I get enough voltage to light up the test light at the plug and all of the way until the wire dissapears under the grip. I need to look into it more. Anybody else got anything?? Where is the ground connection at?????????????
 

LiveAlaska

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Dec 1, 2008
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should have 2 wires runnin up from the plug to each heat element. ones the hot ones the ground. the ground side should have no voltage on it.(light should not light up)
 

AkSledHed

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Premium Member
Mar 12, 2009
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43
Eagle River, Ak
Put one lead on the power wire and the other on the ground wire, if the light comes on then your ground and power are both good. If it doesn't then your ground is either faulty or broken.

If your using a meter, check your ground, you should get an infinity reading if it's good, if not and your resistance is high, then you've got corrosion built up or it's shorting out against another wire. I had both my hand warmers go out on me last winter and had to replace both of them, thumb warmer was still working though.
 
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