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	Will Hot Grips® work on my Motorcycle, ATV, or Snowmobile? Is it true that your heated grips can't burn out? Do your heated grips provide full heat all around the grip and over their entire length? What is included with a set of your heated grips? I have a set of Heli Bars installed on my motorcycle. Will your grips work? I have a set of "Hot Grips®" but don't see them on your web site. Can I order by phone? What are your shipping charges? Are your switches and variable heat controller weatherproof? Will your variable heat controller work with any set of Hot Grips®? How many amps do your heated grips use? I have a motorcycle and I'm concerned that the wires might break on the throttle grip, due to rotation. I'm considering buying a set of grip heaters. Why should I consider your heated grips? Which dealers have experience in installation of Hot Grips® heated grips in my area? Which wire on my vehicle should I use to provide power to my Hot Grips®. I've added so many electrical accessories I'm concerned there may NOT be enough power left for a set of heated grips. Any suggestions? I purchased a set of Hot Grips® with closed ends from my local dealer. I now realize I need open ends. Can I cut off the ends of the grips? I have factory heated grips. I believe either my factory heat controller or my factory heated grips have failed. Can I replace just the part that has failed? I'm considering a Throttlemeister cruise control. Will your grips work with this cruise control? Will Hot Grips® heated grips work on my Snowthrower? How many watts do your heated grips use? Which countries do you serve? I have an ATV or Snowmobile which I've modified with a twist throttle. How can I determine my handlebar diameter? I want to use just one of your ATV or snowthrower grips for a handle on an ATV accessory, can I do that? Do I wire the Heat-Troller in series or in parallel? I have a soldering gun but the solder never sticks so can I use connectors instead? What is the current draw for the Hot Grips®? Will the Throttlemeister work with your heated grips? I have had a report from another Honda Gold Wing rider that when I transmit on my CB, that a background buzzing is heard on his speakers, when my Variable Heat controller is used. Can you advise me on this. When looking at the installation instructions of the throttle side grip on a motorcycle, it appears that the lead wires that come from the grip will be under stress as the throttle is rotated. How long will the grip last in view of that? Will a long run of wire on my construction equipment unusual installation using model SND (aka 301) grips cause a reduced heat output? I am using 30 feet of #10 AWG stranded, and 15' of #12 AWG stranded?
	Will Hot Grips® work on my Motorcycle, ATV, or Snowmobile? Hot Grips® heated grips can be used on almost any Motorcycle, ATV or Snowmobile. A general guideline is that the vehicle must have an electrical system (AC or DC) which has sufficient power to operate a headlight. We recommend that you look at the wattage specifications of your machine, subtract all devices which consume power, and if you have about 40 watts or more of left over power then they will work. Example: If you have a 70 watt system, and your headlight and tail light use up 50 watts then clearly you cannot run heated grips of any kind. To do so would create a voltage drop and would dim your lights and not heat up the grips very much. Back to Top Is it true that your heated grips can't burn out? Hot Grips® patented heating elements can't burn out. With over three million heated grips sold, there has never been a single case of a grip burning out. The patented heating elements are so rugged that even voltage "spikes" or a voltage regulator failure will not harm them. Back to Top Do your heated grips provide full heat all around the grip and over their entire length? Yes! Unlike many other heated grips or grip heaters, Hot Grips® patented heating elements provide full heat over the entire length and girth of the grip. There are not any cold spots or unheated areas. We NEVER supply unheated spacers in an attempt to make a shorter grip appear to fit longer applications. Back to Top What is included with a set of your heated grips? Every set of Hot Grips® can be customized to your exact needs. Be sure to look over our accessory page before making a purchase. At the most basic level, every set of grips allows you to switch between High and Low Heat, as well as the ability to turn the heat off. Along with a pair of grips you'll receive detailed instructions, extra wire, and a three position weatherproof toggle switch. As an option (in place of the standard toggle switch) you can substitute a handlebar mounted switch, a sub-miniature "stealth switch" or a fully variable electronic heat controller.   Back to Top I have a set of Heli Bars installed on my motorcycle. Will your grips work? Hot Grips® heated grips will work on aftermarket handlebars, if they are the same stock handlebar diameter. Aftermarket handlebars are sometimes made of aluminum. Hot Grips® are a better choice because they naturally limit the heat lost to any type of handlebar when compared with foil circuit heaters that are stuck directly on the handlebar, or cartridge heaters that go inside the handlebars. Back to Top I have a set of "Hot Grips" but don't see them on your web site. You may have a counterfeit product. Unfortunately, there are cheap imitations of our heated grips illegally sold under our trademarked name. Customers should be especially careful when purchasing from auction sites or from companies located outside of the USA. All our grips are manufactured in the USA and are shown on our web site. If you come across a product that you believe is illegally using our brand name, we'd certainly appreciate learning about it. We are working with United States Customs to stop the illegal importation of these products and take legal action, where appropriate, against those companies that violate USA Trademark Law. Examples of Trademark Infringement - Go to Page 16, 18 Back to Top Can I order by phone? What are your shipping charges? We don't accept phone order. All our customers should place their order on-line to ensure that there are no errors in the product, accessories, and shipping address. Customers can email us to ask any questions however and we are happy to guide them on the site. Shipping costs vary with zip code, and calculated and shown BEFORE you commit to paying with your credit card or PayPal. Usually $8.50 to $14.50 is the range for ground delivery. Air options also displayed. A customer outside the USA as a practical matter can order items and be shipped to a family's or friend's address in the USA. The family or friend can forward items outside the country. Back to Top Are your switches and variable heat controller weatherproof? All our controls are weatherproof. For example: we use an internal "O" ring on the shaft of our toggle switch and variable heat controller to prevent water infiltration. As an added safeguard, the electronics of the variable heat controller are completely sealed in silicone Back to Top Will your variable heat controller work with any set of Hot Grips®? Yes, the variable heat controller will work with any of our heated grips. However, your vehicle must produce direct current (DC) for the controller to function properly. If your vehicle has a battery, then you have direct current (DC). Back to Top How many amps do your heated grips use? A pair of Hot Grips® heated grips will use between 2.5 and 3 amps (at 12.0 volts). Another way to state that same specification is that our heated grips will use between 30 and 36 watts per pair (at 12.0 volts). Back to Top I have a motorcycle and I'm concerned that the wires might break on the throttle grip, due to rotation. Hot Grips® will not fail, due to throttle rotation, if you install them according to our instructions. Our heated grips were designed with this throttle rotation in mind and have been thoroughly tested. Under repeated testing, we have exceeded 1,650,000 cycles, at 110 degrees of rotation, without failure. Back to Top I'm considering buying a set of grip heaters. Why should I consider your heated grips? Hot Grips® produce heat from within the grip itself and are much more efficient at transferring heat to where it is needed, the rider's hands, than any type of grip heater. A grip heater known as the printed-resistance-circuit, so popular with the snowmobile OEMs because of the low cost, is really a thin piece of flexible plastic with heating elements "printed" on its surface. To install this type of product, a customer must first carefully remove their old grips (since the old grips will be re-used), then glue the grip heater to the steel handlebars and finally re-install their grips over the grip heater. Unfortunately steel conducts heat far better than rubber. Grip heaters, by the very nature of their design, transfer much more of their heat to the handlebars and less of their heat to the rider's hands than would a set of Hot Grips®. A grip heater will also respond more slowly to changes in heat settings. Another common problem with grip heaters is that they are often shorter in length than the grips they are attempting to heat. Many grip heaters are only 4 inches long yet the grips above them range from 4 3/4" to over 6" in length. Grip heaters will develop a hot-spot in the circuit, which eventually acts like a fuse, and burns out. Finally, many grip heaters lack any strain relief on the wires that enter them. Back to Top Which dealers carry Hot Grips® heated grips in my area? Unfortunately, we do not have a list of dealers that have experience installing our heated grips. You will need to call your dealer's service department and inquire in your area. Here's why: We have no communication means for establishing a dealer installation network. Doing a Google search online may result in pages or videos available on YouTube for your installation. Back to Top Which wire on my vehicle should I use to provide power to my Hot Grips®. Use the accessory electrical terminal, where available, to provide power to our heated grips. Many vehicles come from the factory with an accessory electrical terminal that was designed, by the manufacturer, to provide power to aftermarket accessories. Consult with your dealer or see your owner's manual to determine its location. Owner's groups can be another useful source for this type of information. If your vehicle lacks an accessory electrical terminal, we suggest you tap onto a lightly used circuit, such as the one that illuminates your license plate. In all cases, be sure the circuit is fused (5 amps) and the circuit turns off when the vehicle is turned off. Back to Top I've added so many electrical accessories I'm concerned there may not be enough power left for a set of heated grips. Any suggestions? Hot Grips® don't use much power and this is rarely a problem. However, if you are concerned, one easy way to lessen the load on your electrical system is to replace one or more of your traditional light bulbs with their modern LED equivalents. For example, a traditional tail/brake light bulb (model # 1157) uses 8 watts when it functions as a tail light and when the brakes are applied, it uses an additional 20 watts. LED (light emitting diode) bulbs need only about 1/10 that amount of power. While we can't recommend other manufacturer's products, we'd suggest you look for an LED bulb that is approved for use on the public roads by the D.O.T. (Department of Transportation). LED bulbs are not suitable for use on every vehicle. An LED bulb uses so little power that it may fool some on-board computers into thinking the bulb has failed. Consult with your dealer to see if they are appropriate. Back to Top I purchased a set of Hot Grips® with closed ends from my local dealer. I now realize I need open ends. Can I cut off the ends of the grips? No, you can't cut off the ends of our heated grips but you can drill into the end cap. You can create a centered hole in the end cap equal to (but no larger) than the internal diameter of the grip. You can select a check-box for open ends when ordering directly from us and many distributors (and thus their dealers) now order kits from us with open ends. If you order a 475-875 kit with open ends it will have a part number on it that is changed to 475-876 as an example. That is our bookkeeping method for open ends...last digit becomes a 6. Never cut off the end of a grip with a hacksaw or similar method, as you will ruin the heating element in the grip, which extends from one end of the grip to the other. Unlike competitors, our entire grip length is heated. Never shorten a grip, or you risk damaging the heating wires inside. In a pinch? If you need to bore out the ends of a set of grips at home, use extreme care because when a multi-toothed hole saw grabs the rubber end it will tend to spin the grip on you. Cut very slowly with a pilot hole center-drilled first, and cut undersize, opening up the diameter with a hot tool like a hot cylinder of a soldering iron, or heated metal rod. Back to Top I have factory heated grips. I believe either my factory heat controller or my factory heated grips have failed. Can I replace just the part that has failed? We recommend you install Hot Grips® as a complete set, using the accessories we provide. While it certainly may be possible to adapt one or more of our products for use with another manufacturer's components, it would require both the time and expertise to analyze the other manufacturer's components, method of operation and wiring to determine if and how this might be possible. As a matter of policy, we can not endorse the use of our products intermixed with another manufacturer's components. Even if you have the required time/expertise, it will often prove far quicker to install a complete set of our grips, per our instructions, rather than trying to adapt one of our products to work with another manufacturer's components and wiring. Back to Top I'm considering a Throttlemeister cruise control. Will your grips work with this cruise control? As a general rule, we advise AGAINST the use of Hot Grips® heated grips with any type of "friction operated" throttle-lock or cruise control, including the Throttlemeister. Internet search findings of stuck throttle-lock devices validate our position. We don't like them because they have been known to surprise the rider even with unheated grips. Reading about trying to stop a 1300cc motorcycle closing down on traffic with a stuck throttle makes it clear it is dangerous and says it all. ALL heated grips expand and how much they will expand is almost impossible to determine. This expansion can vary by heat setting, ambient temperature, wind speed, the insulating effect of a hand over the grip, the type of glove being worn, electrical system voltage, the amount of time the grips are turned on, etc. This expansion can vary on a minute to minute basis due to these and other variables. Our concern is that this expansion might cause a binding between the heated grips and this type of "throttle-locking" aka cruise control, preventing the device from being de-activated. Adjusting the "throttle locking" device friction with the heated grips on high will not ensure safe operation. A simple test ride "once the grips are heated" can NOT verify that this will not occur. In our view, Hot Grips® and friction operated cruise controls (like the Throttlemeister) should NOT be used together. However we have not done an extensive engineering analysis of these "throttle-clocks" aka cruise controls nor have we tracked product changes that cruise control manufacturers may have made to address these problems. Hot Grips® Mfg. does not recommend the use of its heated grips with any type of throttle-lock or cruise control. Back to Top Will Hot Grips® heated grips work on my Snowthrower? Probably not. Most snowthrowers do not have enough power for a set of Hot Grips®. Most snowthrowers have only rudimentary electrical systems which were never designed with an electrical accessory or heated grips in mind. The presence of a "headlight" on a snowthrower does NOT guarantee it has enough electrical power for a pair of Hot Grips®. Most "headlights" on snowthrowers use between 18 to 24 watts and their electrical systems were only designed to meet those basic requirements. A PAIR of Hot Grips® requires 36 watts or a MINIMUM of 3.0 amps of current at 12 volts to function. Customers will have to consult with the manufacturer or their dealer to determine whether their snowthrower has adequate electrical output for a set of Hot Grips®. Unfortunately we do not have that information. Back to Top How many watts do your heated grips use? Most of our heated grips use about 30 watts PER PAIR, at 12.0 volts (the voltage of a partially discharged battery with the engine off). At typical voltages, with the engine running above an idle, the electrical system will be providing about 14 volts. At this voltage - the grips will use about 42 watts per pair. Keep in mind that wattage ratings are a poor method of judging the relative heat output between competing products. Much of the heat produced by a heated grip or grip heater can be lost to the handlebars unless special precautions are taken. All Hot Grips® employ advanced design elements which limit the heat lost to the handlebars. Back to Top Which countries do you serve? We sell directly, via this web site, to retail customers in the USA ONLY. We sell to approved Distributors in the USA and Canada. We do NOT sell directly to dealers, as they have access to our product line thru many Distributors throughout the USA. Back to Top I have an ATV or Snowmobile which I've modified with a twist throttle. If you have added a twist throttle to your ATV or Snowmobile then you should look at our motorcycle grips. All motorcycles use a twist throttle and the right grips for your vehicle can be found here. Go to our home page and click on "motorcycle grips". Once you are on our motorcycle page, then click on "3 Easy Steps for a Perfect Fit". Follow the instructions here to determine the best grips for your snowmobile or ATV fitted with a twist throttle. Back to Top How can I determine my handlebar diameter? Follow the photographs below: Back to Top I want to use just one of your ATV or snowthrower grips for a handle on an ATV accessory, can I do that? If the grip is one of our 2.4 ohm models, which is likely what you are looking at since they are the least costly, then you MUST use power resistors in "series" with the grip to lower the voltage to the one grip. Radio Shack stores have item # 271-131 (two for $1. power resistors rated at 1 ohm, 10 watts, 10% tol.) and I recommend you start with 3 resistors wired in "series" with the single grip, and then possibly adding more in "series" as needed to reduce the heat output to comfort. The resistors must be mounted on a heat sink like metal tubing, or sheet metal, never on plastic as they will get hot. You can secure them with nylon wire ties, safety wire, hose clamps, etc. Back to Top Do I wire the Heat-Troller in series or in parallel? Any variable heat controller is always wired like the supplier recommends. In the case of the Heat-Troller the www.warmnsafe.com website has several illustrations on their website. You probably mean to ask: How are the grips wired, in series or in parallel? Answer, it depends on the model of Hot Grips® that you have. A vriable heat controller, whether it is our model VHC-2 or the Heat-Troller, must be wired "ahead of the load", the load being the heated grips. The controller is a "pulse width modulator" which is an electronic device that varies the "pulse width" of the "voltage-ON" time. It (the controller) would have to be wired in "series" regardless of the model of heated grips that you have. Do not confuse that statement with wiring the grips in "parallel" versus in "series". For example you might have a set of grips that are to be wired in "parallel", but the variable controller will be wired in "series" with the grips, i.e. ahead of the grips between the power source and the grips. Whenever you install a variable heat controller do not also run the standard toggle switch nor the 2.4 ohm resistor, as they will serve no purpose. Back to Top I have a soldering gun but the solder never sticks so can I use connectors instead? Bad idea, connectors often later cause trouble, since most that are available are exposed to the elements and can cause increased electrical resistance when they corrode or oxidize. And the 3M or Scotch-Lok blue clamp-on splice connectors are sized wrong for our wires, so they are really bad. SOLDERING: You just need some tips on soldering. Nearly all soldering problems are caused by a dirty soldering iron tip. Clean the tip with sandpaper or a file so that there is clean metal, then heat it up and touch electrical solder to it so the solder flows onto the tip, coating it (called "tinning it") Now it is ready to do an effective job. You can keep the tip clean if you wipe it on a slightly damp cloth while hot every few minutes. Soldering technique should be: Using a clean soldering tip that has been "tinned" with solder, have the solder in one hand and the soldering gun in the other, and bring the hot tip to the joint to be soldered just 2 seconds before the solder is touched to the joint. Practice on a few 1" pieces of the extra length wire we supply in the kit. Back to Top What is the current draw for the Hot Grips®? Current draw ranges from 2.5 to 3 amps at a nominal 12 volts depending on the model. Longer models like for the Honda Gold Wing draw 3 amps, and shorter models like for the Harley Davidson draw 2.5 amps. Of course a healthy voltage output when charging is taking place may be 13.2-14.2 vdc and the amps will be slightly higher. Back to Top Will the Throttlemeister work with your heated grips? Throttlemeister does not recommend that it be installed with Hot Grips®. Read our response to question 18. Also please READ and understand their own Safety Warnings: Click Here for Throttlemeister's Warnings. Back to Top I have had a report from another Honda Gold Wing rider that when I transmit on my CB, that a background buzzing is heard on his speakers, when my Variable Heat controller is used. Can you advise me on this. Please understand that ANY wiring common between the CB radio and the variable heat controller will yield a sufficient impedance on which the modulating pulses of the controller can be superimposed on the power fed to the CB, and thus amplitude modulate it. Per your commentary regarding concern about the risk of draining the battery down if either the CB radio or the heater is inadvertently left on, clearly both circuits must run through the ignition switch. Therefore there IS a portion of the power wiring that is common between the CB radio and the controller. In addition, the ground wiring is also a finite impedance over which this modulation can take place. At the very least separate ground wires should be run from the battery to the "minus" power inputs of the CB radio and the controller. I strongly encourage you to run a "brute force" experiment by temporarily running separate and independent wiring from the battery to the controller and from the battery to the CB radio. Totally disconnect any other wiring (obviously with the exception of the antenna) from the CB radio and from the controller. If you have an oscilloscope available to you, I can walk you through some measurements that will help specifically isolate the common impedance over which the unwanted modulation is taking place. Lastly, to eliminate radiated RFI/EMI from being the culprit, totally disconnect the controller from the vehicle's wiring (power and ground) and operate the controller from a separate battery (!). The noise should go away. If noise is still present, then we must consider the possibility of radiated RFI/EMI somehow getting into the CB radio - most likely via the microphone cable. If, however, the noise does cease, then radiated RFI/EMI is not an issue and - again - the focus returns to the power & ground wiring. Further Response (the short answer solution): I installed a relay from Radio Shack ($5.99) per your diagram. Today I drove the Gold Wing across town to the home of a fellow Gold Winger with a CB. We tried transmitting from my CB to his CB at both close range and from a city block away. From both distances, with the Variable Heat Controller and Heated Grips all the way on (it was cold outside), THE CB TRANSMISSION WAS PERFECT!!!, NO BUZZ OF ANY KIND. EUREEKA!!! Finally the problem is solved! Back to Top When looking at the installation instructions of the throttle side grip on a motorcycle, it appears that the lead wires that come from the grip will be under stress as the throttle is rotated. How long will the grip last in view of that? We have a motorized test rig that has looked at that issue. In this test, a gea motor turns rotary motion into back and forth motion which rotates the throttle grip repeatedly while monitoring the resistance of the grip. After installing a throttle grip as described in our installation instructions, we have exceeded 1,650,000 cycles at 110 degrees of rotational movement (a cycle is a rotational movement in one direction and then returning to the idle position). The grip's wires have not yet failed. We are continuing this test and will update this figure periodically as the long term test continues. We use a very fine strand copper wire that is constructed to maximize it's flex life. Will a long run of wire on my construction equipment unusual installation using model SND (aka 301) grips cause a reduced heat output? I am using 30 feet of #10 AWG stranded, and 15' of #12 AWG stranded? Your question is good because a long run of wire CAN be an issue if you had a very high amperage accessory like an oversize ATV winch, but not in this particular case. Your wire gauge is not an issue, since you are sufficiently oversize for heated grips. Your described wires will not create a significant resistance that I've calculated at .07 ohms. That is a resistance increase of only 1.45% derived from http://www.thelen.us/1wire.php Here is the math: I took the chart's horizontal row for 12 AWG and chose the stranding with the the highest resistance per 1000 feet , and the math calculation is: ( 30/1000 x 1.8 ) + ( 15/1000 x 1.1 = .016 ) = .054 + .016 = .07 ohms .07 / 4.8 (on HI) = .0145 % so at most you are losing approximately .2 watts in a 30 watt circuit. The voltage drop created by the wire in a 4.8 ohm circuit is insignificant and I won't go thru those calculations here. The same math process can be used with any model of our product, because our "series" models combined circuitry is approximately 4.8 ohms and our "parallel" series" combined circuitry is also 4.8 ohms. (2.4 + 2.4 = 4.8 for series wiring as used in model 101, 301, 401, Ergo) and in the other models (9.6 / 2 = 4.8 for parallel wiring as in models 475-875, 475-100, 525-875, 525-100, 575-875, 123, etc.). Back to Top Back to Top