Heated Grips - Where to power from

Hi, I have bought some Oxford Carbon Over grips. Not impressed at the mo. Have massive amont of wire and all that seems to be set up wrong leaving massive amounts at the bars! My dilema now is where to connect to. Could I connect to headlight? I have read that might overload, blow the bulb and I could get stranded at night! Each grips takes 1.3 amps and max 18.5 Watts. There is an inline fuse. I wondered about connecting to Battery negative and front brake light switch if head light not sensible. Ideally did not want to take tank off to connect up though. One post I read suggests my faired version does not need to take the fairing off to take the tank off. Just undo the front nuts / bolts where the fairing connects to the tank .Is that correct? If the tank has to come off then I will balance the carbs. Any help with the leccy connections for the grips would be appreciated.

I have fitted these and connected the positive to the cooling fan within the fuse box on the non live side so if the cooling fan fuse was to blow these would not work. Deemed from a post elsewhere that if you need heated grips on then it is unlikely the fan will come on as it is cold and like other posts I have seen, these bike seem to run cold anyway. Makes sense to me. Also in my mind I can use the heated grips LED (when on) to determine the cooling fan fuse has not blown. Therefore a quick check before a hot day ride will confirm the fuse is ok even though my fan has never come on. Right muck about though. Tank came off without taking the fiaring off. Just need to take the fairing bolts out and pop the fairing lugs out. As for the grips, not been for a ride but really dis-appointed at the moment. I could find no reviews of these but did not want to fit permanent although I would normally buy a bike with them already fitted. Each grip has about 5 inches to a connector so initial worries are that is a snagging risk and the cable looks weak. From that connector to the on/low/high switch there is approx 4 to 5 feet of cable for each grip. Way to much. That is bonded within the switch so no chance of reducing this length without cutting. The switch itself can supposedly fit to a flat surface, but there are no pre-drilled holes and there are no flat surfaces on the bike other than the brake fluide holder or maybe fairing!. Using the option to fit the curved underneath to the bars does not work as there is not enough flat / curved length as there is only one set of holes for a single zip tie. Every zip tie supplied broke. Eventually fitted the switch using some of my mountain bike light brackets. Two of these joined together so that some carbon fishing tube can then be used to mount the switch on. Used one of my zip ties as wide as would fit and some rubber again from mountain bike lights to give grip. Looks ok but really is a bodge. We then move on to the cable from the battery / fuse box to the handle bar switch. This has a join near the handle bar switch again about 5 inches from the switch. So about the same length as the grips to their connectors but at the opposite end. Hope that makes sense because it shows how silly the set up is. You can either use the 4 to 5 feet from each grip to go to the switch under the tank, but then the switch is under your bottom, or the other way around you have loads of cable at the bars. I know more cable is better than less but for the price £75+ I would expect some shorter more felxible cable options. After all these are supposed to come off in the summer.

Crikey what a mission!

I've got the +ve wired into the sidelight connector and -ve back to the battery. They've been fitted for about 6 years now and probably the best extra I bought for the bike!

Mine are Daytona Hot Grips.

Wow, sounds like a pain in the arse!

I'm not convinced that those kind of 'overgrips' are ever much cop - I haven't heard any good reviews of them.

i have my heated grips wired through a relay and took the ign feed from the cooling fan fuse

I was not really convinced but did like the idea of fatter grips at the bar although there are other options available for that. Having just bought the CB and fingers crossed she seems really good and in good nick, I thought the heated grips would be a good addition on the basis I will ride in the winter and the BMW I sold had them and I did think they were good. Having spent my whole youth tearing around on AP50's, Super dreams, CB650, 900 etc without them and not really be bothered about suffering I would advise all that comfort is an important factor in keeping your concentration. Better to have them and not use them than not have them and lose the feel of your front brake in slippy conditions.

I fitted mine at back end of last year and they enabled me to ride comfortably except when it got very cold.
Bought some Oxford muffs recently and I can use the heated grips inside the muffs (shows you how on the muffs fitting instructions)
Well pleased with them.