I have been gifted a set of oxford heated grips but I'm paranoid I'll end up with a flat battery if I leave them on by mistake. Does everyone wire them straight to the battery as instructed or is it safer to wire them to a switched live. Has anyone ended up with a flat battery or am I worrying unnecessarily.
My wife has a set on her Hornet. They turn themselves off if left on. Not had a problem with a flat battery.
Same as above, I have them on my Triumph and Suzuki, never had a problem with them on both bikes. Connect away with confidence.
No Oxford experience here, but if you want to be sure, connect a relay to your headlight. Lights off = grips off.
I have a set on the Husaberg, wired direct to the battery and they partially flattened the battery after I left them switched on. I can't remember which model they are but I don't think they have an auto shutoff like some do. When I went back to the bike the light on the grip heater control wasn't lit and the battery was down to just over 4 volts, not good. I managed to recover the battery with a smart charger but it shortened it's life.
If you are afraid of the battery getting flat, you can put them after a relay triggered with the light for example. That's the solution I applied on my bike.
Has anyone any pics of these fitted to a speed triple, im interested in how they look with the wiring as the battery is very close to the bars, can the cables be made to look neat.
Just make sure they are not an old set. The modern "intelligent" Oxford grips will switch off when you switch your engine off. In fact the grips will not switch on if your battery is not fully charged. I left my Tracer unused for a couple of months and didn't connect it to a battery optimiser. The bike started ok when I came to use it but the grips wouldn't work. I thought they were buggered but after about thirty miles they came on and work fine.
On my fourth set of "modern" Oxford grips (four different bikes). Never had a problem with a flat battery.
I have had problems with flat battery on my Triumph America but I don't know if it is the heated grips or the USB ports, as they do use a bit even when not connected. I am an infrequent rider in winter months and always connect an Oxford Optimiser to trickle charge.
This may sound stupid but how do I know an old set from a new set. These have been used but are clean and look tidy but I don't know how old they are or really where they came from.......maybe I should just buy some new ones and stop being cheap.
Here's the website to the Sportsbike Shop, this will help you make your mind up which sort you'd need. Never had the old style, so can't help you on that front, I dare say someone else will be able to tell you the difference, other than the obvious omission of the controller. Whatever one's you get, I'd always buy them at the Sportsbike Shop, can't beat their price, or their service. https://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/motorcycle_parts/content_search?s=Oxford Heated
I've hooked them up to a battery in my shed they go off after 5 or 6 minutes but you can switch them straight back on. Is that the norm?
Thats the newer type as it has the intelligence written (and battery saving mode led) on it also. It cuts out if it detects the battery voltage being low (if you forget) They detect the current going up and down (to the battery) so they know if the engine is on. If it's just on the battery, it's only going down so it's correct.