Yet another Heated Grips thread - yawn.

[sykospain]

There remains one final issue to solve, regarding my handlebar changeover project, converting from the awful straight Rockster bar to the far comfier R-roadster bar, the one with more lift and better-angled bar ends. Which should solve the awful wrist-ache I get on a long trip.

It's the Heated Grips Switch wiring.

The Motorworks used roadster bar is waiting for me in the UK alongside the Rockster, snoozing on a battery monitor in the rented motor engineers' storage facility. But before I get there in a fortnight's time, I can't seem to find out the wiring layout between the under-tank white connector for the left and right grips, and the throttle-side HG switch - off,semi, full.

One slight complication is that my factory-issue BMW Repair Sequences DVD is back in the UK, and currently ( geddit ? ) the Rockster HGs don't actually work, but I should be able to sort that out with the aid of the estimable Chris Harris's HG wiring repair U-Toob vids. Complete with all his 2006 blankety-blank swearing, which doesn't seem to have been mollified by his awful recent cancer scare.

There seems to be loads of info about the switch wiring on every Beemer bike, EXCEPT the oilheads, judging by what I can find after hours of web-browsing. All the other bikes' HG wiring has been refined since the manufacture of the year-04 R-roadster, Rockster, GS and RT 1150cc 6-speed hydro-actuated-clutch bikes.

mhornig's U-Toob video footage from Germany showing very clearly the mechanics, but NOT the switch-schematics, of a bar conversion, is used in an edited version in my 'private' Vimeo video. To see it, you need the password:-

watchthis



Any help with this particular series of bikes' HG switch wiring from members of this excellent forum would be gratefully received..

Regards from sweltering Andalucía,
AL in s.e. Spain

[Meeni]

What year? The wiring and plugs have changed around 2001/2

[sykospain]

Sorry, I assumed that the '04 in my text was sufficient to imply that the year of the bike is 2004. But if you have any fotos or a drawing showing how the throttle-side heated grip coil is connected to the 3-pos switch, I'd be most grateful.
AL in s.e. Spain

[iminspaaace]

The whole heated grips thing is really confusing. See if this image helps at all.

On my bike, and what I think this diagram is showing for the '01+ bikes, the socket connection for heated grips is actually inside the right-side fuse box. Does your bike already have heated grips, or are you trying to add them? If adding them, find the appropriate wiring harness in the scrapyard (or order a new one, PN 61 12 2 306 87 - looks like the one in this pic, less the grips) and buy some Koso Apollo heated grips. You'll need to do some light cutting and splicing, but it's pretty straightforward if you understand how to read a wiring diagram. Good luck!

More diagrams here: BMW R1100S Wiring Diagrams

[sykospain]

Yesss ! Many thanks Iminspaaace !

That's the clearest schematic I've seen in the absence of my BMW Factory Maintenance DVD that's 2,000 Km away from me, with the bike in the UK.

So the practical interpretation of it, as applied to the later 1150 bikes, is that the fuse labelled 6 there, will actually be #7 on my Rockster, carrying the 12Volts feed to the grips via the switch - and the two wires coming from each handgrip down to the white connector under the tank already have 12 V on them courtesy of the way the switch contacts are wired in the right-hand switch control housing.

Am I right ? The only way to confirm it is to separate that switch housing and observe the coloured wire connections on the switch contacts.

Brill.

Then I can establish whether one or both of the grip heater wires is open-circuit, i.e the usual burn-out which has caused the non-working of both my OEM heated grips. Once I solve the problem of no heat, I can then pull the bar apart and install the much more comfy-angled R-roadster bar instead, thus curing my wrist-ache problem caused by the too-straight Rockster bar.

Regards from sweltering Andalucía, currently 39 degrees in this office at 5pm Central European Time.

AL in s.e. Spain

[iminspaaace]

Originally Posted by sykospain

Yesss ! Many thanks Iminspaaace !

That's the clearest schematic I've seen in the absence of my BMW Factory Maintenance DVD that's 2,000 Km away from me, with the bike in the UK.

So the practical interpretation of it, as applied to the later 1150 bikes, is that the fuse labelled 6 there, will actually be #7 on my Rockster, carrying the 12Volts feed to the grips via the switch - and the two wires coming from each handgrip down to the white connector under the tank already have 12 V on them courtesy of the way the switch contacts are wired in the right-hand switch control housing.

Am I right ? The only way to confirm it is to separate that switch housing and observe the coloured wire connections on the switch contacts.

Brill.

Then I can establish whether one or both of the grip heater wires is open-circuit, i.e the usual burn-out which has caused the non-working of both my OEM heated grips. Once I solve the problem of no heat, I can then pull the bar apart and install the much more comfy-angled R-roadster bar instead, thus curing my wrist-ache problem caused by the too-straight Rockster bar.

Regards from sweltering Andalucía, currently 39 degrees in this office at 5pm Central European Time.

AL in s.e. Spain

Glad that was useful.

I don't think those white connectors will have 12V on them unless the handlebar switch is turned on.

If you are looking for open-circuit on the grip heaters, just take a multi-meter looking "into" the heater, with your multimeter set to measure resistance (Omega symbol). You should see some resistance there. If the multimeter reads open circuit (same as before you touched the leads to the connector), then you know the heater is toast.

Good luck, hope that helps.

[sykospain]

Thanks again - as each day passes I'm getting more clued-up on this HG wiring issue by checking all five BMW Boxer forums of one kind and another, some in the UK, others in Germany and the USA.
Since you replied, I've been told that the layout of European permanently-on-lighting bikes of year 2004 have a slightly revised wiring schematic and installation, introduced by Berlin from year 2002.
Next Friday I'll be in the UK - and after my egg, bacon,sausage, mushroom, tomato, baked-beans and fresh wheat-germ toast 'diet' breakfast, I'll be up the road to the storage place where the bike is, like a rat out of an aqueduct.
Thanks again gentlemen.
AL in s.e. Spain

[iminspaaace]

Sounds like an adventure. Good luck. Glad I could help in some small way.