K5 SVS No ignition

I (or rather, the AA man) found the problem; it seems I knocked one of the connectors of the LHS switchgear loose whilst fitting the grips and it was this that was causing the problem. The bike is running fine now, although I have left the LHS sidelight (and hence heated grips) disconnected, till I have a better idea of how the grips should be wied in. Ta for the suggestions/warning re: the wiring.

[jambo]

If you wire them direct into the ignition, and the current draw blows a bit of wiring the ignition has now gone, and the bike is dead.... Using a relay and the wiring for the side lights or similar to enable it, means even if something does go wrong, it's less of an issue. Plus the relay should stop any major current draw along cables that were not designed for it anyway...

Originally Posted by jambo

If you wire them direct into the ignition, and the current draw blows a bit of wiring the ignition has now gone, and the bike is dead.... Using a relay and the wiring for the side lights or similar to enable it, means even if something does go wrong, it's less of an issue. Plus the relay should stop any major current draw along cables that were not designed for it anyway...

That was part of the reason I thought wiring it into the sidelight was a good idea; if anything it blew, it was amongst the most 'expendable' of electronics on the bike. Apologies if I'm misinterpreting the above, are you saying I could put a suitable relay in where the existing parallel join in to the sidelight is and then connect the heated grips wiring to the 'amplified' (don't know what the proper term is) side of the relay?

(sorry for what is probably a v. simple/stupid question; you really need to spell electrical things out to me like you're talking to a mental defective )

[yorkie_chris]

OK

A relay is a switch, which is controlled by a small current.

A basic one has 4 contacts, 2 of those are the coil contacts, the other 2 are the switched contacts.

So you want the coil contacts to be wired in parallel with the sidelights.

Then the switched contacts you want a live feed to it direct from the battery, then to the live on the grips, earth the grips to the battery -ve or frame.

What will happen then is when the sidelights have power, a very small extra current will energise the relay and give the grips their feed from the battery.
For all intents and purposes no extra load on the loom.

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

OK

A relay is a switch, which is controlled by a small current.

A basic one has 4 contacts, 2 of those are the coil contacts, the other 2 are the switched contacts.

So you want the coil contacts to be wired in parallel with the sidelights.

Then the switched contacts you want a live feed to it direct from the battery, then to the live on the grips, earth the grips to the battery -ve or frame.

What will happen then is when the sidelights have power, a very small extra current will energise the relay and give the grips their feed from the battery.
For all intents and purposes no extra load on the loom.

Ta, I think that makes sense to me. I shall do it that way. Anyone got any recommendations on a suitable relay I can buy online/somewhere common like maplins/halfords/etc?

Thanks ever so much for your patience/explanation chaps.

[yorkie_chris]

Go get one from a scrapyard IMO, find an old motor, pick something out of the fusebox that isn't a fuse. It's more than likely to work.

Just go maplins or kevin cooper and get an automotive relay (preferably waterproof), any difficulties, tell em what it's for and they should be able to sort you out.