Wiring question.

Right. Thinking caps on.

I've got a set of "hot hands". I dunno if they're good or owt, but
they were "free", and I've got to ride to Biarritz on Saturday.

In order to wire them into the Wing, I dutifully snipped off their
switch, and stuck a matching pair of spade connectors where the
soldered joints were.

The new switch has 3 terminals, cos it lights up when "live" or
something.

Question: which two terminal (they're not marked *at all*" do my
existing connectors go on, and do I have to run a live feed to the
other one? I presume if I do this from the accessory terminal, rather
than the battery, then I needn't worry about them overheating whilst
the ignition is off.

Switch is a little like this

|------|
| I I |
| |
| |
| I |
|------|

Where the I is the terminal.

Currently (ho, ho) I can get the light in the switch to come on, or
bypass it completely, and get warm grips. I suppose a simple in-line
swtich might be the answer, in the short term.

All help gratefully received.

How come the spotlights weren't all this trouble? Or the CD player?
Relays, that's my guess. Make your life easy, do relays.

 

At a guess - one of the terminals is for the heat (wired with an inline
fuse direct to the battery) and the other is wired to the 'acc' wire on
the ignition so that it lights up when you switch the bike on. If that
makes sense.

Alternatively - the terminal for the light in the switch could be
connected to the headlamp / sidelamp wire so that the switch only lights
up when you switch the lights on..... this is usually the way a cage
radio is wired.

 

Salad Dodger wrote:

OK,

in order for a light to work, you need a live and earth, if the switch did
not have a light then it would not need the earth as it would be just
passing the live through it

so, connect a test light [1] so that one of its wires are connected to a
battery live and the other to the single side of the switch. Now connect a
wire between one of the other terminals on the switch to earth on the
battery. now toggle the switch. it will either light the test lamp or
bothe the test lamp and the switch light.

If it lights the lamp only then use those 2 terminals for the circuit. if
not try again

Use a relay to connect the grips to the battery as per the information I
gave in this group last week, google is your friend. the switch may not be
rated for the power going through it

[1] a bulb connected to 2 wires will do