# Using heated grips power for snowmobile visor



## Dpach (Sep 15, 2014)

Wondering if anyone has used the heated grip power supply to power a heated visor on a snowmobile helmet?

We get serious winds here in Saskatchewan and would like some protection. I am concerned it would be too much power for the shield.


----------



## db9938 (Nov 17, 2013)

That would be nice, but you would have to know how much your engines electrical output is before you connected to it.


----------



## superedge88 (Nov 26, 2013)

Dpach said:


> Wondering if anyone has used the heated grip power supply to power a heated visor on a snowmobile helmet?
> 
> We get serious winds here in Saskatchewan and would like some protection. I am concerned it would be too much power for the shield.


What does the visor require for power?


----------



## UNDERTAKER (Dec 30, 2013)

IS there a snowmobile form out there some where. anyways ALOHA to the forms..


----------



## Dpach (Sep 15, 2014)

db9938 said:


> That would be nice, but you would have to know how much your engines electrical output is before you connected to it.


Not much of an electrical guy, but sleds run on 12 volt systems and most of the info I read say snowmobile visors also run on the 12 volt system. Not sure how much power it draws but I was thinking of using the heated hand grip power supply since I never use the heated grips. Can't see the visor requiring more than handlebar grips. Only worry is too much power and burning out the visor.


----------



## Dpach (Sep 15, 2014)

So here's the info I have found:

Ariens Platinum 30 has a has an alternator that puts out 60 watts on the 12 volt system. The light is 20 watts and the heated grips use 30 watts (leaving 10 watts to spare).

Most heated visors on snowmobile helmets are rated between 9.9 and 10.9 ohms (or approx. 1.2amp draw).

So if amps = watts/volts, am I doing math right:

60 watt alt. / 12 volt system = 5 amps power provided

30 watt heated grips/12 volts = 2.5 amp draw

So if I wire visor (1.2amp draw) into heated grips power supply, the visor would use 1.2 amps of the 2.5amp provided which means grips would still get 1.3 amps to heat somewhat. Correct?

Or 

The electric technician where I work thinks I can just wire in the snowmobile helmet on the heated grip power supply and put a 2 amp in-line fuse for protection. I would then put a toggle switch that would allow me to either use the grip heaters or my visor.

Visors can run on both AC and DC power, so no rectifier should be needed.

Anyone here know if this sounds right? Or am I completely out to lunch?


----------



## superedge88 (Nov 26, 2013)

Dpach said:


> So here's the info I have found:
> 
> Ariens Platinum 30 has a has an alternator that puts out 60 watts on the 12 volt system. The light is 20 watts and the heated grips use 30 watts (leaving 10 watts to spare).
> 
> ...


I would wire it in with the heated grips and a toggle, 2 amp fuse. Should work great.


----------



## Dpach (Sep 15, 2014)

Going to try the following:

Replace the heated grip switch (single pole/single throw -- on/off) with a single pole/double throw (on/off/on) switch. Keep the heated grips wired the same and use the second throw hook up to send power to the heated visor. Will add a 2-3 amp fuse inline between switch and visor plug end and then run the ground back to the black main ground to the stator.


----------



## Dpach (Sep 15, 2014)

Well, tried running an on/off/on switch so I could have either heated grips or heated visor and then it dawned on me that the visor would end up getting the entire 2.5 amp supply the grips required and would likely burn out the visor. Duh!!

So went back to original grip switch and ran the grips and visor together with a 2 amp fuse on the visor line. Works great as visor is suppose to have a 1.2 amp draw or half the 2.5 the grips normally use. Grips warm up to half temp. May put a on/off in-line rocker switch on the visor line yet so if I want I can shut them off and have full grip heat. 

Next addition will be dual 9 or 10 watt LED lights but may not be until next year as wife is wondering why I am already spending money on a new-last-year blower.


----------



## superedge88 (Nov 26, 2013)

Dpach said:


> Well, tried running an on/off/on switch so I could have either heated grips or heated visor and then it dawned on me that the visor would end up getting the entire 2.5 amp supply the grips required and would likely burn out the visor. Duh!!
> 
> So went back to original grip switch and ran the grips and visor together with a 2 amp fuse on the visor line. Works great as visor is suppose to have a 1.2 amp draw or half the 2.5 the grips normally use. Grips warm up to half temp. May put a on/off in-line rocker switch on the visor line yet so if I want I can shut them off and have full grip heat.
> 
> Next addition will be dual 9 or 10 watt LED lights but may not be until next year as wife is wondering why I am already spending money on a new-last-year blower.


Amps are drawn, not pushed. For the same reason that your night light doesn't blow up from being on a 15 amp circuit, your visor would have been just fine as long as the voltage was within the allowable range of what the visor can handle.


----------



## Dpach (Sep 15, 2014)

superedge88 said:


> Amps are drawn, not pushed. For the same reason that your night light doesn't blow up from being on a 15 amp circuit, your visor would have been just fine as long as the voltage was within the allowable range of what the visor can handle.


Snowmobile visors are suppose to run on 12 volt systems (sleds run 12 volt systems) and the snowblower should be a 12 volt system. So the voltage should be fine, no?

So if I leave the grips and visor hooked together, does that mean they will be drawing total of what each draws? So grips draw 2.5 amps and visor draws 1.2 so when flipped on they would pull 3.7 from the alternator? If so, that would mean I am drawing too much from the alternator and I should put the on/off/on (single pole/double throw) switch back in so I am drawing either 2.5 with the grips OR 1.2 with the visor. Correct?

Weird part was that when I tried the on/off/on switch, there seemed to be more heat coming off the visor than the way it is hooked right now so I thought is was getting too much power.


----------



## superedge88 (Nov 26, 2013)

Dpach said:


> Snowmobile visors are suppose to run on 12 volt systems (sleds run 12 volt systems) and the snowblower should be a 12 volt system. So the voltage should be fine, no?
> 
> So if I leave the grips and visor hooked together, does that mean they will be drawing total of what each draws? So grips draw 2.5 amps and visor draws 1.2 so when flipped on they would pull 3.7 from the alternator? If so, that would mean I am drawing too much from the alternator and I should put the on/off/on (single pole/double throw) switch back in so I am drawing either 2.5 with the grips OR 1.2 with the visor. Correct?
> 
> Weird part was that when I tried the on/off/on switch, there seemed to be more heat coming off the visor than the way it is hooked right now so I thought is was getting too much power.


Test the voltage with one of the accessories as a load, you may be surprised at what it actually puts out for voltage. 
With both accessories hooked up at the same time you are drawing 3.7 amps and you may fry the stator.


----------



## Dpach (Sep 15, 2014)

Thanks for the info and advise. Going to put the on/off/on switch back in so it will pull either 2.5 amps with the grips OR the 1.2 amps with the visor. The 2 amp inline fuse should protect the visor if it somehow happens to get too much, correct?

(Don't own a multimeter and really don't feel like buying for one job since I don't do electrical work).


----------



## superedge88 (Nov 26, 2013)

Dpach said:


> Thanks for the info and advise. Going to put the on/off/on switch back in so it will pull either 2.5 amps with the grips OR the 1.2 amps with the visor. The 2 amp inline fuse should protect the visor if it somehow happens to get too much, correct?
> 
> (Don't own a multimeter and really don't feel like buying for one job since I don't do electrical work).


You can get a cheap digital multimeter for about $10-$15 maybe even less than that. If you don't want to test then you can just wait and see if the visor keeps working long term.
The 2 amp inline fuse should keep things protected.


----------



## Dpach (Sep 15, 2014)

I had a chance to check my snowmobile visor power supply and it has a 2 amp fuse also. So I should be fine using the on/off/on switch to have either heated grips or heated visor.

If I start blowing the fuse, then I will buy a multimeter and do some checking.

Thanks for the help.


----------

