Improving Hand Warmers

[Muffin]

I’ve been less than impressed with the heat that’s coming from the hand warmers on my 2017 Switchbsck 800. I have them on high all day and still have cold hands.

I think I have a solution.

After a bit of research on here and hard core sledder I’ve come to find the solution is to put and insulting barrier between the hand warmer element and the bars.

I purchased a set of RSI high power heaters with plug already wired for Polaris sleds from Dennis Kirk
PN 5900025 (see pic)

I also got a set of RSI grips
PN 595916 (see pic)

Most people are using cork as the insulator. I don’t really like the idea of something so crumbly under the grip. I found some insulating cloth tape and some insulating fiberglass tape on Mc Master Carr
PN 4057k1
PN 7574a12
(See pics)

I removed the old grips and warmers. Wrapped the bar with the cloth tape then wrapped the cloth with the thin fiberglass for a little more insulation and to give the new heating elements something to stick to.

I put on the elements and pushed on the grips using the compressed air method. Wiring was plug and play

In less than 2 minutes at idle in my shop the grips were at 122 degrees and climbing (see pic).

I’m looking forward to trail testing next weekend.

The job was pretty easy especially if you take your time.

I’ll let you know how the real world results turn out.

 

[ProX00]

How does the compressed air method work to install the grips? Did you need to use any grip glue or something like a hair spray?

 

[George A Twitchell]

People have been using sticky back cork on the bar before outting the heaters on and this seems to work very well!! Look on Snowest site in one of the "stickys" on PRO I think you will find it there. The cork is available in the hoby section in Wal Mart or other hobby outlets.
gtwitch in wyomng

 

[Muffin]

No grip glue or hair spray.

1st, the end of bar has to be capped of with a plug of some sort. I've seen plastic plugs or a wood dowel works.

2nd, you will need compressed air from an air compressor.

3rd, you will need a nozzle on a hose from the air compressor, like you would use to blow things clean or bow off saw dust and stuff.

4th, put the nozzle on the closed end of the grip, normally there is a small hole there. as you push and wring the grip over the bar apply the air. As the grip seals around the bar the compressed air will expand the grip and escape between the grip and the bar. It's a fine line on how much air it takes to expand the grip and still get the grip on because the air is also acting like a piston pushing the grip off of the bar at the same time. This is why the bar needs to be plugged or all your air will go thru the bar and not expand the grip. You have to kinda squeegy the rubber grip into place as you apply the air.

There are plenty of YouTube videos on the subject.

 

[08dmax]

I use shrink tube between the bars and the stock warmers. And stock grips fit back on also. I did this to my last 3 sleds and 6 of my friends sleds. Shrink tube does not move or come unglued or fall apart.

 

[Ru4real]

I used shrink tube as well. But I think this method would be even better because the fiber material has better heat insulating properties, thus less heat into the bars.

 

[Muffin]

Went out yesterday with the new setup and the results were great. Outside air temps never got above 0 degrees F. Rarely did I have to put the warmers on high. Used low and off most of the day. What an improvement!

 

[Chiefcheese]

RSI heaters are the real deal. I melted a set of grips once with them. I must have a good factory set on my 15, as I don't have any issues with the bars or thumb warmer.

 

[racerdave]

Nice solution, but for your cost I'll try the SkiDoo cork under my oem warmers glued back on first. I'm cheap.

 

[Chiefcheese]

Has anyone had a definite indication on what this could be? Capacitor? Elements? Both? I have two sleds and there's no issue with this, but two of my buddies I rode with last week complained all the time. Especially with the thumb warmer.

 

[mcAxysSB44]

Anyone ever try filling the inside of the handlebar with low expanding insulation foam? I've been doing it for years on many sleds. I finally got around to doing it this year on my 16 SB and the heat from hand warmers has improved...

 

[Muffin]

I’m sure that the foam does help, and it’s cheap and easy, but it does not solve the issue. The heat elements are still against the steel bar and steel is a better conductor than rubber and the heat is going to transfer to the steel bar instead of the grip.

 

[racerdave]

Some AXYS have aluminum bars, and they suck the heat away even faster than steel.

 

[Guardrail]

I bought a new leftover last month, and the handwarmers were terrible. I took it back to the dealer, they replaced a relay, that didn't do anything. So i took it back again. They found that the voltage regulator was bad. At an idle it had good voltage, but the voltage would drop when the rpms went over 5000 rpms. We were riding in mostly -10 to -20 degree temps that weekend. It seemed like the cold air was cooling the grips when I got going fast. They work great now.
It's something to check.