Modern Vespa

Hi everyone,
winter is coming, so this year I decided to finally get some heated grips for my 2015 gts 300.

I bought a set of these https://www.oxfordproducts.com/motorcycle/brands/oxford/handlebar_accessories/hotgrips_advanced_touring_uk_specific/, and fitted them at the weekend. The installation went smoothly, and the grips work really well, but like all the Oxford grips they come with the most (to my eyes) hideous control unit. I refuse to have that 'thing' spoiling the looks of my Vespa, so I put it in the only place where I think it belongs: inside the glove compartment. I have been riding for long enough to know that I won't need to adjust the heat level while riding, so the idea is that I will turn the grips on when I set off, and turn them off when I stop.

But now I've started toying with the idea of adding a handlebar-mounted little on/off switch which would in line with the control unit (which is wired directly to the battery), and allow me to turn the grips on or off.

Has anyone attempted anyting of the sorts? I'm assuming that the grips' control unit won't be affected by adding a switch in line, but maybe I am missing something? Any tips?

TIA!

"on/off switch which would in line with the control unit" "allow me to turn the grips on or off"

From my memory.
If you switch the bike off, the Oxfords switch off too.
When you switch the bike back on the Oxfords stay off.
So the switch would allow you to turn them off. But you would have to access the control unit to turn them back on.

I'm pretty sure @Zarathusra is correct.

Probably a bit late now but would some like these have been better? - No idea if these are available in the UK.

Oxford Hotgrips Pro Touring installed

They would have been.

Anyway, as it turns out the control unit turns the grips off after 5 minutes if it doesn't sense any 'activity' from the battery, so an additional switch is indeed not needed. Very happy with my setup!

Good to hear. Was there anything on the packaging that says why they are UK specific. It seems such a weird thing because 12v is 12v no matter what country.

No idea. Maybe they are pricier than non-uk versions?

UK version has "waterproof" connectors. I also saw controller with more steps, but that might have been incidental.

I've wired up the Oxfords before. Wire then directly to the battery. You can mount the temp contol switch anywhere you want to. The oxford controller has a built in sensor that detects if the bike is running or not. If it's not, then the sensor will automatically turn off by themselves, so no worries about having a dead battery.