Patent ID: 7291814

Claim:
A grip heater control apparatus, comprising: a heater for generating heat by electric power supplied from a battery, the heater being provided in a grip of a steering handle of a vehicle having an engine as a propulsive source, a generator for generating electricity depending on the rotation of the engine, the battery being charged by the generator; a heater control unit for controlling the electric energy supplied to the heater from the battery, a heater temperature actuator operated by a driver for adjusting a temperature of the heater; an operation signal output unit for outputting a signal corresponding to an operation of the heater temperature actuator; and a target electric energy setting unit for setting a target electric energy to the heater based on an output of the operation signal output unit, wherein a revolutions detecting unit is provided for detecting the number of revolutions of the engine or the generator, wherein the heater control unit includes an upper limit determining unit for determining an upper limit of the electric energy supplied to the heater depending on the number of revolutions detected by the revolutions detecting unit, and wherein the heater control unit controls the electric energy supplied to the heater to be a lower one of the target electric energy and the upper limit electric energy.