Diy Heated Front Seats

[mattbenselin 0]

Hi all,

 

Having full leather is great but when it's hot you have to peel yourself off, when it's cold, well it's just not nice!

Having been driving all winter in a company car with heated leather it's been a god send and does wonders for your back on long journey (how old does that make me sound!).

So I started thinking about putting a system in the 205, I know it was an option but you never see any with them. I thought about using some heated leathers from a 405 but I like the 205 seats and mine have the red stitching.

 

As always eBay to the rescue and I came across loads of pads which seem to sit on top of your seat cover which negates the point of having leather!

Next up are kits which can be placed under your seat covers and do everything I'm after, but at a price and quite a high one.

 

So I started to think about other options and ways it could be done and straight away I thought about using the cars coolant system.

If I tapped into the metal hose which runs from the bulkhead to the heater matrix and put in a Y piece, this would complete the heater matrix feed and also provide a take off. Using insulated hose under the carpet but over the sound deadening this would run under the seat and pop out of a slit. Onto this would go a simple inline twist tap to feed a thin hose which would be embedded into the seat foam just under the surface (deep enough so you can't feel it but shallow enough for the heat to penetrate). This would snake all over the seat and return back under the carpet and through the bulkhead into the expansion tank. I have chosen that instead of tapping back into the coolant system because there's no risk of hot water travelling back up the hose even when the tap is closed.

 

Would there be enough heat in the water to really work? I know it's a little ott but I like doing things differently!

 

Cheers for any thoughts,

Matt

[DrSarty 90 1 Cars]

Cleverly thought out, but "chew is loco 'omes" (said in a Mexican stylee).

 

I just hope the hosing anywhere on its route can't split due to sitting pressure, sliding the seat etc, as being sprayed with 90deg water on the motorway would not be pleasant.

 

At least when leccy seats fail they just cool and/or the fuse blows.

 

Didn't I suggest to you or someone else getting a set from a Volvo in a scrappy's? They always work.

Edited January 29, 2009 by DrSarty

[large 33]

I would have a look for some self regulating "trace heating cable" that will work with 12v dc all you would have to do then is fit a switch.

[Ryan 99]

You could copy the design of the pads quite easily. There's nothing special about the heater wire, it just ordinary copper wire, and works on the same principle as the heated rear window - when you put a large current through a small wire it gets warm.

 

I started making my own a while ago. This is the prototype:

 

 

 

It's made with thin varnished copper wire, 24-gauge iirc. There's about 15 meters of it woven into a bit of spare fabric. You have to play with the wire length to get the amount of heat right (shorter = hotter), but I've hooked it up to a battery and sat on it for 15 minutes or so and it's quite comfortable without getting too hot.

 

Eventually I'll make one for the seat base and one for the backrest and try them out in the actual seats...

Edited January 29, 2009 by Ryan

[omega 82]

Hi all,

 

Having full leather is great but when it's hot you have to peel yourself off, when it's cold, well it's just not nice!

Having been driving all winter in a company car with heated leather it's been a god send and does wonders for your back on long journey (how old does that make me sound!).

So I started thinking about putting a system in the 205, I know it was an option but you never see any with them. I thought about using some heated leathers from a 405 but I like the 205 seats and mine have the red stitching.

 

As always eBay to the rescue and I came across loads of pads which seem to sit on top of your seat cover which negates the point of having leather!

Next up are kits which can be placed under your seat covers and do everything I'm after, but at a price and quite a high one.

 

So I started to think about other options and ways it could be done and straight away I thought about using the cars coolant system.

If I tapped into the metal hose which runs from the bulkhead to the heater matrix and put in a Y piece, this would complete the heater matrix feed and also provide a take off. Using insulated hose under the carpet but over the sound deadening this would run under the seat and pop out of a slit. Onto this would go a simple inline twist tap to feed a thin hose which would be embedded into the seat foam just under the surface (deep enough so you can't feel it but shallow enough for the heat to penetrate). This would snake all over the seat and return back under the carpet and through the bulkhead into the expansion tank. I have chosen that instead of tapping back into the coolant system because there's no risk of hot water travelling back up the hose even when the tap is closed.

 

Would there be enough heat in the water to really work? I know it's a little ott but I like doing things differently!

 

Cheers for any thoughts,

Matt

theres alot of thought gone into that,if you going to do it this way have you looked at underfloor heating systems??,but i think you are using a sledgehammer to crack a nut,and theres loads of points where this can fail/leak.the idea of robbing another car for a heated element sounds a lot easier and safer

[johny105_y2k 1]

you can get a kit for the hyundai coupe(my other car) for £60 iirc these are very small but effective and i dont doubt for 1 minute that they wouldn't fit in a 205's seats .

you get 4 pads 2 for the base ,2 for the back enabling you tyo do both front seats, all wires ,relays and switches.

[brian j 32]

you can get a kit for the hyundai coupe(my other car) for £60 iirc these are very small but effective and i dont doubt for 1 minute that they wouldn't fit in a 205's seats .

you get 4 pads 2 for the base ,2 for the back enabling you tyo do both front seats, all wires ,relays and switches.

 

Where from?

[mattbenselin 0]

Cheers for the comments guys...

 

In reflection I think I will go down the electric route rather than water. The risk of failure is far worse with water and the consequences, well painful!

I know there are kits out there to do this but that is too easy! Sorry but I guess I want the satisfaction of doing it myself somehow.

On eBay you can get 12v electric blankets which are something like 1m x 1.5m. I was thinking of cutting it to shape and carefully rewiring the element to create 4 pads with 2 switches. These blankets are only about £10 so it's a cheap option.

Ryan your homemade pad looks and sounds great and I suppose cheap to make and you can do whatever you want with it. Would it be possible to do what you have done there then fit a dimmer switch like the one for the dash lights? You could then regulate the heat.

[Ryan 99]

Ryan your homemade pad looks and sounds great and I suppose cheap to make and you can do whatever you want with it. Would it be possible to do what you have done there then fit a dimmer switch like the one for the dash lights? You could then regulate the heat.

 

I thought about that too. But a normal dimmer switch won't take the amount of current the seats need (5+ amps each), and ones that will are pretty expensive.

 

I've asked around on a few electronics forums for help, and started to draw up a little circuit to control the temperature, but I haven't built it yet, so I've got no idea if it works. I'm going to work on it over the next couple of weeks and see what I can do...

[stufarri 98 3 Cars]

Hi fellas.

 

For all the messing about making your own you may as well get one of these kits off fleabay.

 

Look like a doddle to fit and just under £60:

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WAECO-HEATED-SEAT-KI...A1%7C240%3A1318

Edited January 30, 2009 by stufarri

[omega 82]

Hi fellas.

 

For all the messing about making your own you may as well get one of these kits off fleabay.

 

Look like a doddle to fit and just under £60:

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WAECO-HEATED-SEAT-KI...A1%7C240%3A1318

 

theres a cmpany called westfailer that does 2 heated seat covers for about 12 quid

[mattbenselin 0]

These were the kits I was referring to in my first post, but I don't want to pay £60 for a warm arse! Rather do something myself, but thanks anyway