nothing too special... i just installed some seat heater elements today. i bought the kit off ebay for $75. took a little while to disasseble the seats to put the heat pads in.. but the install was very easy otherwise. the wire harness comes complete and all that's needed is to wire the + wire to your Accessory wire, and the - wire to the ground.
although it takes a few minutes to heat up, and it only activates when there's pressure being applied on the bottom pad (ie. with your bum)... but it has two settings for low heat (green light) and high heat (red light).
and it's pretty kewl as the button fits perfectly where the jdm rear foglight switch normally goes.. just had to drill a hole right through it

so, now i won't have to sit on a frozen leather chair this winter...
but sadly.. my passengers will.










>>UPDATE: >>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------->

I would not suggest having the wires come out of here, like i did in this pic:

since you're restricted in how far you can slide your seat back. i didn't think i'd have to slide back all the way so i just left them the way they were. then one day, i slid the seat back and i ran over the connectors.. so i relocated the wires to come out from under the carpet and out from below the chair...

This post has been edited by azian_advanced: Mar 31, 2007 - 8:48 AM

That is awesome, I might have to get one of those, it gets pretty cold where I live. Is it comfortable?

This post has been edited by bojangles_8686: Dec 11, 2006 - 7:01 PM

i like that idea for those cold nights and leather, brrrrr

that's awesome, wished i had leather seats

you da man. That's was my next thing...o well, next winter then

i just came back from a evening's worth of studying... anyway, i just checked out the original manufacturer's website, and it seems they put the pads with the wires facing out.. crap! i put them in backwards then... they shoulda put a "this side up" label on them pads... and the switch is sometimes not turning on so i will also look into that.

otherwise the way it is now, i get minimal heat (because they're on backwards) so this weekend i'll flip them over and come back with an update. the manual says under high heat that it should heat up around 110 degrees. but then again, there is some padding beneath the leather seat cover for the heat to travel through..

And is that really safe? I wish I have heated ones too (unbelievable handy thing here ), but I'm afraid a bit of it... Is really that material inside of seat non-flammable???

nicely done. Thats pretty sweet.

>

True enough.

by 110 degrees, that's in fahrenheit btw.
it's basically foam on the bottom and padded cloth just under the seat covers. so nothing flammable is there i hope.. well, i guess i'll be the lab rat to test these out to see if i catch on fire

>

Let us know how it works out!

Always wanted to get me one of them ass heaters . Keep us uptdated on how it function's. When u done flipping them could u tell us how long it takes for them to heat up to a point where u actually can warm up from the heat.
Upstate NY is friggin cold

I understand how you got the pad into the bottom ..but i'm wondering how you got it into the back!? (i'm not looking at a celica seat right now, so that is why i post..)

the back was so much easier..
just unclip the bottom of the back seat (once you separate the back seat from the bottom seat using the how-to)
the just slip it up the seat cover. there's no need to actually remove the seat cover and i doubt that the pad will actually slide down or bend while it's in there. the pads come with adhesive so that you can stick them if you wanted to. if you slide your hand up the seat cover, it'll stop until you reach the shoulder area anyway. i'll take a few more pics this weekend, probably sunday if not, monday.

This post has been edited by azian_advanced: Dec 14, 2006 - 8:22 AM

wow. very nice. would be nice to have since i got leather seats too...

wonder if there's add-on heated side mirrors kits too??

Very nice. Now when can I get you to do mine for me. hah.

>


for the mirrors, you'll more likely need the whole mirror assembly that has the parts for the heated mirrors..
as far as i know, it's the UK guys that have 'em. except they don't have the power folding option stock.. only the jdm imported ones do. but some of them were able to merge the jdm folding options with their uk heated mirrors..



and alfred, i can install them in yours, you just have to order them. sadly, i can't do it for free. it takes a little while disassebling the seats and removing all the hog rings holding the bottom seat cover in place. i think i used about 33 zip ties just for the bottom cover! then there's the wiring and everything else..
if you want, wait until i fix mine and you can try them out yourself.

This post has been edited by azian_advanced: Dec 14, 2006 - 9:05 PM

EDIT: double post


This post has been edited by azian_advanced: Dec 14, 2006 - 9:07 PM

Saaawweet.

Of course I wouldn't dream of asking for it to be done for free.
How much harder would it be to wire up the passenger instead?... I need to be considerate of my gf's bum getting cold too.

>

aww.. .how considerate. but yah, the passenger side should be the same thing.. but where would be a good spot to mount the switch??

>

I was thinking near the window toggle on BOTH sides.. b/c i have the uk oem fog button
...maybe somewhere in the center? -- its gotta look as OEM as possible..

ok, so i reinstalled the heat pads in the seats.

backrest


bottom- through the front


bottom- out the rear


anyway, i first tested them off using a 12V 10A battery charger. it only had minimal heat (as before) so i was pretty disappointed.. i was sitting on it for about a good 15 mins and still barely any heat!

then i figured out why the switch wasn't going on, it was because the power wire wasn't secure in properly, but that's fixed now.

so after putting everything back together and went to work, the seats started to heat up nicely. it felt like there was 3-4 times more heat then before (enough to keep me satisfied, yet not too warm so you can still focus on the road ) and that's with me wearing winter clothing. but i think it took a good 10 mins to reach maximum heat.

so in conclusion, it was $75 well spent.

>

2 questions:

1.) Does it really only heat up when pressure is being applied
2.) Are the LEDs too bright, and thus an eye sore when on?

Thanks-

>


1. Yes. I had warmed up the car with the heated seat switch set to ''on" for about 7 mins, and when i sat inside, it was still cool. then after about 5-10 mins of driving and sitting on it, only then it started to get warm.

2. they are bright when driving at night, but it isn't a problem in the daytime. and the light doesn't glare at you like how one would flash an LED at your face. the green light isn't as bad as the red one though. but if the switch is really causing a problem, you can always switch it with a different one. just find a rocker switch which has 3 rear pins (two '+' for hi and low, one '-' for ground) then just solder it on.

as a side note: even with an average of about -20 degrees celsius here (-4 degrees F), i almost never use the higher blower settings for the heater, the seat heater does soo much already in regards to keeping warm.

>

The switch does look pretty good - a good match for the toyota switches and buttons from your 'photo. But if i were doing it for both seats, I think I would probably look at acquiring the heated seat buttons from a 6th gen vert. They are rectangular and fit next to the cigarette lighter and alarm led.

Alternatively, you could move your dashboard dimmer rotatry to the square blanking panel 4-5 inches below, move the hazard switch to the old location of the dashboard dimmer and then put the passenger control next to the clock (the old location for the hazard).


This post has been edited by BloodyStupidDavey: Jun 16, 2007 - 12:03 PM

I am doing BOTH seats, and am looking for good buttons.. I don't think i will want the glare of the LEDs, but am looking for an oem style hi/lo switch...

BTW, Davey, not sure the 6th gen vert has seat heaters?!

-Collin

>

Certainly they were both the UK and Japan 6th gen vert models (although IIRC the UK only had heaters when leather seats were spec'd). Also, the JDM GT hatchback (non-vert) had heated seat bottoms but not the switches (I assume the heaters eiter came on with the rear screen heater or when the cabin temperature fell below a preset level).

>

MORE INFO! -- part numbers needed!

>

Sorry folks I'm afraid reality is bit different .

I believe heated seats in CVT don't has any special switch. That heating process is started with "rear window defogger button" (that one beside A/C button, see blue arrows below)... same with side mirrors heating/defogging.

Those three buttons are for roof (slide) and for side windows... see picture (it's USDM CVT)



..and this is from JDM hatch.



same buttons, same numbers...

switch sliding roof:
84860-20030 (A)

switch power window:
84810-20230 (no.2)
84810-20240 (no.3)

However any one with USDM CVT should confirm that or make detailed pics.

good idea having the switches in place of the convertible window and soft top switches.

here it is:




according to Toyota World:
Cover, Instrument Panel Hole (55548-20090)
$16.21

Base, Switch (from convertible) (55449-20100)
$7.50


now just find your own switches...






edit: damn, you beat me to it.

This post has been edited by azian_advanced: Jan 3, 2007 - 2:41 AM