DIY seat heaters

[Electric4Me]

If I install the two heat pads (seat back and butt) in series, and if one fail, the whole thing turns off. However, if they are in parallel and one fails, will this overheat/overpower the other one?

No. If they are in parallel they are essentially independent of each other. Think 2 light bulbs plugged into the same wall outlet.

[gascant]

What a great time we had yesterday doing 3 LEAFs, two of whose owners did all 4 seats. Many thanks to Electric4Me and his father-in-law for their patience, teaching, and support. Also thanks to Electric4Me's wife who allowed us to take over the garage and driveway for a very full day--luckily we had all just pulled out of the driveway when she returned from her errands. We didn't actually finish the job in the 8 hours, but remaining work is mostly electrical hook up--each car was fully functional when we left.

We'll put together tools and spare parts lists separately and post. Full set of instructions will also follow.

[lemketron]

I got them here. http://www.sportsimportsltd.com/single-seat-heater-kit-with-illuminated-5-position-thumb-dial-switch.html More expensive than the ebay models mentioned earlier but the switch, fast warm-up and and very warm high end temperature, sold me. I installed these years ago in my old Prius with the Hi/Low switch but found it was a bit too warm on high and not warm enough on low. Used it yesterday on an epic 160 mile round trip in the Cascade mountains with an average outside temperature of 20F and no car heat, except the occasional defog.

I have to say I found their warranty somewhat amusing:

3 year or 36,000 mile manufacturers warranty

How do they know how many miles you put on those heaters?

[arnolddeleon]

There is a work in progress wiki page http://www.mynissanleaf.com/wiki/index.php?title=Seat_Heaters documenting the process.

arnold

[Turbo3]

Last Friday afternoon I finally completed the electrical wiring for front and back seat heaters. With the addition of the Harbor Freight 12v heater (item 96144) I now have no need for the Leaf heater (except for perhaps defrost).

Many thanks to Electric4Me for starting this mod and helping the three of us out the day after Christmas with the majority of the mechanical work (seats out, pads in and seats back).

I went with the Nissan switches for the front and being an Electrical Engineer had to go with a complete custom wiring harness which allowed me to remove 17+ feet of unneeded wire from the standard kit plus the two relays (but at the cost of much more labor).

If you are going for speed with the Nissan switches go with Arnold's modified wiring that just replaces the round switch with the Nissan switch and keeps of the original kit wiring and relays.

The heaters work great and I think are a must for the Leaf. I think I can now skip any preheating in the morning saving more Kwh.

For my wife and I we start with HI which gives heat within 60 seconds but after a few minutes need to switch down to LO. Once the 12v heater has the cabin warmed up even LO is too much.

Jim

[jcobb]

I have to say I found their warranty somewhat amusing:

3 year or 36,000 mile manufacturers warranty

How do they know how many miles you put on those heaters?

I was interested in that as well. They actual provided a warranty card that the "installer" is suppose to fill out (including mileage) and mail in. I filled it out myself and mailed it back in. I doubt anything will happen in the next three years but we will see.

[gascant]

I went with the Nissan switches for the front and being an Electrical Engineer had to go with a complete custom wiring harness which allowed me to remove 17+ feet of unneeded wire from the standard kit plus the two relays (but at the cost of much more labor).

If you are going for speed with the Nissan switches go with Arnold's modified wiring that just replaces the round switch with the Nissan switch and keeps of the original kit wiring and relays.

I also did a custom wiring job but did not save as much wiring as Jim. Detailed directions for adapting to the Nissan Switches are here http://www.mediafire.com/?7kttxlq135h4j23
This document will grow over time as we get more experience. Between this file and the Wiki, you can get a good feel for the level of involvement.

[Zhaohui]

They are not OEM but I like my switches very well. They look built in; similar to the switch for the headlight angle; and have 10, count them 10 different heat settings. 0-5 in 1/2 increments.





Warning I did have to shave a little bit off the console to get them to fit but am very please with the results.

Can this single-dial switch be installed in Leaf’s console for rear seat heaters?
I got seat heaters come with single-dial switches. It seems that it needs a place with size of 55 (mm, D) X 40 (H) X 22 (W) to hold one switch .
Any input will be highly appreciated.
Thank you.
Zhaohui

[EVDrive]

I put in a dash mounted switch for the rear seats. I was worried about them being left on as well. I just drilled out one of the blank switch place holders on the dash and put in a 30 amp rocker switch form O'Riellys parts store.

Any thoughts on how to keep rear seat heaters from being left on? Dash mounted indicator light or switch?

arnold

[EVDrive]

Installing seat heaters was a wild job. It took me about 20 hours to do all by my lonesome. Totally worth it though. I used the dial switches and they heat up fast and feel great.

A few things I learned:
I cut my hands pretty good a few times like everyone else and the good news is that my blood came right off the seat with just a bit of sparkely water.

Building a wiring harness takes a while especially if you add in a dash switch and tape it like it came out of the factory.

Don't turn on your car with the seats out. If you do the airbags will shut off. Search the forum for airbag warning light and a quick no dealer fix/system reset is posted by another forum member. I was kicking myself all weekend thinking I could have broke the airbags and might have to pay through the nose to get them fixed.

If you order the dial kit used by myself and others in this thread, order 3 weeks ahead of time. Sports imports say they ship in 24-48 hours but they don't. They took over a week to ship and another week in transit.