DIY seat heaters

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palmermd said:
motor : $2054 - http://www.factorynissanparts.com/partlocator/index.cfm?action=getJointLocator&siteid=214081&chapter=&sectionids=3,2413&groupid=2449&subgroupid=9184&make=25&model=LEAF&year=2011&catalogid=2&displayCatalogid=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Inverter : $3870 - http://www.factorynissanparts.com/partlocator/index.cfm?action=getJointLocator&siteid=214081&chapter=&sectionids=3,2413&groupid=2449&subgroupid=13157&make=25&model=LEAF&year=2011&catalogid=2&displayCatalogid=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Pretty good price for an 80kW AC system.

Thats very interesting, total $5900 .. I wonder what the OEM cost to Nissan is?.. I believe a 4 cyl ICE is about $450 to the OEM.
 
OK, taking the plunge--ordered the switches already and am xferring the $$ to my PayPal account to get the seat heaters this week. So, I'll be most curious to see if Bill gets his quality typing time while his wife drives up to Oregon.

Items of particular interest for the write up:
1) How do you remove the covers over the center console?
2) Which circuit did you use for the 12V power supply?
3) How did you route the front seat wires up to the center console?
4) Anything else that needs to be removed if only doing the front seats? (I already pried off the fuse box cover on the inside of the driver's side door jamb.)
5) Any magic to removing the upholstery cover to get to the zippers?
6) Did you guys reference a Nissan shop manual to help with the project?
Removing the seats seems pretty straightforward, right?
 
gascant said:
OK, taking the plunge--ordered the switches already and am xferring the $$ to my PayPal account to get the seat heaters this week. So, I'll be most curious to see if Bill gets his quality typing time while his wife drives up to Oregon.

Items of particular interest for the write up:
1) How do you remove the covers over the center console?
2) Which circuit did you use for the 12V power supply?
3) How did you route the front seat wires up to the center console?
4) Anything else that needs to be removed if only doing the front seats? (I already pried off the fuse box cover on the inside of the driver's side door jamb.)
5) Any magic to removing the upholstery cover to get to the zippers?
6) Did you guys reference a Nissan shop manual to help with the project?
Removing the seats seems pretty straightforward, right?

OK Howard, I see the gauntlet you've thrown down! If I don't get it written up this week (or even if I do) you can come over and we'll do it together.

I did use the Nissan service manual for everything "standard".

Bill
 
TonyWilliams said:
Ok, that's not going to happen. So, what the DIY plan for a heated steering wheel? ...

Gloves

:lol:

Seriously, I would love it if someone would post a guide for doing this given the factory or near-factory parts as I want to do this soon! I also have concerns about the passenger seat. I keep reading that seat heaters and air bag sensors do not like each other so on some cars that necessitates either cutting holes for the pressure sensors on the butt-rest and/or turning off the back-rest part of the heater (which is a non-option in my opinion) Does anyone know for certain that the system can adapt to a passenger seat heater safely or what needs to be done?
 
SierraQ said:
Seriously, I would love it if someone would post a guide for doing this given the factory or near-factory parts as I want to do this soon! I also have concerns about the passenger seat. I keep reading that seat heaters and air bag sensors do not like each other so on some cars that necessitates either cutting holes for the pressure sensors on the butt-rest and/or turning off the back-rest part of the heater (which is a non-option in my opinion) Does anyone know for certain that the system can adapt to a passenger seat heater safely or what needs to be done?

I'd love to hear more about any concerns about the air bag butt pressure sensor and the seat heater. I'm also not sure what the seat back has to do with that.
You can see the butt pressure sensor under the fabric in this photo:



I inserted the heater pad above the pressure sensor and all seems well. I assumed (perhaps falsely) that this is exactly what the OEM would do.
 
I did the $20 download. I didn't know a DVD was available.

Edit: I should add that I talked to a rep on the phone about the download and she was surprised that I could download it... Apparantly the one day view licence is not supposed to enable downloading. Thanks to the MNL forum for the way to do it!
 
Electric4Me said:
I'd love to hear more about any concerns about the air bag butt pressure sensor and the seat heater. I'm also not sure what the seat back has to do with that.

Neither do I. :lol: That is, I don't know how these systems work or how precise they are but I think they can be affected.

Specifically my concern comes from two sources.

1) We have an Acura TL on which the passenger seat heater does not heat the back (only the bottom) and I think MDXs of the same model year behaved the same. Somewhere I found an explanation stating that the heater could interfere with a side airbag sensor so they intentionally disconnected it. The sensor in question is the one that turns the airbag off under certain conditions such as when an child's head is in the way. Now Acura has apparently figured out a way around this because the latest models of TL and MDX now heat the entire seat from what I have observed.

2) Then there are the bottom seat pressure sensors, which detect when an occupant of sufficient weight is in the seat, again turning off the airbag if the occupant is too light. Some DIY installation guides specifically tell you to cut around these sensors if they are visible just beneath the cloth where the airbag goes. Others say have the sensor zeroed out or provide instructions to the effect. Realistically I do not see how the weight of a thin piece of material would matter in this case but I suppose there could be other factors like the added insulation or heat from the material.

As I said, I know very little about these systems so I was curious if anyone on the forum has more knowledge or has had professional seat heater installation advice, etc. If you say you've noticed no adverse effects such as the side airbag light coming on mysteriously, good to know!
 
Hmmm... I haven't heard of the sensor in the back that you describe in your Acura. My wife's '05 MDX doesn't seem to behave this way as it heats the back too.

After having the power off and/or unplugging the airbag controller between the front seats, I did have to follow a procedure from the Service Manual to reset the passenger side airbag warning that came up. (I hadn't yet turned on the heater.) All has been fine since then.
 
Our 2003 MDX heats the backs but definitely has the sensor in the passenger's seat. If you lean forward while sitting in the passenger's seat, it even illuminates a light on the dash to warn you that that airbag has been disabled.

Electric4Me said:
Hmmm... I haven't heard of the sensor in the back that you describe in your Acura. My wife's '05 MDX doesn't seem to behave this way as it heats the back too.
 
I bought the two seat heaters from eBay, and the two Nissan switches...Now that the gear has arrived, I can see that it would be easier if I could also get the corresponding Nissan cables that fit into the back of the switches so I can wire up the heaters...

Does anyone by any chance have any part numbers for those matching cables?

Thanks, Randy
 
After I ordered mine ($82 from eBay), I saw it on Amazon for $20 less. Oh well.

I also have the Nissan switches. They appear to function similarly to those that came with the kit. Will verify with an ohm meter and then come up with a strategy for adapting. The good news is that the Nissan switches will use the same 4 wires as the switch that came with the kit. But I might install with the kit switches first just to verify functionality.
 
True ... but it's, "6 of one ... half dozen of the other"

Meaning, the Amazon one charges you $10 shipping ... and ... shipping out of CA, there'd be $5 sales tax ... so it's darn near the same. There, I feel better - seeing the ebay price is w/in $5 now.
:D
 
Point well taken. I noticed the shipping thing at the time, but didn't see the sales tax.
It came in a nice UPS box too.
 
Oh, and get ready to bleed! Even though I was extremely careful, I still got a few cuts and scrapes from that !@#$% sharp sheemetal seat pan!

-Phil
 
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