Teutone's DIY heated seats

Teutone

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While I had the passenger seat out to make a new base, I remembered that I still have a set of seat heaters which never made it into my wifes car because they didn't fit her leather seats.

So they went into the Motorhome seat!

First you need to remove the seat cover. I started with the base, the seat cover has some plastice rails stitched to the fabric which hooks over some rods on the metal seat base. They can be unhooked with a little bit of pulling the facric


Close up of the hooking rail


because the cover is very easy to remove, I decided to split the back rest from the base for better access.
Remove side plastic cover
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other side has the backrest adjuster wheel which can just be pulled off


then remove the two big bolts which hold the base to the backrest hinge


backrest (on the left) removed from seat base
 
the seat cover can now be pulled of the foam but is held in the middle by some metal rings.
That's to kee the stitching in place and the centre section. There is a wire frame moulded into the foam and the covers have some wires stitched into them and the both are connect with metal rings.


we need to open these metal rings to remove the seat cover. If I would have the right tool and some new rings, I could just remove them. But I want to re-use them which makes it a little bit more awkward but not impossible.

a close up


I used a long nosed plier and opened the ring up with a flat blade screw driver. The action is like removing a key from your keyring


once you have the wire out of the ring you can lift the cover off


another shot with a ring still in place


trial fit of the heat pad. It's quite an old model with wires running through. The newer kits are now with carbon pads whithout any wires.


the pad was a little bit too large and luckily the heating wires are not right to the edges so I can trim it a little bit. Make sure you DON'T cut the wires!!!


there is alreasy a slot in the foam for the cable, how convenient!


unfortunately there is a decorative stitching from the cover halfway down the seat and goes right through the heat pad (where I have drawn the two black lines) I need to cut a small slot through it (mind the heating wires!!) to attache the cover


I decided not the use the metal rings to pull the cover in the middle because I was afraid that there is too much tension and the heating wires get damaged over time. I am going to use cable ties instead.


pulling the seat cover down on the cable ties first


I will post the rest later
 
... And there was me thinking it would be about eating beans...
 
now the backrest is getting it's treatment. There is is one plastic rail at the bottom which needs to be unclipped.


befrore that let's have a look at the back rest. The heat pad can only go under the pattern fabric bit in the middle


fit check to see if I need to trim something. Was looking ok, just a little bit at the narrower top


to my surprise I found that the cover was't held with wires and rings like the seat base, the fabric had some strong velcro instead. Hurray!

With the backrest cover praise away from the foam there was enough room to just slide the heat pad in without taking the cover off. The heat pads have some double sided tape on the back holding them in place unitl the covers are back on.

And now reassemble in reverse order :juggle:

Base and backrest are back together which leave just the cables to be routed under the seat


and here we have a heated seat!


IMPORTANT:
Make sure you test the heat pads BEFORE you do any dismantling of your seat. Would be a bummer to find out at a later stage that they don't work at all. I have tested them even between assembly stages just to make sure they work. And boy do they work :scared:
The switch has 2 settings and even with set to 1 it's still cosy warm.

The kit was complete with switches, wiring harness, relay and fuses. I will wire them in a way that they only work when the engine runs to avoid any flat battery.
 
Excellent post, but I hate heated seats, they make me think I have p'd myself. ;)

Missus liked them on leather seats in the winter, but I never used mine in the old Daimler we once had.
 
Excellent post, but I hate heated seats, they make me think I have p'd myself. ;)

Missus liked them on leather seats in the winter, but I never used mine in the old Daimler we once had.

to be honest this wasn't a modification very high on my priority list.
But my wife has/had some health issues recently and the warmth is doing her well at the moment.

I had the seat out, I had the heater kit lying around and the rest is history :hammer:
 

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