Homemade seat heating: how to organize it without outside help? Installation of heated seats, connection diagram Do-it-yourself heated seats photo report

IN cold period time (winter or autumn - spring, and my wife sometimes turns it on in the summer), heated seats in the car are very convenient. But the only problem is that it is not installed everywhere! Although I believe that seats should be included in the base of all cars produced in Russia, we still have a harsh climate! Well, okay, we bought the car at the dealership, but there are no “warm” seats! What to do? Calm down, you can install them yourself, today I’ll show you which ones are better to install – and also how to do it...

If you add up all the installation options, it becomes clear that there are only four of them:

External or “cloak” cover.
Standard, installed on your car in higher trim levels
Internal or hidden third-party, but factory.
Internal home-made is an option only for those who understand car electrics.

External or “cloak” - cover

Overhead heating

The easiest way to eat is the easiest one. Probably everyone has seen such heaters in car dealerships. Usually they sell a seat pad like this, photo.

Which you simply buy and put on any front seat. It is a pad made of rubberized or simply thick fabric, with heating elements inside. They are secured to the seat with special stretchers - rubber bands, with metal hooks. Pull it - attach the hooks at the bottom to the springs of the chair and the heater is ready. Power is supplied from the cigarette lighter, just plug it in and it starts heating, pull it out and it stops. A very primitive option. To be honest, I have not considered such heating - never! Just because I don’t like him, he looks “collective farm”. There are also some disadvantages:

The cigarette lighter is constantly busy, and if you have other gadgets that work from it!
In 90% of cases, there are no temperature adjustments. It can just get as hot as a frying pan.
Constantly fidgets in the seat and is difficult to secure.
Difficult (almost impossible) to install on the rear seats.
I repeat once again - it looks bad!

You know, the price is not always adequate, I personally have seen these for 1000 rubles per seat, I think that this is really expensive (although in most cases, this option is the most budget-friendly, about 300 - 500 rubles per seat). So, if you need it urgently and don’t have time to bother, then you can take it, but if you have time, then you can consider other options.

Heated case

Nowadays, a common option is stretching the interior seats and covers. There are a lot of them, ranging from fabric ones to those made from eco-leather or genuine leather. You can transform the salon and make it more representative.

So the secret here is also simple - heating elements are sewn into such covers, pulled over standard “seats”, and only then connected to the car’s on-board system. The big advantages are that the heating is hidden inside, it is not visible, that is, it fits in harmoniously. It can also be connected immediately to all front and rear seats. Often with such heating comes an adjustable comfort level, that is, you can adjust the temperature - more or less.

However, there are also disadvantages - you are unlikely to tighten these covers with your own hands, because it is better for craftsmen to do this. The cost is high, imagine how much it will cost for just covers made of genuine leather, but you also need to add heating to them! Once again, professional auto electricians or simply knowledgeable car enthusiasts must connect and embed the buttons, otherwise you can burn the car.

This option is certainly better, but also not very desirable. I will say this recently, a friend of mine reupholstered the interior of a KIA RIO with heated eco-leather covers. The covers themselves cost about 12,000 rubles + installation and connection another 6,500 rubles. Total almost 20,000 rubles. Not a little!

Standard heating, installed on your car in high trim levels

This is probably the most optimal option, for example, in some foreign cars there is no heating in the “base”, although in the “high” trim levels it is. You just need to purchase and install it yourself; this can be easily done either from an official dealer or from sellers of original spare parts. I want to warn you right away - as a rule, no complicated dances with a tambourine are required, because both the fuse box and the wiring will already be installed from the factory, you just have to connect the elements themselves and thermostats.

Of course, the only difficulty will be removing the seat trim, but now you will find a lot of instructions on the forums, I think this is not a problem at all.

Next, we simply glue it onto the foam rubber and put the standard covers back on – we cut in the buttons – we run the necessary wires, and the heating is all ready. The procedure is done by hand in half a day. If you look at the money, it turns out that for two front seats, two elements cost about 3,000 – 5,000 rubles, it all depends on the class of the car + wires and buttons, that’s about another 2,000 – 3,000 rubles. Total for an ordinary foreign car of class “B – C” is about 5,000 – 8,000 rubles.

Third-party, but factory heating

Okay, but what if there is no standard heating? What to do then? Calm down, you can buy a third-party factory one, now our Russian company “EMELYA” is being praised very much; it is designed for almost any car.

The main thing is to choose the size of the “seat”; it is important to understand that you do not need to heat the entire place, but strictly in the center, the side pillows (not installed for support).

The principle is also simple - we remove the standard seat covers, lay and glue the mats - then we put on the covers and connect them to the electrical system. You can do everything yourself, the kit costs about 2000 - 2500 rubles, for two seats (back + Bottom part). A short video, let's watch.

Homemade, do it yourself

In modern heating, the so-called heating cable (or mats) is used, which are now widely available. Sometimes, they even simply take nichrome wire and use it as a heating element. So, with the help of these elements you can make heating yourself, in the literal sense of the word.

For example, the cable can be sewn onto fabric and attached under the seat. The mats are generally ready for installation.

The idea is not new. I'll look at perhaps the most interesting one with wire.

We take 3 meters of wire and divide it in half, 1.5 for the “seat”, 1.5 for the back.

We sew it on a piece of fabric; even old jeans will do. The most successful way is a zigzag.

Next, connect to 12V and check, the wire will begin to slowly heat up, and after about 3-5 minutes the seat will be warm, not fiery, but warm.

The cold season in Russia lasts about six months. Although there are regions in the country with a longer winter period and a much harsher climate than in middle lane. In this case, installing heated seats will not only not be an unnecessary luxury, but in fact is a first necessity.

Middle class cars recent years are equipped with this option from the factory, but earlier models or budget level vehicles deprive the driver and passengers of this element of comfort. To solve this problem, you can contact the station and order interior tuning, which will cost the car owner a decent amount. However, there is an option when you can reduce costs and get the desired result. You need to do everything yourself.

Before you make seat heating with your own hands, you need to find out what methods there are for non-standard seat heaters in a car. Since not all options for the proposed designs are universal, you can decide in advance on the choice of a suitable local heater.

Heated seats

Heaters built under the skin

Available for sale standard sets, for example, “Emelya”, which contains a kit for installing a heater under the upholstery of a chair. You will need to add a few fasteners to this kit and you can mount it on the two front seats.

The cost of such a set is on average about four thousand rubles.

If you order work to install it at a station, then approximately the same amount will need to be paid for installation. Although the result will be satisfactory.

pros:

after installation it is ready for use;
inexpensive cost for self-installation;
aesthetic appearance;
the same heater for two chairs at once;
possibility of adjusting modes.

Minuses:

it is necessary to open the upholstery of the seats;
there are cheaper options;
rear row heating not included;
not all beginners can perform high-quality installation.

Heating "Emelya"

Heating capes

Not all local heaters require installation. After all, in the southern regions of the country you can get by with temporary devices. In this case, a temporary heated car seat cover is quite suitable. Its installation does not require major alterations in the interior. It is most often connected through the cigarette lighter socket.

The cost of the product varies depending on the manufacturer. Minimum prices from 800 to 2000 rubles per copy for one chair.

The most common countries producing this product are:

Poland;
Germany;
China.

Product weight is from 0.6 to 0.9 kg. Heating can be either only for the lower part of the chair, or complex, including a warm “back”. With this design, the seat heating button is not located on the cable connected to the power outlet. No installation is required.

Covers for heated seats

pros:

minimum cost;
can only be purchased for one driver's seat;
quick installation and dismantling;
large selection of manufacturers;
To turn it on, you do not need to remove separate wires; the cigarette lighter socket is enough;
several preset modes;
a large number of colors and styles.

Minuses:

not entirely aesthetically pleasing;
for the second seat you need an additional connector in the cigarette lighter or a “tee”;
Often you come across low-quality fakes that quickly fail.

Self-made heaters

Such a device can be made at home. Do-it-yourself seat heating will cost less than buying it in a store. Almost any schoolchild who has had physics and labor lessons can assemble it.

Adjustment wheels for nargev

pros:

low cost;
components for it are available in almost any home;
you can set any power, shape and make connection methods;
made independently without outside help;
can be connected directly, leaving the cigarette lighter free.

Minuses:

the result is not always an aesthetic appearance;
it is necessary to correctly calculate the power so as not to overload the battery or burn out the wiring in the car;
When installing a button, an insert into the panel or other parts of the plastic interior is required.

How to choose a suitable design

The main choice of local heaters for a car consists of German, Chinese, Polish or Russian products. The practice of using such products speaks in favor of products from Germany and from domestic companies. Although prices for European goods are higher, their reliability is guaranteed.

Such heaters are equipped with various degrees of protection against overheating and high-quality regulation with a thermal relay. Our companies, such as Avtoterm, which offer cheaper products, are not much inferior in quality. However, armored cables and fuses also ensure safety inside the cabin.

If you purchase Asian products, the risk of receiving an unreliable product increases.

You can often hear about broken buttons, failure of the mode controller, or melting of too thin wires. Products from unknown companies can cause a fire in a car, so when purchasing, you must ask for a warranty card and check the manufacturer’s certificate.

Installation of the Emelya kit

To correctly connect this heater, there is an assembly diagram on the packaging box that defines the algorithm of actions. It also shows how to connect electrical equipment to the car control unit. Before installation, it is necessary to remove the seats from the interior.

Step 1. Dismantle the chairs Step 2. Remove the upholstery Step 3. Fix the heating plates Step 4. Assembling the structure Step 5. Output contacts for the button and adjustment Step 5. Connect to the electrical wiring according to the diagram

You need to know that some cars are equipped with a side airbag. When removing the seats, it must be handled carefully so that it does not malfunction.

The heating sheets are mounted under the upholstery, so it can be removed from the seat and back of the chair. Next, you need to fix the heaters in their places, while removing the contacts to turn them on. Next, a heating start button is installed on the instrument panel and connected to the chair and the wiring harness from the fuses.

You need to connect it to the wire from the battery that shows a voltage of 12V only in the second position of the ignition key. This provides additional protection against overheating.

The cable connecting the heating element to the button can be packaged in a corrugated tube and then hidden under the interior carpet.

Making your own car seat heater

To make a heating device, you will need nichrome wire of about 10 m, with a diameter of 0.5 mm. We form four spirals on a device made of a wooden block and two hammered nails, at a distance of 40 mm, curling the wire in a “figure eight” rather than in a circle. For a clearer picture, look at the photo report below.

Step 1. Making a device for making a heating element Step 2. Attach the heater to the base and connect the wires to it Step 3. Remove the upholstery and install the heater Step 4. Connect the wiring to the heater, regulator and button Step 5. Making an aesthetic appearance in the salon

Next you will need a tight natural fabric, preferably from old jeans or military camouflage uniforms, without synthetics or flammable materials. Connect the resulting spirals in a parallel way. For power supply you will need 12 V. The design power is about 40 W. Additionally, a relay is mounted.

Conclusion

You can equip your car with seat heaters to suit every taste and budget. For those who do not want to remove the upholstery, chair covers are suitable. For residents of cold regions, it is wiser to equip the vehicle with stationary heating of the front and rear seats.

Undoubtedly, we all love comfort and coziness, the presence of which can hardly be said, for example, in a car with a leather interior frozen in winter. Moreover, the issue here is not in the upholstery, but in the inevitable discomfort in frosty weather. DIY heated seats - The best way avoid this discomfort.

Important!

Installing heated car seats is quite a responsible task, especially for those who are familiar with electricians, so in order to avoid force majeure situations, before getting down to business, be sure to consult with an electrician or an experienced installer of homemade heated seat systems.

Buy or make?

On the modern market of auto parts and accessories, you can easily find removable heating covers (capes) and even entire heated seats. Their low cost and ease of connection are undoubted advantages, therefore, if finances allow, as they say, do not show off and buy a ready-made option.

Of course, if there is no money for it, you will have to do everything yourself.

What you will need.

Nichrome wire 0.5 mm in diameter and 10 meters long.
Relay.
Button.
Wires and connectors for mounting the heater in a car.

Do-it-yourself seat heating: instructions.

To begin with, you need to make 4 spirals from wire: the most convenient way to do this is with a wooden beam and two nails driven into it (without heads, they should be bitten off) at a distance of 4 cm from each other - just wrap the wire around the nails in a figure of eight, forming spirals.

Find a piece of fabric, preferably denim, that matches the size needed to heat the seat of your car (approximately 30 by 30 cm). By using sewing machine Sew 4 rows of spirals parallel to each other to the selected fabric flap. Connect the spirals with wires. The power of such a heater reaches 40W. Connect the resulting structure via a relay to a power source (cigarette lighter).

Unfortunately, this type of seat heating, regardless of whether it is homemade or purchased in a special store, has a number of quite significant disadvantages.

There is a risk of getting burned, because no one gives a 100% guarantee that any of the wires will not fail, igniting right under its warmed owner.
Such cases are often characterized by uneven or discontinuous heating.
This heating element is connected to the power source through the cigarette lighter socket. However, at present, many drivers use this connector to connect a navigator, video recorder, etc., and a splitter in this situation cannot be a way out of the situation, because heated seats require considerable current consumption, which is disproportionate with several connections to the network at once, so the driver or his passengers will have to choose what is more important at the moment: to stay warm or to follow the instructions of the navigator, for example.
One more point: the heating option considered is very inconvenient to use due to the presence of wires in its design that interfere with the driver, and passengers in the rear seats do not have the opportunity to warm up in this way, unless, of course, you extend the wires leading to the relay.

Based on the described disadvantages of the heating method described above, we will consider a built-in version of heating elements. Many car owners may justifiably be frightened by this solution to the problem, because, in addition to assembling the structure itself, the driver faces the difficult task of installing it. However, this option will solve many of your problems in one fell swoop (the wires are hidden, the interior interior is not changed, the cigarette lighter socket will remain free, since all elements are connected directly to the car wiring), providing the opportunity to warm up in winter frosts not only to the driver and the seated passenger in the front seat, but also for “guests” from the rear sofa.

How to make built-in heated seats with your own hands?

First, you need to purchase the so-called backbone of the entire structure - heating elements. Why buy and not make it yourself? The issue is your safety. Since the elements are built-in, and any inaccuracy in independent work cannot be identified and eliminated in a very short safe period of time, it is better and more reliable to use ready-made elements. Their selection is quite large. We will focus on the domestic manufacturer “Emelya” (Russia), whose product quality is not inferior to reliable Germans, and the price is much more pleasant.

Included in this set you will find an electronic temperature controller and overheat protection.

The heating element in Emel is represented by reinforced cable or carbon fiber.

Additionally you will need:

Screwdriver Set,
wrenches for disassembling the chair,
plastic clamps,
scissors,
knife with replaceable blades,
insulating tape,
multimeter,
heat shrink tubes,
pliers, marker,
soldering iron,
double-sided tape (you can use glue 88),
stranded wire 2.5 mm sq. cross section - for wiring.

First, decide on all the control buttons and their fastenings, so that if necessary (suddenly they don’t fit in their regular place), purchase the ones that are suitable for this car.

Now we can get down to business.

Disassemble the seats: start with the headrest, then remove the plastic elements, then the seat upholstery, making room for laying heating mats. To remove the “back” trim, remove the plastic bushings for the headrests.

Place the sheet with heating elements on the seat foam, marking its dimensional contours with a marker. Following the marked lines, stick on strips of double-sided tape or use glue 88. If there is a temperature sensor, also install it on the foam rubber.
Glue (attach) heating mats to the designated area on the seats. Here you should pay special attention to the location of the wires. Do not forget that on the driver's seat they should be on the right, and on the passenger seat on the left. Remove the power wires.

Install the “original” skin on the supplemented foam base, using plastic clamps in the required places. Also return all plastic elements, headrests to their original position and install the seats in their original places. The wiring should be laid in the locations where the power connections and controls are located.

A very important point: the wires going to the heating mats from the regulators cannot be laid under tension; leave such a margin that you can easily move the chair away if necessary.

It's time to connect the heating elements. The instructions included with the installation kit should help you with this issue. If it is not an assistant for you in connecting the unit to on-board network, it would be better and more correct to seek help from professionals. If you are confident in the correctness of your actions and are ready to try to figure out this stage yourself, we recommend that you pay attention to certain recommendations:

It is necessary to detect the power (12V), ignition and backlight circuits using a multimeter.
Connect the positive wire of the thermal relay to the ignition switch connector, where power appears only after turning the key.
Connect the power wire to the positive terminal of the battery through a fuse.
Connect the negative wire to ground, and the button backlight wire to the cigarette lighter contacts.
All connections, of course, must be soldered and insulated. Then you can check the system.

Important point:A properly assembled system will only work when the ignition is turned on. Otherwise, you risk not starting the car someday.

Only one question remains unclear: what to do with the rear sofa and its heating? For those who constantly travel with their family in a car, this is a very important point. But there is nothing complicated here either: installation and connection of the rear seat heating system is similar to that described above. The only difference is that for one sofa you will need two sets of heating elements.

Video.

With the onset of cold weather, car enthusiasts think about heating their car seats; the first thing that comes to mind is to buy heated covers or capes. But unfortunately, they do not always fit the size of the seat and create discomfort for the driver while driving. In the article we will look at how to make heated seats with your own hands, although it is more difficult to implement than buying covers, but it is worth it.

To install heated seats you will need:

A set of parts for heated seats (for example, the Emelya set), its cost is approximately two and a half thousand rubles;
Wires: approximately 6 meters of stranded wire with a cross-section of 2.5 mm for use as a power cable, for a control wire with a cross-section of 1.5 mm, (two two-meter pieces);
Fuse connector and fuse itself;
Wire with a cross section of 1.5 mm (control), 2 meters long;
6 mm terminals with washer tip and female-male clamping blocks;
M6 nuts are self-locking;
You can take corrugations for laying wires with a diameter of 4.5-8 mm;
Insulating tape;
Plastic clamps;
Red LEDs;
Heat shrink tubes;

As well as various tools: screwdrivers, side cutters, screwdrivers, scissors and a knife, a file, keys.

Do-it-yourself seat heating installation

As an example, we took the installation of heated seats on a BMW, which has a squib installed in the seat by the factory, airbags under the seat, and a battery in the trunk (and not under the hood).

These factors make heating installation somewhat more difficult.

If we talk about the Emelya kit for installing seat heating yourself, then on its box there is a connection diagram, with which there should be no questions.

The first step is to remove the seats from the mounting (since the heating is mounted inside the seats). The design may differ on different cars; you need to be especially careful if you do the heated seats yourself in a car with installed airbags. There is a danger of damaging the squib when removing the seats. It’s better to look at diagrams on how to remove and install seats specifically in your car in technical specifications. documentation.

Place the heating mats on the seat, try them on and use a marker to mark the places for the slots with which the mat will be attached to the seat frame and its upholstery. Naturally (and the instructions also warn about this) the heating filaments cannot be cut.

Having made the slits, we attach the heating mats to the seat upholstery through them with plastic clamps.

We stretch the heating mat's power wire through the seat foam. It is recommended to route this wire from the back, closer to the armrest. It is quite reasonable to place this wire in a corrugated PVC tube (by the way, this is how the “native” heaters are made from the factory).

Quite often, standard wires are short and do not reach from the mats to the place where the regulators will be mounted, so they are extended with the same wire, soldering the joint and placing the wire in a corrugation.

We take power from the power cable, through a fuse, and connect it to the battery, to the positive terminal. If the battery is in front, then this is easier to do, but if the battery is in the trunk, you will also have to remove the rear seats in order to run the cable in the cabin, under the carpet. Remove the positive terminal or turn off the fuse before proceeding.

The wires leading from the regulators to the heating elements must be hidden in corrugated material and carefully laid under the carpets. It is important to remember that the wire cannot be pulled, leave some slack in case the seat moves back.

Most likely, install the regulators where it is convenient for you, since it does not fit in the regular place for regulators on the console. And if you buy “original” heating control buttons, they may turn out to be more expensive than the entire set that you install.

All that remains is to connect the relay included in the kit for heated seats with the positive wire to the ignition switch. Just carefully follow the kit instructions and the connection diagram to the ignition switch itself. Although the contact numbers may vary between cars, you need to solder the wire to the contact where +12 volts appears in position No. 2 of the ignition switch.

Now we cut off all the wires connected to the relay (control and power to the heating mats), leaving a small margin, clamp (or solder) into female connectors, put on a heat-shrinkable tube and connect to the relay itself. We connect the ground wire to the body in the closest place.

Thus, with a little work, you will equip your car with heated seats with your own hands and will no longer depend on the cold weather outside your vehicle. This is not a difficult job for someone who knows how to handle the simplest tools.

How to make heated seats yourself - video

Every time the winter cold again reminds us of additional insulation. Because also ancient people bequeathed to keep my feet warm. But heated seats are not included in the basic equipment of many cars. You'll have to be seriously confused. There are two options: buy this “additional comfort” or make heated car seats yourself. A survey of our closest friends - notorious motorists - shows: the second is more reliable. Purchased heaters are expensive and often break down.

Do it once: think about it and get mentally ready!

Before we begin the list of materials, we decide on what we already have. Here we have three options:

remake a ready-made but broken heating system;
make from scratch;
A costly and troublesome way is to make a heating built into the seat.

It’s much easier with a ready-made rug. There is no need to think about dense thermal insulating fabrics, look for them and sew them on a machine. Everything has already been thought out. All that remains is to replace the heating element.

The heating element built into the seat is always with you in the car. You can display a button on the panel and pretend that it happened. Difficulties sometimes arise with the analysis of the seat itself. And if its bottom is pliable, then the back is much more difficult to disassemble. But he still understands it!

We will take the second option as a basis. It is on its basis that work is built in all cases. Knowing the theory, you can cope with more difficult options.

Do Two: Let's go shopping!

List of materials:

Nichrome wire diameter 0.5 mm – 10 meters.
The block is thicker.
2 nails.
Old jeans.
Scissors.
Pencil.
Sewing machine.
Button.
The wire.
Plug for car cigarette lighter.
Connectors.
Heat reflector.

Do Three: let's get started!

Cut out 2 rectangles from old unwanted jeans. They do not necessarily cover the seat surface.
On one of them we draw how the heating wire will pass: in zigzags or waves. It is better to choose zigzags. This is easier to draw and bend. Although, who cares...

And now our fabric has become noticeably more interesting than before!

Tip: remember the popular television program about remodeling an apartment. Our principle is the same as with the installation of “warm floors”.

Now the nichrome wire will lie directly according to the drawing.
First you need to fold it in a zigzag. The fastest way to do this is with a block and nails.
Drive two nails into a wooden block at a distance of 40 mm.
Now we consistently and monotonously wind the wire between the nails in a figure eight pattern. Just enough turns to cover the entire pattern.
Transfer the wire zigzags to the fabric.
Using a machine we sew each zigzag 2 times. Above and below. The better we fix this design, the safer it will be to use. Attention: if the wires touch somewhere, there will be a short circuit!
We close our workpiece on top with the second piece of jeans. We sew, leaving a hole for the wires to exit.
You can sew a thermal reflector on the bottom. This will protect the seat from excessive overheating.
On top, the most used place, it is better to line it with foam rubber and another layer of thick fabric. This is done so as not to accidentally tear the heating element.
We finish around the perimeter with a few more lines on the sewing machine.
Using a connector, we bring the wire through the “window” in the fabric.

We are testing. We need a 12 Volt DC power source, like what you would find in a car. You can use your computer's power supply.