Heated seat install

[Edogg1]

Sorry for the long post but I thought this was a good project to share. I completed my installation of aftermarket seat heaters to the front seats that I mentioned on a previous thread.
The kit was from Amazon, I can’t find the order in my history but this is the closest match in price and product.
Driver or Passenger Top Replacement Heater Heating Element https://a.co/d/4dBFfnK
I think I paid $48.
Total time for the installation was about 5 1/2 hours. I chipped away at it over the past couple months. The seat bottoms took about an hour each and the backs took about 1 1/2 hours. Running the wiring from the seats to the fuses took 1/2 hour. The rest of the time was figuring out hour to tap into power and location of the switches. I hope these pictures are clear.

these 1st 2 pics show the beginning of the bottoms. There are plastic clips that fold on themselves under the front and sides.

At each of the indented seams on the seats, there are plastic channels held to the base by metal rings called hog rings. It was recommended to use hog ring pliers but I used regular pliers and it worked ok:

After the rings were removed, I was able to pull back the rest of the way and install the pads. I made slices in the pads where the hog rings would re-attach. I did have to cut these a little.

the wires were easy enough to tuck under both sides of the center console to run to the fuse panel on the passenger side footboard. I found a ground on the right side when removed the glove compartment:

then the power, I found these 2 10 amp fuses that are only on with the truck or accessories.

I tried to use regular fuse taps like these:
Micro2 Blade Fuse Holder Fuse with 10A, 20A Fuse - Tap 12V Car Add-a-Circuit Fuse TAP Adapter with Micro2 Blade Fuse （2 Sets） https://a.co/d/iDhngxu
But they would not fit in the spot in between 2 of the larger fuses in the 2nd pic, so I found these 10 amp pigtail fuses.

When using the pigtail, you must determine which side of the fuse is the power side. There are plenty of tutorials online. Then it was on to the switches, I chose the lower panel on either side of the 12 volt outlet. I think they fit well.

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[Edogg1]

A few more pics:

green light is low heat, red light is high heat

I have access to an IR camera:

it got much hotter when sitting in it!

 

[StillWaiting]

As a Floridian, I have no need for this. But it looks like a nice install. Glad to see more customization, especially something different.

 

[The Weatherman]

Nice!! Well done on the informative post.

 

[Havick]

Nice clean upgrade and great write up. I bookmarked it, as I may look into doing this to my wife's XLT. We haven't had it long, but I can't believe how quick the engine heats up!

 

[Edogg1]

Nice!! Well done on the informative post.

Thanks! I feel like it took longer to post than it did to install!

 

[HiYoAu]

Thanks for the write up. I was especially interested in the location where you installed the switches as that’s exactly the space I want to use for my installation.
A question just to confirm my understanding; the hog rings anchor the seat materials, its not glued to the foam?

 

[Edogg1]

Thanks for the write up. I was especially interested in the location where you installed the switches as that’s exactly the space I want to use for my installation.
A question just to confirm my understanding; the hog rings anchor the seat materials, its not glued to the foam?

Correct, no glue. Just the plastic perimeter clips on the front and sides and the rings.
I used a few videos for reference, here is a good one, except they decided to eliminate the hog ring keeper all together.

 

[BeardedK]

As a Floridian, I have no need for this. But it looks like a nice install. Glad to see more customization, especially something different.

As a fellow Floridian who's approaching his 40's, I have to disagree. I love the heated seats in my wife's car for helping to soothe away the pains of an achy back

 

[OleKennyRoy]

As a Floridian, I have no need for this. But it looks like a nice install. Glad to see more customization, especially something different.

As a Floridian with a few miles, I often use the heated seats in the old lady's suv (while the AC is blasting) to sooth my back. Works great haha!

 

[Snowbird]

Thank you for posting this.

Did you use both of the fuse locations? I think they are #3 and #6, so the driver seat gets power from one fuse and the passenger gets power from the other?
If so, is there any reason you could not draw power from just one fuse location?

 

[Edogg1]

Thank you for posting this.

Did you use both of the fuse locations? I think they are #3 and #6, so the driver seat gets power from one fuse and the passenger gets power from the other?
If so, is there any reason you could not draw power from just one fuse location?

Not knowing enough about the power draw, I decided to split them. I thought about using a fuse tap that creates 2 additional lines, but being a novice, I was worried it would overload the circuit. If the single fuse can handle it, it would make this a little simpler.

 

[Snowbird]

How have the heated seats been working?

Did the kit wiring come with an in line fuse? It looks like you used a 10amp fuse when taping in to the fuse box.

I understand how the fuse taps work, you take out the original fuse, insert the tap and then install a fuse in the tap for the original and the added line. How about that piggy back tap? Is it just one fuse for the original and the added line?

 

[Edogg1]

They’ve been great! They really help when the truck is still cold, they warm up before the heat does.
The pigtail just extends the power past the fuse it occupies, while still protecting the original circuit. There is an inline 10 amp fuse from the pigtail to the seats.
so far so good, they’ve been on every day since the install

 

[Snowbird]

Great, thanks!

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