Seat heating test. How does heated car seats work? Driver's seat heater

A very convenient car accessory for seats is heated seats. For the Russian climate in winter it is necessary. Without heating, you have to sit on a cold seat for about 10 minutes until your body itself warms up the chair. It's not healthy. But you can’t sit for a long time with the seat heater on. This could be even more harmful. Let's look at heating systems, what they are, how they are installed, which is better, etc.

• • slip-on, removable (can be in a case, can be separate);

Snap-on or removable heaters can be sold together with covers; the heating elements are glued to the seat and backrest. Also, there may be removable heaters that are simply thrown over the chair and connected to the cigarette lighter or through a specially installed button.

As for the built-in heating, it is installed in the seat upholstery and does not depend on the cover. The most popular type is a built-in heater.

Operating principle of heated seats

Built-in heaters can be standard, installed at the factory, or you can do it yourself. It must be installed between the casing and the foam layer. Carbon fiber fabric or reinforced wiring is used as materials for the manufacture of preheaters. They are sold immediately in mats. You can also use a separate spiral. These materials have their pros and cons.
The nichrome spiral used has the advantage of not being expensive. When installing such a spiral, you need to ensure that the heating element does not touch the fittings. But, with the help of double-sided tape this can be easily done.

Mats made of carbon fiber or reinforced wires have no restrictions, you can just lay them well and that’s it. They cost more than just a spiral, but are more reliable.

Pros and cons of heaters

There are several advantages of a built-in car seat warmer. This:

1. From the outside it is not noticeable that there is a heater. If you use cap heating, the interior design may not be affected.
2. The power source is a special unit. This has the advantage that the cigarette lighter socket remains free.
3. The thermal relay controls the temperature, monitors the degree of heating of the coil so that it does not exceed the permissible heating temperature and does not ignite the seat.
4. You can choose any location for the control unit.
5. Can be installed on any seat in the cabin.

The disadvantage of built-in heating is the cost. The price of the built-in one is higher than the captive one. But, all the same, it is better to buy a built-in seat heater, it is more reliable.

Heating control

The heater is connected to the computer unit of the machine. You can choose operating modes, heat up as quickly as possible, or with average temperature. The driver can set the temperature, when heated to which, the heating turns off automatically. Some modifications of such heaters have a timer function that will turn the device on and off according to specified parameters.

Built-in heaters have the option of accelerating heating, and then switching to standby mode. If you need such heating, then you need to take it with two heating elements.

Depending on the models of car seat heaters, there are different operating modes, some even have up to 8 modes.

Good heated seats

As is the case with other devices, some are popular and some are not so popular. Here is a list of the 4 best seat heaters:

1. Waeco MagicComfort MSH-300 (Waeco Magic Comfort). Consists of a carbon element, an electronic control unit (ECU). Has three heating temperature modes. The kit also includes wires and buttons.
2. Emelya UK-2. It consists of a canvas (special electrical wiring laid in a snake), a rotary control unit. There are 8 heating modes. Has protection against short circuit (SC) and sparks.
3. Emelya UK. Inexpensive option compared to others. It has a control button for two modes and a built-in sensor.
4. Throne. Its heating element is thermal fiber. The fabric frame has a layer of glue to make installation easy.

According to reviews, Waeco heating is the best among built-in models. Vaeko is manufactured in Germany. Simple and reliable, but the price is higher than that of competitors. Suitable for all makes and models of cars.

From the analogue average price category, you can choose auto products from Russian manufacturers. Among domestic heaters, the most popular brand is EMELYA produced by the Teplodom company. One set includes two pieces. Rear seats must be purchased separately.

Built-in heaters or heated covers

Unlike tube heaters, built-in heaters do not move and do not need to be adjusted every time. When installed on the rear seats, the power buttons can be displayed to the driver and can be placed next to the handbrake.

Leather is more sensitive to heat, so this point should be taken into account to prevent leather seats from deteriorating. Fabric ones withstand heat better. Genuine leather releases moisture when heated, then it can dry out and deteriorate.

Safety regulations

Although it is written in the device instructions that they are reliable and protected from sparks and fire, you should still be careful when operating:

• do not place objects on the seats that could damage the seat upholstery, for example, something sharp;
• if the seat is wet, for example, the interior has been completely washed, then it is forbidden to turn on the heater;
• when the heating is on, do not place blankets, bags, etc. on the seats;
• You can install Waeco yourself, but if you are not sure that you will do it correctly, it is better to watch the video, study all the intricacies, or contact the service.

Alternatives to tube heaters

Due to the relatively poor quality of the materials of the seat covers, there were cases when the cover caught fire. Heating capes can heat up to 40 degrees, but this is not highly recommended.

Attention! Do not turn on the heating at a high temperature; heating the groin area in men can affect man's health, reproductive function may be impaired.

When choosing a plug-on option, in order to connect other seats, you need to buy an adapter for the cigarette lighter.

Conclusion

• the heating element must be reliable and safe, for example Vaeko;
• When purchasing, be sure to ask if this heating unit has a temperature sensor that protects against overheating;
• It is also better if there are different heating modes.

Heated seats can be both beneficial and harmful. Do not sit for long periods of time in chairs with the heater on.

Video

How to install heated seats on a BMW X5 (BMW X5).

How to install a seat heater.

Heated seats from Aliexpress.

About heating Emelya 3.

Almost all modern manufacturers install heated seats on their cars, so it is almost impossible to surprise car enthusiasts with such an innovation today. However, many questions remain about how such a system works, whether it is truly beneficial and which heating option is more practical. We will try to cover all these questions in as much detail as possible below.

History of creation: in search of truth

At its core, heated car seats are electrical device, which during installation is connected to the car’s on-board network. The need to create such a function arose a long time ago, but to come up with modern version heating did not work immediately, and it is difficult to name the author of this invention.

In the debate for primacy in the invention of such a useful system for car owners, two countries are fighting at once: America and Sweden. The first has a better chance of proving its innovation, since it was the Americans who patented a similar idea back in 1955. Its official author was Robert Ballard. Just 10 years later, the idea of ​​heated seats was implemented on the Cadillac Fleetwood. For optimal heating, the seats were made of special carbon fabric.

But the Swedes stubbornly insist that the heating installed on their car was the first, although this idea was implemented only in 1972. Although this happened later than in America, it is the Swedish version that should be considered more perfect.

But still, such attempts had their drawbacks, which is why for several decades in a row, automobile designers have been working to create an ideal seat heating system. Such attention to the function of heated seats on the part of the most famous automobile concerns is not accidental, since it was several times called the most important invention in the car (it was put on a par with the seat belt system and turbocharging).

Main aspects of installation and operation of a car seat heating system

Often, when we talk about heated seats, we mean built-in heating, which is installed directly into the inside of the seat. Structurally, such a system includes the following elements:

1. Heating element. Often it is a wire coated with Teflon on top and a nichrome spiral.

2. A fabric shell, inside of which the heating element is hidden. This shell is most often made of carbon or thermal fiber.

In order for all these elements to begin to function, it is also necessary to have a stable connection to the vehicle’s on-board electrical network. But in order for the structure to fulfill its immediate tasks, it is mounted in the back of the seat and its lower part.

When the seat heaters are activated, its elements are initially heated to a temperature in the range of 35-40°C. It is clear that constant provision high temperature can become unpleasant for the driver and his passengers, therefore, after warming up, the temperature decreases slightly and is maintained at one comfortable level, which in some settings can be set independently. Often, such installations also make it possible to turn off one of the parts of the heating system - the backrest or the seat itself (for example, if the car is already relatively warm, or the driver wants to save a little energy).

But still, electronics cannot always provide accurate heating, and therefore seat heaters must be equipped with temperature sensors. Thanks to them, heating is also adjusted.

Important! Many insurance companies in America and Europe have a rule: if their client’s car does not have heated seats, he is assigned a higher probability of an accident. insured event. All this speaks to the great benefits of such a system, which is why it is increasingly being installed not only by car designers, but also by ordinary amateurs.

What problems do owners of cars with heated seats encounter?

First of all, this is a burnt-out heating that simply does not work. Since all its elements are hidden inside the seat, it is often impossible to determine the cause of the breakdown at first glance. Therefore, in order not to immediately begin dismantling and “trepanning” a chair in which the heating has stopped working, you should check the safety of the fuses. If everything is fine with them, there are two more possible options for system burnout:

1. A switch that simply does not transmit the command to activate heating.

2. The presence of a break or burnt-out section in the heating system itself.

Often it is the switches that break, since most manufacturers treat their design quite carelessly. You can verify this without disassembling the seat, although if it is located in a hard-to-reach place, this cannot be avoided. Removing the switches should be done as follows:

- remove the connector from the switch itself, for which you easily wiggle and pull the connector down a little;

There are stoppers inside the casing, which can only be removed with a screwdriver;

The switch should then come completely out.

As soon as the switch is in your hands, you will see that it has 3 contacts at once. The one in the middle is not at all interesting to us, since it is only responsible for ensuring that the switch operation indicator lamp lights up if necessary. But if the extreme contacts do not function, then, most likely, you will even have to resort to disassembling the device itself.

Inside the switch is a board to which the contacts are connected. If, for one reason or another, moisture or other liquid from the car gets on it, the board will most likely fail to work. In this case, it should be carefully cleaned and dried thoroughly, after which the board should resume its normal operation. Reassemble the switch in reverse order.

But if the problem is not with the switch, then it will be necessary to check the integrity of the heating itself in the seat. To implement this procedure without dismantling the seat itself, you must:

1. Tilt the seat back all the way back.

2. Use your fingers to feel the gap between the seat itself and its backrest and find the place where the backrest upholstery is attached, remove it. After this, we look for all the heating connectors and try to pull them out of the seat, while simultaneously checking them for integrity.

Since this task is very difficult and unpleasant, it is better to avoid it, because in order to return all the connectors to their place, the seats will still have to be disassembled. Moreover, the cause of the malfunction in this case will be obvious.

As you can see for yourself, despite all its advantages, if the heating breaks, this breakdown can be very difficult to fix. For this reason, few people resort to repairs. Instead, car owners are trying to find alternative ways to heat their seats.

What can replace the built-in seat heating?

In addition to the heating option, when the heating elements are mounted inside the car seat, there is also an option when they are located on top of the seat as a removable cover. At the same time, a cape today is considered to be the simplest and most accessible heating option for everyone, which is suitable not only for those car owners who did not have heating, but also for those whose similar system has failed.

The design of the heating cape is almost identical to the usual one: the heating element is simply sewn inside a special fabric (resistant to fire and regular use). In general, the cape is simply attached to the seat with hooks or elastic bands, which, however, very often brings discomfort to drivers - the cape can slip and move, so you have to come up with your own methods of fastening.

The heating cape is powered by a regular cigarette lighter, which is both simple and economical. However, often such devices do not have a long service life, since after 2-3 seasons they simply burn out. In addition, to constantly use the seat heating, you have to purchase a cigarette lighter socket splitter.

Another disadvantage of capes is that their color is very difficult to match to the car’s interior. They also have only two degrees of adjustment (although today manufacturers are trying to eliminate this drawback), in one of which it can burn in the butt, and in the second she will barely feel the heat emanating from the device. However, in cases where installing internal seat heating is not available, this option is an excellent and cheap alternative.

Is everything so perfect in heated car seats: looking for pros and cons

Agree, sitting on a warm seat in winter is many times more pleasant than sitting on a stiff one. This is especially true for cars with leather seat covers, where in winter the leather simply becomes overly stretched by the cold and causes discomfort to both the driver and his passengers.

However, despite the external positivity of such a device, many medical luminaries are conducting research proving the negative impact of heating on the health of the driver who regularly uses it. In particular, regular exposure to heat can cause not only impotence, but also complete infertility. For this reason, even if heated, you need to use it as little as possible, especially if your car has fabric seat coverings, which, in principle, warm up quite quickly from human heat.

To avoid “overheating”, it is especially important to install an additional sensor for heating, which will turn off the heating after a certain amount of driving time.

What if the seats need to be cooled?

In winter, everyone in the cabin freezes, but in summer the situation becomes exactly the opposite - every driver and passenger of the car dreams of an additional source of cooling. This problem was very competently taken into consideration by Japanese specialists from a company called “Thanko” and have already managed to release to the wide market their own developments that allow cooling of car seats.

Important! For now, this function can only be used by owners of Nissan Patrol vehicles, where the seat cooling system is standard.

According to reviews, such a system is an excellent addition to the air conditioner. After all, if in summer the temperature of the seats reaches 60°C, the general cooling system is not capable of cooling the entire interior with all its elements in a very short period of time. If there is additional cooling of the seats, it is they who “cool down” first, and then the driver begins to feel the effect of the air conditioner.

How does the cooling system work? Its basis is ordinary water, which, thanks to the presence of a cooling bag, is cooled, and with the help of a pump it is pumped throughout the seat, thereby cooling it. In order to use the system, it is necessary to fill it with 1.5 liters of pre-cooled water. In this case, the hose is attached directly to the neck of the bottle, and the pump is activated from the cigarette lighter.

According to manufacturers, the efficiency of such a system can last up to 6-8 hours. At the same time, cooling consumes virtually no energy from the car, which is a good saving (especially if you don’t have air conditioning). True, such an installation is not cheap - about 200 USD.

The modern automotive industry presents car owners with more and more useful gifts that make the driving process as comfortable as possible. True, in the case of the cooling system, you need to be as careful as possible so as not to encounter health problems.

Car owners spend a huge amount of time behind the wheel of their car, so comfort plays an important role. During frosts, sitting on a cold seat is not the best thing to do, since the standard car heating is not always enough to fully warm up, especially when you need to get into a frozen cabin early in the morning. Heated seats are an excellent solution to this problem.

There are two types of such heating systems: external or external (covers and capes) and built-in (mounted under the upholstery of seats). To figure out which seat heating is better, it’s worth considering the features of these varieties in more detail.

External seat heating

This is the cheapest option, which is most often used by drivers if the car manufacturer has not taken care of heated seats for the car. Covers and capes are equipped with heating elements:

• carbon fiber wiring;
• nichrome spirals covered with a polyvinyl chloride sheath;
• Teflon coated wires;
• Fiber Thermetics thermal fiber.

The power of heating elements of this type ranges from 40 to 100 W with a current consumption of 4-8 Amps. External heaters operate from the cigarette lighter. Some models are equipped with touch or mechanical control panels. The method of fastening the product depends on the type of heater.

Types of external heaters

This type of system is divided into two categories.

"Capes"

Heated front seats of the overhead type are considered the simplest and most affordable. The products are made of rubberized or dense fabric, on which heating elements are attached. Such heating pads can be fixed using special Velcro or elastic bands with hooks. To install a heated seat cover, simply attach the lower hooks to the chair springs yourself. After that, just connect the “cape” to the cigarette lighter.

However, such simple heater options have many disadvantages:

• Most models do not have temperature controls, which often leads to overheating.
• The product is fixed only with a few hooks or Velcro. Because of this, the cape constantly slips.
• "Capes" don't look very nice.
• The cigarette lighter is constantly busy.
• The rear seats cannot be heated.

Cases

Products of this type can be made from the most different materials(fabric, natural or artificial leather, eco-leather). They are installed on top of the standard “seats” and connected directly to the on-board system, which is much better than heating the car seats from the cigarette lighter. At the same time, the products can be installed on all seats at once, without thereby disturbing the interior design.

Cases, as a rule, are equipped with additional control panels that allow you to control the heating temperature, thanks to which the risk of overheating is virtually eliminated.

However, if we compare heated covers for the front seats of a car and covers, the first type is much easier to install yourself. It's not that easy to put the cover on the seat. In addition, such systems require the installation of control buttons that are embedded in the car panels. It is recommended that this work be entrusted only to auto electricians.

In addition, the cost of covers is much higher. However, it all depends on the chosen model.

The best external seat heating systems

Most often, car owners choose the following products:

There are also special covers that are used for child seats. Among them it is worth highlighting:

In addition to capes and covers, there are also stationary heating systems, which are considered more reliable and durable.

Built-in heating

These elements are installed between the upholstery and the foam layer of car seats. They are made from special mats using nichrome spirals, carbon fiber and thermal fiber. Based on this, there are several features of the built-in heating system:

• Products with nichrome spirals are cheaper, but such elements cannot be built into every chair design. If the system intersects with reinforcement elements, it will have to be adjusted to the required size.
• Carbon fiber and thermal fiber mats can be installed on any chair without any restrictions. If necessary, they can be easily cut and given any shape. However, such models are expensive.

If we talk about the advantages of such systems compared to covers and capes, it is worth highlighting:

• Access to car cigarette lighter. The heating is connected to a separate power supply.
• Hidden connection of the system. There will be no wires dangling under your feet.
• Possibility of installing the heating system both on the rear seats of the car and on the front ones.
• High reliability of the system.
• The presence of a thermostat. Thanks to this, the device will not short-circuit.
• Possibility of installing the power supply in any convenient place.

Among the disadvantages of such systems, one can only highlight the rather high cost of the products. However, you can also find relatively cheap models.

The best built-in systems

To choose high-quality seat heating, you should pay attention to the following brands:

There are no permanent systems for child seats, since such installation of heated seats will be fraught with many difficulties. However, if necessary, you can make a heater for any type of seat yourself.

Do-it-yourself seat heating

In order to make such a system, it is enough to purchase a heating cable. If you want to save even more, then before making heated seats yourself, you can prepare ordinary nichrome wire with a diameter of 0.5 mm. It will act as a heater. After this, all that remains is to sew it onto thick fabric and attach it under the chair. The operation scheme is extremely simple. In order to make a homemade burn you need:

• Divide 3 meters of nichrome into two equal parts (one of them will go to the “seat”, and the second will be needed for the back of the seat).
• Sew it on the fabric with a zigzag (you can use old jeans).
• Connect the completed structure to a 12 V power source.

How to check that everything is working? Very simple. To do this, you need to wait until the wiring starts to heat up. If the seat becomes warm after a few minutes, then everything is fine. If this does not happen and the wire continues to heat up, it is recommended to connect a thermostat or other device to measure resistance.

You need to be careful and avoid overheating. Otherwise, a fire may occur. That is why self-production Such elements are not recommended for those who are far from electricians.

You can also make the heating a little differently, using the same nichrome wire. Only in this case it will be needed a little more - 10 m. From nichrome you need to form 4 spirals at a distance of 40 mm from each other, curling the wire in “figure eights”. For convenience, it is better to wind spirals on nails driven into the board.

After this, the spirals are connected in parallel and attached to a dense mother (again, you can use jeans). At the next stage, all that remains is to mount the relay and connect the system to the power source.

In custody

Before you install heated seats, you should check that it works. Even if we are talking about a ready-made heating system, it is worth connecting it and seeing how intensely the heating occurs before directly installing it on the car seats.

In the cold season (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 dense 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 embed the buttons - we carry out necessary wires, all heating is 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 + lower 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.

Car owners spend a huge amount of time behind the wheel of their car, so comfort plays an important role. During frosts, sitting on a cold seat is not the best thing to do, since the standard car heating is not always enough to fully warm up, especially when you need to get into a frozen cabin early in the morning. Heated seats are an excellent solution to this problem.

There are two types of such heating systems: external or external (covers and capes) and built-in (mounted under the upholstery of seats). To figure out which seat heating is better, it’s worth considering the features of these varieties in more detail.

External seat heating

This is the cheapest option, which is most often used by drivers if the car manufacturer has not taken care of heated seats for the car. Covers and capes are equipped with heating elements:

• carbon fiber wiring;
• nichrome spirals covered with a polyvinyl chloride sheath;
• Teflon coated wires;
• Fiber Thermetics thermal fiber.

The power of heating elements of this type ranges from 40 to 100 W with a current consumption of 4-8 Amps. External heaters operate from the cigarette lighter. Some models are equipped with touch or mechanical control panels. The method of fastening the product depends on the type of heater.

Types of external heaters

This type of system is divided into two categories.

"Capes"

Heated front seats of the overhead type are considered the simplest and most affordable. The products are made of rubberized or dense fabric, on which heating elements are attached. Such heating pads can be fixed using special Velcro or elastic bands with hooks. To install a heated seat cover, simply attach the lower hooks to the chair springs yourself. After that, just connect the “cape” to the cigarette lighter.

However, such simple heater options have many disadvantages:

• Most models do not have temperature controls, which often leads to overheating.
• The product is fixed only with a few hooks or Velcro. Because of this, the cape constantly slips.
• "Capes" don't look very nice.
• The cigarette lighter is constantly busy.
• The rear seats cannot be heated.

Cases

Products of this type can be made from a variety of materials (fabric, natural or artificial leather, eco-leather). They are installed on top of the standard “seats” and connected directly to the on-board system, which is much better than heating the car seats from the cigarette lighter. At the same time, the products can be installed on all seats at once, without thereby disturbing the interior design.

Cases, as a rule, are equipped with additional control panels that allow you to control the heating temperature, thanks to which the risk of overheating is virtually eliminated.

However, if we compare heated covers for the front seats of a car and covers, the first type is much easier to install yourself. It's not that easy to put the cover on the seat. In addition, such systems require the installation of control buttons that are embedded in the car panels. It is recommended that this work be entrusted only to auto electricians.

In addition, the cost of covers is much higher. However, it all depends on the chosen model.

The best external seat heating systems

Most often, car owners choose the following products:

There are also special covers that are used for child seats. Among them it is worth highlighting:

In addition to capes and covers, there are also stationary heating systems, which are considered more reliable and durable.

Built-in heating

These elements are installed between the upholstery and the foam layer of car seats. They are made from special mats using nichrome spirals, carbon fiber and thermal fiber. Based on this, there are several features of the built-in heating system:

• Products with nichrome spirals are cheaper, but such elements cannot be built into every chair design. If the system intersects with reinforcement elements, it will have to be adjusted to the required size.
• Carbon fiber and thermal fiber mats can be installed on any chair without any restrictions. If necessary, they can be easily cut and given any shape. However, such models are expensive.

If we talk about the advantages of such systems compared to covers and capes, it is worth highlighting:

• Access to car cigarette lighter. The heating is connected to a separate power supply.
• Hidden connection of the system. There will be no wires dangling under your feet.
• Possibility of installing the heating system both on the rear seats of the car and on the front ones.
• High reliability of the system.
• The presence of a thermostat. Thanks to this, the device will not short-circuit.
• Possibility of installing the power supply in any convenient place.

Among the disadvantages of such systems, one can only highlight the rather high cost of the products. However, you can also find relatively cheap models.

The best built-in systems

To choose high-quality seat heating, you should pay attention to the following brands:

There are no permanent systems for child seats, since such installation of heated seats will be fraught with many difficulties. However, if necessary, you can make a heater for any type of seat yourself.

Do-it-yourself seat heating

In order to make such a system, it is enough to purchase a heating cable. If you want to save even more, then before making heated seats yourself, you can prepare ordinary nichrome wire with a diameter of 0.5 mm. It will act as a heater. After this, all that remains is to sew it onto thick fabric and attach it under the chair. The operation scheme is extremely simple. In order to make a homemade burn you need:

• Divide 3 meters of nichrome into two equal parts (one of them will go to the “seat”, and the second will be needed for the back of the seat).
• Sew it on the fabric with a zigzag (you can use old jeans).
• Connect the completed structure to a 12 V power source.

How to check that everything is working? Very simple. To do this, you need to wait until the wiring starts to heat up. If the seat becomes warm after a few minutes, then everything is fine. If this does not happen and the wire continues to heat up, it is recommended to connect a thermostat or other device to measure resistance.

You need to be careful and avoid overheating. Otherwise, a fire may occur. That is why it is not recommended for those who are far from electricians to independently manufacture such elements.

You can also make the heating a little differently, using the same nichrome wire. Only in this case it will be needed a little more - 10 m. From nichrome you need to form 4 spirals at a distance of 40 mm from each other, curling the wire in “figure eights”. For convenience, it is better to wind spirals on nails driven into the board.

After this, the spirals are connected in parallel and attached to a dense mother (again, you can use jeans). At the next stage, all that remains is to mount the relay and connect the system to the power source.

In custody

Before you install heated seats, you should check that it works. Even if we are talking about a ready-made heating system, it is worth connecting it and seeing how intensely the heating occurs before directly installing it on the car seats.