Adding heated seats to TV. Anyone done it? Can it be done?

[BobsYourUncle]

A little background info first:

December 5, 2011 I was in a bad wreck where I got rear ended by a 5 ton truck going highway speed and I was nearly stopped. I was driving a 96 GMC Safari minivan.
He hit me really hard and launched me off the road and over an embankment into a water filled ditch. Double whiplash, back and various other injuries, but by the grace of God I walked away from it without a scratch.

OK, fast forward 4 years to now. I moved from BC's west coast to Calgary Alberta and it gets rather cold here.

My back is getting worse and not better. I ache a lot and seize up when I sit too long or when I get out of bed. Hard to walk and do stairs until I limber up a bit.

I have a friend whose car I drive has heated seats and I always turn it on full blast and it feels soooooooooo good on my aching back.

My 07 GMC truck has plain old cloth bucket seats. Nothing special.

I would love to convert them to heated seats. Can't afford a new truck although it's time to do so. I would love to mod my truck and put heated seats into it.

Has anyone done this conversion? Anyone seen aftermarket products to do so?
I've thought of combing the boneyards to see if I could find some used ones but haven't done so.

Sure would be nice to have during these cold Alberta winters.

[jason4598]

I got mine at cobraheat.com

[ktmrfs]

Yes it can be done. Done it in 4 vehicles so far. The ones I've used are from "Check corporation". They are custom cut for your specific vehicle. I bought the ones that have 3 heat positions. Had them on two vehicles for over 10 years and 100K + miles and theyhave held up well.



here is a website link

http://www.heatyourseat.com/

[BobsYourUncle]

Thanks for the help guys, and the links.
I can do all the work myself including the wiring. I've been working on cars since I was a puppy.
I prefer the one with the dual pads so I can have one in the back as well as the bottom.
I'll check it out.

[noteven]

Clicky

[cpaulsen]

Check out LMC Truck.....they offer heated seat kits and are not very expensive.

[is_it_friday_ye]

I put these in my truck last year. I have cloth seats. I took the plastic panel off under my radio, drilled holes, and put both switches in there. The only part which takes some time is running the wire from the seats to the panel, under the carpet and removing part of the seat covers to put the pad underneath. These seats heat up fast and are hot. My wife has a Dodge Grand Caravan with heated, leather seats and my seats heat up quicker. I would install them again.

[gbopp]

FWIW, last year I was looking for a newer Suburban. I looked at one with aftermarket heated seats. The dealership did a clean installation.

Then I looked at one with factory heated seats. There was no comparison, the factory seats were far superior to the aftermarket heaters.

Did they do a poor installation at her dealership? I don't know.
I did buy a Suburban with factory heaters, from a different dealer.

Tonymull is satisfied with his aftermarket heaters. I'm sure they work great if properly installed.

[tonymull]

You can get seat heaters that plug into your 12v outlets. Put it on the seat and then install seat covers. that way they don't get out of place. Works great. My wife has had hers for years.

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=portable+heated+car+seat&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=91331595509&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14726337761270381621&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_22k0glik4h_b

[Golden_HVAC]

Well you could trade in the truck for a delux model, or stop by a local junkyard and FIND a truck with heated seats, bucket seats for that matter (provides much better support than bench seating) perhaps find a Cadillac Suburban with heated and cooled seats that are leather? They should be a direct bolt in fit for your factory seats.

You could also check with a local upholstery shop, or body shop and see if they have any suggestions. I was watching "How it's Made' and they did car seats tonight. IT showed how a heat pad is installed on this model, and the wires run down under the seat for hookup inside the car. It all looked pretty simple to install.

You could install a couple of three way switches with center off, and have it wired to a relay powered only when the engine is on, with #14 wire going to the area under the seats, so that the shop would be able to connect everything pretty quickly after you arrived. Then you would have the ability to have high or low heat setting for drivers and passenger sides.

In the meantime, try a 500 watt inverter that plugs into a cigarette lighter, and a regular heating pad. The small inverters are only $40 at Costco now. Check the heat rating of the heating pad before trying it out. Remember that a 5 amp heating pad will draw 50 amps from the 12 volt system, so look for something in the 2 amp range, and if it draws that much, you will need to hook up a 30 amp circuit for the inverter, and fuse it right.

Good luck,

Fred.