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WH Seat Heating Elements

Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2019 1:55 am
by ezymount
I have an RDL set that is being recovered. When top of the front seat was pulled back, the heating element was attached (excessive glue) to the foam material used on the underside of the top cover. It would not detach, even with heat applied. So removal of top cover pulled heating element apart making it unusable !!

Of course yu cannot buy just a heating element from BMW, which forces me to an aftermarket element. BMW also does not publish, or make available the max allowable power draw the CANBUS will allow, before shutting it down !

> Anyone ever been thru this, or have any idea what the power draws are for low and high setting for front seat.


The aftermarket element I am looking at requires a min 10A fuse.

The kit comes with a relay and its own switch, so I may be forced to run it on its own controller if bikes canbus wont allow it..

Tks for any inputs !

Re: WH Seat Heating Elements

Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2019 11:25 am
by Graham88
I think you need to measure the resistance of the coil, I would guess the front and back are the same and hi/lo setting is taken care of by the controller in the bike. You could then work out the maximum current draw with R=V/I, 10A on a 12.8V battery would be 1.28 Ohm

Re: WH Seat Heating Elements

Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2019 2:41 pm
by Casbar
Sargent seats supply a seat with a heating element that plugs straight into the existing BMW plug. It might be worth asking them, they might take pity on you :)

Re: WH Seat Heating Elements

Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2019 3:44 pm
by David.
ezymount wrote:The aftermarket element I am looking at requires a min 10A fuse.
The rating of the on-board auxiliary sockets is 10A.

What is the power (watts) of the aftermarket element?

Sargent seats draw approximately 1.7 amps (23 watts @ 13.5 volts).

Power = amps x volts, therefore, Amps = power / volts, e.g. 23W / 13.5V = 1.7A.