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Heated seat inserts, stock Vanagon ~ any information?
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theadventureneverends
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 11:14 pm    Post subject: Heated seat inserts, stock Vanagon ~ any information? Reply with quote

Aloha
I came across a guy on here who bought heated seat inserts for his Vanagon. Then another person took the time to tell me about ebay and a company called Rostra. It appears I could have heated seats in my 91 GL with the stock seats for a reasonable price $100-$150 each. With the trips we are hoping to do it seems like money well spent.

Has anyone out there tried these the install does not look hard at least from looking at the components. These are not the ones that are black and go on top of the seat though they might work. These actually go inside the seat and you wire them in and they have a few settings.

Are they junk? I sure would like to put them in the Tundra and Landcruiser if they work halfway decent as well. Whenever I am in a car with heated seats my low back sure feels better.

Any info on these or others would be appreciated. If it takes me a day or 2 to get back to you my wife had a second knee surgery and I am attempting to to 10 things at once right now things are a little hard. My goal is to have the Syncro Westy done when she is off the crutches and enjoy life again. Her back is a little sore also from being sideways with the crutches for 6 weeks.
Thank you for your time and information.
John
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seanjenn
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 9:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A friend of mine was a Volvo mechanic for a while and was telling me about the heated seat inserts for the 240 models. He said you could pick them up for about $80-$100. My old 240 had those heated seats and they still worked very well although the car had over 250k miles on it. I bet you could get some from the salvage yard for next to nothing with the switches and everything.
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FNGRUVN
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 9:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey John,

I put a set of seat heaters in my '80 westy that I bought from a company on ebay. They work great and supposedly the same brand that most of the car manufacturers use. I mounted the switches in the lower part of the dash and an aux fuse panel behind the glove box to power them. I think I have some pictures of the install in my gallery pics. Let me know if I can be of more help.

Rick
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3konas
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 10:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

These may not be in your price range but I like mine. I have the Wet Okole seat covers with the heated seat option. Only one setting HOT but that's what I like.
http://www.wetokole.com/?
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Zeitgeist 13
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 10:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I noticed that some of those ebay kits don't have a relay. I'd be very leery of operating with direct high current wiring like that. It looks like most of the Rostra kits have a relay. I love the seat heaters in my Audis, and I'm in the process of adding the factory setup to my Mercedes. I'd love to see pics of this install in a Vanagon.
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insyncro
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 10:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

3konas wrote:
These may not be in your price range but I like mine. I have the Wet Okole seat covers with the heated seat option. Only one setting HOT but that's what I like.
http://www.wetokole.com/?


I have these in a Syncro, excellent quality.

I have also placed the carbon fiber heating elements available on eBay into the stock Vanagon seats.
I wire them to the heater control rheostat and relay available on the Canadian Syncros and most TriStars.
This setup is really nice and looks stock.

Toasty buns.

dylan


Last edited by insyncro on Sun Jan 03, 2010 8:03 pm; edited 1 time in total
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TopBud
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 5:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I bought those cheapy seat covers with the heated pads for my bay westy. They were about $20 a piece. They worked for the trip I was doing, but every time you moved around you would have to adjust the pads. I found that a bit annoying. I would not recommend these unless you were on a super budget. My girls subie has the heated seats and they are sweet.
My Syncro is a canadian model and it has the heated seat switch, but the og seats were torn and all of the wires were cut. I have pondered these for a while and one day I will have them wired to my switch, but now I can spend money on other things to make it ride better. The list goes on.
My buddy installed the Rostra pads in a old land cruiser and they heated my buns. I enjoyed them. Those wet Okole ones look sweet. pretty penny though
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whafalia
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 7:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Any chance of someone posting a pic of this rheostat? I'm curious.
Oh if anyone is pondering the salvage yard route, Saab 900's had heated seats.
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insyncro
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 8:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Last edited by insyncro on Sun Jan 03, 2010 8:14 pm; edited 1 time in total
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syncrodoka
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 8:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

SAAB seat install- http://www.sthwark.demon.co.uk/syncro/syncro_projects.html#Saab
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whafalia
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 9:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bang Bang, thanks gentlemen, that's a slick piece, bet it didn't come in brown though!
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syncrodoka
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 9:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think that they did come in brown. The column cover could be bought as of last year when I checked but the dial switch was over $150. Then you need to source a heating element for the seat and figure out the wiring and relay to make it work.
That seat heater only controls a heated seat element for the driver's side. Do your passenger a favor and buy a aftermarket unit so that they can have toasty buns too. Smile It'll cost less in the end too.
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GriffithBuilt
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 12:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

That Rostra kit looks pretty nice. Good installation instructions it looks like also - available here.

So how would you get the seats apart to get these installed in the cushion? Anyone done this and have photos?

Jason
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markz2004
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 12:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

a search for "heated seats" revealed this wisdom.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=267239
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insyncro
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 6:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

whafalia wrote:
Bang Bang, thanks gentlemen, that's a slick piece, bet it didn't come in brown though!


I have them in black and brown.
Yes the switch is expensive, $150+.
I was lucky enough to buy them years ago.

I have a few extra that I would be willing to sell.
pmail if interetsed.

dylan
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whafalia
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 10:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Brown too? Bob's my uncle. I'll let you save those for the more northerly inclined. Cool
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otiswesty
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 29, 2010 3:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The heated seat switch off of a VW Cabriolet has switches for both driver's and passenger seats. The stock Canadian Vanagon switch is for one seat only. US residents may find the Cabrio seat switch much easier to find in the yards. No requirement to wire both of course.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Standard single seat heater switch:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

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syncrodoka
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 29, 2010 3:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

What year range of cabrio? What is the part number?
I can't imagine there are many heated seat equipped cabrios in california. Sad
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FNGRUVN
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 29, 2010 7:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Zeitgeist 13 wrote:
I noticed that some of those ebay kits don't have a relay. I'd be very leery of operating with direct high current wiring like that. It looks like most of the Rostra kits have a relay. I love the seat heaters in my Audis, and I'm in the process of adding the factory setup to my Mercedes. I'd love to see pics of this install in a Vanagon.



I just got done installing a set(not sure of the brand) and the power wires were about 18 ga. I'm guessing that these heaters don't draw too much current. The switches should be able to handle this amount of current without a relay, I would think.
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Randy in Maine
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 29, 2010 8:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have these ready to go into the "new bus" and freshly rebuilt front seats.

http://www.heatedseatkits.com/heatedseatkits/iheat2/index.html
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