Retrofit Heated Seats without BMW Loom. WIP

[chisharpe]

Ok so some of you may have seen I have a set of M5 seats which are already heated. now BMW want 60quid for some wire and connector which cost me a total of 6.99 and 25 mins in my scrap yard.

This write up is for anyone who does not want to pay a fortune for something they can make themselves with a soldering iron and some time and also has the heated pads inside their seats. if you dont you will need to look at Liams thread.

all the bits can be had out of a breaking BMW but there are 2 connectors that I just could not get hold of as I kept finding cars that were pre facelift. if you want to do this cheap you will need to find a breaking BMW. if your gonna buy the parts from BMW just get the loom yourself.

Ok step one go to a scrap yard and equire these bits.




Part 1-4 can be had at most places in the car but the part we need will be connected to the fuse box under the drivers seat while your there in the fuse box get all of these two parts aswell.



Part 8-9 in the picture.



Ok from the picture above we need 4 different 61130007257

part 1 61130005197 is all over the car pretty much connected to every block from the cluster to the lcm ect just cut a big lump off. we need this for the yellow seat plug connector and the switch panel you will need about 12 of these just in-case

part 7 61130007257 this is used for both the seat connector and switch panel you will need 4 of these i couldn't find these anywhere so got them from BMW for pennies

part 8 I could not find the part no for this for love nor money and finally got it from BMW head office and they sent me one for free but its pennies as well 61138369644 this part provides power to the switch panel



in the picture above we need part 2. we only need a couple of these but just grab the whole fuse panel from the glove box as im sure it will come in handy for another retrofit.

now while your at the car there are two long looms that run the length of the car. rip these out and take with you this should be well enough for any wire you need.

I paid exactly 5 pounds for all of these bits from my local scrappy. Told them i took it out of a rover lol. and the rest of the money was bmw for the little bits I couldnt get.

Ok so this is how you wire the bad boy up.



Ingore the fact that all of the wires cross over each other. each wire is separate to itself if you get where im comming from. if you dont just ask.

I will add more pictures ect this weekend once I have started to fit the loom.

Chi.

[lesguy]

Hi. I have a 2003 540 and plan to add aftermarket heating elements to the seats. I've replaced elements before, so comfortable with hogrings, removing and replacing the leather, etc. The kit has its own switches, which I'll mount adjacent to the existing buttons for the seat movement. However, not sure of the best method/location to tap into for power and ground for the actual kit. Is the proper method to run wire for switched hot from a fusebox under the carpet? If so, any ideas on which circuit/fuse location to tap into? A search that turned up another thread resulted in an install that had a different type of heated seat element..a type that auto turns off if not weight is felt on the seat. So he had his seats wired to a constant hot in the center console.

thanks for any suggestions

[ntmatter]

I'm actually doing the same project and stuck at the same spot. Heaters came with their own loom, which installed moderately easily. But, I'm trying to figure out the best way to get 12V switched power under the seat. There look to be a bunch of usable spots on the truck fuse panel, but running a wire all the way to the front looks to be a huge hassle. Likewise, I'd like to avoid pulling the center console apart to get at the cigarette lighter.

What seems to make the most sense it to tap the seat loom right after the connector plug. This way, the power is integral to the seat and the motors/adjusters on the seat are seldom used. With the seat out of the car, I can see a thick red wire and a thick brown wire very close to the loom plug - I'm fairly sure that these'd be the positive and ground wires for the whole seat. I tried using a vampire tap (yellow 12 gauge) on the power wire, but the wire's tough and I think it's probably 10 gauge, so the tap didn't work.

Would appreciate any suggestions on options:
1. Use something like a Posi-lock tap on this wire
2. Run a wire to both seats from somewhere, and hide it without tearing the car apart
3. Find a better way to pull seat power without a tap
4. Other?

I couldn't even start to figure out what I'd have to remove to get a wire forward from the trunk, and I'd still have to daisy chain it from the passenger seat to the driver seat under the console. Would love to figure out a way to get power from the connection that's already there.

[lesguy]

If your car was pre wired for cell phone then if you remove your center armrest (two screws) you'll have a wiring harness underneath that I think is switched hot. Not sure if it's on a circuit with enough amperage to sustain heated seat power needs though..

[ntmatter]

Yup, so tried this and it works, and is certainly the easy way to go. The center console comes off easily, and the purple wire is 12V switched (tested). Wires easily tuck down the side of the center console into the seam of the floor carpet, and the heater can be grounded to the seat itself so you only have to run the one wire.

My concern, as you mention, is whether that circuit can support both 5A seats at the same time. From here, it looks as though the telephone is on a 5A circuit, and so running both seats at the same time would pop it. This is a pity, as in terms of convenience this location works very well. I don't suppose there's a separate switched wire in that phone harness, besides the purple one?

[johnate]

Hello Chi, I'm going to do the same install now, but cant see any of your pictures from photobucket. If you are still around, do you mind updating your photobucket account so others can view your pics? (Thats whats its asking anyway, not sure the process though)

[HoZy]

Hello Chi, I'm going to do the same install now, but cant see any of your pictures from photobucket. If you are still around, do you mind updating your photobucket account so others can view your pics? (Thats whats its asking anyway, not sure the process though)

You, a member of 7years, bumps a 5year old thread by a user that hasn't been active for well over 3years.

I'm sure if you paid the hosting fee's he would update his photobucket just for you. Until then, install a chrome extension to view the images or sort the wiring via the WDS.

Cheers
Mat