bmw seat inside the house(need advice)

[ernest1991]

im making a present for my brother this christmas. Im custom building a computer gaming chair using e39 comfort seat. my father is a carpenter and generally a handy man, so i have frame and armrests covered. however neither of us has a clue how to connect the electrical wiring. the question is how do i connect the seat in order controls to work. I already figured out how to get the conversion from 220v to 12v. for that im going to use my old laptom charging cable i was told it should work. The main thing i need help with is figuring out where to connect all those wires to.... do i simply need to find the + and -? (since i dont need all those seatbelt tensioner and occupation sensors) this is too complicated to form a question, my head is hurting from all the research😫

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for some reason i cant upload pictures here..

[shogun]

use a free pic upload service and post the link here

[JimLev]

Your laptop power supply many not put out enough current for the seat motors.
Are you trying to use the BMW seat switches?
You could just get some DPDT toggles switches for each motor and eliminate all of the BMW switches.

[Kenny1958]

I think you need a transformer that you connect the 12v side to the - + in the chair and plug the other end into the wall.

[mattmar1]

ive got to agree with jimlev's concern that your laptop power supply wont supply adequate current to drive the motors, if i was attempting this, i'd either use a battery to drive the motors, with a charger attached for it, or step up to a properly rated power supply.
it will require more than just a transformer to accomplish this, rectification needs to be done to convert ac to dc voltage

[JimLev]

Ernest, you need something like this for the seat motors.
120/220 input with 12v/30Amp output.
https://www.amazon.com/SUPERNIGHT-Un...t+power+supply

[edjack]

Pin 5 (+) and pin 6 (-) at the seat control panel. https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e...stment/ndkfJlU

Jim is correct. You need a hefty DC supply. Be sure to fuse the output.

Good Luck if you don't have the control panel!

[JimLev]

The seat control panel would be the easiest, only 2 wires to connect.
Otherwise a DPDT switch on each motor to control motor direction.
So your building something like this? From the Unser Racing Museum today. (Not me in the seat)
When it was my turn I did 206 MPH around the track without crashing.

image.jpg

[computiNATEor]

The seat control panel would be the easiest, only 2 wires to connect.
Otherwise a DPDT switch on each motor to control motor direction.
So your building something like this? From the Unser Racing Museum today. (Not me in the seat)
When it was my turn I did 206 MPH around the track without crashing.

image.jpg

Hah, I've seen those simulators at some automaker events, too. RFactor 1 is pretty old at this point.

[ernest1991]

I was surprised how many responses i got here! thank you so much for your advices. Indeed as some of you were saying the laptop thing doesnt work in this case. i went to the electronic store andbought this little thing(slightly larger than the box on laptop cord) that changes the voltage to 12V. i plugged it into the wall and the 12v output i just guessed and conected to the thickest cables sticking out of the seat and it works! all the controlls work! thank you so much for your replies, looks like i stumbled into a friendly community. I'll work on uploading some pictures of this project(the way Shogun adviced)

[ernest1991]

thanks for advice, i just signed up for "dropbox". trying to figure out how it works

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you were right about the power supply. I got the proper power converter. just plugged the 12v output to the thickest wires coming out of the seat. there is a slight delay after you press one of the switches but its not too annoying. thank you for your advices, i really appreciate that.

[CaleCro]

As edjack already described in post up, you just need to connect power supply of stable 30A 12-14,4 VDC on pins.

All modules are inside seat so it will all work.
for Seat heating you need to add aditional switch only to activate it.

From which year is seat? pins could be different

[ernest1991]

you are right about laptop thing was aqd idea. i dont know what rectification is but a guy in electronic store gave me this converter thing. its a black box that converts electricity to 12v. it does some other thing which i dont understand but the end result is that the controlls are all working! oh that converter cost me 36€) so far two front seats and the converter added up to 106€.

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CaleCro you are right. with the right power output it all works. im not sure what year the car was.. the seats are actually from bmw e38, but i have the exact same ons in my e39. anyways the controlls work, im super excited!!

[ernest1991]

this is the link to some pictures of my project if you guys want to see it. Looks weird now but just wait, i have it all in my head, its going to be great, i promise!

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/l7tdraim0...tqscTnEdJnP3ha

[JimLev]

Looks good, nice woodworking tools.
One problem, we don't see any empty beer bottles in the pics, lol.
Let us know when you add more pics.

[mattmar1]

nice mortise and tenon work...its becoming a lost art

[geargrinder]

LOL. Cool thread. Yep - I cut an underseat plug out of a junkyard car so I can plug in a seat in the basement quickly without any fuss and power it around. I also found problems if I don't give it enough juice... I think the control module might measure voltage drop because if it doesn't have enough juice it doesn't even really move a little they just don't work at all. But give it enough power and the seat will work just like in the car.

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

I saved a drivers seat out of a 2017 ScoobyDoo WRX in which the seats airbag went off, I saved it figuring that I’ll turn it into an office desk chair. I already got the base off of an old desk chair, the hydraulics still work great, I did order a set of 5 rollerblade type wheels, bearings and all off of eBay made to go right into the mounts replacing the desk chairs stock wheels. I gotta figure out how to restitch the seats side where the airbag ripped on thru. Shouldn’t be that hard, I’m sure a moron like me could figure out how to do some stitching.

[ernest1991]

here is the link again. Made the frame and atatched the armrests. Looks weird and boxy, but stick with me, it will look better. I still need to make some adjustments..

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kq9mitu7j...ASI-xo1Ka?dl=0

[JimLev]

Looks good. Is that oak your using?

[geargrinder]

Cool. Wood kinda has that green look of some poplar. Doesn't look oaky to me... Could be some euro variety of wood we dont have?

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

I thought poplar too.

[philly98540]

Like an ash or something.

[ernest1991]

philly98540 you are right! this is ash. im not going to leave it this color though, my dad has a bunch of cool dyes (its not exactly a dye, its like a colored oil you rub into the wood, and then whipe off the surface dry, while the oil soaks the wood) sorry english isnt my first language. i just uploaded a picture with the different paints. me and my father agreed that the darkest color(moorish teak) would look best. what do you guys think? (the leather is going to be black)

[ernest1991]

oh im sorry, i forgot the link. here it is:


https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kq9mitu7j...ASI-xo1Ka?dl=0