Heated rear-view mirrors are a necessary option in winter to improve driving safety and provide the driver with adequate visibility.
This feature is present in most modern cars, but owners of older vehicles should not be upset. You can make heated side mirrors yourself!
Types of heating
The need for this function became clear quite a long time ago. Just a few decades ago, some cars were equipped with simple devices designed to defrost viewing structures.
Installation involved installing incandescent lamps inside, which heated the part from the inside and the ice melted. In modern devices, the heating method has changed, but the function remains the same.
The existing types of defrosters should be considered separately:
- Wire - how heated mirrors on a wire base works is explained by its very name. Tungsten filaments are used as a heating element, placed on an insulating and heat-resistant base. When an electric current passes through them, they heat up, which leads to melting of the ice.
- Printed conductors – heated car mirrors using printed conductors are the most modern. You can buy boards at the car market or at a spare parts store. They are not made independently.
- A film heater is a film-based product with heating elements included in it.
- Lamp heater - this type of heating element is a low-power (10 watt) incandescent lamp. This technology is best suited for making heated mirrors with your own hands and is often used by owners of outdated models of domestic cars.
Checking the presence of standard heating
The presence of a heated rear view mirror cannot always be detected at first glance. The fact is that there is often no separate button to turn it on, and many car owners wonder how the heated exterior mirrors are turned on. The function is activated automatically when the rear window heating is turned on. To check if the mirror heater is present:
- Start the engine;
- Turn on the rear window heating;
- Spray the mirrors with water or blow on them;
- Touch it with your hand.
When the heating is running, the water drops dry within 1-2 minutes; when you breathe, the mirror does not fog up, and it is warm to the touch. In the cold season, you can verify the presence of heating by simply observing how long it takes for the mirror to thaw after being parked overnight. If a heating element is located underneath, the defrosting process takes only a few minutes.
Internal
Let's start with the rearview mirror installed inside your car.
Interior rear view element
There are several reasons why the driver will want or have to dismantle this element:
- The desire to replace with a more advanced, new model;
- Installation of electronics, parking sensors;
- The glass or plastic case is damaged, broken and does not allow further use of the component;
- There is a need to install sensors that are not included in the standard equipment of your car.
Replacement
Do not rush to remove the old mirror if you have not yet purchased a new product. Sometimes you have to wait for weeks because of the speed of delivery, and sometimes it’s enough to go to the market or store, where you will immediately find the desired product.
VAZ 2114 were produced until 2009, which requires the use of a standard type of fastening consisting of two bolts. This method of fixation has been used since 1976.
The downside of bolt-on mounting is the impossibility of installing an interior mirror from a foreign car. It’s good that there are many domestic products on the market that perfectly match the VAZ 2114.
You can start working.
- Remove the plug from the bolts. Although it is not always present.
- Holding the mirror body with one hand, begin to unscrew the mounting bolts with the other.
- Remove the old mirror.
- Check the condition of the seat and clean it.
- If the old bolts are covered with rust, it is better to replace them with similar new ones.
- Screw in the new mirror using the bolts.
- Insert decorative plugs so that the bolt heads do not spoil the appearance of the interior.
The simplest fasteners
The bolts should be fixed as tightly as possible to avoid damage to the glass as a result of shaking and vibration.
Adjustment
The interior rear view mirror is tilt adjustable.
- The ideal setting is when, when you look into it, you can see everything that is happening behind your car;
- Some cars have high seats, which means you can see part of your ear and headrest in the reflection. This is a normal phenomenon, so there is no need to change the settings;
- A panoramic product with backlighting is best suited for the role of a rear mirror, since the glass used is flat and there is no image distortion, which has a positive effect on safety.
Instructions for installing ready-made components
Installing commercial heated mirrors is a relatively simple operation. To carry it out, it is necessary to remove the part from the car and disassemble it. Glued products are heated with a hair dryer or by soaking in boiling water, after which the reflective overlay is easily removed. Products fastened with bolts are disassembled using the appropriate tool. Do-it-yourself installation of heated rear-view mirrors purchased in a store is permissible only on clean and dry surfaces.
Before starting the procedure, it is necessary to evaluate the dimensions of the heating element and housing. If printed circuit boards are used, it is possible to remove the stiffeners. The film is cut to size while retaining the heating strips.
The boards are glued to the inside of the case with glue, the films are fixed directly to the reverse side. In both cases, wires are soldered to the contacts of the thermoelement, which go to the power source.
The connection diagram for heated exterior mirrors may vary on different cars. Usually the wires are brought out and connected to the line that supplies the heated rear window. It is possible to install separate wiring using a relay and a fuse. In some models, auto wiring for the devices in question is provided with src=»https://znanieavto.ru/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/skhema-podklyucheniya-obogreva.jpg» class=»aligncenter» width=»500″ height ="600″[/img]
Report on installing heated mirrors
Upon request, I will make a report. I’ll immediately make a reservation that everything was done in October 2009, and because... At that time I was not a Dromovite, I didn’t take any photos, so the photos were taken from the network, but I will describe my technology.
What you needed: 1. Universal
— 188rub *2
2. 4-pin relay + terminal block for it - about 100 rubles.
3. Wires with a cross-section similar to the heating element, I took 1.5 mm2 3 meters - about 150 rubles. 4. male-female terminals (wide and narrow (I took 20 pcs with a reserve)) - about 150 rubles. 5. Electrical tape or heat shrink. 6. Additional button (optional). 7. Additional (remote fuse)
The process itself. We remove the ears (mirrors) from the car and drag them home. wash and remove the mirror element. To do this, lift the mirror up (so that there is a gap at the bottom), there are 2 latches (exactly from the bottom.) Carefully pry them off with a flat screwdriver and remove them. then you need to separate the mirror itself from the plate (I had one glued and the other not), they are removed by heating the sides of the mirror (I warmed it with a hair dryer
