Inexpensive, carbon fiber, Seat Heaters?

[SgtSlag]

I found some carbon fiber seat heaters, ranging from $15 to $92, on the Internet, today. I am curious whether anyone here has purchased, installed, and used, any of these types of heaters?

Here are some links for the products I am referring to:

Saddlemen Dual Switch Seat Heater Kit -- $92 each;

Symtec Heat Demon Seat Warmer Pad -- $71.95;

AUDIOVOX SHSB1 SEAT HEATER FOR EITHER CLOTH OR LEATHER SEATS -- $35.86;

Universal 12v Carbon Fiber Motorcycle Seat Heater -- $15.95.

For those interested, here is a basically universal installation guide, applicable to any of the listed models, above:



They require peeling back the seat cover, to install the pads beneath them. The $15 unit has adhesive, peel-n-stick, to secure it to the seat foam padding material, to hold it in place. It also includes some silver tape, to secure the front and back edges, to the foam padding. The video demonstrates that the wires can be routed through a drilled hole, in the seat pan, to route safely.

I previously installed a sub-fuse block, under the faux tank, on my XII. I plan to wire it through this, to the battery. The sub-fuse block is switched through a relay, already, so that it has no power when the bike is off.

I switched out all but the instrument light bulbs, for LED's, so I have extra Watts available on my bike; the LED headlight uses a maximum of 35 W, where the Halogen runs at 55W, maximum, so there is a spare 20W alone (requires a max. of 70W, if we are both using the heaters, on High -- very unlikely, see below for comments on heat created). We would not be using these all of the time, only when needed. I have a Voltmeter on my bike, so I can see how much the heaters are impacting the charging system, in real time -- especially when we are idling, and the Alternator is low in output...

Most reviewers of the products I looked at, stated that the Low Heat setting was too warm, for long term use. I may, in fact, install a Rheostat, to get better thermal control, if necessary. This will be a Spring Project for me. I plan to pull the trigger on two of the $15 units, early next year. It should be relatively easy to install them. I plan to mount the driver's heat switch on the CC housing. Not sure where to mount the passenger's switch, though. Any comments welcome. Cheers!

[GrandpaDenny]

These are the ones I installed on Gertrude:
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07 ... UTF8&psc=1

Easy to install (the hardest part was restapling the cover), and boooooooooooooooy do they work!

-Dennis

later PS: they're not available at that URL anymore. Anyway, they're cheap Amazon seat heaters. Work great!

[SgtSlag]

I agree, stapling the seat cover back on, appears to be the most difficult part of the installation. The electrical part will be easy, for me. Thanks for the reply! Cheers!

[krasmu]

I replaced my seat cover this past spring because my OEM cover had a few rips in it. I found to be relatively easy repair job. On and off the bike in less that 2 hours. I'd say the biggest thing to be careful of, is not damaging the cover during removal. I tried to be careful to use small screwdriver and other leveraging tools to lift and pull the staples, rather than tugging on the vinyl cover to pull them. I was surprised at how well the plastic seat pan holds those staples. If you do to much damage to the cover during removal, you may not have enough solid, good material, left to hold and secure the cover back on. Try to work back and forth between all four sides of the seat when attaching the seat cover. Don't start at one spot and work around the seat. You may never get it on evenly. Just take your time and it's not that difficult. The hardest part of mine was that my 1990 has button tufts and they had to be pulled and tied off evenly for uniform appearance. If you are having trouble stretching some of those contours, you might try using a hair dryer to soften the vinyl gently. In full disclosure, my mother ran a furniture upholstery business out of our garage when I was younger. It was my job to remove the old fabric and foam to prep it for her magic. I was able to pick up some things over those few years on how she worked her magic.

[SgtSlag]

Your insights are very much appreciated! Thank you! Cheers!