Heated seat and heated mirror query

[waynef]

Hello guys,

As you may be aware, I've replaced my trusty Fabia vRS Mark 1 with a lovely 59-plate face lifted Octavia Laurin+Klement estate diesel.

Thing is, I am of the opinion that the heated mirrors aren't getting hot enough as these puppies don't clear water of like my vRS did. They're really quite tepid to the touch, even after about 5-10 minutes.

Equally, the heated seats just aren't getting hot either in my humble opinion, after sitting in quite a few over the years.

Thing is, I an not technical enough to know what may be causing these things. Could it be that the battery isn't upto snuff? Maybe the alternator?

Please let me know I am daft, and if you can help

By the way, the heated rear window appears to clear reasonably well at the mo'. Can't vouch if the heated washer jets work yet, given its not been cold enough.

Thank you.

[silver1011]

Sounds like you have a high tolerance to heat 

 

The battery or alternator shouldn't be affecting the heated seats, if the battery was bad enough to directly effect the electrical load then it would be struggling to start the engine.

 

Perhaps the heating elements are just tired, how many miles has the car done?

 

The heated mirrors are operated independantly to the rear heated window. They are switched on and off using the wing mirror adjustment knob on the drivers door.

 

Mine don't get that hot, they'll melt ice but won't dry out rain water.

[trundlenut]

I reckon the either the mirrors are coming unstuck or the elements aren't great.

If you have an L&K you may have dimming mirrors, in which case time to sell a kidney or a,child if you need to replace them. Otherwise look on eBay, new mirrors are about £10 each for the heated glass. The dealer will want about £50 each for OEM non dimming ones.

Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

[waynef]

Doh.  Multiquote...

Edited 20 November, 2015 by waynef

[waynef]

Sounds like you have a high tolerance to heat 

 

The battery or alternator shouldn't be affecting the heated seats, if the battery was bad enough to directly effect the electrical load then it would be struggling to start the engine.

 

Perhaps the heating elements are just tired, how many miles has the car done?

 

The heated mirrors are operated independantly to the rear heated window. They are switched on and off using the wing mirror adjustment knob on the drivers door.

 

Mine don't get that hot, they'll melt ice but won't dry out rain water.

 

 

I reckon the either the mirrors are coming unstuck or the elements aren't great.

If you have an L&K you may have dimming mirrors, in which case time to sell a kidney or a,child if you need to replace them. Otherwise look on eBay, new mirrors are about £10 each for the heated glass. The dealer will want about £50 each for OEM non dimming ones.

Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

 

Thanks for the information guys.

 

So are the mirrors different on an L+K then?

I take it that not only the cabin-mounted rear-view dims, but the outside ones do too?

I've not noticed this.

I'll extract the mirrors now and have a look in daylight.

 

Cheers!

[softscoop]

If it's a facelift l&K it won't have the auto dimming side mirrors. 

They were dropped as a standard feature quite early on.

[Vegasphil]

I don't think my heated seats are that good compared to the ones in my golf mk5!

[booke23]

I own a 2006 L&K Octavia and a 2006 Fabia Elegance.

The heated mirrors and heated seats in my Fabia are much better than the Octavia. As an example, I find setting 4 and 5 on the Fabia's heated seats are too hot to sit on! Where as level 5 on the Octavia is not as severe.

My theory is that the heating elements are closer to the surface of the seats in the Fabia.

As for the mirrors, as my Octavia is an early example, both the outside mirrors are auto dimming, so I put the poorer heating down to the thicker dimming glass, but it seems they are just a different design.

I know the Octavia has a switch for the heated mirrors, but the trend these days on a lot of cars are for the mirrors to be heated all the time the car is running with no switch to turn them off. As a consequence I think they have made heated mirrors less powerful. I had a 1995 Rover 600 and the heated mirrors on that would have all frost cleared 10 seconds after turning them on, and a minute later would have steam coming off them. IIRC there was a 10 minute timer that turned them off. There would be a real chance of them melting something if they were on all the time!

[waynef]

I own a 2006 L&K Octavia and a 2006 Fabia Elegance.

The heated mirrors and heated seats in my Fabia are much better than the Octavia. As an example, I find setting 4 and 5 on the Fabia's heated seats are too hot to sit on! Where as level 5 on the Octavia is not as severe.

My theory is that the heating elements are closer to the surface of the seats in the Fabia.

As for the mirrors, as my Octavia is an early example, both the outside mirrors are auto dimming, so I put the poorer heating down to the thicker dimming glass, but it seems they are just a different design.

I know the Octavia has a switch for the heated mirrors, but the trend these days on a lot of cars are for the mirrors to be heated all the time the car is running with no switch to turn them off. As a consequence I think they have made heated mirrors less powerful. I had a 1995 Rover 600 and the heated mirrors on that would have all frost cleared 10 seconds after turning them on, and a minute later would have steam coming off them. IIRC there was a 10 minute timer that turned them off. There would be a real chance of them melting something if they were on all the time!

 

Yes, my Fabia vRS mirrors were raging hot, just like your Rover's.  I'll have to see how these go as there may be a fault with the switch; I am not convinced that they always come on (10-minutes or otherwise).

 

As for the seats, yes I can see what you are saying.  Bit disappointing because as http://www.briskoda.net/forums/user/135971-vegasphil/ says, there are other cars that I've tried that really make a difference.  These - if they really are working - are more a gimmick sadly as positions 1 and 2 are utterly useless!  I think I'll call Skoda to see whether there's an upper heat limiter on them or something.

[booke23]

As for the seats, yes I can see what you are saying.  Bit disappointing because as http://www.briskoda.net/forums/user/135971-vegasphil/ says, there are other cars that I've tried that really make a difference.  These - if they really are working - are more a gimmick sadly as positions 1 and 2 are utterly useless!  I think I'll call Skoda to see whether there's an upper heat limiter on them or something.

 

Another thing to bear in mind is the element in the seat is easy break........if you kneel on the seat on one knee for instance. I know because I have done it! When this happens the seat back still heats up as do the bolsters next to your thighs, but the under thigh and buttock area remain unheated making the heated seat feel useless. 

 

I think it's potentially an easy fix if I could be bothered to take the seat out, remove the leather on the seat and solder in a link to reconnect the heating element.  

[labman1001]

I've a 2007 L&K Octavia and at no 5 the heated sear gets quite uncomfortably warm after a while .. I don't think the mirrors heat that much as they take ages to clear even condensation from them....

[pipsyp]

The mirror heating in these things works based upon the outside temperature.

I gather the lower the temperature, thr more voltage is applied to the elements on the mirror pad.

Therefore with the milder (i.e it feels cold but isnt actually that cold) weather we are experiencing right this very moment the mirrors wont get that warm....of a morning where its low postive/high - degrees then the glass will get hotter.

Something that could be affecting their operation is if the adhesive on the mirrors has weakened from continued heating/cooling - as the mirror becomes less well stuck to the element pad then they wont work so well.

Or alternatively is the exterior temp display working properly on the car....if that starts playing up gather it can affect these from working properly...heated washer jets too where fitted.

As to the seats....I have three stage seat heating in my Mk7 Golf.....I find 3 v warm....sometimes uncomfortably so....two is nice but far less noticeable and one hardly does anything.

I gather one or both seats have a controller on them that if it faults prevents the heating pad in the seat working but normally they dont work at all if that fails.

I have a feeling on the Mk2 its a single unit under the passeger seat that controls both heated seats but others on here will know better than me.

[Tilt]

I think I'll call Skoda to see whether there's an upper heat limiter on them or something. :think: .

     Best joke I've heard in ages!..............................................Good luck with the answer.

 

The mirror heating in these things works based upon the outside temperature.

I gather the lower the temperature, thr more voltage is applied to the elements on the mirror pad.

Personally find it difficult to believe this is the case. I could be proved wrong though?

[waynef]

     Best joke I've heard in ages!..............................................Good luck with the answer.

 

Personally find it difficult to believe this is the case. I could be proved wrong though?

Cheers.

[pipsyp]

Best joke I've heard in ages!..............................................Good luck with the answer.

Personally find it difficult to believe this is the case. I could be proved wrong though?

The mirror heating thing is true....switched on its always on but the heat output is entirely in line with outside temp. A few posts about it previously.