Heated leather seats conversion

[ScottyBoy]

I have a 2001 Suburban and I'm retrofitting it with leather heated seats from a 2004 Yukon. I have the seats in but I cant figure out how to wire up the seat heaters. I dont have the factory buttons from the Yukon just the seats and about 3 inches of the wiring harness underneath them. The front seats each have a harnes with about 20 wires in it, and the rear seats each have a harness with 6 wires in it. Each harness has a thick (about 12 gauge) orange and a black wire. I hooked these up to the orange and black coming from the floor that my factory 2001 seats plugged up to. Now all the power adjustments and lumbar works fine. But now I wanna figure out a way to hook up the heaters whether I have to buy a factory switch or if I can hook them up with toggle switches or buttons. If anyone has access to a 2004 yukon wiring diagram, plaease share it.

[jojiboy]

I have a 2001 Suburban and I'm retrofitting it with leather heated seats from a 2004 Yukon.  I have the seats in but I cant figure out how to wire up the seat heaters.  I dont have the factory buttons from the Yukon just the seats and about 3 inches of the wiring harness underneath them.  The front seats each have a harnes with about 20 wires in it, and the rear seats each have a harness with 6 wires in it. Each harness has a thick (about 12 gauge) orange and a black wire. I hooked these up to the orange and black coming from the floor that my factory 2001 seats plugged up to. Now all the power adjustments and lumbar works fine. But now I wanna figure out a way to hook up the heaters whether I have to buy a factory switch or if I can hook them up with toggle switches or buttons.  If anyone has access to a 2004 yukon wiring diagram, plaease share it.

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

 

I have the schematics from my service manual but I don't know if I can post them here. I can email them though if you want.

[jerseysierra]

I have the schematics from my service manual but I don't know if I can post them here. I can email them though if you want.

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

 

I would be interested in those same schematics as well. I am considering a similar swap myself. Please keep us posted on your progress, Katrinahater.

[jojiboy]

I would be interested in those same schematics as well.  I am considering a similar swap myself.  Please keep us posted on your progress, Katrinahater.

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

 

jerseysierra, PM me your email address and I'll be happy to send the schematics.

[ScottyBoy]

Ok, heres the latest news. I found out that 2003 and newer trucks, the seats are computer controlled. There is a computer under each front seat and there is also a computer in each front door. The switches send a signal to the door computer and then the door computer sends a signal via the on board databus to the seat computer. Its not as simple as switches and wires and relays. I'm still doing more research to see if its possible to bypass the computers some kind of way. Because I dont have the switches or the door computers, and I cant "trigger" the seat computer without the door computer. But as for the rear seats, I think I can make them work if I can get my hands on some switches and wiring harnesses. Or if I can at least get the pigtail that plugs to the switch, I'll make my own harness. The rear seats are each controlled by a 9pin relay mounted under each seat, and thanks to the schematics provided by Jojiboy, I found out they they are not computer controlled.

[Yukon04]

You must control the heated seat pads with some sort of feedback device. You run a very large risk if you bypass the system as designed. Without working knowledge of the heated seat performance curves, you run the risk of thermal events, damage to your seat, or injury.

 

The heated seat pads are connected together in a parallel circuit configuration. The feedback device is in the seat back heater pad. This is an NTC that feeds resistance values to the Driver's Seat Module (DPM). The DPM turns the pads on & off based on the NTC feedback. The rate at which the DPM controls is a square wave developed over months of testing. Without control, the heater pads keep heating up until...poof! You don't want poof...don't under-estimate the heated seat system. Lots of current (A) uncontrolled is unsafe.

 

Now that I've pointed out the problem, I'll help with the solution. You need all of the factory components in the system. Costly and complicated. Requires seat harnesses, body harness, seat module, door module, and switches.

 

OR

 

Poke on this:

http://www.heated-seats.com/products.php

 

Cheaper, easier, and safer. Scrap the factory stuff and use these. They are Tier II to our company and offer these as aftermarket to the public. Highest quality I've seen in the market.

[jerseysierra]

You must control the heated seat pads with some sort of feedback device.  You run a very large risk if you bypass the system as designed.  Without working knowledge of the heated seat performance curves, you run the risk of thermal events, damage to your seat, or injury. 

 

The heated seat pads are connected together in a parallel circuit configuration.  The feedback device is in the seat back heater pad.  This is an NTC that feeds resistance values to the Driver's Seat Module (DPM).  The DPM turns the pads on & off based on the NTC feedback.  The rate at which the DPM controls is a square wave developed over months of testing.  Without control, the heater pads keep heating up until...poof!  You don't want poof...don't under-estimate the heated seat system.  Lots of current (A) uncontrolled is unsafe.

 

Now that I've pointed out the problem, I'll help with the solution.  You need all of the factory components in the system.  Costly and complicated.  Requires seat harnesses, body harness, seat module, door module, and switches.

 

OR

 

Poke on this:

http://www.heated-seats.com/products.php

 

Cheaper, easier, and safer.  Scrap the factory stuff and use these.  They are Tier II to our company and offer these as aftermarket to the public.  Highest quality I've seen in the market.

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

 

Well that's not what I wanted to hear but I appreciate the info. At first, I thought that was a dumb/unsafe way of heating seats but the more I think about it, that is probably the only way to get the seats to heat up in a reasonably fast time. Nobody would want to wait 15 minutes for the seats to "feel" warm yet this would be the only safe way to do it without feedback. On the plus side is the reasonable prices for the seat heaters listed at the posted link. My chevy dealer offered to install seat heaters for 600 bucks! I don't think so.

[slemmer]

I cheated and opted for the Obus Forme heated seat cushion. Good for those winter days and nights and it has a safety switch on the seat so if the cushion is plugged into the cig lighter and you leave your truck, it won't drain the battery.