TDIFan1989
Veteran Member
I know a bunch of folks have complained about the lack of heat available on our vehicles (diesels) due to cold weather. I just completed a project whereby I installed a 300 watt 12 volt heater directly into my cars duct work with a toggle switch. Here's some photos to check out. Approx cost of the project was: $30 heater, $5 wire, $10 toggle switch and $5 red gasket silicone so ~$50. Took me about 3 hours to complete.
Here's the stock car heater. It comes with a 12 volt set up. Those switches both control one of two (150 watt) heater cores and both link to the common fan
This gives a more in depth look at the wiring inside the fan
I ended up taking the fan off. Tried to desolder the negative terminal but that never worked out.
And more wiring from another angle
Fan removed as well as the plastic deflector from the front reduced depth to about 2.5 inches, I further trimmed the box away to make it flatter and thinner. Final measurement was 1.5" thick.
After removing the glove box, I ran a few wires from the switch to the underside panel of the blower motor. Figured it was best to have it closest downstream of the blower motor to protect the blower motor from anything adverse. I used a self taping screw for the negative terminal to save on wiring. I ended up running 2 wires because it was easier to connect to the 2 positive terminals on the heater core that way (plus the wire was 60 percent off)
This is what the heater core looked after I did all the reductions. I did not keep the switch provided for the heater in the design for my vehicle
This is the newly installed heater core, as you can see, it is just past the blower motor housing so it is being directly blown unto by the stock assembly. I secured it into place using red gasket silicone as the temperatures might get higher than what black gasket silicone would withstand
This is the toggle switch I used for the project, it is rated for 30 amps and has a Red LED glowing when it's switched on.
I connected the power to the 75A terminal stting underneath the driver side connection points. This particular terminal does not get power unless the ignition is switched on (thereby eliminating accidental drain when the car is off). There is a fuse holder and a 30 amp fuse to protect the circuitry.
Finally, the red illuminated switch indicating everything went together properly.
I did test the auxiliary heater and it does work to give off some amount of heat immediately after starting the car. I will have to wait until the colder weather comes around to show it in action, preferably via video.
Enjoy!
Here's the stock car heater. It comes with a 12 volt set up. Those switches both control one of two (150 watt) heater cores and both link to the common fan
This gives a more in depth look at the wiring inside the fan
I ended up taking the fan off. Tried to desolder the negative terminal but that never worked out.
And more wiring from another angle
Fan removed as well as the plastic deflector from the front reduced depth to about 2.5 inches, I further trimmed the box away to make it flatter and thinner. Final measurement was 1.5" thick.
After removing the glove box, I ran a few wires from the switch to the underside panel of the blower motor. Figured it was best to have it closest downstream of the blower motor to protect the blower motor from anything adverse. I used a self taping screw for the negative terminal to save on wiring. I ended up running 2 wires because it was easier to connect to the 2 positive terminals on the heater core that way (plus the wire was 60 percent off)
This is what the heater core looked after I did all the reductions. I did not keep the switch provided for the heater in the design for my vehicle
This is the newly installed heater core, as you can see, it is just past the blower motor housing so it is being directly blown unto by the stock assembly. I secured it into place using red gasket silicone as the temperatures might get higher than what black gasket silicone would withstand
This is the toggle switch I used for the project, it is rated for 30 amps and has a Red LED glowing when it's switched on.
I connected the power to the 75A terminal stting underneath the driver side connection points. This particular terminal does not get power unless the ignition is switched on (thereby eliminating accidental drain when the car is off). There is a fuse holder and a 30 amp fuse to protect the circuitry.
Finally, the red illuminated switch indicating everything went together properly.
I did test the auxiliary heater and it does work to give off some amount of heat immediately after starting the car. I will have to wait until the colder weather comes around to show it in action, preferably via video.
Enjoy!