El Cheapo Heated Mirrors

Deleted to Prevent Confusion

 

YAY!!! I join the ranks of those with heated mirrors also. Now I said I was going to post detail pics and have step by steps.

Those are not needed, due to the fact all the first few posters already show the key points. But I do have a few tips.

I have the Burco mirrors with the Highlander switch. In my case, I used a 5 pin relay. But I just capped off the middle pin so nothing accidently touches it.

I used my own mapping, since I wasn't sure if I was reading the schematic right provided by CtryBoyInMT.




A few things I found odd. When I had my passenger mirror out, I was missing 1 of the spring pins or whatever you'll call it. On my driver side, there's 2.
Also, on my driver side triangle cap, I'm missing 1 of the little white tabs.

Anyways, when grounding the mirrors, do NOT use the nut you see exposed, closest to the triangle cap. It's part of the window rail assembly. Anyways, the end of the bolt strips very easily. Hopefully I wont have any problems in the future.....
I grounded my wire with a bolt behind the plastic lining. Pretty much the only 2 or 3 bolts that doesnt have the plastic screw holes behind it.

Running the power wire through the door and into the cabin. First I grabbed a BIC pen and remove everything so I only have the tube body. *Tip* Cut a slit from 1 end to the other. The easiest way for me was to pull the rubber ends from both sides and compress it like an accordian. Then jam the BIC pen body into it and now you can slide your wires through the rubber loom. My pen wouldnt pull out the other end. So the slit allowed me to pull it right off the wire no problems. Then feed the wire into the cabin.

The Tacoma has a different kind of "mini fuse". It's a similar shape, but it's missing the leg prongs. They would not fit my mini add-a-circuit.
So I bought a combo pack of the mini fuse. Jammed a 7.5 into the slot closest to fuse box, and a 5 into the slot that's aligned with the wire.

 

PS, for those that need .110" uninsulated tabs, I have a baggy full of them. I will gladly send several to you as long as you cover shipping.


Oh yes, the Highlander switch does get pretty cramped when you use the .110" connectors with heat shrink around it. Very hard to get in there.

 

Congrats on getting everything working.

Shawn

 

Thanks! Odd question, but does your passenger mirror "bow" out?

 

Congrats! WATacoRider
Even though I'm horribly slow on checking my PM's; I'm glad, as I'm sure you are, you waited and asked all them questions!

Yeah, the passenger mirror is convex to provide a wide angle view, hence the "objects in mirror are closer than they appear."

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Oh yea, You got some MAD ms paint skills! Just kidding!

 

This may be a little off topic, but I think some may want to know in the future.

Well I added heated mirrors to my Hyundai a few weeks ago. I tapped into the rear window defroster circuit, yada yada.
Well when I walked out of work tonight, I was greeted with this:


The mirror is only a single pane so it got so hot, combined with the fact it's below 0°F, the thermal shock killed it as it cooled. I have yet to experience this with the Taco dual pane mirror, but just something to look out for. Unfortunately the 10W resistor included in the handlebar kit is too much resistance and they don't get near hot enough to melt snow, nonetheless ice. I'll have to experiment, just don't want to play with it in -2°F weather!
Small price to pay to say I'm the only Hyundai Accent out there with heated mirrors! Don't even have cruise, but by gosh she has heated mirrors!

 

Congrats watco! IMO heated mirrors should be mandatory at the factory, mirrors are an integral part of driving a vehicle, being able to clearly see out of them is a safety issue.

 

LOL thank god it doesnt get that cold here.

 

if anyone plans on doing this in the future with a highlander switch, i'll have an extra plug with the 5 wire terminals. i ordered 2 sets from trdparts4u.com thinking that the same plug would fit another switch i have. long story short, it won't. if anyone wants it, pm me and maybe we can work something out.

 

anyone want this extra plug^ i'll sell it cheaper than what i bought it for

 

Thats interesting about the mirror, I've seen them dis-colour (i.e. the mirror gets cloudy) due to leaving the heaters on too long, which is why I like the 15 minute timer.
Hey, if you want heated mirror AND cruise you could always add a after market kit. I installed one on one of my other cars and it worked great, even after 400,000km's.
Off topic, I just installed remote start on my truck and am loving it. I may try hooking up the aux output on it to my heated mirrors.

Shawn

 

I'm working on this project right now..... just to let everyone know, you don't have to put the mirrors in the oven at all (I don't know if that was previously mentioned). I used a hair dryer on high heat and heated the plastic edges. I laid the hair dryer on it's side while pointing it at the mirror on the work bench. I then used my fingers to work the plastic edges, easily, off of the mirror. The plastic is not attached to the mirror at all by any adhesives. The plastic was removed in 20 secs or less. The white "adhesive" you see in previous pictures, isn't adhesive. It's a square foam pad.

Just a little "heads-up" for anyone that plans on attempting this.

 

how many of you guys used the 10w resistor that came with the Kimpex set of grip heaters?

it doesn't seem like many of you did. i'm thinking i won't need to use it. opinions?

 

bueller?

 

No. I didn't use it.

 

and everything is still working great?

 

yes.

 

I just got my 07 Access Cab 4x4 and am planning to do a lot of work to it so does it make sense to make and install a new fuse box from the battery that I would draw from in all my future endeavors as long as I am doing this?

Griffin, where in Upstate NY are you? If you still have that switch I might be interested, I was just going to use a normal dash switch, but if the price is right I'll go with that.

 

Anyone have a pin detail on the Highlander switch 84871-48030?