Resolved - Seat heater issue

Been looking at this for too long now. Searched through here and the 'yutes. What is happening doesn't make sense.

I have an old Besond car seat heater kit that I installed years ago. These have the Hi/Low rocker switches. I thought I did it right the first time but being in AZ I don't use them much if at all. My wife's car has them and thought it would be a nice addition.

I put them in, got heat, thought it was good to go and then forgot about them. Well, this past year, I got a lot more into camping and made it out in the colder months and wanted to use them. I found that the orange indicator lights and seat heaters only come on if my truck lights are on. So having today off, I thought I would look into it.

What I am seeing just doesn't make sense though. I've only got 4 wires.

Red - which has a fuse. I even rewired it so it goes straight to my power distribution block off my battery.
Red/yellow - "on wire" - this is connected to a switched power wire that only comes on with the key.
Yellow - "night light" - this is connected to an adapter cable for dimming switches.
Black - ground - connected to a metal on metal bolt in the kick panel area.

No matter what I try, I either get nothing at all or I get what I initially started with. The switch indicator lights and heaters only turn on when my lights are on. Any idea what I am missing?

 

Perhaps you have put some weight on your ass, enough to overcome it. That's all I can think of really

 

Go away.

 

To me your problem seems to be the red yellow wire. Did you install it with a inline harness or is it going to the interior fuse box?

 

Disconnect the Yellow wire and connect the red/yellow wire to the battery. If it works correctly like that then either the yellow wire or the red/yellow wire are not corrected correctly. My guess is that the connection of the red/yellow wire is connected to power that only comes on when the lights are on.

 

Its part of a harness that came with the kit. Everything had plugs for the heat pads, relay, and switches. So the the end of the harness was just those 4 wires.

I've tried connected that red/yellow wire to a couple different spots and get the same results.

 

Its not. I've used a circuit tester to verify. Red yellow connection gets power as soon as the key is turned on.

 

Ok good there. Disconnect the yellow wire and see what you get. Have you tested the ground to make sure it is making a good connection?

 

When the yellow is disconnected, I get nothing at all - no lights that is. I do hear a hum when the switch is toggled though.

Ground is metal on metal and I have other things connected to the same ground that are working fine.

 

Isn't the yellow only for the switch light? If so, everything else should work when it's dosconnected.

 

Supposed to be. That's why I'm confused.

 

Hmmm Wish I could be more help. I'll let you know if I think of something.

 

Thank you sir. Only other thing I could think of is maybe both relays are bad? Both sides are acting the same way though.

 

Never remove a fuse. They are there for protection.
Check the switch for power and check if the switch works with a meter.
With any vehicle with electrical issues. Check the ground, if necessary remove ground and redo the ground. Some corrosion might be the issue.

 

Power distribution block has fuses for each connection.

Like I said, it does all work but only when my lights are on.

 

Avoid your trucks fuses all together and try putting all as direct wire, of course through a fuse, as a test. It is possible your plug was mis-wired and some of the colors are screwy. I had this happen with a set of offroad lights and it took me forever to realize the schematic and the colors were not matched up.

 

Already did. Fused red wire is running to the battery. On wire is connected to a wire that only turns on when the key is on. Night light wire is connected to another wire that only turns on when the lights are turned on. System only works when the lights are on. I'm about to pull it all out and just start over at this point.

 

It sounds like the schematic might be wrong. Could it be that the yellow wire, connected to the lights, should be connected to the key on power (where the red/yellow wire is)? That would explain why it only works with the lights on.

 

Just tried that. No go there too. And still no response unless the lights are on.

 

Swap those 2 wires and what happens?