How I wired my aftermarket seat heaters in my 2nd gen Tacoma, lots of pictures.

I’d look under the center console or under the seats or try tracing the pre wired harness. I did the aftermarket thing but I have to say it skimps on wire size so I had to redo much of what it came with. I mounted my modules right behind the stick and zip tied them to that carpet strip that bridges the tunnel. The factory harness has to connect to it so tracing the switch bundles seems the best prospect.

 

I unbolted the seat, took it out of the vehicle and checked with no luck, center console or behind the dash is where I’m at now.
Tried chasing the pre wired harness from the heated seat switch and it turns into a rats nest quick. I would have to cut a lot of electrical tape and zip ties with removing almost the whole dash and not really wanting to get that far haha

 

Here's a pic of the OEM seat heater controller and the problem they are famous for.

 

If you want to use the oem harness then you’ll have to find out where the other end of the switch wires is because that’s where the controller goes. From there the wires go to the seats. If the seat wiring harness is already there you could try tracing it from that end.

Where are these located?

A fix for this would be to replace both halves of the connector with something rated for the current. Those measly little pins are only good for a few amps at most.

 

That controller is under the seat. You can see the seat foam and seat track in the pic. The OEM heaters, controllers, and switches are all designed to work together. Even though they cheaped out on the connectors. The OEM components are stupidly expensive. Mixing aftermarket and OEM components is probably not going to end well.

 

I wouldn’t try mixing the switches and controllers but the heating pads shouldn’t be a problem. Some reconfiguring is possible as well. On my set the illumination ground was tied back to the controller pcb so to connect it to my dimmer ground I desoldered that wire from the board(following board traces it had no other connections) and pulled it out of the harness back to the switch.

 

Subd

 

My wife got super ticked because I only installed warmer mesh on the right half of her seat. Took a while, but she finally turned the other cheek.

 

So I'm trying to figure this out.... I have to power 2 separate wires from batteries to 2 add a fuses and from there to the seat pads?... Do I need another fuse from the battery to the fuse box to add a fuse?

 

An add-a-fuse is a part that replaces a fuse in either fuse box and allows placement of 2 fuses instead. One of the fuses connects to the tabs that plug into the original location and the other one is in parallel with a pigtail wire that comes off the add-a-fuse which you connect your circuit to. You use them only in fuse panels, not at the battery. Your seat heater harness should have two fuse holders. You connect one end to the battery and the other to the wire that supplies power to each seat heater control module. If your switches require a separate power supply you can use a fuse tap/add-a-fuse or tap into a 12v wire that supplies another switch. There’s usually a ground wire for each module. You can either pair these with the power wires and have 2 of each to battery +/- or attach them with ring connectors to a suitable chassis location. There’s plenty of places where metal parts are bolted to the chassis in the cab.
Usually but not always switches are illuminated. The dash illumination circuit is hot with the headlights on and dims. The wires are green (12V+) and green/white (floating ground). These wires can be tapped either at the AC control panel plugs (niteize location) or any switch or panel light connector that has dimming. It dims by raising the floating ground up to match the 12v + at which point the lights go out. You could also use any 12V source and chassis ground instead but the lights will be on whenever that source us hot and will not dim with your dash lights.

 

I was trying to wire them so that they would not be on all the time and I assume that's the reason why they needed to be added to a fuse in a fuse panel if I wanted them straight to the battery would there would be a chance they would be constantly on? I just didn't know if wiring the wires straight to a fuse through a add a fuse would be suffice or if I still need to have power ran to the battery to supply the new switches

 

What do the instructions say?

 

It stays connect both red wires to a power source and the two black wires to a ground. My question is if I use an fuse tap do I have to still power to the battery?

 

The limit on add-a-fuse fuse taps is 7.5A so if each seat draws no more than that you can use a fuse tap for each one. The Clazzio kits are 2A(25W+/-) other kits are more. Even that low I would still use a separate tap for each seat harness. I installed extra fuse panels to avoid doing a bunch of taps so now I have fused sources available both in the engine bay and in the cab. If this is your only mod then do the taps but if you plan on doing more it gets messy. The extra things I’ve added are:
Front/rear anytime cameras
Seat heaters
Compressor
Solenoid air valves
Horns
Fog lights
Heated side mirrors
Cab/cap power rear slider windows
I’m not done yet and each of those required a fused source and usually a relay so if you do have more in mind then check out these two threads:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/show-off-your-aux-fuse-panels.308677/
And
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/diy-build-and-install-a-bussmann-rtmr-fuse-relay-block.399454/
Tacozord’s thread is should be required reading for anyone doing electrical mods whether they use that panel or not. Both are full of great ideas and different ways of setting up clean power sources.
You can also do the fuse taps for now and add a cleaner system later.

 

Perfect that answered my questions thank you!!

 

THANK YOU 1000%

I put on my Clazzio covers and heated seat pads for T/giving.

All went smoothly and the photos/guidance/experience I gained from reading this post helped immensely!!

I did stick the heating pads to the seats - vs to the covers - and then just slid the covers on over - worked great and I figured I was less likely to mangle the heating pads this way.

I cannot tell you how much I appreciate knowledge base.
When I worked on my civic 20 years back/other cars, it was so much harder to do everything b/c there wasn't this pile of intel just waiting for you online.. no videos of how to take shit apart, etc..

I LOVE TACOWORLD -

 

HelloSingu1arity: I just read your heated seat install post and wow! That was incredibly helpful and awesome. There is something in your post though that caught my eye and I have been trying to figure out. I have a 2nd Gen Taco, 2011 and I am adding new neoprene seat covers. Did I read your post correctly in that you just installed the heated element between the stock seat and the seat cover? I am so hoping I did and I have been trying to find an answer as to whether I can do that or if I have to completely take apart the seat (Upholstery) and install the pads under the stock seat cover. Any help on this would be very much appreciated.

 

That's what I did , installed heating pads on top of original upholstery and covered with classio covers. Actually, stuck the heat pads onto the inside of the covers. 4 years later, no issues. Followed this thread for the electrical part.

 

Thank you so much. Just saved me a ton of time.