How to make a heated windshield with your own hands
Content
Frost on the main glass of the car makes it impossible to start driving without a long defrosting procedure. The time spent may exceed the duration of the trip itself. Alternative methods of heating are dangerous precisely because of the increase in the speed of the process, the slightest unevenness leads to the appearance of cracks.
How heated windshield works
The classic windshield is structurally protected against shatter damage in the event of accidental damage or external impacts. This is done using triplex technology, when a transparent polymer film is placed between two layers of glass.
Such a sandwich has a number of advantages over previously used glasses made of stalinite, a material subjected to hardening:
- when broken, the technology ensures that there are no fragments, since they remain firmly glued to the plastic film;
- load distribution between three layers with different physical properties in terms of hardness and viscosity, gives a qualitative leap in impact resistance, such glasses are glued into the body frame and become a structural element of the power structure;
- plastic film in the middle of the set can take on additional functions.
In particular, the latter advantage makes it possible to place heating elements inside the structure. These can be either thin conductive filaments with a certain calculated ohmic resistance, or a deposited continuous layer of metal or a mesh with a thickness that ensures almost complete transparency.
On the edges of the glass there are supply electrical contacts connected to the grid of the heating element and connected through the switching equipment to the vehicle's on-board network.
You can turn on the heating either together with the rear window heating, or independently of it, if there is no need to heat all the windows.
Usually, a timer is used in the circuit, eliminating the danger of overheating or wasting electricity.
After a certain time after switching on, the device will forcibly turn off the heating, even if the driver has forgotten about it and does not pay attention to the signal indicator.
Advantages and disadvantages
The use of heated windows saves not only time.
- Useless idling of the engine causes increased fuel consumption. The engine would warm up much faster on the move, even at low loads and low speeds, but you can’t drive with opaque glass. Modern engines, especially turbocharged and diesel engines, emit too little heat at the same time, so the regular heating system in severe frost may not even enter the required temperature regime so that the efficiency of the stove is enough for full bilateral heating of the triplex. The installation of electric heating becomes a fundamental necessity.
- Even when the frost is not so strong, there is a problem of fogging the windows. The rapid increase in their temperature removes moisture, which can be done with the help of air currents, but will take a considerable amount of time.
- Freezing of the wiper blades also becomes a problem. Even if you do not forget to lift them in the parking lot, they will not be able to work normally in a very cold state until they warm up.
The negative side of electrically heated glass is only their relatively higher price, and since glass does not last forever, you will have to pay repeatedly.
But if you heat the windows in certain areas with excessively hot air, for example, from autonomous fuel heaters in the cabin, then you will have to change them even more often.
How can a heated windshield be installed
Such options are offered by all manufacturers; on expensive cars, they can be included in the basic package.
As a standard function from the car manufacturer
A well-thought-out heating system in the factory includes additional features. The glass can be heated in different power modes, the whole thing or only the passenger and driver halves separately. The threads are made with the aim of minimal visibility and do not interfere with the review.
A control unit with a controller, control buttons, standard fuses - all this will ensure minimal electricity consumption, and hence fuel, fast defrosting or condensate removal, as well as maximum safety for wiring.
In regions with a cold and temperate climate, you should definitely select this useful option.
Kits on the market
It is impossible to independently produce heating similar to the factory one, it is laid in the manufacture of glass.
But you can buy a set according to one of the proposed options:
- a heated windshield designed to be installed on a specific car model, such as AGC or any other auto glass manufacturer;
- mounting kit, including switches, wiring, fuses and control units;
- glued heaters, not always completely transparent, but this is not important, since they are designed to work in the parking area of the windshield wipers;
- air-type heaters, consisting of a spiral with a fan, they can be directed from the inside to the desired zone, the power is small due to the danger of thermal stress and the appearance of cracks, but they do their job of speeding up the process.
Everything except the first option is easy to install on your own.
Service center installation
Replacing a windshield with an electrically heated one requires the qualifications of performers and a lot of experience. The operations of removing the old and correctly pasting the new one are not as simple as it might seem, so you should trust the professionals. Although everything you need, primers, adhesives and frames, is for sale.
But then it may turn out that the glass leaks, falls out or cracks on a rough road, and the wiring overheats and fails.
Correctly installed and connected glass can work in multi-circuit mode, one of the defrosting or demisting programs is selected by pressing the button. The programmed relay is included in the installation package.
Low power cigarette lighter kits
The simplest and most inexpensive devices are filaments or filaments mounted on a panel at the bottom of the glass. They can contain a fan or work on the principle of convection. No wiring or switches required as they simply plug into the cigarette lighter socket.
The power of such devices is severely limited by the wiring and connector. Given the fuse rating, it cannot exceed approximately 200 watts. Setting a different value is dangerous, the wiring is not designed for this.
Ceramic heating elements are already used in modern heat generators, they quickly enter the mode. They can work for an unlimited time, partially compensating for the initially inefficient operation of a regular stove. Long cables allow you to install them at the feet of passengers or heat the side windows.
