heated seats, ign vs acc vs const

Im putting heated seats in my finaces escape.

I understand vehicle wiring.

The instructions that came with these heaters are confusing me.

I know what 12v constant is I know what 12v ACC is and what 12 v IGN is but see this below what they state. now I assume with A they say put on acc cause if constant can drain battery, but then there is c asking for ignition?? dont the mean acc? but is this even required if A was on acc? Am I crazy or are these instructions crap?

A. RED WIRE - CONNECT TO ACCESSORY +12 VOLTS - 20 AMP CIRCUIT.
NOTE: IMPROPER INSTALLATION COULD LEAD TO BATTERY DRAIN IF CONNECTED TO A CONSTANT BATTERY
SOURCE.
B. RED / YELLOW STRIPE WIRE - CONNECT TO IGNITION +12 VOLTS - 5 AMP CIRCUIT.
C. YELLOW WIRE - CONNECT HEADLIGHT/NIGHT LAMP +12 VOLTS - 5 AMP CIRCUIT.
D. BLACK WIRE - IT IS RECOMMENDED TO CONNECT THE RING TERMINAL TO THE VEHICLE BODY USING AN
EXISTING COMMON GROUND POINT. IF ONE IS NOT ACCESSIBLE, CONNECT TO A GROUND WIRE WITH HIGH
CURRENT CAPACITY.

Im assuming I can and should go red constant since RED / yellow needs i believe acc to allow activation.

Anyone ever get a kit with these wires am I right?

The Red wire supplies power to the heater pads.  The RED / Yellow wire is for the control and relays of the kit.  The Yellow
wire is used for the indicators/LED on the control switch.

The instructions are pretty good.  If you leave the control switch in the ON position ( Hi / Lo and rotary switches ) and the
Red is connected to +12V constant, you could have a flat battery overnight.  On monetary type control switches it won't
matter unless you have the seat on when you shut down the engine.

Connecting the Yellow wire o the Headlight Lamp circuit is a nice feature if you don't want the heated seat switch
illumination on all the time.   It might even be possible to get switch dimming if connected to the right vehicle wire.

Personally, I connect them all together and go to a +12V source that is only on with Ignition.  That way the engine is running
and the alternator is supplying the power.  The switch light is on while the ignition is ON, too, but usually not an issue.

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Soldering is fun!

Follow Kreg's advice, much safer that way.

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Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.

I probably will wire it red and red-yellow to switched 12volt and yellow to the wire that lights the gear selector (illumination)

However am debating going red right to battery constant with heavy guage and red-yellow to switched 12 volt and yellow to illumination.


The set I ordered is push button with hi med and low setting not a dial or switch (its digital) I think by leaving the constant on and the red yellow wire switched when I turn the car off the module will also know to turn the heated seat off so that when power comes back it wont be on in the last mode I left it.


See I think the red yellow tells the module to turn on and off the seat controller. so by having continus power going in I imagine the module will know to go to off mode when the red-yellow wire loses power.

Or I play it safe.

I just dont imagine they would make both red and red-yellow separate if they were meant to both go on and off.

the red in my case calls for 20 amp (powering 2 seats) and the red-yellow 5 am clearly just a module power line.

This is the kit I got
LINK


Thoughts?

Don't if you wire directly to battery it will drain.

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Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.

ok so ill take the red and the red yellow to the same switched source

and the yellow to the illumination


thanks guys.

Now I just need to find at switched source that can handle 25 amps.

Either that or run my own line anyway and use a relay and a switched source to make my new line switched.

Battery, ign. switched relay.

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Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.

Ok so I think with something pulling 25amp I shouldnt tap a wire in the car, this is a risk at overloading.

I will get a 30 amp relay.

I will connect a 20awg wire with a 30 amp fuse on it to the positive batter terminal, I will then route this through the firewall attach it to a 30 amp relay on pin 30, I will then attach pin 87 on that relay to the red & red-yellow wires with fuses from the seat kit, I will tap a acc wire in the car and attach this to pin 85 (the load from this shouldn't be an issue) and pin 86 to ground.

Then I will attach seat ground to ground. Doing all grounding to the chassis, and last but not least I will tap the illumination wire at the transmition shifter for the yellow light wire.

To me this sounds like the best way and the right way to do this.

Would you agree?

Others have just tapped into a 18 AWG switched wire thats in the car at the right location. But no one is 100% what that wire energizes and I believe that tapping 25 amps onto a unknow 18 awg wire is a risk right?

That's OK.
Your last sentence is quite right, why I suggested a relay.

-------------
Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.

So from battery to inside at my relay its going to be like a 8ft run. I think givin the lenth and amps I should go 10awg from battery.


What do you think?

Not sure.
Don't use AWG but my conversion charts tell me it's 2.5-3mm.
If that's the same thickness as the main (H3) high current cables on a Viper remote that's fine.
You might try to find the feeder cable (Constant) to the dash fusebox, that would save you running out to the battery.


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Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.

so the wire others like to tap is

ACCESSORY /HEATER BLOWER 1      VIOLET/GREEN (+)      @ IGNITION SWITCH HARNESS, BLACK 7-PIN PLUG, PIN 6



But to avoid over loading I think Ill go the relay route and source off of
12 VOLT CONSTANT      YELLOW/RED (+) (125AMP)      @ SMART JUNCTION BOX BLACK 1-PIN PLUG and tap the other as trigger.


This should be ok I think.

Actually, even though they fuse the seats at 20 Amps plus 5 for this and 5 for that, the entire system for 2 seats ( 4 pads and 2 control assy's ) only draw slightly less that 10 amps.  I have measured them at the full high setting with the newer style 11" x 18" carbon fiber pads.  I wouldn't have any problems with a mere 15 amp fused circuit.  Make sure the fuse is accessible just in case but that should be all you need. 

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Soldering is fun!

These are the 11 x 18 pads.

There is a spare 20 amp in the fusebox for the factory heated seats she doesnt have am I going overkill with my plan and maybe I should just tap that?

Im thinking this over every possible way cause its for her not me lol

I'd go with that factory 20 amp output and call it a day.  Just verify that it is switched and not hot all the time.

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Soldering is fun!

now i just need the kit to show up lol

The wiring is the easy part.    It's removing those hog rings and the cuts on your hands from the un-finished edges of the metal chair frame. 

Do the pad install in a warm area.  Cold plastic has a tendency to break.  Old plastic is worse.  Remember to disconnect the cars battery for 15 minutes or so before you pull the seats out ( if SRS air bag equipped, yellow harness / connectors ).

Just looked at the kit you got.  Appears to be momentary switches.    That means you can't set the switch to ON as you exit / shutdown the car and have them come on with a remote start.  Bummer.  Nothing better than getting into a semi-warmed up car with the seat already warm.

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Soldering is fun!

Yes they are momentary on purpose, she prefers that, I hinted I was thinking of doing it and she commented how she prefers OEM because of being momentary, so I hope I picked ok, for myself I would of probably not gone momentary.

Ill bring the seats in the house so they will be easier to work on. Done lots of work on cars before but never pulled off the seat covers should be interesting lol.

And yeah air bags, thanks for the warning.

The buttons match her interior too. Ill post pics when I do it.