One of the important components of safe and comfortable movement by car is good visibility of what is happening on the road, and this is especially true in the cold season. The process of clearing snow and ice from your windshield is not only physically tiring work, but also time consuming. Usually this work has to be done in the morning, at the moment when you urgently need to go somewhere. Recently, car enthusiasts have made this task a little easier for themselves by using a heated windshield. You can install it with your own hands at home without significant financial costs. This invention allows you to keep the glass surface unfrozen even during heavy snowfalls and frosts. This review shows the types of heating and how to install them on the windshield yourself.
Heating element design
The glass heating system is a set of filaments for a specific purpose that are equipped with a windshield. This device is powered from the on-board network and the electronic control unit. Depending on the type of heating, the location of the filaments may be different. Often, only heating of the wiper zone is installed on cars. This is necessary to clean them from snow and ice crust, as well as to give elasticity to the rubber brushes. Everything else works using the standard system. Heating the windshield without filaments is also widely used. Often, such a device is installed by craftsmen on cars whose windows are not equipped with standard heating.
The second option is to place the thread around the perimeter of the window. In this situation, the entire glass warms up completely. The first time after installing electric heating, drivers feel some visual discomfort, since the stripes of the device are striking. But after some time, the eyes get used to it, and the driver simply does not notice them.
Positive sides
The characteristic advantages of a device that provides heated windshield include:
- Prevents fogging and freezing. Thanks to this, such a device is indispensable for drivers living in the northern regions of Russia.
- Preventing sudden changes in temperature in the cabin. This is achieved due to the presence of a temperature relay, due to which the surface is gradually heated.
- Quick removal of snow deposits from the glass plane.
- Ability to keep the wiper clean.
It is worth noting that the cost of the windshield heating system is high. When purchasing it, you should not chase low prices. The fact is that too low a price may indicate poor quality assembly or the use of short-lived components. The purchase of such a system will most likely lead to additional costs in the future.
Pros and cons of this heating
Like any device, heating the windshield in the windshield wiper parking area and around the entire perimeter has its advantages and disadvantages. Having compared these characteristics, motorists themselves have the right to decide whether to install them on their cars or not.
Advantages: the time it takes to prepare a vehicle before leaving is significantly reduced (snow, ice - all this disappears in a few minutes), excellent visual control of what is happening on public roads, the glass does not fog up on the inside and does not form frost even when idle.
Disadvantages: at first, the filaments are noticeable and distracting, sometimes you can’t get used to them. If the car’s battery is not fresh, it will discharge when the car is parked for a long time, so you need to watch and remember to turn off the heater unit.
Heated windshield wiper rest area
Heating of the wiper area is carried out by gluing a special film into which heating elements are built. These elements are powered from the vehicle's network. The heating tape is applied to the windshield on the passenger compartment side.
The entire windshield is not heated by this method, but the most important part of it for viewing is heated, so this method is good.
Installation
To apply a heating film with heating elements to the windshield wiper rest zone, you will either have to remove the dashboard or remove the glass. The second option is simpler and cheaper if you contact a specialized service.
Heating elements are glued to the removed glass, as shown in the photo. It is important to leave a distance of 2 cm from the edges of the glass, since the sealant will lie there.
It is best to power this electric heating with a wire with a cross section of 1.5 mm.
The simplest option for connecting the defroster: in parallel with the button for turning on the heated rear window. This means that when the rear window heating is turned on, the front window heating will also work.
Now you need to find the plus of the network. It can be used from any electrical option of the car, for example, from heated mirrors. You need any wire where there is a voltage greater than or equal to 12 volts. This wire is connected through the switch and relay.
It is important when installing the heating not to damage the filament. Because in order to repair the heating threads, you will have to remove the glass or dashboard again.
Advice. You should not turn on the windshield heating in an unheated cabin if the outside temperature is less than -15 degrees. Due to large temperature changes, the glass may crack.
Advantages: high heat transfer, speed
Disadvantages: difficult to install
Installation of various heating elements
If you want to install a heated windshield on your car with your own hands in the plane of the windshield wipers, it is not necessary to completely remove the windshield from the car. You just need to purchase warming tapes from a car dealership and stick them on the inside of the glass opposite the original position of the wipers. The leads for the heating connection wires can be routed under the plastic elements of the interior, so they will not spoil the overall appearance of the interior. Powering this windshield heating from the cigarette lighter would be the best option, since it can simply be removed in the summer.
Price issue
The cost of a heated windshield varies around 5,000 rubles for finished glass. It should be taken into account that heating by soldering the filament will cost the most and cause discomfort associated with glare. The most budget option would be to install heating elements in the lower part of the glass.
If it doesn’t matter to you whether the entire glass or only part of it will be heated, then you should choose this option. As for warming up the wipers and injectors, it is worth noting that price does not matter when it comes to traffic safety. Therefore, it is best to purchase them in stores rather than skimp on installing them yourself. Moreover, recently some good Russian budget models have appeared.
Heated windshield wipers
The wiper area can also be equipped with another type of heating - this is heating of the elements themselves. With this option, they will clean themselves and help melt the snow. The control unit for the heating elements and the power supply must be connected to the vehicle's on-board electrical system or connected to the windshield heating from the cigarette lighter. This connection method is very convenient, since if the device fails, you do not need to tinker with the car’s wiring, but simply pull out the plug from the standard socket.
Heated elements are installed instead of the standard kit. Electrical wires from them can be routed through technological holes in the body. Then a wiper control unit is installed in the car interior under the dashboard, but it is better to place the power supply in the engine compartment. When installing wipers in the electrical circuit, it is important to install a safety element to avoid a possible short circuit.
Types of windshield heating systems - which one to choose
A little theory
The manufacturing technology for heated windshields differs from that for rear windows. There are several heating methods. Some of them provide complete heating of the windshield, while others only provide part of it. All methods are described in detail below.
Integrated systems for heating the entire glass surface
There are two ways here:
- During manufacturing, a thin thread, barely visible to the eye, is soldered into triplex. This method requires considerable costs, since the increase in the cost of triplex with electric heating is a serious drawback, due to which many manufacturers have abandoned the production of such glass. Another significant disadvantage appears here. The heater grid can create glare in the sun or in bright artificial lighting. Discomfort for the driver when such glare appears is ensured. Despite the thinness of the threads, they can disorient the driver when an oncoming vehicle appears with high or even low beam headlights on. However, over time, manufacturers found a way out of the situation: a special depolarizing coating was developed. There is no way to make such a coating yourself.
- A car windshield consists of three layers: an inner layer of glass, an outer layer of glass and a polymer film between them. To ensure heating, it is the outer layer that needs to be warmed. The second method involves applying a metallized layer between the surface of the outer layer of glass that faces inward and a layer of polymer film. This metallized layer is a heating element, the heat from which is transferred along the entire perimeter of the glass. The connectors for connecting this system are located at the top and bottom of the car's windshield.
Partial heating of the windshield wiper rest zone
There are also two methods here.
- The first way to heat a windshield is to equip the lower part of the glass with heating elements. But this method does not provide heating of the glass along its entire perimeter. It only warms up the wiper area. But since this area is considered the most important for viewing, many drivers prefer this method.
- Another non-trivial method is to equip the wipers themselves with heating elements. If you follow the operating conditions, this method will be the safest. With this method, it is necessary to preheat the glass, and then turn on the heating system. But this is not suitable for particularly severe frosts, as the glass may crack.
Additionally, we recommend reading our specialist’s article, which talks about how to choose and install warm wipers.
We also recommend reading our expert’s article on how to choose winter windshield wiper blades.
Heated windshield washer nozzles
Such injectors are, as a rule, universal and can be installed on a wide variety of cars. You can make them yourself, but it is still recommended to purchase them in stores. You can purchase the most reliable injectors from partner companies of car manufacturers. They are designed to prevent washer fluid from freezing at low temperatures and prevent failure of windshield washer systems.
Another advantage of using such nozzles is the heating of the windshield washer fluid. And a warm solution, as you know, is better for cleaning objects. Warm water removes ice that has formed faster, and the elasticity of the rubber brushes of the cleaner increases significantly.
But heating the injectors does not provide a 100% guarantee of efficiency due to certain factors. The most significant of them is the quality of the windshield washer fluid. If the quality is low, such a liquid will crystallize at a temperature much higher than that set by the manufacturer. The temperature of the injectors when driving in frosty weather decreases greatly due to the oncoming flow of cold air.
Some anti-crystallization ingredients are very low in mass and therefore evaporate quickly. This happens especially often when the engine is turned off, when the fluid supply stops and it flows back. “Anti-freeze” in such cases can freeze even at zero temperature.
Heated wipers
Heating the wipers is necessary to prevent the blades from sticking to the glass during frosts. Among the obvious advantages, one can also note an increase in the service life of the wipers and the elimination of instant freezing of the liquid when driving at high speed in cold weather. You can either buy a heating device in a specialized store or assemble it yourself. But it is still recommended to purchase ready-made devices. Among the disadvantages of heating wipers, it is worth noting the relatively high cost.
Factory heated glass
When it comes to installing a fully heated surface, the situation is different. Installing this heated windshield yourself is much more difficult. At the same time, the wind turbine itself is more expensive than the standard one. First, you should remove the standard one from the car and clean the seat from any remaining glue. Then on the heated glass you need to find the ends of the taps for connection. They are usually located at the end of the glass. Next, you need to connect electrical wires to these terminals by soldering. The connecting areas must be insulated using liquid insulating materials. After the work has been done, the glass is mounted on the car, like a standard one, and they begin to connect it to the on-board electrical network.
Replacing the windshield with a heated windshield
Another method that can be chosen by the owner for one reason or another (for example, the existing glass is damaged and needs to be replaced) is to install a heated windshield.
It is important to understand that such glass, especially the original one, will be quite expensive. Often, you have to choose from more affordable analogues. In this case, it is extremely important to choose a quality product, regardless of whether the glass is heated or not.
Normally, a good windshield does not distort objects across the entire viewing area, does not glare, is transparent, is wear-resistant, fully fits the car, and has manufacturer’s branding. If the glass also comes with heating, the heating filaments should be almost invisible.
It is better to entrust the windshield replacement itself to an experienced specialist, who will carefully remove the old glass, then correctly install the new one, glue it and dry it. If a heated windshield is installed, you can arrange for the technicians to route the wires to a place convenient for connection.
Do-it-yourself windshield heating on a VAZ
To carry out this work, you need to be able to work with a regular soldering iron and have an understanding of the structure and electrical equipment of a car. If you do not have such knowledge, then it is better to seek help from a specialist. There are two ways to equip glass with this system yourself: installing the tape in the plane of the windshield wipers and gluing it around the perimeter of the window. The heating zone for the wipers was described above, so we will talk about the method of installing the tape along the edges of the glass.
Unfortunately, domestically produced cars are not equipped with such glass from the factory. Therefore, car enthusiasts have found a way out of this situation. They buy self-adhesive tapes in stores and install them on the car themselves. This car add-on is a heated windshield without filaments. It is made in the form of a thin transparent film strip of various widths and lengths, depending on its application.
Installation of heaters around the perimeter
If the first method is quite simple to implement, then the second will be more difficult. First you have to remove the windshield and also clean it of the glue that held it in place. This procedure is quite labor-intensive and will take a lot of time.
In addition, you will need to find leads from the heating elements in the glass edging. This procedure is performed immediately before installation. After that, each of them is soldered to the wires.
It is they who will supply current to the heating elements. Thus, the glass becomes warm. In places of soldering it is worth filling. This procedure is performed using a gun filled with a molten composition. It can always be purchased at a large store that sells building materials.
When the work associated with conducting all the power wires into the engine compartment is completed, the direct installation of the windshield begins.
The work subsequently affects both the wires coming from the windshield and the electrical network of the car.
- One of the wires, in this case, is connected to the battery directly from the heaters on the glass.
- The second wire is first connected to the block that controls the heating, and then to the timer device necessary to set the time for warming up the windshield.
- The timer device is usually set for a specific time. The heating system will then turn off automatically.
- This time interval is selected depending on weather conditions.
- In this case, it is recommended to choose the optimal time period that will allow the heater to perform all its necessary functions.
A block part is installed inside the car to control the heating device. To make the windshield surface heating system more efficient, a separate voltage and current converter is used.
Thus, all work on installing the front glass with connected heating is carried out in two steps. First, warm glass is installed instead of the usual one, and then the power and control wires are laid out.
Element installation
Before gluing the film, you first need to wipe the inside of the glass with a rag to remove stains and dust. The strips should be glued extremely carefully so as not to damage them and to make the installation as smooth as possible. After this, the heated windshield (VAZ) must be powered into the vehicle's power supply system. As was said earlier, we connect one terminal to the positive wire, and the second to the control unit.
For more convenient use of the car in the summer, the system can be equipped with additional controls. For example, an additional button for heating the windshield is installed in the dashboard, which can completely turn off the power supply to the device.
After installing this element, it must be checked. We start the car engine, turn on the heating for a few seconds and check its circuit using an electronic tester. If connected correctly, the device will show a value of 12 V at the output of the circuit. This means that the circuit has no breaks and the system is working.
First, how does classic heating work?
As we know, car glass, especially the windshield and rear glass, consists of two layers, between them there is an adhesive composition usually similar to a film. This is done so that the glass does not shatter into small fragments during an accident, but simply “crumples.”
In the usual version, there is nothing else inside, but in the heated glass on the middle film, small wiring of the heating element is installed, so small that they simply cannot be seen from a distance of half a meter (that is, they do not interfere with driving at all). As you probably guessed, an electric current is applied to them, they heat up and help defrost the entire glass. Very comfortably. But this is not implemented on all brands and models.
Therefore, the question arises, is it possible to install it yourself? It turns out that it is possible, there are several solutions to this issue.
