Many car owners in the cold season face a problem when they sit in car and you have to take the ice wheel with your hands. Sometimes, even with a well-functioning interior heating system, the hands in the car begin to freeze, because you need to constantly hold on to the steering wheel. In this regard, considered below homemade It will be a great addition, in addition, it is simple, not financially expensive and absolutely any car can be equipped with such a steering wheel.
In winter, he will even want to take on a warm steering wheel to warm his hands, and not, as before, hold it with one hand, changing them one at a time. Let's consider in more detail how do it yourself You can make a heated steering wheel.
Materials and tools for manufacturing:
- steering wheel (you can buy an inexpensive new one or find a used one);
- heating element (wire from the seat heating system or nichrome wire);
- a hacksaw and a sharp, strong knife;
- lavsan insulating tape;
- marker;
- glue (for gluing plastics);
- soldering iron;
- staples or electrical tape for fixing.
Manufacturing process:
Step one. Cut the wheel
You need to find an old one or buy an inexpensive new steering wheel that will not be a pity to remake. In the steering wheel, it will be necessary to make grooves with a knife, then a heating element will be inserted into them. If you wind the wire directly over the steering wheel, it will not look aesthetically pleasing, and the steering wheel will have unpleasant bumps. In this regard, it was decided to install the wire inside.
To make the grooves correctly, you need to wrap the steering wheel in a spiral with a wire, and then mark these places. As for the length of the wire, it should be about 7 meters, a wire of exactly this length is used in the seat heating system. If a nichrome wire will be used, then its diameter should be 0.45 mm, and the length should be 7 meters. You also need to add to this length the distance to the center of the steering wheel, that is, its radius, this is necessary to connect the heating element.
The depth of the channel should be such that the wire is drowned in it by more than half its diameter. But it should not be such that the wire went into it too deeply. The easiest way to cut a plastic steering wheel with a hacksaw blade. The knife is needed in order to draw the initial location of the grooves and subsequently cut the burrs.
Now you can lay the wire in the grooves and temporarily fix it with small pieces of electrical tape.
Step Two We hide the wire and change the appearance of the steering wheel
Now, in order to fix the wire well and hide it, the steering wheel needs to be properly and qualitatively wrapped with dacron tape. No other film is suitable for these purposes anymore, since it is the dacron tape that can withstand high temperatures, it does not melt and does not stretch.
After that, the steering wheel can be sheathed with a new cover and give it a more aesthetic appearance. If a leather case will be used, then it is best to sew with thick threads of silk, they are strong and torn less often.
Step Three We connect the steering wheel to a power source
Now you need to remove the old steering wheel. After removing it, you can find contact rings or tape twisted by a snail. There you need to find two opposite contacts, with the help of them the heating element will be connected to the power source. In principle, the connection system can be varied, it already depends on the brand of car. It is important to remember that the steering wheel rotates, and connecting with a conventional wire directly will not work here. You need to connect in the same way that the car signal works or come up with one yourself.
Without fail, the wire supplying the steering wheel must have a fuse of 10 A, no more. It will also be useful to install a thermal relay, it can be pulled out of the seat heating kit. To enable steering wheel heating, you can make a separate key. Or you can connect the steering wheel heating to the seat heating system.
That's all, now you just need to assemble the steering wheel completely and the work can be considered finished. As you can see, the refinement is quite simple, but at the same time very necessary. The network load from the operation of such a device is small, it is about 30-35 watts. Such homemade work will be a big bonus for any car.