Heated mirror attempt

[JPaul]

So, I spent the majority of the evening trying to install heated mirrors on my H3. I started with the driver's side and as able to get as far as removing the mirror assembly, tearing it down and getting the glass off, adding the heating mat, and getting it all put back together. I then thought I'd look at how I was going to run the power wire to it, and that is when I discovered that the wiring for the doors isn't like every other car I've worked on where there was a hollow rubber boot that the wires passed through which would have allowed me to simply pass the new power wire through. Instead it has a plug and socket at the door. So, that puts a big stop in my way.

Does anyone have any ideas on how I can pass the power to the heated mirror from the door to the body? Are there any unused connections in the plugs? I'd rather not have to drill in the door and body to add a second pass through.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

where is your switch going to be? were it me, I'd steal power from the power window switch.

 

[JPaul]

I was planning on wiring the power for the heated mirrors in with the rear defroster, that way when I turn on the rear defroster it will also power up the heated mirror mats as well. That is how it worked on my Jeep Liberty I had several years ago which had heated mirrors. Seriously, GM really dropped the ball on this, there are so many other aspects of how the H3's were designed that really shows attention to detail, compared to cheaper vehicles. Heated mirrors should have been a given, even if they only came with the luxury package or something.

The heating mats should pull about 1 to 1.2 amps or so each, depending on the voltage. I suppose I could just power them from within the doors themselves, but that leaves controlling them an almost bigger PITA, since I'd have to have switches on each door, and I'm not reaching across the truck every time to turn on the passenger mirror heat. Plus i don't want them to stay on all the time, I'd have to have a circuit that ran a timer and shut them off after so long.

I'm hoping that I can find an unused contact in the door harness, but I'm not going to hold my breath. I'm not going to really have time to dig into it until sometime next week to see if I can find something in that plug, since it will likely involve removing the door for easiest access.

 

[JPaul]

I guess one way I could do it is to drill for a small grommet in the door, pass the single wire through the grommet for the power, keep the ground in the door (I'm assuming the door is fully bonded/grounded, but will definitely make sure of it), seal the crap out of the grommet and wire to keep water from getting in, and just run the wire up into the fender and from there into the engine bay. Then I wouldn't need to fuss with trying to drill another hole in the body and adding that mess. I'd probably also add a single contact, waterproof connector for the power wire right by the door, so that I still would have the ability to easily remove the door. Hmm. That just might work.

 

[JPaul]

Ok, thought about it some more, went downstairs and after much searching found my package of Deutsch 2 pin weatherproof connectors, and decided that route would be the best option. Small grommet in the door, single wire out for power, use one pin of the Deutsch connector so that I can still unhook all the wiring to the door if I ever need to remove it (and if needs be I'll have another pin available to add another circuit, no idea for what, but hey, future-proofing), run the wire up behind the fender into the engine bay and tap into the wire for the rear defroster, and Bob's yer uncle.

Still won't be till sometime next week that I can finish all of this, as I need to get some proper grommets and then I'll need to remove the doors to install them. Always a ton more work and time than you initially hope.

 

[f5moab]

Not impossible, but yea, a pain in the a$$. I installed Muth signal mirrors on my 06 and my 08, and when doing the 06, I worked with Muth engineers over the phone giving them some info on the connectors and when I did the job, feedback on what needs or could be changed.

Here is a link to the directions for installing on an 08
http://shop.muthco.com/hummer-h3-signal-mirror

Only big difference is your wire would be larger than the gauge required for some LEDS in glass.

But you do not need to go inside the vehicle to tap into the defogger grid circuit. Tap into it under the hood at the underhood fuse panel. Get some plastic wire protector and run it from the doors into the front fenders into the engine compartment. Run the passenger wire over to the driver's side and splice together with the driver's side mirror wire.
Then connect that wire to the relay, connect a wire from the relay to the battery for power to the mirror pads and install a rated fuse into that circuit (as close to the battery as possible to protect the circuit). Run a wire from the relay and tap into the black wire for the rear grid, and run a ground wire for the relay.

Then when you turn on the rear window defogger switch inside the vehicle, it will trigger the relay and send power to the mirrors.

Just an idea. I should be possible, need to look carefully and might have to drill a hole or two and get some grommets.

But one think you do not want to do is directly connect those mirror heating pads to the light blue wire from the switch to the BCM or the white wire from the BCM to the underhood fuse panel. Those are small gauge wires as shown in the schematic. So even if you brought both wires from the doors into the passenger compartment, I would suggest you route a dedicated power wire through the firewall grommet to the battery, similar to what I have on the relay diagram.

And if you break a mirror, let me know; I still have two from my 08 I kept after swapping in the Muth mirrors.,

 

[JPaul]

Passing the wires in via the fenders to the engine bay and tapping into the wire coming from the relay is exactly what I am planning on doing.

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[JPaul]

I looked at their installation manual, I'm glad to see there are some open spots in the socket and plug, though if possible I'd like to keep it so that you can still unplug it completely in order to remove the doors. I may dig around in there and see if I can find some replacement contacts and add them to the plug and socket. I like being able to use factory wiring as much as possible, keeps everything clean and nice looking.

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[f5moab]

From looking at the pinouts for those connectors, all circuits are used. Good luck!

 

[JPaul]

I'm thinking I might be able to get some donor connectors to pull the contacts from. I found some other pictures of that connector so it's giving me some ideas. Kinda sucks though because it's cold and snowy season here, so it'd be nice to have these working as soon as possible, but I still want to do it right the first time.

 

[lugantom]

Please keep posting where you go with this. That Muthco kit is very tempting. I'd love to get heated, indicator mirrors on my H3. I'll put this project on my list of projects to do when time presents itself.

 

[JPaul]

So I've decided to go with drilling a hole and adding a grommet and passing the wire out of the door that way. I picked up a couple grommets that are the perfect size at Lowes to pass a single wire through them. I won't have time until Saturday to finish the install, but on the plus side it's supposed to be up to 40 that day and sunny. I'll post pics of the process once I am done.

 

[citiboy]

Here's a guy that added heated element on his H3T mirrors.

https://www.facebook.com/travis.pet...14342820.148444.594622820&type=3&l=30e13ecf89

 

[JPaul]

Here's a guy that added heated mirrors.

https://www.facebook.com/travis.pet...14342820.148444.594622820&type=3&l=30e13ecf89

Yeah, he's where I got most of my information, but, he kinda was useless when it came to running the wires from the doors to the fuse box:

You will need to run one wire into the engine bay. I'm not going to suggest a method for this as everyone will have their own idea I'm sure.

Thanks, that is soooooooo helpful of you to tell everyone how you routed the wire... </sarcasm>



Seriously, the reason for doing a write up is to show how you did it so that others can either flat out copy it or at least get ideas. Maybe the way he routed the wire was better than other hack ideas someone else might come up with. Leaving out something as crucial as getting the wire from inside the door to the engine bay is very unhelpful. The rest of his write up was pretty detailed, so omitting that part was rather irritating.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

pull power from the mirror, wire this into the harness, run a bluetooth switch
http://www.semiconductorstore.com/c...n-_-RFD22131&gclid=CN3g8pGup8oCFYKXvAodYvYDlA

 

[JPaul]

Neat! I'd have to use both relays to not burn them out, or switch bigger relays. The mats will pull over an amp easily. Nice idea though. You'd have to tap into the power supply for the power windows though, I'm not confident the power to the mirror control switch will handle an extra 1 amp or so, since it's coming from the BCM instead of straight from a fuse.

I looked on Ebay real quick and found some for $15 each but can handle 10 amps (only one relay though). A bit much for simply adding heated mirrors though. Maybe if I was looking to build a fully automated car that I could control with my cell phone.

I think I'm still just going to go with a single small grommet and a wire coming out then going behind the fender. The Deutsch connectors are more than enough to allow a water tight connection at the door to still allow me to remove the door if needed/desired.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

the BCM only provides relay function - there's a direct, fused battery wire to the switches.... in short, tap the big wire.

 

[JPaul]

Got the mirrors finished up today. Took me about 11 hours today, plus several hours last Saturday. So this is a fairly lengthy install. But its worth it. I'll have a full writeup done up tomorrow probably, I took a ton of pictures of the process and have to go through all of them.

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[JPaul]

So nearly four hours later I finally finished up my complete write up of my heated mirrors install. I really wish GM had just done this for us in the first place, but oh well.

http://www.hummer4x4offroad.com/forum/showthread.php?10954-H3-Heated-mirrors-conversion