Adding heated seats?

[drdave39]

Has anyone aded heated seats to a non-heated OEM RT? I am picking up my 06 RT next week and have been thinking about doing this (especially if I decide to change saddles anyway). Is there an available wiring harness? Will it confuse the CANBUS? Would I be better off to do a relay-switched direct power setup to the battery, or...?

 

Dave

[Ken H.]

Not on the RT, but I did it on our 12GS, which is the same electrical system. I powered and switched it independently, but understand that an aftermarket seat with the correct connector will plug in to the OEM harness. You have the OEM switch issue to add though. And the ZFE module may need to be programed that there is now a heated seat there by a dealer.

[Kritou]

Why not just make a heated pad for cold weather rides and chuck it in the cupboard during summer?

 

I bought this DIY heated seat kit and had my local coach trimmer make a vinyl cover to match my saddle. It came with a fuse, panel switch and connector but I put a BMW plug on the end of the wire and power it from an auxiliary socket

 

An elastic strap around the saddle holds it place when not in my Airhawk cover and a piece of rubber friction matting stops it sliding around

 

Works just great and cheap as chips

[Rocket_Cowboy]

My 06 was originally not equipped with factory heated seats, and I added the OEM parts at the end of last year. The wiring is there on the main harness, so all I needed was the correct switchgear on the right hand bar, the short sub-harness that connects to the seats, and the seats themselves. Once all the parts were in hand, they had to reprogram the computer to tell it I had heated seats, and that got me the display on the dash.

 

Wasn't particularly cheap ... would definitely be cheaper to add it right the first time, but on a used bike at the right price, it wouldn't be a bad thing at all.

[drdave39]

Charley-

 

what was the total cost? Do you have the part numbers? I'm thinking maybe I could get the switchgear and harness from a wrecked bike cheap...

[Don_Eilenberger]

Why not just make a heated pad for cold weather rides and chuck it in the cupboard during summer?

 

I bought this DIY heated seat kit and had my local coach trimmer make a vinyl cover to match my saddle. It came with a fuse, panel switch and connector but I put a BMW plug on the end of the wire and power it from an auxiliary socket

 

An elastic strap around the saddle holds it place when not in my Airhawk cover and a piece of rubber friction matting stops it sliding around

 

Works just great and cheap as chips

I like the idea - and was wondering - since the website doesn't give prices.. how much was "cheap as chips"?

[Kritou]

I bought mine from Aerostitch before I discovered who the OEM was and paid $87 - guess it would be cheaper from the manufacturer

[Phil49]

Do you have to remove the fuel tank & other parts to plug into the harness?

 

Thanks, Phil

[chaparral]

I put a Corbin on my 05 RT I has a switch on the left side and a 1 hour timer. The wiring included has a fused link and ya connect it directly to the battery No fuss no muss. Course after an hour ya hafta turn it on again for the next hour

 

 

Chaparral

[swilson]

I also have a 1200RT that came w/o heated seats. I priced out adding the OEM switch/seat harness/shop time to reprogram bike to recognise heated seat and decided against it.

 

I ended up Instead adding a Centech fuse block (which also came in handy to power extra lights up front, Hyperlites, and extra accessory socket) and used a Gerbing's permenant temp controller (got the dual version) to control the seat temp. Sure beats the on/off switch my previous bike had.

 

[drdave39]

Scott, that's exactly what I have decided to do. I already have the Centech installed, so its just a matter of mounting the variable controllers. I also want to add a controller in the same location for the heated vest and wire it to control the 12V socket directly from the Centech (rather than the CANBUS. That way I'd have all my comfort controls in one place. Myybe some auxilliary light controls too!

 

Dave