Side Mirror Planning

[cherrington17]

Now, after some research, I believe this should be relatively possible.

As per the diagram... only a small section of the center, or either side would need to be if the center already is missing a small section, that'd be perfect, but i doubt it is.... so i'd have to somehow remove some plastic, and some adhesive.

A)dremel the plastic out, then heat to remove? any ideas out there?
B) would removing the black plastic backing cause any visiblity issues with the mirror?
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w246/cherrington17/sidemirrormock.jpg

^Basic wiring diagram.

The back window draws ~10A (if anyone knows the specific number, please... post it) but i figure the sides shouldn't pull more then 5A each, and the timer set on the rear will kick off the power to the sides, if used as the power activating the relay....

so.. ideas. I'll be getting some side mirrors soon, so if we can get a general game plan of how this should/can be done, i'll GLADLY post up a well illustrated HOW-TO for the winter weather Aleros.

and does anyone know just how well the conductive epoxy repair kits work? its either using that, or buying resistor wire from ebay and making my own mesh with that stuff... which is would prefer to use the paint on rather then the latter.

and to anyone who says "just you a scraper" you don't have to deal with this on a regular basis, do you?
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w246/cherrington17/frozen.jpg

[adam337]

did grand ams come with a defroster? if so you could buy them?

[paulyb]

looking foward to seeing this, good idea to.

[Oldsnut]

did grand ams come with a defroster? if so you could buy them?
Auroras did but the mirrors are not the same shape. They work when you turn on defroster.

[ares89]

so theoretically, you grab aurora mirrors, rip em apart, and use the guts in one of ours?

[cherrington17]

^its not that easy. Its the mirror glass itself that has the elements on it, that allow it to heat up. there isn't any "guts" on a defroster. Just a hardline to the battery, thin elements that heat up, and a relay for the switch.

since the aurora glass doesn't fit, i get to do it myself with ours, and hope for the best. :lol:

i'm in the process of finding a local junkyard that'll actually LET ME see what they have. They keep just hanging up when i ask for alero parts. :glare:

unless anyone has a relatively cheap donor pair.

[cherrington17]

Got a new question for any eletrical/led guys on the site.... hopefully someone will know...

I had a coworker suggest using an infrared light to defrost my mirrors (as a joke) haha, right. But then i thought, what if i drill small holes in the back like yalero did for his pseudo-chevron (but in small clusters) and mount infrared leds in there, in a few spots.

I've DEFINITELY seen infrared leds used as a heat source. and i'd only need to heat the mirror slightly above the ambient temp outside. Anyone know, or are able to find how much heat an infrared led puts out? so i know how many i'd need to try this out...

[clutch1]

Get like 10 LEDs and rig up a test jig? Sounds like it might work, but I'm not entirely sure.

1 watt infra red LEDs might work, too. Perhaps 2 per mirror if it works as planned?

[cherrington17]

1 watt, is usually 4 leds. so that'd be certainly do-able. i'd just prefer to not have to invest in them if it won't work. :lol:

[YALEROYNOT]

have you seen this ?

http://www.frostfighter.com/prt2600.htm

or

this one

http://www.dewbuster.com/heaters/heaters.html

[cherrington17]

top one yes, bottom no.

i'm just looking into alternative methods, if i can't manage to get the black plastic cover off the back....

[cherrington17]

:yahoo::yahoo::yahoo:

in what could only be described as a stroke of pure genius, one of the nerdier old guys i work with came up with this.

We tore apart a wirewound rheostat that we have in the store. (3.99) and pulled the wirewound portion of it out, connected it to 12V and you can see what happened.

first pic is just it, as it was. (not plugged in) second is after its been connected for approx 30 seconds.



CLEARLY, this isn't something that you'd want to connect to your window when its REALLY cold outside (rapid change in temp would certainly crack the window) but with a decent load resistor on it, we got it to peak around 80-85 degrees. now with some added insulation, and rested up against the glass, it will definitely dissipate the heat much more therefore heat up slower.

:yahoo: got at least ONE good heat source now.


I did run a small experiment with an infrared led as well. The paper it was pointed at (point blank, against the tip of the LED ) caused the paper to go up ~1.5 degrees in like 20 minutes. You might be able to use this as well... if anyone wants to give it a decent try.... but i'm most likely going to stick w/ the method above. When i get my mirrors, i'll start experimenting and testing ideas of how to mount and insulate it.

[cherrington17]

and i forgot to mention above...

the inner part of that metal casing, does come out. thats the actual wirewound heating part. Its about 2-2.5" long and 0.25" wide with both of those metal terminals already mounted to it.