Heated Mirrors

[tx399999]

Well, winters coming so I decided to prepare. Last winter exposed many shortcomings with my deuce. Earlier this year I installed the alcohol evaporator, upgraded to an electric wiper kit, and installed the windshield washer kit. These may seen like "luxury items" but they offer a huge improvement in being able to see in bad weather. The last thing I've been putting off is the issue with keeping the fog and ice at bay. I came across these heated mirrors for a decent price, so I snagged them up. They bolted right up, and the wires are run through two holes under the brackets with grommets. I turned them on and they got warm pretty quickly, but I'll post results when they ice over.
I am exploring options for an electric cab heater plumbed into the defrost ducts, which will make the truck fully winter ready.


Grote Heated West Coast Mirror Head Stainless 16053-3

Grote Heated Convex Mirror 8" Stainless 12283

 

[DUG]

Thats pretty kewl man. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Billy Bobbed]

Are they 24V or 12V.

 

[juddspaintballs]

Very nice! Are they 12v or 24v or does it really even matter?

 

[tx399999]

They're 12v but you can wire them in series, as long as it's convex to convex and west coast to west coast, to make them 24v. I previously added a battery equalizer to safely get 12v, but it's not necessary.

 

[Katahdin]

Oh for crying out loud, are you going to put a dress on your truck too?






Just kidding, nice mod. I was harassing a work buddy this morning about his luxurious Dodge Ram 2500 with heated mirrors, that where the dress bit came from. Just don't tell anyone I thought it was cool.

 

[tx399999]

One suggestion for anyone installing electrical items, is a distribution panel. A while back I was going to install a fuse block, but that turned into a fuse/relay/distribution panel. It really makes things easy when you just have to plug something in and add a fuse.

 

[tx399999]

I know I'm getting a bit fancy, but I almost cried when I drilled the holes though.

 

[wreckerman893]

Have driven over the road for a living back before heated mirrors were standard equipment I applaud your addition.

Nothing sucks worse than changing lanes and hoping you don't feel a thump or hear metal crunching.

If I bob another deuce heated mirrors will be one of the first mods.

 

[Brentzilla]

Thats a great idea, I just gotta get some west coast mirror brackets now, and money! Whats next, a back up cam?

 

[juddspaintballs]

I've thought of that!

 

[crasheej]

I sure didn't like to pick up a fire truck that didn't have heated morrows or any truck that had to go in the winter with out them . They are life savers yours and any one else on the road in freezing rain or snow. Good job. Now some one make fun of the man because he was thinking of safety on the road.

 

[DUG]

I just ordered these:

West Coast Mirror Signal-Stat 7093 Heated - eBay (item 180546631175 end time Jan-10-11 06:20:04 PST)

Didn't ask if the were 12 or 24 volt since I have both systems.

After going out in the cold rain last week for that double rescue I quickly saw a need for heated mirrors. I'll report back once they are installed.

 

[srodocker]

i'll have to pick up a pair someday.

 

[tx399999]

We had our first frost the other day. They cleared up within a couple of minutes. It didn't seem like they heated up much, but it did the trick.

 

[asgtoolman]

Thats a great idea, I just gotta get some west coast mirror brackets now, and money! Whats next, a back up cam?

Don't knock the back up camera!!! How about forward looking AND back up?
Check this unit out -- rearviewsafety.com -- model RVS-770614
I think this will be my next project after I finish my air-conditioning!

 

[Capt.Marion]

We had our first frost the other day. They cleared up within a couple of minutes. It didn't seem like they heated up much, but it did the trick.

It doesn't take much; they just gotta to get over 32° F and/or the ambient temperature.

 

[Hammer]

What a lot of people don't realize is that the heated mirrors will also keep your mirrors DRY when it raining a lot. Sure makes backing big trailers up a LOT easier when it raining!

 

[bones1]

Great ideas both heated mirrors and cameras. What did you use for the windshield washer system?.

 

[Darwin T]

alcohol evaporatori have seen these for sale but did not know what it were for, and i think that you do since your put one on your truck. will you share this information with me?