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      07-21-2014, 10:01 AM   #1
intoflatlines
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Heated mirrors always on?

Forgive me if this is something I missed in the manual but are the side mirrors always supposed to be on/hot? The other day I touched my mirror and it was hot. I was suspicious but figured it could have been from the sun. But the other night I touched it while it was dark out and had been in my garage all day, and it was still hot. Is this by design or is something broken, or do I somehow inadvertently have the heaters activated? Ambient temps have been ~80F or so.
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      07-21-2014, 03:12 PM   #2
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Heaters in the outside RV mirrors are always on. IIRC they are set at 38 degrees C (~100 degrees F).
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      07-21-2014, 04:28 PM   #3
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Yes - they are which I think is very weird. They do have an off temp, but when I read it I remembered thinking it was about double what it needed to be!
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      07-21-2014, 10:07 PM   #4
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Weird. Not like I need mirror heaters when it's 90*F outside
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      07-21-2014, 10:43 PM   #5
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I disconned the heaters :-)
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      07-21-2014, 11:15 PM   #6
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I found that letting the heaters burn the dew off in the morning is fast, and works better than wiping them with my sleeve.
But, yea, you would think they would eventually shut off.
99.99% of the time they're not needed.
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      07-22-2014, 10:42 AM   #7
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You mean to tell me its not caused by air friction from driving at high speed?
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      07-22-2014, 01:06 PM   #8
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I wondered why they were not activated with your rear defog like most other cars do it. Seems to make sense to me. I disconnected mine when I change out the glass as I though that caused the darkened glass, but the more I read it was actually the auto dim causing that so I hooked them back up.
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      07-22-2014, 10:32 PM   #9
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It's 100f on the nose at 8:30pm in Phoenix tonight. Guess I won't be needing the electric heat anytime soon.
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      07-22-2014, 11:13 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by unluky View Post
I wondered why they were not activated with your rear defog like most other cars do it. Seems to make sense to me.
Exactly.
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      07-24-2014, 11:36 PM   #11
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It's weird that they're on all the time but it doesn't hurt anything to leave them be.
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      07-25-2014, 05:37 AM   #12
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The heated portion of the mirrors are not energized 100% of the time (always on).

Mirror heating is controlled by the door modules. The heating function is active as of terminal 15 (ignition lock position 2). The activation time is dependent on the outside temperature.
The general module receives the outside temperature from the IKE via the K-bus and determines a cycle time for heating operation. This time is transferred to the peripheral modules where it is carried out. Heating is no longer active at an outside temperature greater than 25 o C and it is switched on permanently at a temperature lower than -10 o C.

From SIB 51 1 05

Mirror heating without wiper operation:
Below 41’F: 100% (continuous heating)
Above 41’F: 0% (no heating)

Mirror heating with wiper operation:
Below 41’F: 100% (continuous heating)
From 41’F to 50”F : 75%
From 50”F to 59’F: 50%
From 59’F to 68’F : 25%
Above 68’F: 0% (no heating)
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      07-25-2014, 08:37 AM   #13
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So then something's broken if, on an 80*F day with zero wiper activation, my mirrors get warm immediately after turning on the car?
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      07-25-2014, 02:43 PM   #14
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Thanks Shipkiller - good stuff.
In my car they seem to be on all the time as well. it was 86F here in Santa Barbara yesterday - and the mirror heaters were definitely on the entire time I was driving. Obviously no wipers were on - it is California....
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