mirror defrost
Posting Guru
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 1,302
Likes: 5
From: Burlington, WI
Depending in your style of mirror, I know Velvac makes a kit (mirrors and all) for heavy duty trucks. If you've ever seen a Snap On truck with the big chrome mirrors on it those are the ones I know of. I think they make other kits too but I may be wrong.
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More Turbo
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 633
Likes: 4
From: Edmonton, Ab
Ok thanks. I remember seeing a kit. It made it so you could attach the wires to the back of the mirror. I can't figure out where it was. Already scraping frost off the windows here, time for an intervention!
Posting Guru
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 1,302
Likes: 5
From: Burlington, WI
Yeah I'm not looking forward to the frost here either especially since I have the huge towing tripod mirrors! But yeah I know the kit includes the mirrors with elements in them and instructions. The kit I KNOW exists that we install on the snap on trucks has the giant 10"x5" mirrors. Way too big for our rigs but they may make something for us.
Side thought....those huge mirrors may look kinda cool on our rigs with some custom brackets....
Side thought....those huge mirrors may look kinda cool on our rigs with some custom brackets....
Laughing Gas
Joined: Jun 2016
Posts: 855
Likes: 56
From: Des Moines, Washington
If you can get the glass out in one piece, you could cobble together something using a mirror heater from ebay. Problem is, it won't be the right shape so it will look kinda crazy as it melts the ice but I would think that unless you were deep into the snow belt, it should get most if not all of the mirror clean.
ebay also has heated west coast mirrors but they are too big even for the type 3 frames without making new brackets. It does look like I could get the glass out of the type 3's and retrofit heaters in.
ebay also has heated west coast mirrors but they are too big even for the type 3 frames without making new brackets. It does look like I could get the glass out of the type 3's and retrofit heaters in.
Posting Guru
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 1,302
Likes: 5
From: Burlington, WI
If you can get the glass out in one piece, you could cobble together something using a mirror heater from ebay. Problem is, it won't be the right shape so it will look kinda crazy as it melts the ice but I would think that unless you were deep into the snow belt, it should get most if not all of the mirror clean.
ebay also has heated west coast mirrors but they are too big even for the type 3 frames without making new brackets. It does look like I could get the glass out of the type 3's and retrofit heaters in.
ebay also has heated west coast mirrors but they are too big even for the type 3 frames without making new brackets. It does look like I could get the glass out of the type 3's and retrofit heaters in.
Actually, could you use parts from a kit for a rear window defogger? Not sure exactly how those kits work, but maybe you could use parts of the grid for the defogger in each mirror?
Laughing Gas
Joined: Jun 2016
Posts: 855
Likes: 56
From: Des Moines, Washington
The grid is made up of adhesive backed resistive material. It's designed to consume a certain amount of current. Too much and it'll burn out or blow the fuse. Too little and it won't be effective. You could use a constant current source to drive a partial grid and slowly increase the current until you get the defrosting level you want. There's more info here than even I knew
You don't want the grid on the outside of the glass, it'll look real tacky and won't last long so you'll still need to get the glass out of the housing. I used to wonder if you could just shove a bunch of resistors into the housing and raise the entire thing above ambient but I don't think it'd work all that well when it's icy.
Edit:
Second thoughts about putting the grid on the back side of the mirror. The mirror is a "second surface" type meaning the reflective material is on the backside of the mirror. I don't kow how sturdy that material is, it might fail or degrade due to the chemicals in the grids adhesive.
Last edited by lasermike; Oct 4, 2016 at 10:04 PM. Reason: see edit
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