Carbon Tape Heated Steering Wheel

Intro: Carbon Tape Heated Steering Wheel

We must be especially careful when driving. In winter we often have to drive with gloves, while the steering wheel is not warmed up enough. Of course this affects the safety. Make your steering wheel heated to improve your safety!

You can easily do it using a small piece of carbon tape.

See how easy it is.

STEP 1: Shopping List

1. 4 (or 8 for double power) feet of carbon tape and now on Amazon (length depends on your wheel circumference).

2. Silver conductive glue.

3. A piece of electric wire (18-24 AWG).

4. Kapton tape.

STEP 2: Step by Step

1. Remove the steering wheel (if it hasn't an airbag only!)

2. Measure the diameter of the steering wheel. Carbon tape length should be slightly smaller to leave a small gap between the ends of the tape.

3. Cut the required piece of the carbon tape. I recommend using a carbon tape width of 44 mm. This will allow you to close a large part of the surface of the steering whee and make absolutely uniform heating.

.4. Silver glue wires to the ends of the carbon tape. You will be more convenient to work if you sew the wires to the tape first to fix it, as shown in the photo. Then soak the wire and the carbon tape with a silver glue. Silver glue will ensure the highest quality, reliability and long service life.

5. Apply a rubber glue to the surface of the steering wheel and stick carbon tape. Position the tape so that it was convenient to lay the wires from the tape to the center of the steering wheel. Do not forget to leave a small gap between the ends of the carbon tape.

6. Connect the wires to the free sliding contacts in the center of the steering wheel.

7. Connect the wires in the steering column to a free button on the dashboard.

8. Wrap the carbon tape with Kapton.

9. Put on a steering wheel cover you like.

STEP 3: A Bit of Theory...

The average circumference of steering wheels is 4 feet. At 12 volts 4 feet of 44 mm carbon tape will give about 18 watts of heat. In my tests this power needs 3-5 minutes to get 77F from 23F. So I recommend you to use two stripes of carbon connected in parallel. It provides approximately 36 watts of heat. This power is enough to warm your steering wheel to a comfortable temperature just for a few seconds even if the bitter cold outside. Simply cut 4 feet + 4 feet of 44 mm carbon tape and glue them one next to other. That way you can cover whole the wheel surface. Glue the wires to the both ends of the carbon tape stripes so they will be connected in parallel. As you can see I get 40 Watts of heat power (12V x 3,33A = 40W).

STEP 4: No More Driving Gloves!

...a heavy frost on the street. I sit in my car, insert the ignition key and click on the steering wheel heat button. The wheel immediately becomes warm and I can just go.

My safety is in my hands!

Comments

[hemstitchin]

lighting clothing. amazing

[adrian.galeru]

Thanks for the idea. I would like to do it.. can i use any tape from carbon fiber? How i can calculate the resistance and the heatjng it will give me? Thanks

[Shenzhen]

There are two types of carbon, heater and reinforce.
Our carbon is heater www.carbonheater.us
All specifications are on the site including resistance.
I (current) = V (Volt) / R (Ohm)
P (power) = I (current) x V (Volt)

[adrian.galeru]

W(power)= I(volts)square/r(ohm)... did you misure the R? How much it was?

[GordonNewell]

Love all these safety comment, but not every car has an airbag. And there are cars out there where we can look at alternative power implementations.

I have a VW beach buggy and this is air-cooled beetle based. My horn is on the dashboard.

The beetle actually set the column to 12v positive and runs a ground cable through a hole down the centre of the column for the original horn. I can utilise this design to power the above heated wheel without risk

Thanks for the instructable.

[Beezer34_ca]

Which width works best 15mm or 44mm?

[Shenzhen]

44mm

[bratling]

I did something similar to add heated grips to my motorcycle. I used a DPDP switch to run one or both elements at a time to creat a high-low-off set up. Another option, which I used for heated clothing on the bike, is to use a high-current variable pulse frequency controller such as a Heat-Troller. This gives you continuously adjustable heating from mild to cooking. :) here’s a link: http://www.warmnsafe.com/heat-trollers/
(I am not associated with them. Just a happy long time customer.)

[galenweaver]

I want to use this idea for another application so not concerned about the steering wheel issues some have mentioned. From what I understand the carbon tape is the heat conductor but what purpose does the Kapton Tape serve?

[Shenzhen]

My leather cover was too tight and I had to wrap the carbon with kapton so that it was easier to put on a leather.

[DIYunderwater]

This is a great project! I need to
make something like this. Quick question. Why carbon stripe needs to be glued?

[Shenzhen]

The surface of the carbon tape will always be a reliable electrical
conductor due to the surface oxidation turning into a gas and dispersing.
This is unlike the surface of metals, for example copper, where as a result
of oxidation the copper is coated with copper oxide which hinders a good
electrical contact because copper oxide does not conduct electricity.
Overtime this eventually results in contact failure which leads to power
loss and potentially the overheating of contact points. Silver glue is the best way to get a reliable connection.

[Mjtrinihobby]

Oxide is a problem with aluminum conductor, never a problem on copper.

[Shenzhen]

Yes, aluminum is more active metal and aluminum wire is quickly covered with aluminum oxide film even at room temperature. The resulting film is an excellent dielectric, very durable and can interfere with contact even at high voltage. Poor contact on aluminum wires is common.

Copper is a less active metal and at room temperature oxidation will not affect the reliability of contact even after years. The copper oxide film is very fragile, but most importantly, it is not a dielectric but a semiconductor, that is, it is capable of passing an electric current. This means that our heated clothes will continue to work for a long time, but the place of contact will heat up more and more..

In case of metal+metal contacts they are fixed hard and there are a few permanent micro points where direct phisical contacts are located. At those points oxidation goes very slowly especially for copper.

But in the case of contact of carbon fiber with copper, there is no constant contact point. Carbon fibers can freely pass oxygen to the surface of the copper wire and the whole wire will oxidize even at the point of contact with the carbon. The connection point will start to overheat. The oxidation rate at room temperature is low and your device could work for several years without interruption, but at a temperature of 50-70 degrees Celsius the contact will become hotter than the carbon tape just after a few months and then it will heat up more and more.

We know it from theory and our big practice.

[Mjtrinihobby]

Excellent work.

[FerretPD]

*Seriously*? That is your build...? I'm sorry...but I can see *several* serious safety issues immediately.

First: How are you with the fact that the Steering Wheel turns...but the Column (etc) doesn't? Either you have a wire hanging down around your feet (dangerous from a Driving Safety perspective, tangling up your feet)...or you have loosely-wrapped around the Steering Column (Dangerous rom an Electrical perspective...since there is no way to guarantee that the "loose" cord will not get pinched/cut/broken...and then you have Battery power applied to the Metal parts of the car (I should point out here that the "convenient" picture shows a hole in the middle of the Steering wheel...that's where the Bolt and securing nut goes through...there is no convenient axial hole in the Steering column to accommodate such a kludge.)

Your hands will *absolutely* be warm....as you veer off the road due to either your foot catching on wires when you need to brake/accelerate...or the Electrical system giving up the ghost as you toodle down the road.

This is a *BAD* Build...and (in my opinion as a mechanic of over 30 years) is dangerous. I'm sorry if it's not "nice"...this is a Safety* issue.

[JK2001]

Good reply, but you forgot the part when the tape unravels due to the heat/wear & tear and gets caught up in the steering column control stalks. Also, I don't think it is a good idea to be pulling 18 to 40 Watts continuously though a slip ring commutator meant for intermittent pulses to the cruise control logic circuits or the horn relay. You were nice however just to refer to it as a kludge.

[Shenzhen]

Steering Wheel turns...but the Column (etc) doesn't...

Steering wheel slip ring.

[FerretPD]

Yes...and all of those SlipRing contacts are dedicated...are you tapping off of the Horn Contacts...? If so....that was a *critical* safety factor that you should have mentioned.

[tim.nelin]

Firstly, there is hardly ever an easily accessible 12 volt power source under the steering wheel of any vehicle. Most use a clockspring mechanism for accessories that are steering wheel mounted. Fooling with this will most likely result in loss of the accessories. Secondly, to leave the wiring running down the column and not leaving enough slack to let the steering wheel turn fully from lock to lock could be fatal. Thirdly, fooling with anything to do with the airbag system without knowledge or training will most likely result in severe injury. Please add safety warnings about what you are instructing to prevent serious injury or worse!