Lewisman, thanks for your link. I have one of those (a Loctite product, though, but seems to be the same content), but I haven't used it as I thought "which strip should I apply it to?" - they are all bad
I've been looking for reasons to find out why my rear window heater isn't particularly effective.
I think the rear window heater is lower power than modern cars, but they should be able to demist the rear window in most cases.
However, have you tried feeding it 12V - say straight from the battery ? - just to make absolutely sure it really is the heater strips themselves (or their connectors) that are poor ?
No not exactly that, but I've measured the voltage drop from the battery to the screen and it's virtually zero. All components are repaired or replaced
So I think I have ruled out everything else...
Also, IF the strips themselves are corroded, I would find it somewhat surprising if they ALL were equally corroded. It would make much more sense if some were more corroded than others, which would show as uneven effectiveness. (?)
Well there are a few hot spots (indicating more corrosion), but nothing serious and no broken strips.
And why shouldn't they have corroded evenly? They are exposed to the same environment, and probably carefully made with the same width and thickness (to avoid hot spots when new).
It *is* aluminum, and a very thin layer of it, and since I think it's only protected by a thin layer of some kind of paint, it makes sense that they reduce in width over time. If only they had used silver...
But I agree it's likely that it was probably designed to be less powerful than demisters on modern cars. I just don't think they should be *this* bad
, and further more, the current drawn by the screen is only a few Ampere, which does not make sense considering the large square wire running from the fuse box, the relay, and the large Amp fuse dedicated to the demister.
So I guess I still stick to the corrosion theory... but I would like to have more than 'circumstantial evidence'
- Anders