Heated windscreens - any experiences?

Does anyone have any experience of fitting a heated windscreen to an older Defender? Most importantly, do they work?!

Uroglas (

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) seem to do them for a reasonable price ( ~£145) but I'm sure I've seen a magazine article some time back that suggested that they were quite hard to fit, needed a lot of complex (by my standards!) wiring and cost more like £350.. It takes ages for the mist and condensation to clear these autumn mornings and it is only going to get worse over the next few months :o( so wondered if this could be the solution.

Any comments appreciated...

Thanks,

M.

Reply to
McBad
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Not on a D90 but on the wife's RRC. Worked well. Made scrapping the windshield hell of allot easier.

Reply to
Jack Kerouac

The heated screen on my RRC was god send last winter, really effective de-misting and de-icing.

AlunP

Reply to
Alun P

On or around Wed, 10 Nov 2004 09:33:23 GMT, "Alun P" enlightened us thusly:

yeah, the heated screen really comes into its own if it's iced up. Misty on the inside clears tolerably easily or can be wiped off. Ice is a pain.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

On or around Tue, 9 Nov 2004 20:30:46 -0000, "McBad" enlightened us thusly:

bah. don't list one for the disco. I've sent 'em a message.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

I fitted one to my 110 last year when I fitted the new bulkhead etc, it's brilliant! Actually, Autoglass fitted it and it cost me the £60 excess, complete with new seal etc. Money very well spent IMO. As for the wiring, simplicity itself. Fused 20A supply to a relay, switch controls relay. 3 wires coming from screen, one at each end and one in the centre. Choice now, use centre as earth and switch the 12v to the 2 outers (you could even have 2 switches and control each side separately if you wanted - I'm wary of this as I think the differing thermal expansion may crack the screen) or earth the 2 outers and supply 12v to the centre. Your choice either way, mine is centre earthed and common switched to the outers. I had to fit a GPS re-radiating antenna to get my GPS unit working properly again (no external antenna connection on it or I'd just have fitted that!), works great now. Cold, frosty mornings - no worries. Climb in, start up and switch on screen. By the time you've gone and scraped the snow/ice etc off the side and rear glass (you do, I hope. Fuzz up here in Elgin will nick you if you don't clean glass to give decent visibility, and rightly so.) the windscreen is clear and that lovely V8 is starting to warm up the interior. Unlike a diesel landy, the V8 does actually produce waste heat for the heater unit to work!!!

Badger B.H.Engineering Rover V8 engine specialists

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Reply to
Badger

They certainly screw up GPS receivers on the dash.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff

Hence my purchasing of the re-rad antenna. Badger.

Reply to
Badger

So Jeff was, like

Not necessarily. Garmin GPS12. Compared with the 90 and other vehicles (including an open boat), in the Rangie it takes about twice as long to acquire the satellites, but after that it works as normal.

Reply to
Richard Brookman

If it is taking that much longer to lock up then performance is certainly being affected. It will mean that fewer satellites are being seen and tracking will be lost earlier than it otherwise would in situations were there are few satellites visible.

Regards Jeff

Reply to
Jeff

Same part as the Range rover if my memory serves me right. For the RRC Landrover wanted around £500 notes...and I had more hair then too.

Lee D

Reply to
Lee_D

Will a Range Rover (Classic) heated screen fit a 95 Discovery? Richard

Reply to
Richard

We have a gps mouse and locate it either beside the tax disk where there are no elements, or wedged up in the sunroof if in the Disco. Both Disco and Rangie have heated windscreens.

When driving in France the Disco was next to useless reception wise whist in the windscreen. Unless clear open roads. occasionally it picked up reflections showing us driving beside motorways.

Placing the mouse in the sunroof meant these errors were eliminated and tension levels reverted to the standard "Are we nearly there yet?" question of life.

Lee D

Reply to
Lee_D

Thanks to everyone who has responded; useful info. Think I'll put the rock sliders on hold for another month and get the windscreen instead.

Cheers,

M.

Reply to
McBad

On or around Wed, 10 Nov 2004 19:00:26 GMT, "Richard" enlightened us thusly:

I don't see why not. There are however more than one kind of windscreen mounting method. dunno if the glass differs.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

The 1995 Discovery model range has a bonded windscreen while the RaRo Classic had a the older type being held with a weathestrip. I think the soft dash RaRo LSE of late 1994 and 1995 (the last year of production) was also fitted with a bonded windscreen so it is worth looking for such an item but then again bonded windscreens are usually broken when removed.

As for being able to fit a RaRo Classic heated windscreen to a Discovery I have done so on my 1993 Disco. Only drawback is that the RaRo Classic's windscreen mirror pad is located lower than on the Disco. But apart from that is worked OK.

Take care Pantelis

Reply to
Pantelis Giamarellos

If you say so. As I said, it works as normal, sees roughly the same number of satellites (I don't keep count as I'm usually driving) and has never lost tracking. My point is that it works OK - maybe less than optimal performance, but if it doesn't affect function, where's the problem?

Rich

Reply to
Richard Brookman

So Pantelis Giamarellos was, like

Off topic, Pantelis, but golly your English is good. :-)

Reply to
Richard Brookman

Rich thanks for the compliment.

My late English teacher will be smiling from up in the sky.....

Take care Pantelis

Reply to
Pantelis Giamarellos

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