Electric seats

redhand said:

reet having done a bit of research the pinouts that were posted are right. I adjusted the seats using a pair of patch leads and a long wire direct off the battery. And yes you need some way of reversing the voltage. So I'm not sure how windows switches would work. Each seat will need 4 switches. Which is gonna look messy however you do it. All in all If you haven't already done the conversion, then I wouldn't bother. The amount of work just isn't worth the benefit.

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Window switches are DPDT type so reverse the polarity depending which way you press em. Still need 4 though so any set up would be bulky. Easiest way would be to buy seats with switches or get switches of fleabay. If they come with the seat loom, it's an easy job to wire into the power supply to the centre window switches.

Stickybackbob said:

Window switches are DPDT type so reverse the polarity depending which way you press em. Still need 4 though so any set up would be bulky. Easiest way would be to buy seats with switches or get switches of fleabay. If they come with the seat loom, it's an easy job to wire into the power supply to the centre window switches.

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A pair of new switches will set you back over £300. Not surprisingly they tend not to come up on Ebay very often The wiring harness for electric seat models is completely different to fixed seat models even the seat frame are different. If you do buy a set of seats make sure you remove all the associated wiring and switches. There is also the problem of the relays and the fact that the seats are "switched on by the ignition switch" So they only move if the igition is in the 1st position or with the key in the ignition but truned off with the drivers door open.

I don't have Rave and even if it did it would not work on my computer as I only use Linux.

Also what is reversed polarity???

discopinky said:

I don't have Rave and even if it did it would not work on my computer as I only use Linux.

Also what is reversed polarity???

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Each motor (of which there are 4 to each seat) has 2 pins. If you apply live current to pin 1 & earth the pin 2, the motor moves forwards. If you reverse the polarity by swapping the wires round so that the live feed goes to pin 2, the motor reverses direction.

redhand said:

If you do buy a set of seats make sure you remove all the associated wiring and switches.

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Probably the best bit of advice in the whole thread!!

Yes it is! I've been trying to get hold of wiring looms for Classic seats for quite a while now.

I have various people looking out for them for me.

just got a set of switches with looms for £40. All tested and working.

I bought the floor out of a 300TDI from a scrapyard and am now working out how I can adapt the seat mounting points so I can bolt them into mine. Its quite complicated as the rear beam will have to be chopped about to get it to fit the 200 floor which is totally different. Also I have a sneaky feeling the curvature of the central tunnel and the floor is different which will make fitting the front mountings a task as well.

My advice for anybody contemplating fitting leather seats in a 200TDI is don't bother!!! Its too complicated!!!

discopinky said:

just got a set of switches with looms for £40. All tested and working.

I bought the floor out of a 300TDI from a scrapyard and am now working out how I can adapt the seat mounting points so I can bolt them into mine. Its quite complicated as the rear beam will have to be chopped about to get it to fit the 200 floor which is totally different. Also I have a sneaky feeling the curvature of the central tunnel and the floor is different which will make fitting the front mountings a task as well.

My advice for anybody contemplating fitting leather seats in a 200TDI is don't bother!!! Its too complicated!!!

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Dint I alreddy say that??

redhand said:

Re: Electric seats
reet having done a bit of research the pinouts that were posted are right. I adjusted the seats using a pair of patch leads and a long wire direct off the battery. And yes you need some way of reversing the voltage. So I'm not sure how windows switches would work. Each seat will need 4 switches. Which is gonna look messy however you do it. All in all If you haven't already done the conversion, then I wouldn't bother. The amount of work just isn't worth the benefit.

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Just agreeing with you!

discopinky said:

I don't have Rave and even if it did it would not work on my computer as I only use Linux.

Also what is reversed polarity???

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Hey Pinky!

I got a copy of Rave if you want it?
I got a copy of Windows too!!!

Keep a copy on your Sat-Nav computer, I got a copy on mine along with the complete parts catalogue. Gimme a shout if you want copies??

reverse polarity is when you pick the cables off your battery and switch them round the other way..!

Sorry to resurrect this thread... Got my Range Rover Classic switches and looms. IIRC there are 3 wires that you need to connect. IIRC it is 2 live and one earth on each side. Anybody know which wires for each side are the earth's as I've long since given away all my Range Rover Classic manuals.

discopinky said:

Sorry to resurrect this thread... Got my Range Rover Classic switches and looms. IIRC there are 3 wires that you need to connect. IIRC it is 2 live and one earth on each side. Anybody know which wires for each side are the earth's as I've long since given away all my Range Rover Classic manuals.

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The 3 wires should be in a triangular connector. One of the pin surrounds will look slightly different to the others. Looks like Rave CD says it's the black wire.

If you struggle later, I could take some photo's of how I wired mine in.

Black is earth... D'oh! how obvious is that!

I have now more or less adapted my floor pan to 300TDI spec on the drivers side and am going to bolt in the seat today and check its all working off the switch.

Then I will take it out and do all the final assembly and then I can start on the passenger side.

It was actually not that hard to do. But it was time consuming. It involved separating the 300TDI seat frame panels from the old floor and cutting grinding bits on the rear seat panel to make it fit.

You can actually quite easily get the rear 300TDI seat frame Panel to fit over the top of the 200TDI floor pan, and this more or less guarantees that its in exactly the right place, then its just a matter of bolting it down (I chose to bolt rather than weld as if I ever decide to move onto another 200TDI I can just unbolt the seats from the floor and bolt them straight in the next one! Bolting them in is easy if you leave parts of the old floor still attached to the rear seat frame panel and use them as anchoring brackets.

The fronts are simply a matter of drilling and bolting down. I'm going to do a how to with pictures on the passenger side.

If you are not afraid of getting the saw and the grinder out and you can find a scrapyard that are willing to chop out the front floor sections from a 300TDI shell then this has to be the best way of fitting these electric seats. They give you a fighting chance of getting the seats in the right place and the right height.

Got drivers front seat in and have adapted the brackets for the passenger side.

I have however dropped a bo**ock! I wired up the switches and nothing happened. I even tried bypassing the switches and nothing. I think the motors have all seized solid. I reckon the seats have been stored in a damp garage or something. Garrrrr its fighting me all the way...

I do have spare motors on a couple of old seats but I've no ideal how easy it will be to change them over.

All the motors are changed and both seats are now fitted... Have to say for me they are definitely worth the effort. Loads better than the old standard cloth affairs.

Have taken pictures and will do a web page with detailed instructions and pictures. Not that there is much to it really...

Next job is to use the front covers from the seized disco switches that came with the seats and mount the working RRC switches for the seats in the sides of the cubby box.

Last job will be to wire up the heater elements so the wife can warm up her bonce!

Well done and good on you for sticking with it

Stickybackbob said:

Well done and good on you for sticking with it

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Have mounted the switches in the cubby box and all wiring is sorted apart from the in line fuses. The only issue I have is that they must have reversed the polarities on the rear seat recliner motors or something between RRC and Discovery as the switch works backwards on both seats!

Here is the guide...

300 seats into 200 series 1 Discovery guide

Hope its of use...

Looks like a good job but are you sure it's all safe?

Whilst you have obviously gone to a lot of work and thought in this and the preparation of a guide, what are your thoughts in the event of an accident.

Not wishing to be picky but the seat mountings are welded into a 300 for a reason!

I'm no expert in structural design but at the least I would have thought it a good idea to use spreader plates beneath the floor where you have bolted?

Apologies if this is what you've done, but I for one would hate to see someone injured by following your example especially after the effort that has been put into the job by both you and them.

Hopefully, someone can tell us that what I've said is a load of bollocks (be pleasant about though...please) and assure us that eveyone is safely wrapped up in cotton wool with no immediate cause for concern.

Top job on the switches though. Look dead professional them.

discopinky said:

Have to say for me they are definitely worth the effort. Loads better than the old standard cloth affairs.

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Forgot to mention another big advantage over cloth seats....kids and wipe down leather!!!