R1200GS Heated Seat Pad

Background

Most R1200GS riders know the benefits of having heated grips. I discovered on my BMW C1 200 that heated grips with a heated seat is more of the same! It is very useful whenever it gets cold e.g. on long rides during spring or fall, in mountains or at night. Heated grips keep your hands warm, a heated seat keeps your body temperature up. I'd say in freezing conditions, a heated jacket is still king but in anything less than that a combination of heated grips and a heated seat is excellent and easier to deal with (you don't have to remember to unplug anything when you get off the bike).

First I considered getting a custom seat with built-in heated element from Russell. But the price put me off and the stock seat fitted in the hi-low position is comfortable enough (unlike my previous R1100GS). So instead I went for a heated seat pad from Wunderlich - quite easy to fit, effective and much cheaper.

The Wunderlich heated seat pad kit provided consists of the following parts.

A thin gel seat pad with embedded heated elements and velcro straps that run underneath the seat.
Electrical components:
- 3mm RCA male plug connected to the heated elements in the seat pad.
- 3mm RCA female plug connected to the regulator unit and the dimmer controller.
- 6A in-line fuse with connections to attach directly to the battery.

The Wunderlich heated seat pad and its RCA electrical plug on a gray seat.
Copyright © Wunderlich

Fitting one pad for the rider alone is pretty straight forward and is described here. Likewise fitting one pad for the passenger alone. You can fit 2 pads, one for each the rider and passenger, but that requires an additional Y-piece electrical connector.

Installation

The following, which include pictures, is specific to installing a Wunderlich heated seat pad to a R1200GS. Mine came with instructions in German but by now they may provide them in English or you could just use this webpage! However, it is relatively easy to amend the procedure for a heated seat pad from another manufacturer or to fit on another bike.

Regulator

Start by removing the seat and the left hand black plastic sidepanel.

The heated pad comes with its own variable regulator to adjust the temperature. This is in two parts connected together, a dimmer controller and the regulator unit.

Mount the dimmer on the left hand black plastic sidepanel by drilling a 7mm hole. To find the exact location, sit on the bike and see how far down the sidepanl you can comfortably reach. Then check there is enough room behind the sidepanel at that point to fit the dimmer controller without it touching the frame. You can see the location I ended up with in the photo - the green dimmer controller is connected to the folded up cable.

(When you sell the bike, you can either hide the hole with a blanking grommit as it's pretty hidden or else buy a new panel as it is quite cheap).

Attach the dimmer controller by poking its metal shaft through the 7mm hold and fitting its nut. Re-fit the black plastic sidepanel making sure the cabling stays behind it. The next photo shows the dimmer from the outside with the left hand black plastic sidepanel in place.

The kit includes a black plastic adjustment knob which fits on top of the metal dimmer shaft shown above. Although the knob is thicker, its grooves are not as deep as those of the metal shaft of the dimmer. I found that with a gloved hand especially in the wet it's much easier to adjust the temperature without the plastic knob than with it. So although it looks better with it, I ended up not fitting the black plastic adjustment knob - but that's up to you.

The regulator unit is long and thin. I was able to slide it down the side of the battery (see next photo). It seems to fit fine and get sufficient airflow there.

Electrical Connections

The heated seat pad comes with a 3mm RCA male plug as used on car hi-fi systems. The heated pad consumes up to a maximum of 75W (similar to a heated jacket). Unfortunately that is too much for the stock CanBus electrical accessory point. There are various ways around this. I chose to connect directly to the battery through an inline fuse as this is provided in the kit from Wunderlich. That means that switching the ignition off does not turn off the heated pad - you must do that yourself. You can de-activate the heated pad by removing its fuse e.g. when stopped overnight on a tour.

(I also changed the connector on my heated jacket from the BMW plug to the 3mm female RCA plug. This means I can now plug in and use either the jacket or the seat pad with the same temperature regulator).

The following photo shows the black inline 6A fuse directly connected by the red wire to the positive battery terminal. (As previously mentioned the regulator unit is not visible but it's tucked away down the side of the battery, below the fuse). The female RCA connector is shown at the bottom of the photo.

When the regulator is located and the electrical connections made, attach the pad to the seat by passing the two velcro straps underneath the seat. Find a tidy route for the wiring, connect the male and female RCA connectors, re-fit the seat and you're ready to go!

In practice

For me the heated pad makes a big difference on long trips and in the evening. Full setting is way too hot so you really need the regulator. The regulator is easy to reach and responds as you'd expect - small inputs create small temperature increases; large inputs large temperature increases etc.

In use, I switch off the heated seat when or just before stopping. Otherwise it'll continue taking juice out of the battery because it's connected directly to it. I have once or twice inadvertently turned it on with my knee while riding but it's not a problem because you soon notice! It's also possible that someone comes along and fiddles with the regulator while you're stopped. So that's why overnight while touring I remove the fuse or disconnect the RCA plug.

Other than that it's pretty easy to live with. I don't feel any difference when sitting on the seat with the pad fitted or removed. You certainly don't feel the heating elements. The connecting cable hangs out of the way and has never caught on anything. The velcro straps hold the pad in place quite well and I found that they only need to be tightened occasionally and that's quite easy to do. I tend to fit the pad for Spring and Fall and take it off during Summer and Winter. In Summer if I need anything at all I've got the heated grips and in Winter I use a heated jacket.

Overall I'm very pleased with it. Simple to attach, easy to use and relatively cheap.