cold weather

[Emory39]

how do i know if i have heated mirrors,
I do have cold weather PKG heated front seats.


**************on the owners manual it says that they are automatically heated *****************

page 52

[upallnight]

Turn on the rear window heater and see if the snow/ice on the mirrors melts.

[Perrier]

If the mirrors are heated they will have the symbol stamped on them in the lower corner

[JCL]

My heated mirrors were always on with the key, and did not depend on the rear window defroster being on.

[Emory39]

well i don't have the symbol on the mirrors. ill check the mirrors when i use the defroster

[Emory39]

Originally Posted by upallnight

Turn on the rear window heater and see if the snow/ice on the mirrors melts.

how long of a wait is it. today we had allot of snow and i had some on my mirrors. it was a short trip 10 mn or less.

[Emory39]

so searching around these is what i found.
but not 100% sure
With wipers switched off:
Below 5°C = 100% continuous heating
Above 5°C = 0% heating

With wipers switched on:
Below 5°C = 100% continuous heating
From 5 to 10°C = 75% heating
From 10 to 15°C = 50% heating
From 15 to 20°C = 25% heating
Above 20°C = 0% heating

and or how upallnight said with the window heater.

[Qsilver7]

How about the touch method? Touch the mirror before starting to get an indication of how it feels...drive to where you are going and touch the mirror again. Is it warmer than before? Or roll the window down when you stop at a light and check to see if it is warm.

Or you can pop the mirror glass off and look for the 2 post for the heating wires on the backside...you can see them in the upper corners in the pic below (ignore the othe grayish white connector...that,,s for the auto-dimming feature):

The heated mirrors come on automatically based on ambient temps. The rear electric heater is not required. They remove fog and condensation...not just snow and ice..so they have been working when many BMW owners didn't even know it.

If you're in the USA & Canada...heated mirrors are standard equipment and has been for the last 20+ years on at least every 5/6/7/8/X3/X5/etc model...and probably most 1/3 series except for the very base model.

BTW...the washer nozzles are also heated...but I do recommend removing any build up of snow first...they don't heat up enough to melt 3" of snow from around them...nor is the washer fluid heated up so that it can burn a tunnel thru snow/ice packed around the nozzles.

Not to refute the info in the post above...can it be verified which generation BMW uses that mirror heating cycle? The info below is for the communication bus used during the e38/e39/e46/e52/e53 generation.. The new gen BMWs use the MOST & LIN busses...and many things have changed...and that could be how the new BMWs operate.

[Emory39]

Originally Posted by Qsilver7

How about the touch method? Touch the mirror before starting to get an indication of how it feels...drive to where you are going and touch the mirror again. Is it warmer than before? Or roll the window down and check to see if it is warm.

The heated mirrors come on automatically based on ambient temps. The rear electric heater is not required. They remove fog and condensation...not just snow and ice..so they have been working when many BMW owners didn't even know it.

If you're in the USA & Canada...heated mirrors are standard equipment and has been for the last 20+ years on at least every 5/6/7/8/X3/X5/etc model...and probably most 1/3 series except for the very base model.

BTW...the washer nozzles are also heated.

Not to refute the info in the post above...can it be verified which generation BMW uses that mirror heating cycle? The info below is for the communication bus used during the e38/e39/e46/e52/e53 generation.. Thw new gen BMWs uuse the MOST-bus...and many things hve changed...and that could be how the new BMWs operate.

THANKS!

[racebmwm3]

Maybe it's me, but my mirrors do not seem to defog as quickly as I would like compared to my other cars... quite frankly it doesn't seem like they are working at all.

Maybe it's due to the outside temp not being as cold? On a dewy morning, l like to have to condensation evaporate so I can use the mirrors.

How do you troubleshoot such a problem? Any related fuses that could be the culprit?