Re: rear window defroster

["Keith Park" <topnotch@nycap.rr.com>]

I did this to my Opel, the rear window in the Square is actually still good.
adhesives have gotten better, basically you use the wires from the kit,
discard the end peices and solder directly yourself so everything fits under
the seal where its hidden.  Its been on the Opel for 4 years and still works
fine.

Keith
>
> Is this speaking from experience, Keith?
>
> I don't know if it's the same sort of kit as I put on my Beetle years
ago - that
> had a paper with the lines on it, that you applied to the cleaned rear
window,
> and trapped the wire ends in a plastic self-adhesive channel with an
aluminium
> gripping rod.  As the wires heated up, they melted the special adhesive
and
> stayed stuck there when cool, so you could remove the backing paper.  It
worked
> fine for maybe a year, but gradually the wires came away from the glass.
> I hadn't thought of applying it to a window while removed; maybe modern
> adhesives could do a better job than all those years ago.
>
> I can't see why there would be too much current, unless our rear windows
are so
> much narrower than the average car it's made to fit.
>
> I was toying with using some of that pin-striping masking tape,
sand-blasting
> the glass between and spraying some graphite, then overcoating it.  I even
> worked out how thick the film would need to be for the right current
> consumption, but I never got around to doing it so I've no idea if it
would
> work.
> I guess you would need each wire to have maybe 30 to 40 ohms resistance to
give
> about 4 to 5 ohms for 8 in parallel.
>
> Do I recall that some modern screens (even available on Beetle front
> windshields) have a coating that's heated rather than separate wires?
Could be
> it's between the laminate layers I suppose.
>
> Dave.
> UK VW Type 3 & 4 Club
> http://www.hallvw.clara.co.uk/
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