Installing the Honeywell Prestige 2.0 Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Thermostat and Equipment Interface Module (EIM)

I suspect that my problem with high humidity levels in the summertime have been caused by two separate issues i) a blocked condensate pan drain, which keeps condensate water removed from the indoor air from the air conditioning evaporator recirculating in the indoor air stream, and ii) my Venmar ERV furnace fan interlock - which keeps the furnace fan running even when the air conditioner cycles end, not allowing the evaporator coil condensation enough time to drip down into the condensate pan and into the floor drain. Consequently, this condensate water just gets re-evaporated into the fan coil airstream, and back into the indoor air. Net result - buildup of humidity inside the house. I needed a way to independently control the ventilation ERV, the furnace fan, and timed with the air conditioning cycles, and the only thermostat that I found that would do that, and also independantly control humidifying, is the Honeywell Prestige 2.0 IAQ thermostat.

Honeywell Prestige 2.0 IAQ Kit with EIM, Outdoor Wireless Temperature and Humidity Sensor, and Duct Temperature Sensors

Honeywell Redlink Internet Gateway

I also require central control of the humidifier in the winter time. This lead me to look at the latest generation of smart thermostats - in an attempt to get better control over the HVAC in my home, and address my air quality issues. I found that the Nest thermostat doesn't have the capability to intelligently control ventilation, it only has a single output to control humidification, but has the ability to control the air conditioning to control de-humidification. Similar situation with the Ecobee 3 thermostat. Finally, I found the Honeywell Prestige 2.0 IAQ thermostat - with the equipment interface module, it has three customizable user outputs that can control ventilation (ERV/HRV), humidification, whole house dehumidification, and a fresh air intake damper. So - following my research, I ordered Honeywell Prestige IAQ thermostat kit with return and supply duct temperature guages, outdoor wireless temperture and humidity sensor, and the equipment interface module. In addition, I picked up the Redlink internet gateway, which allows me to control the whole system from my smartphone or tablet, even when away from home.

Installing the system may seem a bit complicated, but in practice, it's not much harder than installing a standard thermostat. The Prestige 2.0 thermostat that installed in your living space on the wall - is actually just a wireless controller for the system - like a small tablet computer. There are no relays inside this thermostat, just a small backup battery to retain settings during power failures, and two contacts for 24VAC power. The Equipment Interface Module, which installs close to your furnace / HVAC sysem, has all the relays and switching, connects to all the HVAC equipment using standard 24VAC hard wired controls, and connects wirelessly to the wall mounted thermostat in your living space. The nice thing about this architecture is that it is very easy to wire up additional elements to the Prestige thermostat system - temperature sensors, furnace / fan coil unit, ventilation system (HRV or ERV), whole house humidifier, whole house dehumidifier, an optional duct zone control system, etc) and the multitude of wired connections are all made close to the equipment, and don't all have to be run through your walls to your wall mounted thermostat. Very easy to wire up, very easy to add additional system components, and very easy to integrate the operation of everything using the smart thermostat.

The back of the Honeywell Prestige IAQ Thermostat. Note the button type backup battery in the top right corner, and the power connection posts in the center. 

This thermostat is small - slightly smaller than a dual electrical switch wallplate. Whatever you are replacing with this was probably larger, and you'll probably have some drywall patching and painting to do to make it look right. If you don't want to get into paint - there is an accessory backplate that covers the old thermostat hole. I went for the cleanest install possible, and did my patching and painting.

Thermostat powered up, while still sanding and patching the old thermostat space. 

Since the thermostat communicates with the EIM wirelessly, all the thermostat needs for connections is red and black - 24VAC and Common.

Wallplate is nice and small, terminals are a bit fussy.

Installing the Equipment Interface Module (EIM) is fairly straightforward. Find a suitable mounting place close to your furnace or fan coil, and mount it vertically. I found a good spot on the return ductwork just above my fan coil.

Cable tie holes make wire management fairly simple.

The connections you make here are your typical HVAC control connections - up to 4 stages of heating / 2 stages of cooling for heat pump systems, or 3 stages of heating / 2 stages of cooling for conventional system. It has power connections for running to the wall mounted Prestige Thermostat, 4 wired sensor inputs, for temperature sensors or switches, 3 control outputs for user defined applications - such as whole house humidification, dehumidification, fresh air damper and / or ventilation HRV / ERV.

Once installed - lots of wires running to the EIM - 2 temperature sensors wires, humidifier control and humidifier damper, ventilation ERV control, power to thermostat, control to fan coil unit. 

I found this system to be really well thought out, well architected, and logical. The EIM installs close to your equipment - and is designed to interface with all the control wires required even for a complex, multi-zone system. All the wiring is close to the equipment, so control wire runs are short and simple. You're only sending power to the thermostat, and all the switching is done close to the equipment. The thermostat communicates over a wireless protocol called Redlink - designed by Honeywell for low power consumption and reliability. The system also communicates with an outdoor temperature and humidity sensor which gives lots of control flexibility for things like ventilation, heat pump balancing and lockout control, fresh air intake damper options, and controling ventilation considering the outdoor humidity levels. You'll have to get a copy of the manual and installers guide to get a real good idea of everything that this thermostat can do - it is quite impressive. I should say here that this hasn't been designed for homeowner installation - it should probably be installed by a HVAC technician, especially if you are not familiar with HVAC controls and systems.

Controlling your ventilation HRV / ERV. I had a Venmar ERV installed when we renovated and moved into our home three years ago. Since our home has central ventilation, three zones of ductwork, our Venmar was installed to draw air from three separate places on each level of the house (three bathrooms), but the fresh air distribution runs into the fan coil return ductwork, and must be circulated by the furnace. So - the Venmar was set up (properly) with a furnace fan interlock, to force the furnace fan to run when the ventilation is running. We were running the ventilation constantly, and therfore, that forced the furnace fan to run constantly. A 3/4 HP blower fan running 24/7, 365 days a year draws a lot of power.  At $0.094 / kW-hr, this blower fan was consuming almost $1,100 a year of electricity. This lead me to my first major system upgrade,  the retrofit of an Evergreen IM electronically commutated motor. However, this furnace fan interlock would force the furnace blower to run - right through the end of air conditioning cycles - which has the effect of preventing condensed humidity on the evaporator coils from draining to the floor drain (and humidifying your air in the summer). So - I was getting high humidity levels in my home in the summer. You can set up the Prestige IAQ thermostat to force the blower fan off at the end of an air conditioning cycle - even if there is other demands to have the fan continue - giving time for this condensed humidity to drain away. However, for this to work, the ERV has to be controlled by the EIM / Prestige Thermostat. If you keep the furnace interlock connected directly to your green fan wire - it will still override the EIM / Prestige system. It is very simple to have the EIM control the Venmar - two wire dry contact from the EIM to the override terminal in the Venmar connection box, and now the EIM / Prestige thermostat is controlling the Venmar. I took my Venmar controller down from the wall above my old thermostat, and mounted it on the duct next to the EIM just in case I ever decide to control the Venmar independantly for any reason. I could have just left it uninstalled. I have three Venmar boost switches installed in each of my bathrooms - they will still force the Venmar to run, but I removed the furnace fan blower interlock, so when the boost switch in a bathroom calls the Venmar to run, it doesn't force the blower fan to run. It will still evacuate bathroom smell / humidity out of the house, the return air will just be pushed into the return ductwork by the Venmar fan.

On the Venmar AVS Duo 1.9 - shorting the OC and OL terminals forces the Venmar to run at high speed. This does not affect normal operation of any pushbutton switches you have installed on the same terminals. 

The kit comes with two temperature sensors designed to be installed in your supply and return ductwork to perform routine temperature rise logging and system performance evaluation. The system is called Delta T Alerts and Diagnostics. The installation manual provides clear instructions where to place the sensors in your ductwork in relation to any bypass ducts, humidifiers, zone splits, etc. Once installed in your ducts, they are wired to any 2 of the 4 sensor inputs - S1, S2, S3 and S4. Once added, you need to configure them in the system through the installer setup menu on the Prestige thermostat. Take note on the packaging whether they are 10kohm or 20kohm sensors - you'll need to specify this in the setup. Once installed, you can run temperature differential tests, and you can also download historical performance logs detailing the delta t of the system, with the indoor and outdoor temperature and humidity data. This is great for analyzing the performance of a heat pump, and setting lockout temperatures. You can also set alert ranges - for example, if delta T on air conditioning or heat pumping drops below a certain threshold, that could indicate loss of refrigerant or a dirty indoor or outdoor coil, and put an alert on the thermostat advising the owner to take action. Very nice feature. 

Testing equipment to determine baseline temperature rise. With this information, you can set alerts. 

Testing temparature rise on emergency backup heat.

Checking performance logs - note min and max delta T recorded for the specified interval. 

You can also download all the historical performance logs onto a USB key - for analysis in a spreadsheet on your computer. 

The completed installation, the EIM is on the top right corner mounted on the return duct:

I really like this instalation - I really appreciate the information provided on the thermostat screen. I like being able to see at a glance the indoor and outdoor temperature and humidity. The Nest thermostat has a nice industrial design, but for my needs, I appreciate the compact but useful screen display. 

Nice density of information - and you can set the screen colour and backlighting to about a dozen different colors, or any intensity level you wish. 

The smartphone application is also quite useful, but I think I'll make that the subject of another post. Ask any questions you would like and I'll try to answer.

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Installing a Bypass Humidifier - Honeywell TrueEase

This is a short post describing my installation of a bypass installation. There are a few basic types central forced air furnace humidifiers - one uses a fan to push air through a humid pad, and one uses differential air pressure between the return and distribution ductwork to push air through a humid pad. Since the electrical efficiency of very small electric motors is not very high, and the electrical efficiency of the furnace blower which creates that differential pressure used in a bypass humidifier is likely much higher - especially since in my case I upgraded to an electronically commutated blower motor - I decided to go with the bypass humidifier for greater system efficiency.

Honeywell TrueEase Bypass Humidifier

I've been engaged in an indoor air quality project - I have a number of issues that I've been tackling since renovating this house and I'll post about the various solutions as I work through them. In short - very dry air in the winter, very humid air in the summer, and optmizing the HVAC performance, especially since one of the household members has Asthma.

So - the whole house humidifier is obviously aimed at the very dry air in the winter. I've been tracking humidity levels for the past two heating seasons, and I've been getting down to 24 or 25% relative humidity, and all the problems that go with humidity this low. Cracks opening up in hardwood floor, nosebleeds and dry throats, dry coughs, and the like. It was finally time to sort this out.

I've posted about wall acne, and my aversion to having a wall full of different devices. I started this project with my thermostat and venmar ERV air exchanger controller - and I've traced my problem with high humidity levels in the summertime with the lack of integration between the furnace blower control / air conditioning compressor with respect to the air exchanger demanding (furnace interlock) with the blower. When the air conditioning compressor kicks off, the Venmar air exchanger forces the blower motor to keep running - which effectively re-evaporates all the condensation sitting on the evaporator coil in the fan coil unit. Result - the humidity removed from the air by the air conditioning system just gets put back into the airstream and redistributed by the furnace blower. So - I need to change my Venmar control scheme to force a shutdown of the blower immediately following air conditioning cycles with the heat pump - to allow condensed water on the evaporator to drain through the condensate drain.

I also require central control of the humidifier in the winter time. This lead me to look at the latest generation of smart thermostats - in an attempt to get better control over the HVAC in my home, and address my air quality issues. I found that the Nest thermostat doesn't have the capability to intelligently control ventilation, has a single output to control humidification, and has the ability to control the air conditioning to control de-humidification. Similar situation with the Ecobee 3 thermostat. Finally, I found the Honeywell Prestige 2.0 IAQ thermostat - with the equipment interface module, it has three user outputs that can control ventilation (ERV/HRV), humidificationa and dehumidification. So - part of this plan included upgrading my thermostat and ERV control to the Honeywell Prestige IAQ thermostat.

Why the discussion about the thermostat? Because the Prestige 2.0 has integrated humidity sensing, both indoors and outdoors with the wireless outdoor temperature module. So - it is equipped with the sensors and programability to control a whole house humidifier, without an additional humidistat or control system. The Prestige 2.0 equipment interface module can switch the control voltage with a single dry contact, and to keep the wiring simple, I decided to ensure the Bypass humidifier I selected worked with the same control voltage as the rest of my HVAC system - 24VAC.  The whole house humidifiers that are available at your big box hardware / home improvement stores are typically wired for 120VAC, and then wire to a humidistat for control. I wanted to avoid 120VAC altogether, and just use the Prestige 2.0 EIM dry contact to actuate the bypass humidifier.

I found that the basic Honeywell TrueEase Bypass Humidifier would be perfect for this application - requiring only 24VAC to actuate the solenoid to start water flow to the humidifier. I also added a 24VAC damper to open and close the bypass air duct to the humidifier, to increase system efficiency of the furnace blower when humidification is not required (shutting off the bypass airflow).

Honeywell TrueEase HE200 bypass humidifer

One thing I should mention is that this humidifier model is directed to HVAC contractors and not homeowners. It takes some control system knowledge to tackle this installation - it's not terribly complicated, but if you are not completely comfortable undertaking this kind of installation - call on a reputable HVAC contractor to do this work for you. Take the time to read the instructions - not only to get the installation done right, but to verify that the equipment you've selected is right for your application - online manuals are excellent to verify that the part you've selected will be adequate.

I added a branch off the closest cold water line, with a brass ball valve to shut off water to the humidifier. The TrueEase humidifier comes with a saddle valve that perforates a hole in your supply pipe - but I was afraid of that leaking so decided to cut my 3/4" supply line, and solder in a T and a branch for reliability. 

While there, I took my trusty P-Touch and labelled all the branches at this end of the cold water line - irrigation, outdoor tap, humidifier supply. These things tend to be obvious to certain people and a mystery to others - so I like to label things as I go to make things clear for potential future homeowners, and any tradespeople that need to work in the house. 

Installation of the humidifier itself is pretty straighforward, use the template to cut your access hole to the ductwork using the cutting template provided. A jigsaw made a nice clean cut fairly quickly.  

The humidifer hangs in the installation hole with two catches, then two screws keep it in place. The bypass duct inlet can be oriented left or right, and the humidifer pad can be independantly oriented left or right to customize the installation. These modifications can be made without tools. 

Bypass ductwork - air pressure from distribution duct forces air back through the humidifier pad into the return duct just ahead of the evaporator of the fan-coil unit. A spring closed damper only allows air to flow when the control voltage is present. 

Side takeoff to provide air to the Bypass Humidifier

To help save energy for when the humidifer isn't running, you can have the humidifer control clode a damper to close the bypass duct. This avoids short circuiting airflow between the supply and return ducts when not required for humidifying. You can purchase these dampers normally open, or normally closed. I purchased a normally closed damper, and wired it in parallel with the humidifer control, so that it only opens when there is a call for humidification from the thermostat.

24VAC normally closed 6" round damper

I decided to upgrade the nylon hose provided with the humidifier to copper tubing, just for a stonger, cleaning installation. I used a brake line tubing bender to get clean 90 degree bends in the line, then trimmed the final length at the unit once everything was lined up all the way from the supply tap.

Copper supply line connected to the plastic quick connect fitting on the humidifier

Supply and drain lines connected. For the drain, I used 3/4" CPVC pipe - same as my condensate drain line, and put in a P-Trap to avoid any odours coming up through the line. Consider installing a union fitting before the trap, to allow for easy removal and cleaning of the trap in case of blockages.

The control connections are the blue cables - 24VAC - 2 wires to control the solenoid controlling the water. 

Water supply and drain connections.

Conclusion

So - it took about a day to get this done - taking the time to upgrade the typical installation to soldered ball valve shutoff, copper tubing, 6" round ductwork with automated damper. The humidifier has been running frequently and quickly increased the 25% humidity level to over 30%. I'll talk about the control of the humidifier when I get into the operation of the Prestige 2.0 thermostat. 

5 Year Update

Still working flawlessly after 5 years, helps so much with managing household humidity in the winter, particularly important considering my son's asthma. 

Sources and Links

I hope you found this post useful. Feel free to ask questions in the comments section below. I answer all questions.

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Replacing a Battery Terminal Clamp on a Subaru Outback 2006

It came time to replace the battery on my 2006 Subaru Outback wagon. 8 years, 150,000 km travelled, and still working with the stock battery. Not bad. A few incidents this winter - leaving an interior light on for a few hours, and having problems starting the car led me to Costco for a very reasonably priced replacement Kirkland battery (very highly rated by Consumer Reports).

Replacing the battery was fairly easy and straightforward, I won't go into that here. But when it was time to tighten up the original battery clamp - there was no way I could get it to bind tight to the new battery post.

8 years life on this battery clamp - finished. Time for a replacement.

So, of course when your doing something on the weekend, there isn't an option to run to the dealer to get a replacement OEM battery clamp, and I wanted to get everything sorted out properly without wasting any more time. There are two cables which attach to this clamp on the vertical post on the clamp - pretty well identical to a standard marine terminal. So, off to Canadian Tire for a marine terminal.

Catalog photo - Canadian Tire Marine Battery Terminal - $5.99 each

This ended up being about a 10 minute job once I had the part. The metal of this clamp is soft and malleable - allows you to get a perfect fit on the battery terminal, without any gaps. Will result in excellent conductivity and low resistance. 

 Use a set of pliers to shape the terminal to the battery post

Install the cables using the provided wing nut, make sure everything is snug. Take care tightening the clamp bolt - the metal is quite soft.

A good coating of vaseline to protect the terminal from corrosion. You can also use a spray on producet for this purpose. 

And replace the insulating cover - this helps prevent a short in case of the hood contacting the battery in a collision.

10 minute job, and perfect conductivity. No issues with charging or starting, all good.

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Installing a 12V Battery Trickle Charger in the BMW E60 / E61 5 Series - Trunk Mount at Battery

Last weekend I did a winter maintenance hat trick on my 2010 BMW 535xi Touring. I installed an oil pan heating pad, a battery warming blanket, and an 1.1 Amp trickle charger.

I made a quick trip to Canadian Tire and decided on the NOCO Genius G1100. Noco also makes another model with better environmental protection designed to be installed semi-permanently in the vehicle. However I decided I'd try this one - reasonably priced about $60.

Noco Genius G1100 1.1 Amp Trickle Charger

IP 65 rating should mean that this charger is splash proof and dust proof. 

Installation of the harness directly to the car was simple. There is a grounding post direcly on the rear fender, where I installed the negative (black) ring terminal under the OEM hold down bolt.

Black negative cable installs to ground lug on right rear fender - with other car electrical grounds. 

The positive connection was also simple, underneath a bolt in the rear fuse box where the positive battery cable connects to an aluminum bus plate. 

Positive connection on the bus plate in the rear fuse panel, where the batttery cable attaches. There is a black plastic cover for this bolt - which I reinstalled after testing the connection. 

The trickle charger will normally bring the battery back to 100% charger overnight. It's a nice charger - auto voltage sensing, senses the battery is an AGM glass mat battery, and switches off when it reaches full charge. 

I made all the electrical connections and installed the charger in the plastic tray above the battery - and grounded the 110V electrical extension cable ground wire to the body of the car (green wire). This way - if line or neutral ever shorts to sheet metal, it will trip the breaker in the house before presenting a shock hazard to someone touching the car. 

Note green ground wire - grounding the 110V extension cord to the car body ground for safety.

Noco Genius G1100 chager installed in the tray above the battery. The other connections are for the battery blanket warmer, and the oil pan heater. 

I ran the electrical feed through a small hole in the battery box, underneath the car out underneath the rear fairing. This way - it is quick and easy to connect power without having to open the hood or the trunk - quick and easy. When not in use, the cord tucks in above the fairing and is protected from road salt and splashing. 

Works great - quick starts in the morning on very cold days, and no battery issues.

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Installing a Temro Battery Warming Blanket in a 2010 E60 / E61 5 Series

In most BMWs, you'll find the battery in the trunk of the car. In the 2010 535xi Touring, it's on the right hand side of the trunk, just behind the right rear wheel well.

Installation of the Temro battery blanket is very simple, and takes about 10 or 15 minutes.

Temro Battery Warmer

There is a gap of approximately 1/2 to 2 inches all around the battery. Installation doesn't require removing any battery cables. I found that removing the upper tray support bar and the rear battery bracket simplified installation.

I used a 36 inch long, 80W model, and it fit about 90% of the circumference of the stock battery.

I oriented the AC power cable to come out between the positive and negative terminals, along the outside of the car. 

Blanket installs between the battery and the hold down bolt, which holds it perfectly in place. 

Check out this post to see how I powered the blanket in parallel with my engine oil pan heater, and trickle charger.

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Installing a Polar Pad Engine Oil Pan Heater on a 2010 E61 BMW 5 Series

I was pretty surprised when I learned there is no block heater option on the E60 / E61 BMW 5 Series - these engines use a wide temperature range synthetic oil to keep the viscosity of the motor oil low even in very low temperatures. Nonetheless, after a cold overnight soak at -20 C / -5 F means that the engine will crank for 3 or 4 seconds before the oil pressure builds and the engine fires.

Ultimately it was the known issue with these cars of difficulty producing heat in cold temperatures that pushed me to do something about engine block heating. When I leave the car outside overnight in very cold temperatures, I want it to fire quickly, use the least amount of energy possible from the battery to help prevent the electrical system from going into a preservation mode and shedding non-essential loads - in this case - the ventilation fan motor. See my other post here regarding the ventilation system not producing heat.

Canadian Tire sells an engine heater that sticks onto the oil pan and sends its heat directly into the motor oil, call the Polar Pad. I originally purchased the 250 Watt model, with approximate dimensions of 5.2 inches by 3.5 inches, shown below:

Polar Pad Model CP512 250W Engine Heater Kit - The self adhesive heat pad, sandpaper, silicone aluminum sealant, and a few zip ties.  

The next step in the process was to find a place to install the heating pad. The E60 / E61 5 Series BMW has underbody aerodynamic covers just about everywhere under the car, except in proximity of the exhaust, fuel tank and rear suspension. In order to get access to the oil pan, the car has to be jacked, placed on jack stands, and then the front and front center underbody pads removed. This isn't too difficult to do, but you do need to get the car in the air. Of course - if you attempt to put the car up on jack stands - make sure you know what your doing, and that you double check the stability of the car on the jack stands. Whenever I work under the car - I'll normally put a second pair of jack stands close to where I'm working for a bit of extra safety.

There is a jacking point directly underneath the engine on the main crossmember - which protrudes through a hole in the underbody cover - it's very easy to find, and solid enough for jacking. 

Jacking the E60 / E61 directly under the motor on the engine crossmember jacking point.

Once the car is in the air, on jack stands, this is the view of the underside of the engine from the front. Note there is an aluminum skidplate / stiffening plate underneath the engine oil pan behind the main crossmember / sway bar that will need to be removed in order to give good access to the oil pan. It is held on with 6 8mm bolts - an air impact makes this an easy removal. 

Underbody cover from directly underneath engine. Note oil crud and salt. This cleaned up fairly nicely with some comet and a floor broom. 

Aluminum skidplate / stiffener plate from underneath engine / oil pan. 

Selected mounting location for the polar pad engine heater. In the photo, just behind the sway bar is the steering mechanism. Just behind the steering mechanism is the oil pan - note the drain plug. The oil pan is pretty complicated with the front differential on the X drive model on the righ, and the driveshaft for the right front wheel runs through the oil pan. The only suitable flat surface is vertical between the steering rack and the oil drain plug. 

Comet and some water cleans up the skid plate / stiffening plate quite nicely. 

Setting out the underbody covers to drip dry following cleaning.

Underbody covers - cleaned.

When I went to fit the 250W polar pad, I found it was too large for the only available flat space. Back to the auto parts store for the 125W model, which is about half the size of the 250W model.

Packaging for the 125W and 250W models of the Polar Pad.

125W and 250W Polar Pad sizes compared. 

Now, with the correct size Polar Pad - installation is fairly straightforward. Sand down the mounting location to smooth metal, remove any paint or oxidation.

Mounting location sanded down, ready for application of the Polar Pad

With the mounting location ready, I used a heat gun to heat up the metal surface of the oil pan, and followed the instructions to heat the polar pad for 15 seconds by plugging it in, then removing the protective backing and applying it to the oil pan.

Polar Pad stuck into place with its adhesive backing.

 The next step is to seal around the edges of the polar pad with the supplied silicone aluminum high temperature sealant.

Edges sealed with high temperature sealant.

Polar Pad intstalled.

With the polar pad installed, the sealant is left to harden while the electrical cable is routed. I decided to run an extension cord to the back of the car, into the trunk next to the battery, so that my connections for my trickle charger, battery warming blanket and engine heater are all in one place.

Zip tying the electrical cables to the underframe. Careful not to route the cables where it will interfere with the skid plate once replaced. 

I ran the extension cord to the back of the car alongside the positive battery cable. This way I was sure that I was far enough away from the exhaust not to worry about melting the cable.  

The junction between the cord of the Polar Pad and the extension cord. I coated the connection in silicone electrical insulating compound before taping the connection with electrical tape, to ensure no water would be able to enter the plugged joint. 

Taping the extionsion cord connection between the extension cord and the Polar Pad.This connection is then zip tied to the bottom of the frame.

Once I got to the gas tank along the factory battery cable routing, the battery cable runs up underneath the gas tank, and then underneath the rear suspension. I found it impractical to try to run the extension between the gas tank and the body floor, so instead there was a good route along the top of the suspension brace that runs underneath the gas tank. From the rear side of the gas tank, there is a good route to meet up with the battery cable again and run between the rear suspension and the body. Before getting too close to the exhaust, I ran the extension back into the trunk where the battery cable runs. Note this a wagon, I can't tell you if the sedan is similar or not. 

Cable runs into the trunk, next to where the battery cable runs into the trunk. Cable runs through a grommet to protect the cable from vibration and wear. 

Note the extension cable in yellow, running into the trunk next to the battery cable. 

Once at the back of the car - the cable meets up above the battery for simple connection with the battery warming blanket and the trickle charger. 

Electrical cables in the storage compartment above the battery, ready for connection.

Conclusion

So - how does the Polar Pad engine heater work? In a word - brilliant. -20 C / -5 F starts are just like they are in normal warm weather, the engine cranks much quicker, and fires in a second or two. Much less work for the starter. The ventilation fan in Auto mode starts blowing air in about 2 or 3 minutes after pulling away - which seems to be a big improvement. This work took the better part of a Saturday, but now I'm happy it's done and hope this will pay off in reduced engine wear and longer life for the car. If you have any questions - just leave a comment below and I'll try to get back to you quickly.

Sources and Links

I hope you found this post useful. Feel free to ask questions in the comments section below. I answer all questions.

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