HUD or heated windscreen

[Philip Fisher]

Originally Posted by Clan

To answer your question Yes you DO have a PTC electric element in the heater on SPA cars as I thought , the XC90 also has them in the rear side ducts .

So where would the fuse be for this 1250w heater? On a 12v system you are talking about a fuse of over 100 amps. I have not seen any fuses of this sort in my vehicle fuse box (or the fuse box of my previous V70, XC70 or V50).

And by the way I am absolutely 100 percent certain no such item exists on the T8. In cold weather, in Pure mode it runs a 5kw petrol heater for cabin and engine heating. You can hear and smell it running. If you leave the Car plugged in to the mains and start pre heat, then it uses the petrol heater. If there was a 1250w stick heater in the system somewhere then it would use this and support the current drain from the mains.

And as I said before I cannot recall a single production car on the UK market in the 80s or early 90s with a heated quick clear windscreen, before Ford then came along in the mid 90s......

[Philip Fisher]

Seeing as you have had enough of educating me for one day Clan, I will have a go at educating you.

The technology currently used is generally all based on the Ford system. This was patented and the patent finally expired in 2011. Ford was first to market in the UK in the mid 90s, then other manufacturers either got a licence from Ford (easier for Volvo as Ford was the parent company) or just copied them after the patent expiry.

To get a patent, you have to have a specific, identifiable difference to what is generally known or already available. So the Ford system must have been demonstrably different to the thing you remember from Triplex.

The above is a precis of multiple sources across the internet.

Now going back to this PTC heater you seem so keen on. Let's just assume for the sake of this discussion that it does exist and it has been on every volvo sold in the UK since 2004 as you have asserted. I have owned both a 2005 V50 and a 2013 XC70 and a 2016 XC90. None have heated screens. On start up with a heavily iced screen and no manual intervention (ie. scraping or deicer spray) it is a good 5 mins plus to clear the screen on tick over using just full demist blower. At the same time as owning these cars, my other half has had a cmax, focus and V60 all with heated screens. On a heavily iced morning these screens are completely clear in 60secs max.

So back to your point of many posts ago that a heated screen is not needed on a Volvo because of the fabled PTC heater. I would assert that, even if such a thing exists in the UK market, then it is considerably less effective than a heated screen. So for someone wanting a screen that clears of ice in 60 secs or so then a heated screen is so much more than just marketing guff.

I went for the HUD for my XC90 by the way as the petrol heater of the T8 does the preheat job for me and I love my HUD.........

[Philip Fisher]

And finally for tonight I did indeed Google Triplex Heated Windscreen. It turned up very little of note if I am honest.

However, the same searches also turned up this thread from 2015 which follows a very similar vein to this one.....

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showt...=239911&page=2

I will let you read it and note the comments from the contributors, Clan included.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Philip Fisher

So where would the fuse be for this 1250w heater? On a 12v system you are talking about a fuse of over 100 amps. I have not seen any fuses of this sort in my vehicle fuse box (or the fuse box of my previous V70, XC70 or V50).

And by the way I am absolutely 100 percent certain no such item exists on the T8. In cold weather, in Pure mode it runs a 5kw petrol heater for cabin and engine heating. You can hear and smell it running. If you leave the Car plugged in to the mains and start pre heat, then it uses the petrol heater. If there was a 1250w stick heater in the system somewhere then it would use this and support the current drain from the mains.

And as I said before I cannot recall a single production car on the UK market in the 80s or early 90s with a heated quick clear windscreen, before Ford then came along in the mid 90s......

The fuse will be in the engine bay fuse box it will be a fixed fuse held in by 2 small nuts in a row of other high demand fuses and in the lower part of the fuse box which is not available to the owner .

It might be interesting to know whether the 1960's triplex patent has expired and Ford jumped in and stole the idea who knows ... It's a trick they would certainly play .

[Whyman]

Patents usually last 20 years so if Triplex took it out in the early sixties it will have expired in the early 80’s just in time for Ford to fit it to my First Scorpio.

Whether they waited for the patent to expire of just borrowed it who knows?

[Boatie]

Originally Posted by Philip Fisher

This is a forum for SPA models......

And the topic is HUD or Heated Screen. What pre SPA Volvo offered HUD? I can't recall one.

[Philip Fisher]

Originally Posted by Boatie

And the topic is HUD or Heated Screen. What pre SPA Volvo offered HUD? I can't recall one.

Indeed that is correct Boatie. I think you must be confused as to why I wrote that. If you go back and note which post I am replying to then you will probably understand. I even quoted them in my reply.

[Boatie]

Originally Posted by Philip Fisher

Indeed that is correct Boatie. I think you must be confused as to why I wrote that. If you go back and note which post I am replying to then you will probably understand. I even quoted them in my reply.

Not confused, I had read your previous posts and was attempting to re-enforce your comments.

[key76]

Many years ago I had a 1990 Ford Sierra XR4x4 and it had a heated windscreen. In comparison, my 1998 Ford Sierra GLSi didn't have one.

Only ever seemed to see them on Ford cars. Was a no brainer for me when I bought the S90 to ditch the HUD and get the heated screen - it was (and is) so useful on cold mornings, or when the inside steams up.

[Snoodini]

Originally Posted by Clan

sorry i didn't realise we were talking about the latest models although I see no reason to think they would have deleted it

Why would you not realise that? as has been pointed out, this is a forum for SPA cars. It's not a question of them "deleting it", SPA is a totally new platform compared to the Ford platforms before it, it's not deleting, it's choosing to not add it.

Originally Posted by Clan

To answer your question Yes you DO have a PTC electric element in the heater on SPA cars as I thought , the XC90 also has them in the rear side ducts .

Clan, please stop "speculating as fact" on something you clearly know nothing about. The XC90 had rear ducts yes, but they do not have PTC heaters

Some(not all) previous models had a PTC heater, your car having one isn't a precedent that means all Volvos have it. I previously had an S40 D2 (MY2011) and that did not have a PTC heater.

On topic: I live in Sweden and so I have a need to de-ice windows even more so than those of you in the UK. So naturally I opt for the HUD over the heated windscreen . I can clearly see the wave elements in heated windscreens and find it really distracting. With car preconditioning I really don't feel there's a need for it. The HUD is much more useful.