Rear defrost, spade clips detached from grid?!

[Fairtax4me]

 

Found this while working on my 95 sedan today. BOTH sides have been broken off! O.o

The positive side was laying right against the sheet metal under the trim, so I'm sure the fuse is probably blown, if the timer module isn't completely toast.

I've repaired the grids before, but never this. As many things as I've soldered, I've never soldered on glass, and I'm wondering if that's the only way to fix this?

Or is there some magic "metal glue" that I can use the stick these back on?

 

Id sure hate to try soldering this back, and end up shattering the rear windsheild. But with cooler weather on the horizon I need to try and fix this now so I can use the defroster this winter!

 

Any ideas?

[mikaleda]

I've seen this a few times on the older subies, my mom fixed hers with cloths pins shoved in between the the trim piece and the broken peice to hold it against the contact. That's not the best permenant solution, but would work good for temporary

[heartless]

there is a repair kit for fixing this...

 

http://www.frostfighter.com/index.htm

[Txakura]

I used a cheap grid repair kit, (the kind with the brush and stencil for a thin line break in the grid) and a clear rear view mirror adhesive. I 'painted' the center of the clip with the copper grid repair liquid heavily, then 'painted' the edges of the clip with the mirror adhesive. I held them tight until it set. It actually worked. The wet copper conductor bridged the gap between the clip and grid, the adhesive held the edges of the clip tight. 

 

That frost king tab binding adhesive with the conductor in it looks to be the bomb, if it ain't a silly price. 

[Crazyeights]

I have had good luck soldering these back on. Make sure to use a high enough wattage gun so you can do it really quickly (less chance of damage). Also clean the area well and use flux. It may not be the proper way, but the repairs I have done so far have lasted for years. I suppose you could also use a conductive epoxy for a "cold" fix.  If you aren't really comfortable with a soldering iron I wouldn't make this my first task with one.

Edited August 28, 2013 by Crazyeights

[Fairtax4me]

$35 for that kit! Ill just solder them back on. Found a YouTube vid of a guy soldering one back and it doesn't appear to be too harmful as long as its done quickly.

 

Think ill wait til mid day when the sun is bearing down on the window and has it nice and warmed up. Should help spread the heat more evenly.

[Fairtax4me]

Poking around at the rat shack the other day and lo-and-behold they have this little tube of goo called:

Conductive Wire Glue

Radioshack catalog number: 6400146

$5.49

 

I figured for that cheap I would give it a shot, and sure enough it works! I glued one tab on, let it cure, then tried to break it off again. It took quite a bit of force, almost enough to bend the tab, before it popped off. Glued it back, glued the other one back on.

 

Measured resistance of the grid next to the tabs and got 1.95 ohms.

Measured across the tabs and got just a hair flutter over 2.0 ohms.

 

Calculated difference in amperage is only about 1/4 amp at 13.5v. Since vehicle electrical systems are almost never a steady 13.5v anyway, there will be a larger difference in amps through the circuit because of voltage differences than will be caused by the glue I used to stick the tabs back on.

 

No mess, no heat. Clean the tabs and the area on the grid where they go. Apply glue to the tabs, press to the grid and hold for about a minute. Then tape the tabs in place with some masking tape for 24 hours for the "glue" to fully cure.

[Crazyeights]

Great! It's nice to have a working alternative to soldering these on.

[Fairtax4me]

Update on this.

Well, the metal "Glue" didnt hold up. One tab I accidentally knocked off while putting the rear trim back on. No biggie, cleaned it and glued it back. Then carefully put the trim back on.

It worked... Twice. Then it stopped. Pulled the trim off, have 12v across the grid. Ground side tab was still "glued" on but no continuity to the grid. Went to unplug it and it just fell off the glass as soon as I touched it.

I'm guessing the glue doesn't play well with the cold. I think ill try it one more time (the other side still seems pretty firmly attached), and see how it does. I'd like to wait until its warmer out. Wish I had messed with it last week when it was 70°.

[Fairtax4me]

Well, I give up on the metal "glue".

Tried it one more time, it got cold that night, next morning I pulled the tape off and it fell off again.

 

So it was about 60 out the other day, girlfriend was over and said her rear defrost didnt work. Had 12v all the way across the grid. Pulled the back seat and the rear trim. Sure enough the ground side clip had fallen off.

 

So I cleaned it up, got out the soldering iron and used my car as the guinea pig. After about the 5th try and the clip not sticking I was ready to give up, then I started thinking outside the box a bit.

I was trying to solder it back to where it fell off, but just above that on the window is a section of braided wire soldered on at the factory. So I stuck some new solder on the braided section in a couple spots, soldered the tab to that, and it held great!

I wasn't gonna push my luck with wiggling it around too much, but it held enough to slide the wire clip back on, and the grid works now! I left it on for about 5 minutes and could feel a difference in temperature on the glass.

 

So, learned its actually really easy to solder these back on. Used a 30w iron and it seemed to stay just fine once I stuck it to the braided wire section on the glass.

Edited December 30, 2013 by Fairtax4me