DEFA SafeStart Engine Block Heater

Part 1 - Finding the heater
For months I've read about Engine Block Heaters on PC and wondered if it would make sense to have one fitted in Australia. That was the easy part. Getting one that work at 240 volts would be somewhat trickier. My usual source for my RHD Prius is Japan but with a 100v standard, I was even less hopeful of finding something there. The PC Shop version was briefly an option, but at 120 volts drawing 400 watts I would have needed a 500W 120v-240v step-down transformer that would add $220 to the price.
By chance I found reference to DEFA of Norway at metrompg.

Part 2 - Getting the heater
Bjørn from DEFA was very helpful, answered all of my questions and directed me to the distributor Dometic-Waeco in Australia to buy one. But since Waeco is best known for 12v fridges and seat coolers in Australia, they apparently have no plans to conduct a program of electrical certification to Australia/New Zealand standards of engine pre-warming solutions and then to import one for me! Typical!
By roundabout means I bought one from CARandCAMP.de and because I couldn't create an account on their website (address outside of Europe) I had to email Werner a few times. Very helpful and very German, so with the assistance of Google Translate, memories of high-school German and PayPal I finally got the package last Friday.

(How much could I have saved on postage without the catalogues, I wonder?)

The part numbers were 413840 for the EBH (suits 1ZR-FE, 2ZR-FAE and 2ZR-FXE engines) and 460785 for the connector kit, though I paid another 15 EUR for the 5.0m cord.

Part 413840 was 98 EUR but you'll have to add sales tax if you are in the EU.
Total was 214.45 EUR including 55 EUR postage, which amounted to AUD 280 at the time. Again, that price is tax free so YMMV by 19%.

DEFA SafeStart and PlugIn for Prius 1.8 - Clockwise from top right: 5m lead; bracket and heatsink compound; engine heater; power cable with weather-proof connector; connector brackets; CEE 7/7 plug to AS/NZS 3112 adapter model's own.

As you can see, the EBH is a very different design to the PC/Toyota Canada unit:

It is designed to be clamped onto the back (?) of the engine in what appears to be a recess, so the top is nearly flush with its surroundings according to the photo in the instructions.

The EBH is 100mm long, 47mm wide and about 50mm deep (4" x 2" x 2").

The other distinctions are:

• 230 volt v. 120 volt
• 300 watt v. 400 watt (Though 3 hours is still the recommended maximum time)
• part of an integrated engine pre-warming, interior pre-warming, battery charging solution v. a heater
• weatherproof socket for external connection v. plug

Waeco international has very good information and pictures about the DEFA system. DEFA makes different styles such as coolant and oil pan heaters according to application.

Part 3 - Fitting the Heater (on hold)
Here's where I'm a bit stuck. Maybe I should just slide under the car and have a look...

(UPDATE - I looked at fitting instructions for another engine I'm familiar with and it does look like the back of the engine. I'd imagine that the PC EBH fits above and to the left of the DEFA EBH in the picture.)
The instruction manual puts the unit at the rear of the engine and accessible by removing the undertray. In the English instruction it mentions "oil sump" but that would be on the bottom, not the back. Can anyone help me to identify the approximate location and angle from the single photo below?

The labels are:

1. Fixing Iron (probably a mistake. See 4.)
2. Bolt to be removed before fitting the bracket
3. EBH (DEFA part)
4. Fixing iron (aka DEFA bracket)
5. EBH lug to mate with bracket

I'm also wary of fitting the EBH prior to my 80,000km (50,000 mile) major service this Friday. My Toyota extended warranty clearly states that modifications that cause damage are not covered, which is fine since I don't expect the EBH to damage anything. Maybe I'm worrying over nothing. Since the parts guy at the dealer lived in Canada and knows about EBH, he might even fit it for me while doing the oil change.
Anyway, hopefully that was interesting and gives some useful information about the other type of engine heater.
Bradley

 

Does anyone know how to route the connector cable from the DEFA WarmUp from the rear of the block to a nice mounting point at the front? And where did you attach the earth lead?

I just fitted the DEFA WarmUp engine block heater to the block. (Full story and pix here.) The EBH was fairly straightforward to fit even for me at 195cm (6'5"): removed undertrays, removed debris from undertrays, examined all of the scrapes on the undertrays and wondered what the hell caused the damage, sighted the fitting spot and where the bracket would attach, etc. Only took 1 hour.

However, I'm not sure how to route the connection cable, so the EBH is not yet operational and the undertrays are still off. The instructions say little more than to warn not to fasten to any AC or brake tubes. There's three major differences between the DEFA WarmUp and the PC EBH:

1. DEFA WarmUp fits between cylinders 1 and 2 (or 3 and 4, I can't tell which) at the rear of the block. You would not even try to fit it from the top.
2. The DEFA connector kit terminates at a sealed socket that can fit into a hole in a panel or the grille. It's a bit like a after-market plug-in hybrid, but with a small socket (24mm, 1").
3. At the EBH end of the connector cable is an earth lead.

The issues are (right and left are from the rear. Just think "steering wheel"):

1. There's space up and to the right to run the connector cables, but it looks like the AC lines are there too.
2. There doesn't seem to be a gap on the right hand side to get to the grille. I haven't found a way to get in front of the radiator.
3. There's a nice gap to reach the grille from the bottom left, but the only path from there seems to be under the engine, which I am loathe choose.
4. Bolts near the EBH are too large to accept the earth lead.

Any advice?

 

Hi Dark. By driver's side you mean left as viewed from the rear, no?
I re-read the Toyota EBH instructions to look for clues:
http://www.juicedhybrid.com/v/vspfiles/assets/images/prius%20engine%20block%20heater%20instructions.pdf
(All that I had remove to fit the EBH was the two undertrays. You virtually rewire the car to fit the Toyota EBH, so I was lucky I s'pose.)
Since the connector lead terminates with a socket that is attached to the grille, bumper or similar (see the black lead in the second photo at the top) I need a path that works with the bonnet (hood) closed and the bottom grille seems the best place for the socket.
If I follow the path in figure 13 of the Toyota installation guide, that could be the middle stretch. I should be able to reach the lower grille from there. The tricky part is negotiating a path from the rear of the block avoiding the exhaust. Since the DEFA EBH are engine-specific rather than model-specific, there's no guide to cable routing like the one above.

 

After removing almost every piece of trim and finding some possibilities, I went for the right. I haven't finished the neat installation I was hoping for, but I have been able to plug it in. (Full story and pix here.)

The cable route from the rear of the block is much easier on the right hand side. While the A/C and brake lines are there too, they are against the firewall and right wings (fenders). There is sufficient room between the engine and those lines, but not much to attach a cable tie to. The cable goes over the engine mount and the earth lead attaches near the negative terminal.

This is looking straight up from the right rear of the engine. The connector cable runs on the right with its earth lead. You can see the crankshaft pulley at lower left and the bottom of the engine mount at lower centre. There's a lot of space and no belts to worry about. The A/C lines are hidden to the right.

A temporary solution. The shiny black connector cable runs over the engine mount. The earth lead connects close to the negative charging terminal. The A/C lines are in the centre, but there's some clearance. I tucked the cable around the coolant overflow and tied the socket to it. Heater can be plugged in when the bonnet is open.

The approach to the front grille isn't presenting many options. The one with the best access is from the fog lamp vestibule through some foam and to the lower right of the grille. However, the A/C lines take up a lot of space here and I will have to be very careful to avoid them. I could knock a hole in the bumper and secure the socket, but that isn't discrete.

Since the socket is too big to fit through the grille I'll need to remove the cable from the EBH before it can be permanently fitted. I could manage that without removing the entire under tray.

Results

1. The EBH worked a treat. When first turned on I measured 329W at 1.37 Amps at 240V.
2. After 30 minutes, engine warmed from estimated 15°c to 30°c. (It takes 10-20 seconds for my temperature gauge to register. The engine was running for about 10 seconds and read 32°c when the gauge appeared.)
3. Removed what appeared to be several kilograms of debris, rocks, grass, leaves and broken glass from the undertrays. Might look into the crash history of the car.
4. I found the adjustment for my fog lamps. Wondered why they lit up the road in a thin line immediately in front! Now they shine just under my headlights on the garage wall, which might be a little high.

Conclusions
Fitting the DEFA SafeStart heating element is quite easy. Access from the bottom is straightforward. The indent at the bottom even held it in place while I fiddled with the bracket.
However, the cable is somewhat more difficult to fit. The right hand side of the engine is the easiest options to start, but I haven't quite got the last metre worked out. And since the socket is sealed on and its fittings have to be slid on from the other end, you have to fit the cable from its mounting point back to the heater.
I'll try to get some measurements tomorrow morning.

 

I finally mounted the cable so that I can attach the power without opening the bonnet (hood), just as DEFA intended. Here's a photo of the socket.

I've written it up on my blog as Prius Mods part 3.4 – DEFA SafeStart finally installed!

The tricky part was finding a gap to run a cable from the upper grill (see photo) into the engine bay. I found a coolant hose about half-way down the radiator on the right-hand-side (as seen from the rear) and pushed it up to open a gap, through which I could pass the cable. I had lengths of 13mm (½ inch) pipe insulation left over from grill blocking, so I put the cable inside (slightly bigger than 13mm!) so that it wouldn't rub and couldn't move anyway.
Fortunately, I can reach the back of the engine from above without removing anything, so I could remove and reattach the cable from the EBH without all that mucking about.
I've noticed some visitors to my blog from Norway and Finland. Since DEFA has authorised fitters for their equipment in Europe, it's possible that there's no DIY guide beyond the generic instructions. There's a Prius-specific guide for authorised fitters, but the socket is on the lower grill but without any indication of routing. Could it be that Scanda-Finnish Prius drivers are reading my guides? I'd better fix them up then.