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heated mirror

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johnz

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Hi there!

Long time interest in electronics and a desire to start my first home project has me thinking I'd like to try to make a heated mirror in the bathroom.

Being a complete newbie to the field but comfortable enough with tools and with experimentation I am looking for some basic advice and /or pointers to get started. Namely:

- I assume I will use resistors to generate the modest amount of heat needed to keep the mirror fog free
- considerations regarding voltage regulation - simple oscillator or would a thermometer setting be advisable to trigger on / off? If so, is it possible to set a specific operating range so that the circuit isn't always being triggered on immediately after the 1st degree drop in temp?
- would I line the back of the mirror with a heat sink to hold heat or is the glass a good enough sink?
- out of simple interest, if I was wanting to design a DC (battery or solar powered) version of this what would be the considerations?
- any other considerations to take into mind?

Thanks!!

John
 
Welcome to the forum!
One consideration is getting a uniform distribution of heat. That would require either an extensive array of individual resistors or else something like a zig-zagged length of heating element.
You may be surprised at how much power is needed to de-fog the mirror in a steamed-up bathroom.
Don't know where you live, but local regs may prevent the use of portable mains-powered devices in bathrooms, on safety grounds.
Since the dew-point depends on humidity level, triggering the heater at a set temperature may not be feasible.
Heating power (averaged) could be done with oscillator-based PWM.
 
Alec,

Thanks for this quick and thoughtful response. As I thought about it last night I started to wonder about the safety aspects you mentioned but hadn't considered the dew point or distribution considerations you bring to mind. Perhaps I will pass on this.

At the risk of sounding foolish and / or annoying you for not having spent the time looking myself are there any threads here that contain a "fun" project I could get my hands dirty with to get started?

Also, might as well throw this out too. My nephew is 7 and is very inquisitive. Any suggestions for a project that would be fun to do together with a smart kid of that age?

Thanks!
 
A cork motor with a needle and some copper wire. Flashing lights with a transistor multivibrator circuit. Noise generators, simple sirens using a 555 timer. Combine the previous two and build a wire hoop game with the siren and flashing lights. A simple AM radio receiver consisting of a couple of transistors and a few passives, let him wind the antenna on a ferrite rod, the list is endless :D
 
There you go. Tunedwolf has suggested some good projects for you and your nephew to enjoy.
 
Thanks guys, I will look some of these up. Appreciate the feedback and the patience with the newbie..
 
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