Screen wipers

[Guest]

I've just returned from Millport on visit mother duty and would you believe it was raining? Not much but enough that the wipers were on and off the whole trip - you know, on until they screech across the windscreen. Given three separate switches (one for each pane of the windscreen) and no self parking it all gets a bit tiresome. Is anyone aware of an intermittent wipe kit to add to existing wiper motors? Is this a business opportunity?

Nick

 

[hlb]

Nick. Yer could'nt park yer bum on a potty.
Let alone wipe it !!

Anyway I'm off to sea now!! Well after th'wifes got out of the spare bed and we've had a deaf and dumb 300 mile drive to
Plymouth.

Good luck with your new business venture Nick. And get some for me too, I have the same trouble.

Haydn

 

[chrisbrown]

Maplin Electronics, High Street Shops and mail/Email order did a kit some time back try them, based Southend, store in Croydon.

 

[jfm]

Re: Wont work.....

Nick the add-on intermittent kits wont work. They only work with self-park wipers. They send a pulse of 12v for long enough to get the wiper blade off the self-park stop, then they switch off. The wiper continues then parks using the self park feature. You need to fit self park motors, with a cam-operated switch. I know, it's a pain.

If you don't mind funny operation, you could fit a timer circuit from Maplin, this would switch em on for say 10 seconds, then off for 10 secs, and so on, but they would stop in a random position, not the parked position

JFM

 

[Guest]

Ah but!

I guess that there are two adjustments in what you describe - one for the length of "on" and one for "off". What if the "on" were adjusted to the length of one cycle of the wipers and then left at that. The "Off" cycle length would then determine the number of intermittant wiper cycles per minute. In practical terms, set "on" via some kind of recessed adjustment, perhaps requiring a screwdriver and "off" via a twiddly knob, the whole thing with an override switch to revert to normal operation.
Not as nice a solution as proper cam operated self parking (due to length of wiper cycle being slightly variable due to screen being wet/dry/weight of water) but a lot cheaper than replacing perfectly good wiper motors. If it goes slightly "off" in terms of where the wipers park, this can be readjusted by simply re-parking the wipers normally.

Nick

 

[jfm]

Re: Nah!

Yes I thought of that but seems a bit daft because time of "on" cycle depends on friction etc and you would almost never get it right. You might as well just accept having the blades stop mid screen if going down that route

JFM

 

[chrisbrown]

OK give up on the wipers, leave them on and pump a small flow of sea water onto each screen to stop to noise and wear!

 

[Guest]

I actually have fresh water screen washes but, cleverly, Birchwood mounted them at the top of the screens so that any forward speed means that the jets are blown upwards and wash the flybridge instead of the screens. Also, salt water leaves salty streaks when it dries and fresh water is better. In fact the main use of the screen washers is to was salt off!

Thanks to everyone but I think that I may try putting a master switch on which operates all three wipers at once and also perhaps the time delay switch jfm talks about.

Nick

 

[stuartw]

Nick,
How are your engineering skills?. It is in fact possible to provide your wipers with self park. If you remember I have the same boat and I assume wipers. Having looked into a spare wiper motor/gearbox the last owner left me, it would be possible to fit a microswitch into the gearbox casting, such that the rack, which moves back& forth, driving the spindle, is made to hit the sprung arm of a microswitch, thus cutting of power to the motor when the wiper selector switch is in the off position. When the selector switch is in the 'on' pos. it would overide the microswitch. You would have to do it that way, as you cannot get to the spindle till it is the other side of the screen. The other question of a delay is not too difficult, if you can get hold of a truck version running off 24volts, ie complete with timer and relay.
So if you have the skills- then yes it is easily possible- but is it worth it? I have an engineering background-so not a problem- but I don't think I'll bother- I've got other much more interesting engineering projects to do on my boat.

Anyway,good luck
Stuart

 

[Guest]

Thanks for that. I am reasonably handy as chartered accountants go but I think I will leave well alone. I might fit a variable time delay and put up with the fact that the wipers will stop in the wrong places - I can always park them manually when I am finished with them.

Nick

 

[jfm]

Here\'s one I made earlier

I just remembered I have one. It was a device from Halfords or somehwere that I retro-fitted to my first car years ago, and I must have removed it. About the size of a matchbox, panel mount with only a knob showing on the front to adjust the time delay, and a few wires coming out the back. It's for a 12v system. You are most welcome to have it, it has sat in a cupboard for 20 years and I'm unlikely to use it again.

Shall I mail it to HLBK's Glasgow office - I can get that off the website? I'll send it next week, right now I'm gambling I mean working in Las Vegas

By the way, it is really intended for self park wipers, it sends a pulse of +12v to get the motor past the cam, and then the selfpark bit should take over. like I said before. So the time delay doesn't alter the length of the 12v pulses, just the interval between them, but if you reckon you can lash it up you're welcome to it.

JFM

 

[Guest]

Re: Here\'s one I made earlier

Muchas Gracias! The only issue is that the current draw on my motors is likely to be considerably greater than that of your old Morris Minor, especially if wired in parallel across all three motors. I assume it would drive a relay so I could sort it that way. I just need to sit with a piece of paper and work out the wiring.

I was completely unaware that an august body like Arthur Andersen employed widget aware people like yourself. Also, I thought everyone had to be under 35.

Kind regards

Nick

 

[Guest]

Re: Morry Thou Wipers

Not so re: current. I restored a Moggy over the winter and the current draw is phenomenal. If you drove a Moggy with the lights on, wipers on and heater fan on with a generator fitted it would probably last about five minutes. Correction: it does. Mine conked out in Whitechapel. First stop - parts shop for an alternator.

I have three wiper motors onboard and they still draw a few amps less than the car ones. Don't know why. Manufactured to have a lower stall speed on boats?

Also re: microswitch. Anyone who tries this would be advised to have the microswitch operating a relay. Otherwise it goes bang very quickly and melts. I found that out the hard way too...

 

[jfm]

Re: Scuse me....

Nick I will send it.... as soon as I find it, it wasn't in the box I thought it was in but I'll have a look at the w/e, I'm away a lot in the week, I definitely have it somewhere.

Yes, a relay would be a good idea to deal with the higher current of your motors. It wasn't a Morris Minor, it was a Renault 12!

Oh yes and we're called Andersen now. Arthur is history. We do tolerate widgetawareness, we're an equal opportunities partnership as you know. And why do you assume I'm North of 35?

JFM

 

[jfm]

Re: Scuse me....

Nick I will send it.... as soon as I find it, it wasn't in the box I thought it was in but I'll have a look at the w/e, I'm away a lot in the week, I definitely have it somewhere.

Yes, a relay would be a good idea to deal with the higher current of your motors. It wasn't a Morris Minor, it was a Renault 12!

Oh yes and we're called Andersen now. Arthur is history. We do tolerate widgetawareness, we're an equal opportunities partnership as you know. And why do you assume I'm North of 35?

JFM