Thread: 2 speed wipers

I will need to have a play and think, but I don't think you can use a standard off/on/on headlight switch for 2 speed wipers.

Originally Posted by pop058

I will need to have a play and think, but I don't think you can use a standard off/on/on headlight switch for 2 speed wipers.

No you can't use a headlamp switch because you need to provide power for the park command on the off position but you can modify one to do it (or at least that's what I did in 1976 when I fitted a Morris Marina 2 speed wiper motor to my 253 V8 SIIA.

But why would you bother when you can buy a correct 2sp wiper toggle switch? Mini Kingdom as above or Holden's in the UK Lucas 57SA Type Off-on-on Toggle Switch for Wipers for vintage & classic cars

does that mean you can use a headlamp switch if you are not bothered about the park command? When I plumbed in the old lamp switch , on "slow" it was easy to stop at the right place.
cheers,
D

Originally Posted by Dark61

does that mean you can use a headlamp switch if you are not bothered about the park command? When I plumbed in the old lamp switch , on "slow" it was easy to stop at the right place.
cheers,
D

Yes, but as I said earlier, I was also able to modify a headlamp switch to power the 2 sp Lucas wipers AND get it to park. IIRC I had to cut one of the terminals inside the switch, re-assemble the switch and then connect it to the park circuit. (The memory of how I did it is dim, it was 40 years ago.)

Thanks for confirmation ,I was beginning to think I had imagined it. All I need to do now is to work out whether I have a two speed or single speed motor. If single speed - it would be a cheap way of getting two speed wipers so long as you can do without the self parking (notwithstanding your switch surgery).
cheers,
D

The single speed at full voltage is not particularly fast. So, if you use a resistor, I guess you can have fast(-ish) or slow.
It would also be possible to set up intermittent wipers as an alternative to the slow setting using a small electronic timing circuit (eg 555) and a 12 volt relay and multi-position rotary switch. This would trigger the wipers and then switch off, allowing the parking circuit to complete the wipe. Then it would re-trigger the next wipe after a brief interval controlled by the switch setting. This could all be controlled by a single knob so the panel would look the same, but the switch would have a number of positions. The first position would provide continuous power, with subsequent positions bringing in resistors to provide longer intervals. The box containing the circuit would be mounted remotely with only the multi-position switch mounted behind the panel.
I'll dig up my old electronic manuals and see what I can come up with as a circuit design. Been ages since I've done any of this so it could take a while. Or someone else more current on electronic circuitry might like to jump in...
Coop

Originally Posted by pop058

I will need to have a play and think, but I don't think you can use a standard off/on/on headlight switch for 2 speed wipers.

Paul,

Hello from India.

From my reading you can make this arrangement work with a couple of cheap relays added to the 3 position headlight or heater fan switch. But it's probably easier to use a dedicated two speed wiper switch as per the types listed in an earlier post.

I have both types of toggle switch and will go with what emerges as the easiest wiring modification option for the existing single speed loom.

My original interest was in tracking down a 2 speed rotary switch from one of the later models that apparently came with 2 speed wipers. Bit of conflicting advice on that in this thread - supposedly they weren't fitted says one and another has one from new.

Cheers,

Neil

Hella make this rotary switch for intermittent control of self-parking wipers, but price is around $150!!
Hella 7010 Windscreen Wiper Control Rotary Switch - Intermittent, 12V DC

Jaycar make a timer kit (build it yourself) that could be used to control wipers. It's minimum time interval is 7 seconds, but this can be altered to more useful time intervals. It costs $23, not including a box to put it in. I'm not sure how the "set point" (time interval) is changed, but it would probably be by a rotary switch. I'll take a look at it next time I'm down their way and see if it is suitable.
Otherwise, if you know your way around electronics a bit and have access to a temp-controlled soldering iron, you could build your own timer using the circuit shown in the diagram below, which came from this web page:
555 Timer Circuits
LM555Basics Relay wiper circuit.GIF
THe basic circuit (the lower one of these two) needs a few more components than are shown here to ensure reliability, but it should be possible to wire it up so that a variable resistor mounted on the panel controls the time delay for the wipers.
Cheers

Coop