Adding intermittent operation to wipers

After driving along Highway 1 in California last week in light drizzle
for a couple of hours, manually switching the Wonderbus's wipers on and
off by hand, I renewed my effort to find some way to automate the
process. I've ordered this kit:

http://store.qkits.com/moreinfo.cfm/K2599

And will try it out when it arrives. Anyone else tried it?

--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
84 Westphalia: "Mellow Yellow (The Electrical Banana)"
KG6RCR
------------------------------------
Today's Deep Thought:

I hate reading Victor Hugo, said Les miserably.
------------------------------------

I have an intermittent wiper switch on Bussy. Had it for years. It almost
never parks the wipers in the right spot, so I suspect it needs a capacitor
of a different value but have never so much as opened it up and looked at
the board. Maybe you can fix that for me, Rocky...

"Mike Rocket J. Squirrel Elliott"
et> wrote in message
...
> After driving along Highway 1 in California last week in light drizzle
> for a couple of hours, manually switching the Wonderbus's wipers on and
> off by hand, I renewed my effort to find some way to automate the
> process. I've ordered this kit:
>
> http://store.qkits.com/moreinfo.cfm/K2599
>
> And will try it out when it arrives. Anyone else tried it?
>
> --
> Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
> 71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
> 84 Westphalia: "Mellow Yellow (The Electrical Banana)"
> KG6RCR
> ------------------------------------
> Today's Deep Thought:
>
> I hate reading Victor Hugo, said Les miserably.
> ------------------------------------

"Mike Rocket J. Squirrel Elliott"
et> wrote in message
...
> After driving along Highway 1 in California last week in light drizzle
> for a couple of hours, manually switching the Wonderbus's wipers on and
> off by hand, I renewed my effort to find some way to automate the
> process. I've ordered this kit:
>
> http://store.qkits.com/moreinfo.cfm/K2599
>
> And will try it out when it arrives. Anyone else tried it?
>

I don't remember what vintage der Wonderbus is, but I seem to recall someone
saying that the variable-speed column stalk from a late-'70s Rabbit/Golf is
a direct plug-in for some aircooleds.

Jim

You need self parking wipers for these to stop in the right place. You
cant time them cuz the speed depends on how wet the glass is !

Rich


Busahaulic wrote:
> I have an intermittent wiper switch on Bussy. Had it for years. It almost
> never parks the wipers in the right spot, so I suspect it needs a capacitor
> of a different value but have never so much as opened it up and looked at
> the board. Maybe you can fix that for me, Rocky...
>
> "Mike Rocket J. Squirrel Elliott"
> et> wrote in message
> ...
>
>>After driving along Highway 1 in California last week in light drizzle
>>for a couple of hours, manually switching the Wonderbus's wipers on and
>>off by hand, I renewed my effort to find some way to automate the
>>process. I've ordered this kit:
>>
>>http://store.qkits.com/moreinfo.cfm/K2599
>>
>>And will try it out when it arrives. Anyone else tried it?
>>
>>--
>>Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
>>71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
>>84 Westphalia: "Mellow Yellow (The Electrical Banana)"
>>KG6RCR
>>------------------------------------
>>Today's Deep Thought:
>>
>>I hate reading Victor Hugo, said Les miserably.
>>------------------------------------
>
>
>

On 1/13/2005 1:41 AM tricky wrote:

> You need self parking wipers for these to stop in the right place. You
> cant time them cuz the speed depends on how wet the glass is !

Right -- timing won't work unless the circuit knows where "park" is, and
how long it will take for the blades get there. The 71 wiper motor has a
cam with a switch, set up so that when the dash switch is set to "off,"
power continues to be applied to the wiper motor until the blades are in
the park position, at which time the switch opens and power is removed.

One hopeful sign about the kit that I have ordered is that its wire
connections have the same numbering as the wire connections shown on the
bus wiring diagram: 31 (ground), 53 (high for slow wipe), 53b (high for
high speed wiping), and 53a and 31a -- which are the contacts of the
cam-driven parking switch.

It . . . could . . . WORK!!!! (Frederick Frankenstein, after reading
Victor Frankenstein's lab notes, "How I Did It")

--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
84 Westphalia: "Mellow Yellow (The Electrical Banana)"
KG6RCR

On 1/12/2005 8:23 PM Jim O'Malley (VW-F-V) wrote:

>
> I don't remember what vintage der Wonderbus is, but I seem to recall someone
> saying that the variable-speed column stalk from a late-'70s Rabbit/Golf is
> a direct plug-in for some aircooleds.

Thanks, Jim. The Wonderbus is a 71, per my sig (below).

--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
84 Westphalia: "Mellow Yellow (The Electrical Banana)"
KG6RCR

On 2005-01-13, Mike Rocket J. Squirrel Elliott et> wrote:
> After driving along Highway 1 in California last week in light drizzle
> for a couple of hours, manually switching the Wonderbus's wipers on and
> off by hand, I renewed my effort to find some way to automate the
> process.

Another option is Rain-X. Usually don't even need wipers that stuff
works so well. Only time it fails is when dirty sludge from the
road gets tossed on to your window, and wipers don't help with that
either.

Only real downside is that every time you actually do use your
wipers, they tend to rub the Rain-X off and you gotta reapply it.

I was impressed by rain-x too. I found it lasted pretty well !
My 64 Split doesn't have self parking wiper motor. it just stops where
you switch it off :-(


Rich

Seth Graham wrote:
> On 2005-01-13, Mike Rocket J. Squirrel Elliott et> wrote:
>
>>After driving along Highway 1 in California last week in light drizzle
>>for a couple of hours, manually switching the Wonderbus's wipers on and
>>off by hand, I renewed my effort to find some way to automate the
>>process.
>
>
> Another option is Rain-X. Usually don't even need wipers that stuff
> works so well. Only time it fails is when dirty sludge from the
> road gets tossed on to your window, and wipers don't help with that
> either.
>
> Only real downside is that every time you actually do use your
> wipers, they tend to rub the Rain-X off and you gotta reapply it.
>
>

On 1/13/2005 11:18 AM Seth Graham wrote:

> Another option is Rain-X. Usually don't even need wipers that stuff
> works so well. Only time it fails is when dirty sludge from the
> road gets tossed on to your window, and wipers don't help with that
> either.

I've seen that stuff and wondered about it. My wife had a late-80's
Nissan that had some kind of creepy coating or film on the inside of the
windshield. No amount of wiping or cleaning ever removed the stuff, and
at night it always seemed as if you were looking through windows that
had a faint coating of grease - halo, blurriness and other artifacts
around lights. When holding the package of Rain-X at the FLAPS I could
not help but think that some aftermarket coating like Rain-X might have
been responsible for that film. But you've tried it and it's pretty much
invisible?

--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
84 Westphalia: "Mellow Yellow (The Electrical Banana)"
KG6RCR

On 2005-01-13, Mike Rocket J. Squirrel Elliott et> wrote:
> On 1/13/2005 11:18 AM Seth Graham wrote:
>
> > Another option is Rain-X. Usually don't even need wipers that stuff
>> works so well. Only time it fails is when dirty sludge from the
>> road gets tossed on to your window, and wipers don't help with that
>> either.
>
> I've seen that stuff and wondered about it. My wife had a late-80's
> Nissan that had some kind of creepy coating or film on the inside of the
> windshield.

Rain-X goes on the outside. I've never seen it film up, but then again
the stuff doesn't last for eons (depending on your wiper use, anywhere
from one month to six months) and I regularily reapply it so if it's
a flaw with some aging process I'm not qualified to tell.

I suppose it's feasible that a PO applied it to the interior and it
congealed into some kind of film, but that'd be just talking out my
ass with no data to back it up.

> When holding the package of Rain-X at the FLAPS I could
> not help but think that some aftermarket coating like Rain-X might have
> been responsible for that film. But you've tried it and it's pretty much
> invisible?

Been using it for years. If you rub it in well enough it's completely
invisible, works almost like car wax. I buff the hell out of it with a
dry rag until any streaks or excess fluid dissappears.


I find the little beads of water drifting up the windshield almost
hypnotic when it rains, it's very cool stuff.