Attention Electrical Gurus, Need help with windshield washer wiring Options

[bbrock]

Right after ordering a complete Car Magic kit to convert my windshield washer to electric, I read Sir Andy's excellent tech article on the conversion. The idea of pulling power for the washer pump off the intermittent wiper feed so the washer is activated by pulling back on the wiper lever was too elegant not to try.

I happened to have this nifty vintage VW style splitter I bought some time ago for not other reason than I thought it might come in handy for some future custom wiring project. It was just the ticket for splitting off of my intermittent washer relay to power the washer pump.



After hooking everything up, I pulled back on the wiper lever and HUZZAH! The washers squirted and the wipers ran for two sweeps and parked. Pretty slick! I couldn't understand how the intermittent wipers would work when the lever was pulled down to turn the intermittent wipers on. I pull down on the lever to test them and nothing. As soon as I unplug the washer pump, the intermittent wipers start running. I'm not sure how the intermittent relay works, but thinking the timer is from charging a capacitor which then "bump starts" the wipers to run a single cycle.

Is there is a reasonably simple way to isolate the pump so it allows the intermittent mechanism to run without activating the washer pump? Could be a fun project. Or should I just go back to the original plan of installing the Car Magic switch? I just like the idea of minimizing the wiring.

[davep]

A very interesting discussion. I have been kicking this around in my head for years, but had other priorities. However, years ago I 3-D printed a switch mount to replace the water valve on the wiper switch assembly. This gave me the trigger for the pump. I believe the switch (a tiny momentary pushbutton) does not have the necessary current capacity, so an additional relay would be needed to actually power the pump. I also 3-D printed a disc to fit in the washer tank cap to allow the tank to vent; this allows us to use the regular 914/4 washer tank with just a simple and reversible modification. All I have left to do is figure out the wire lengths and route it. I could have 20 sets of these parts available.
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...7916&st=29#