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Wiper speeds

Tom H

Platinum Level Sponsor
Testing results are somewhat inconclusive. Grounding one of the non powered wires gives a healthy spark, but no wiper movement. Grounding the other non powered wire gives a weak spark and no movement. Turning the wipers to "high" and grounding the healthy spark wire starts the wipers and they will remain running after the ground is removed. Grounding the other wire reduced speed.

Bill I don't fully understand this description. Line by line:

"Grounding one of the non powered wires gives a healthy spark, but no wiper movement". I assume you are grounding the short wire directly from the wiper, disconnected from the line going to the wiper and no wires are connected to the switch. Seems to me that this would be the Red/Grn wire, but not sure. If it is, it should cause to wiper to run. But maybe not a good enough (clean) ground

"Grounding the other non powered wire gives a weak spark and no movement" Seems that is the Brn Grn wire. This is what I would expect, if you are grounding ONLY that one wire.

"Turning the wipers to "high" and grounding the healthy spark wire starts the wipers and they will remain running after the ground is removed". I don't understand why turning the switch to High has any effect unless you still have wires connected to the switch. Do you mean the previous steps were done with the wires attached?

"Grounding the other wire reduced speed.[/QUOTE]. SO YOU DO SEE two speeds !!!.

Bill I don't understand your conclusion. If you cannot duplicate the switch action by grounding the wires, which is all the switch does, then there is a problem in the wiring that you are not understanding.

Try grounding BOTH wires initially, that should run it slow. And while keeping the "big spark" wire grounded, and the wiper running, disconnect the other wire and see if the wiper speeds up.
 

Bill Blue

Platinum Level Sponsor
Bill I don't fully understand this description. Line by line:

"Grounding one of the non powered wires gives a healthy spark, but no wiper movement". I assume you are grounding the short wire directly from the wiper, disconnected from the line going to the wiper and no wires are connected to the switch. Seems to me that this would be the Red/Grn wire, but not sure. If it is, it should cause to wiper to run. But maybe not a good enough (clean) ground
Your assumptions are correct. The temporary ground was to clean metal.
"Grounding the other non powered wire gives a weak spark and no movement" Seems that is the Brn Grn wire. This is what I would expect, if you are grounding ONLY that one wire.
Full agreement
"Turning the wipers to "high" and grounding the healthy spark wire starts the wipers and they will remain running after the ground is removed". I don't understand why turning the switch to High has any effect unless you still have wires connected to the switch. Do you mean the previous steps were done with the wires attached?
No
"Grounding the other wire reduced speed.
. SO YOU DO SEE two speeds !!!.
Yes, once out of several tries
Bill I don't understand your conclusion. If you cannot duplicate the switch action by grounding the wires, which is all the switch does, then there is a problem in the wiring that you are not understanding.
And I do not understand your conclusion. I figure if I cannot get the motor to run correctly 100% of the time by grounding wires, the problem is in the wiper assembly, not the dash wiring/switch.
Try grounding BOTH wires initially, that should run it slow. And while keeping the "big spark" wire grounded, and the wiper running, disconnect the other wire and see if the wiper speeds up. Okay, here is a summary. When the fat spark is grounded, sometimes it runs on high speed, but usually does nothing. When the fat and skinny spark are grounded, it almost always runs on low and speeds up when the skinny is disconnected. This with no control wires hooked up. The switch wiring will not allow going from low to high without going through "Off", so I cannot duplicate the workable combination.[/QUOTE]

Bill
 

seriesIIIgt

Platinum Level Sponsor
Hi Bill
I just had East Coast Jaguar rebuild my wiper motor and my blower motor great job and fast turnaround pm me if you want there information
Geoff
 

Tom H

Platinum Level Sponsor
I had not previously understood that sometimes the wiper ran and sometimes not under the same conditions. I'm still puzzled about what changes are implemented between one time that it does nothing and another time it runs. If you just ground the big spark wire and it does not run, can you re-touch ground and it starts sometimes? That tells me that sometimes you don't make a good enough connection.

Also note that on my SV, the wiper switch goes from Off, to Slow, to Hi. The Off position is not in the middle. AND the park step runs at slow speed .

Are you doing the grounding tests at the wiper, using just the short wires that go directly into the wiper?

Are the wiper switches the same as headlight switches?
 

Bill Blue

Platinum Level Sponsor
It seems that when I start on low and go to high, it will start on high immediately after. But if it sets for say, 30 seconds, it will not start on high, regardless of how many times I try.

My switches are not stock. They are Radio Shack double pole double throw. On-Off-On

The test setup uses the normal 12v supply. High and low wires are disconnected from the harness. The ground wire goes under a screw holding the aluminum door opening finisher.

The wiper switch and headlight switch are identical.

Using the switch, I just now tried starting on low, then flipping through Off to high. It works fine that way, still parks on high. I wired the car about fifteen years ago and it has started on high and parked on high until last year. The strangest thing is that it will start on high immediately after running on high. But only then. Wait a while (the time varies) and it will not. It is almost like there is a capacitor involved, not a resistor.

Bill
 

Tom H

Platinum Level Sponsor
My switches are not stock. They are Radio Shack double pole double throw. On-Off-On

OH! Well that explains at least one puzzlement. The stock switch, in OFF position, not at center, connects the two wires together but not to ground. That is why the stock set up parks the wipers at normal (slow) speed, but yours does not. I was thinking that maybe you were using a headlight switch for the wipers and was wondering if the stock Headlight and Wiper switch were identical. I think they are. But that's a moot point now that we know you are not using stock Alpine switches.

Now that we have a more complete picture I suspect that the issue may be lubrication, in the motor, and/or in the drive cables. I'm guessing that in the high speed mode the wiper motor runs Faster, but with less toque. Normally, with a stock switch you fist start the wiper in slow mode. Then once it's moving , switching to high speed is fine as it no longer needs starting torque. Similarly, if it's been running for a while it might even start on High due to the lube and cables being warm.

Tom
 

Bill Blue

Platinum Level Sponsor
Sort of. When I want high speed (which is seldom) I start on low speed and flip through "off" to high speed. I have disassembled and relubed the motor and cable within the past two years, so I am pretty sure it is not a lubrication problem. While I am not particularly pleased the high speed park, it works okay. So I consider myself good to go until it quits or I have to remove the dash for other reasons. It is a puzzle why it suddenly changed it's operating characteristics, but my life is full of mysteries. One more is not that bothersome.

Bill
 

Tom H

Platinum Level Sponsor
Yes, Two wires grounded is Slow Speed. Grounding only the Red/ Grn wire makes it go fast. Note that with the switch in the OFF position, the two wires are still connected to each other, but not grounded. So the Park switch, which grounds them until parked, will run Slow speed. .
 

Tim R

Silver Level Sponsor
This subject is covered on The Sunbeam Alpine Channel. The wiring and how to test wipers is illustrated in this video from about 11 minutes onwards. Replacing an old worn rack is one of the best improvements that you can do to an Alpine.


Tim R
 
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