Brainstorm with me please, Micro Switch Suggestions

[69MyWay]

Okay,

I am so close but so far on my wiper conversion. It has dawned on me that the delay mode is going to cause problems based on the way I wired it. That is with the wiper door. If I was just running low and high speed the project would be basically finished at this time, because my electric door actuator is fully automatic and pops up as soon as it detects the wiper motor running, then drops when it stops. During delay however, it is up and down with the delay sweep, and since the wiper arms do not go all the way to park it will attempt to close the door on the arms waiting for the next stroke. So...............


I decided to put a micro switch on the passenger wiper arm stub. The idea is to interrupt the down cycle signal so that the actuator will only actually receive the message to drop the door when the wipers have parked.

So here is where I need your help.

What kind of micro switches can you think of that will work best in this application? I have the left over switches from the headlights, brake light switches, e-brake switces, door switches, etc. I need to make a simple mount and bracket that can hold a 12+ signal open until the arm parks, then closing that switch and activating the down stroke in the module.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Chris

 

[KenSny]

Ok, I read a couple of your posts on this. Why not connect the wiper door activation to a "wiper on", seperate from when the motor sees power. Can run another circuit from the switch to see that condition? That way the door is independent of what mode wipers are in. Seems to me that the more micro-switches and such you add the more complicated it becomes to troubleshoot.

 

[Bullitt]

I like Ken's suggestion of making a seperate and independant switch. It's basic and as said, easier to troubleshoot. Mounting of the switch is up to you Chris, but how about using the small belt lights that were in the center gauge housing. I think you covered these up, so it's your decision. Just my opinion, anyways. --Bullitt

 

[KenSny]

Actually I was not thinking of another switch. I was thinking of using the existing wiper switch and running another circuit off of it that is always hot in anything but the off position. Maybe a soleniod that closes and stays closed until the switch is moved to the off position.

 

[69MyWay]

Great suggestion, and in fact that was/is the route I would prefer. However, there is a major problem with that. You see, two things happen that won't let it work. One, there is no single constant signal given from the switch to indicate on. In other words, the high and low speed including the pulse and wash mode all do something different. They function of a ground signal with a shunt action.

So, unless there is something I am missing here, I just know it is not an option. Also, if you notice the wiper continues to run after you turn them off. This is the park mode. What that means is if you signal the door simply off the on/off mode of the switch that the door would drop just as soon as you turn the wiper off, but they are still up going for park mode.

If I could have run the C4 motor and switch I would have been in business just like that since it works off 12+ instead of ground from the switch and at the motor.

I agree, the more parts and wires the more chance for failure.

I am going to do some more testing and looking at micro switches. Plus, this system has to be all automatic. A seperate toggle that would raise and lower the door with the raising of the door setting the ground would work, but where is the adventure in that?

 

[KenSny]

Yeah, you're right, I completely ignored the "park" cycle. Oh well, back to pondering......

I wonder if there's a solenoid that slowly loses it's field after the power is off, before the contact opens? And would it be a long enough delay for the wipers to park?

Still doesn't solve the gnd vs 12+ signal tho....

 

[69MyWay]

Yessssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!

Man, I know what Thomas Edison felt like after finally getting the light bulb right!.

Believe it or not, it was about 50x easier designing and installing the electric headlight actuators than this wiper door. The difference is that the headlight electronics has already been done and all I had to do was adapt it. The wiper door is a different story. However, had it not been for the experience with the headlights I would never had stumbled onto these control modules. I am more or less running a single headlight control module as found on a 88-96 Vette in mono so to speak instead of stereo where it would be controlling two motors.

The module is a wonderful invention. All it needs is power ground, and a 12+ signal when you want the motor to go up on one wire, and then a 12+ signal on another when you want it to go down. It then will reverse the polarity at the motor/actuator to go up and down. The actuator has a built in limit switch to prevent burning anything up.

I ended up using a sealed micro switch that is the same as a cruise control/brake light combo switch. I came off the passenger side wiper arm transmission and mounted an aluminum plate to the arm housing, then rivited an L shaped bracket on the bottom side of the transmission arm. What this does is allow me to set the switch so that when the wipers are in park it presses the switch.

Why is this significant? Because, I took the down signal jumper lead going to the module and ran it through this switch that simply causes an interruption in the current flow anytime the wipers are anything but park.

So, now I can run in delay mode all I want. The wiper door stays open as eventhough the signal drops from the wiper motor telling the module to kick down power to the wiper door actuator, that signal never makes it through until the arm comes down to park.

Guess what else!!!! I have verified that in the event the electric actuator does not open the door fast enough for the wipers to pop out, I can hook back the factory bracket (have to drill a hole in my smoothed firewall) and micro switch that interrupts ground to the wiper motor. It allows the door to swing open. When at full open position it makes the micro switch trip which completes the ground circuit to the motor and off she goes.

So, we can close the door on this chapter of the project. Man I feel so good. Now, I can run off into other uncharted waters (keyless entry, electric convertible door release with remote, etc. etc.)

thanks again

This system can easily be adapted to any 68-72 shark (less the delay module).

All you need is the 2" linear actuator, an aluminum mounting bracket, the headlight module, a normally closed relay from radio shack, and a bunch of wires. This most recent problem only popped up because of the delay mode.