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Old 10-16-2018, 07:11 PM   #1
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Synchronized, Intermittent Wipers (3) - Recommendations?

I'm hoping to go from a no-wipers boat to my dream wiper set-up. Would love to hear your suggestions on who makes a quality product with all of the attributes listed below, along with what to avoid.

Here's my Wish List:
  • 3 wipers 12VDC
  • Pantograph
  • Self-Parking
  • Intermittent
  • Synchronized

I'm not interested in a washer reservoir, but I'm not opposed to it either.

Thanks for your input!
Mary
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Old 10-16-2018, 07:13 PM   #2
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I would recommend Vetus for your use case -

Control Panel -
Vetus - 3 Wiper Control Panel #VE RWPANEL2

They will also have the wiper motor, and arms to fit your application

More details here-
http://www.vetusmarine.com/Shared/PDFs/Page%20183.pdf
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Old 10-20-2018, 07:52 AM   #3
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I would recommend Vetus for your use case -

Control Panel -
Vetus - 3 Wiper Control Panel #VE RWPANEL2

They will also have the wiper motor, and arms to fit your application

More details here-
http://www.vetusmarine.com/Shared/PDFs/Page%20183.pdf
Admiral, not your fault of course but $516 for a wiper control panel? Wow. Is this just my ignorance or does that seem somewhat outrageous for what appears to be or should be a fairly simple electronic control?
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Old 10-20-2018, 08:28 AM   #4
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Admiral, not your fault of course but $516 for a wiper control panel? Wow. Is this just my ignorance or does that seem somewhat outrageous for what appears to be or should be a fairly simple electronic control?
Yes, outrageous. I bought one for $15 off ebay.
You can wire using a relay if you need more amps.
https://www.ebay.com/p/Windshield-Wi...041/1232788103
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Old 10-20-2018, 08:58 AM   #5
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Ahhh. ok, I'm not going crazy.

Electronic Control - $15
"Marine" Electronic Control - $516
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Old 10-20-2018, 10:24 AM   #6
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Forget the wipers and use RAINX every 3 weeks.
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Old 10-20-2018, 10:32 AM   #7
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Ahhh. ok, I'm not going crazy.

Electronic Control - $15
"Marine" Electronic Control - $516
Pretty nice looking Vetus control but is pretty worth $500 more.

The simple control takes up a lot less real estate on the dash, which for me is a big plus.
All a control needs to do is turn on, then pulse current to the wiper motor every x seconds. The wiper motor has its own internal switches to self park and wait for the next pulse from the control.
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Old 10-20-2018, 10:35 AM   #8
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Forget the wipers and use RAINX every 3 weeks.
Seeing as how the controller equals 97 bottles of RainX 2 in 1...probably something to look at. That's a LOT of RainX.
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Old 10-20-2018, 10:52 AM   #9
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I have this one, seems to work OK. Syncronizes, parks, can operate 1, 2, or 3 wipers. Don't know what they cost, came with the boat.
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Old 10-20-2018, 10:59 AM   #10
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One of the things that I really, REALLY hate is wipers that chatter. Usually this occurs because their isn’t enough water on the glass. The wipers in my boat are either on or off. There is no intermittent. The switches are a three position switch, momentary, OFF and ON. I’d love to be able to add a variable timer.

I have three switches, one for each wiper. If I pull them out I’d have a big hole in my helm panel. I’d love a timer that I could add that would provide the ability to provide a timer to the ON position of all three switches. I’m just not smart enough to figure out how.
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Old 10-20-2018, 11:59 AM   #11
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Thanks everyone for the helpful commentary. I'll run your switch ideas by my installer.

I run solo more often than not so while RainX is a valid option, it doesn't always provide me with the clarity I so desire. All depends on conditions. It'll be great to just flip a switch to clean the windows.

Thanks again!
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Old 10-20-2018, 12:41 PM   #12
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One of the things that I really, REALLY hate is wipers that chatter. Usually this occurs because their isn’t enough water on the glass. The wipers in my boat are either on or off. There is no intermittent. The switches are a three position switch, momentary, OFF and ON. I’d love to be able to add a variable timer.

I have three switches, one for each wiper. If I pull them out I’d have a big hole in my helm panel. I’d love a timer that I could add that would provide the ability to provide a timer to the ON position of all three switches. I’m just not smart enough to figure out how.
I have same 3 switches and 3 wiper motors.
The timer control is just turning a small relay on the board on and off.
It has a 'limit' of 7 amps. I think each motor uses 2 amps. 2 times 3 is 6 amps, so relay should handle it, I think. If not, then use timer control to power another higher amp relay to run the 3 motors.

Several ways to wire this up.
1. run the timer output to the on - output side of all 3 manual wiper switches. The timer controls the frequency. The 3 manual wiper switches just turn them on as before regardless of the timer setting.

2. run the timer output to the power source input side of all 3 switches and disconnect the original power wires, that way you can individually control the motors with the switches and it also is timed. Do you really need all 3 wipers to run when it is raining?

3. something else

One reason for number 1, what if the timer board breaks, you still want to be able to run the wiper. Just have to think about what you want to do and the possible consequences of wiring one way or another way.
Another reason for number 1, you want the wipers continuously to run. I forget if the timer will do that or not, it may still insert a tiny delay at its minimum setting.

I don't see how a continuously running wiper can stay synchronized with the other motors with no pausing reset to stop at its home position. I think only the timer control set to pulse can allow for a synchronization of multiple motors. Car wiper blades are synchronized because they are geared together with only one motor.
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Old 10-20-2018, 05:35 PM   #13
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Thanks. I’ll need to sit down and think about that a while.
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Old 10-20-2018, 06:31 PM   #14
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Thanks everyone for the helpful commentary. I'll run your switch ideas by my installer.

I run solo more often than not so while RainX is a valid option, it doesn't always provide me with the clarity I so desire. All depends on conditions. It'll be great to just flip a switch to clean the windows.

Thanks again!
Its not wipers OR Rainx. They are not mutually exclusive. You can use both. Over time you will find out you no longer need the wipers.
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Old 10-21-2018, 10:57 PM   #15
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Thanks. I’ll need to sit down and think about that a while.
Totally forgot to say, in the output of the timer control to the wiper motors, you need to put 3 diodes rated say from 5 to 10 amps. Otherwise turning on a wiper switch will turn on all 3 wiper motors.
And the wiper motors have to be self parking style.

The diodes act like one way gate valves preventing power from flowing back off the switches to the other wiper motors. So diodes need to be biased to pass power off the timer control. You could use 3 relays but simply soldering inline 3 diodes is a lot easier. The diodes create a small 1/2 volt forward voltage drop but it wont matter as it is just a pulse signal to the motors getting them running.
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Old 10-29-2018, 01:27 PM   #16
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Dream wipers

Had wipers on my last boat (kept it 22 years). Wipers are great but it was on a flat windshield. Wipers work best with a slight curve in my estimation. I did not have washers and the salt streaking was a problem on really snotty days. To me dream set would be washers.........lots of water. Current boat is eisenglass ..........miss my wipers.
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Old 10-29-2018, 03:32 PM   #17
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Nothing, absolutely NOTHING beats a Clear View screen!
If you absolutely, positively want to see in rain, sleet, snow or seas breaking on the bridge windows, buy a Clear View screen. Period!

Clearview | Circular high speed rotating ship marine window wiper | Solarglide
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Old 10-29-2018, 04:26 PM   #18
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I have a few gripes with typical marine wiper controls.

The biggest is that the interval is too short. In misty rain, the slowest intermittent is just too often and the wipers end up chattering.

So you switch to manual and now have to get up and cycle the wipers in a human intermittent control. That’s not too bad, but there is no single sweep control. It’s on or off. So you need to press for on, let it get started, then press again for off. And on our, if you press too long it just speeds up the wipers rather than parking them.

Whoever designed the control has never spent any time at the helm in various rain conditions.
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Old 11-04-2018, 03:08 PM   #19
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I have three self parking wipers on an Island GYPSY 44. Italian Roca makes nice controller for around 200 euros. Its got intermittent, two speeds and even possibility to use only the drivers wiper as single wiper.
https://www.svb24.com/en/roca-wiper-control.html
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