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Post by the light works on Dec 13, 2019 15:43:24 GMT
everybody manages their windshield wipers differently, but I've become curious whether we can come up with an objective way to determine the best speed to set windshield wipers at - and if high speed is better for anything but freak conditions, like mud spray. personally, I think that even in heavy rain, high speed results in more obstruction from the wiper blades than from the water on the windshield - but what sort of test rig could a person use to quantify this?
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Post by ironhold on Dec 13, 2019 17:36:28 GMT
You'd have to have multiple set-ups for testing multiple conditions, and you'd also have to include the pre-existing state of the windshield as a variable.
For example, in my part of Texas we can have very heavy pollen at different times of the year. When that happens, you're better off manually cleaning your windshield than attempting to use the sprayer and wiper blades or even attempting to use the wiper blades in anything but a heavy rain. The blades will tend to simply smear the wet pollen mixture around rather than actually clean anything.
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Post by GTCGreg on Dec 13, 2019 17:53:21 GMT
Just from my own experience, I have found Bosch wipers to work the best.
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Post by the light works on Dec 14, 2019 0:59:37 GMT
You'd have to have multiple set-ups for testing multiple conditions, and you'd also have to include the pre-existing state of the windshield as a variable. For example, in my part of Texas we can have very heavy pollen at different times of the year. When that happens, you're better off manually cleaning your windshield than attempting to use the sprayer and wiper blades or even attempting to use the wiper blades in anything but a heavy rain. The blades will tend to simply smear the wet pollen mixture around rather than actually clean anything. or eliminate preexisting dirt as a variable. but yes, you'd have to be able to adjust the severity of the rain. but the real thing is how you would objectively measure how obscured the driver's vision is. |
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Post by GTCGreg on Dec 14, 2019 15:43:38 GMT
You'd have to have multiple set-ups for testing multiple conditions, and you'd also have to include the pre-existing state of the windshield as a variable. For example, in my part of Texas we can have very heavy pollen at different times of the year. When that happens, you're better off manually cleaning your windshield than attempting to use the sprayer and wiper blades or even attempting to use the wiper blades in anything but a heavy rain. The blades will tend to simply smear the wet pollen mixture around rather than actually clean anything. or eliminate preexisting dirt as a variable. but yes, you'd have to be able to adjust the severity of the rain. but the real thing is how you would objectively measure how obscured the driver's vision is. You could use something like the standard vision test chart with progressively smaller and smaller letters or symbols. The clearer the windshield, the smaller the letters that can be read. |
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Post by the light works on Dec 14, 2019 15:49:01 GMT
or eliminate preexisting dirt as a variable. but yes, you'd have to be able to adjust the severity of the rain. but the real thing is how you would objectively measure how obscured the driver's vision is. You could use something like the standard vision test chart with progressively smaller and smaller letters or symbols. The clearer the windshield, the smaller the letters that can be read. but driving isn't just about reading charts - it is also about prompt recognition of surroundings. |
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Post by GTCGreg on Dec 14, 2019 18:02:45 GMT
You could use something like the standard vision test chart with progressively smaller and smaller letters or symbols. The clearer the windshield, the smaller the letters that can be read. but driving isn't just about reading charts - it is also about prompt recognition of surroundings. True, but I think it would still translate well to real world scenarios. If you can read an eye chart through the windshield, you should be able to recognize your surroundings. It would also be a lot more quantitative than just being able to recognize a tree. |
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Post by the light works on Dec 14, 2019 22:29:16 GMT
but driving isn't just about reading charts - it is also about prompt recognition of surroundings. True, but I think it would still translate well to real world scenarios. If you can read an eye chart through the windshield, you should be able to recognize your surroundings. It would also be a lot more quantitative than just being able to recognize a tree. I wonder about optical recognition software. set a camera up and then essentially use flashcards, and time how long it takes the computer to recognize the flashcard; and what the accuracy rate is. note, I'm thinking we can skip light mist, since then it is generally a just slow enough not to squeak calculation. |
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Post by wvengineer on Dec 16, 2019 17:03:14 GMT
Could you build some sort of rig to monitor the wind sheild and when viability gets below a certain level, then it runs the wipers for a swipe?
I would say some sort of camera that measures the amount of light that is being reflected off the windshield (due to rain) or the % that has a close focal point vs a far focal point. build some intelligence into these rain sensing wipers they make.
Myself, I am constantly fiddling with the wiper delay as storms change. I rarely use full time and it has to be really bad to need high speed. If high speed isn't enough, I'm pulling over.
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Post by the light works on Dec 16, 2019 17:08:33 GMT
Could you build some sort of rig to monitor the wind sheild and when viability gets below a certain level, then it runs the wipers for a swipe? I would say some sort of camera that measures the amount of light that is being reflected off the windshield (due to rain) or the % that has a close focal point vs a far focal point. build some intelligence into these rain sensing wipers they make. Myself, I am constantly fiddling with the wiper delay as storms change. I rarely use full time and it has to be really bad to need high speed. If high speed isn't enough, I'm pulling over. I think when we looked at cars last, Volvo had some sort of adaptive intermittent wiper control, but I don't know how it worked. on my truck, the radio taps into the speedometer signal and turns up the volume at higher speeds - and I've had times I thought it would be nice if the intermittent wiper setting could do that, as well. my original "yes rain really is normal, here" moment was a time I was driving with my wipers on intermittent - and there was a californian coming the other way with the wipers on maximum speed addendum: my main question in this thread is where the threshold is where the wipers impede visibility more than the amount of water on the glass between wipes. |
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Post by GTCGreg on Dec 16, 2019 17:18:08 GMT
Yesterday I pulled up to a stoplight and there was an old lady a Cadillac next to me with her wipers running full speed. It wasn’t raining. She appeared to be oblivious that they were even on, or maybe just didn’t know how to turn them off.
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Post by the light works on Dec 16, 2019 17:43:26 GMT
Yesterday I pulled up to a stoplight and there was an old lady a Cadillac next to me with her wipers running full speed. It wasn’t raining. She appeared to be oblivious that they were even on, or maybe just didn’t know how to turn them off. I've failed to notice the rain stopped until the wipers started squeaking, so I know it happens. but there was also a meme before memes were a thing by a comedian whose existence is no longer recognized about wipers being designed to point out how dumb you are. "you accidentally turn them on and can't find the button to turn them off" |
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Post by the light works on Dec 16, 2019 17:45:32 GMT
on the reminiscing end, I remember the air driven wipers on trucks and school buses that would never go at the same rate.
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Post by GTCGreg on Dec 16, 2019 18:08:04 GMT
on the reminiscing end, I remember the air driven wipers on trucks and school buses that would never go at the same rate. We had an old 54 Pontiac that had wipers that ran off the manifold vacuum. When you would step on the gas, the wipers would almost come to a complete stop, then when you released the gas pedal, they'd go like crazy. |
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Post by the light works on Dec 16, 2019 18:43:48 GMT
on the reminiscing end, I remember the air driven wipers on trucks and school buses that would never go at the same rate. We had an old 54 Pontiac that had wipers that ran off the manifold vacuum. When you would step on the gas, the wipers would almost come to a complete stop, then when you released the gas pedal, they'd go like crazy. one of the low priority projects on the parade engine is to fix the vacuum operated windshield wipers. |
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Post by GTCGreg on Dec 16, 2019 18:50:37 GMT
We had an old 54 Pontiac that had wipers that ran off the manifold vacuum. When you would step on the gas, the wipers would almost come to a complete stop, then when you released the gas pedal, they'd go like crazy. one of the low priority projects on the parade engine is to fix the vacuum operated windshield wipers. That could be easy. They make a small electrically powered vacuum pump for just that type of application. We use them on the diesel ambulances to control the vacuum operated hot water valves. They have a built-in vacuum switch that turns on only when the vacuum supply is needed. |
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Post by the light works on Dec 16, 2019 18:53:28 GMT
one of the low priority projects on the parade engine is to fix the vacuum operated windshield wipers. That could be easy. They make a small electrically powered vacuum pump for just that type of application. We use them on the diesel ambulances to control the vacuum operated hot water valves. They have a built-in vacuum switch that turns on only when the vacuum supply is needed. except I think the problem is probably on the other end. |
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Post by GTCGreg on Dec 16, 2019 21:44:11 GMT
That could be easy. They make a small electrically powered vacuum pump for just that type of application. We use them on the diesel ambulances to control the vacuum operated hot water valves. They have a built-in vacuum switch that turns on only when the vacuum supply is needed. except I think the problem is probably on the other end. Well, I hate to rain on your parade, but if you have to switch out the vacuum motor with an electric it could be a fair amount of reworking the linkage. Most vacuum motors I’ve seen go up and back while electric windshield wiper motors go round and round |
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Post by the light works on Dec 16, 2019 21:48:38 GMT
except I think the problem is probably on the other end. Well, I hate to rain on your parade, but if you have to switch out the vacuum motor with an electric it could be a fair amount of reworking the linkage. Most vacuum motors I’ve seen go up and back while electric windshield wiper motors go round and round which leads to the finale of the test when they put the wipers on a high speed motor and see just how fast they can run them before they break under the strain. but yeah, the fact that the wiper motors are way up inside the dashboard makes it that much harder to see what is or isn't going on with them. |
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Post by GTCGreg on Dec 17, 2019 1:37:15 GMT
It's interesting in that the windshield wiper was invented almost 120 years ago and its design really hasn't changed much since then. Guess a good idea is hard to beat. According to Wikipedia, a rotating disc type windshield was developed in the 1930's for use in automobiles but just wasn't practical to implement. That design did find favor in boats and large ships and is still used to this day there. Some train locomotives also use them. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear_view_screen |
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