Archive for the ‘Wipers’ Category

Old switch for new wiper?

September 6th, 2010 by Kevin Hannula

Hello Kevin,

I recently purchased an AFI 38000 2 speed wiper motor for my boat.

My boat doesn’t have a wiper, but has switches and wiring already. The problem is my boat wiring is for single speed wipers with Carling rocker switches for port and starboard with 3 prongs, grd,+ power,load- on-off. Marinco has a full line of wipers for your boat wiring project

I was wondering since I don’t have a heater if I could use that switch for the wiper. It is an ON-OFF-ON switch with 4 prongs, grd, load A, + power, load B, and it has a light built in it. I don’t know if I should connect the park wire to the + terminal, I’m afraid there might be a draw on the battery all the time.

If I can’t use that switch, do you know what switch I should use? I’d like to stick with the same design as the rest. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Larry

Hi Larry,

You can certainly use your heater switch for the wiper. Connect your park wire to the + terminal and your speeds to A and B. If you connect both wipers to the same switch, they will not shut off properly. The speed wires need to be independently wired to keep them from feeding back.

If you want them on the same switch, I would use a DPDT switch like this one. It will allow independent switching of both wipers.

Hope this helps,

Kevin

Posted in Boat Wiring, Cruisers, Marine Electrical, Pontoons, Runabouts, Switch Panels, Wipers | Comments Off

Adding a second wiper

June 23rd, 2010 by Kevin Hannula

Dear Kevin,

The original wiper motor and arm on my boat need replacing. Whilst doing this, I want to add a second wiper motor to the boat on the driver’s side.

On the ceiling of the boat there is just some trunking with black wire running to the positive and negative on the wiper motor. This is activated by a switch on my dash board.

How do I arrange my boat wiring for the second wiper motor? Is there a simple way to just loop them and using the existing switch set up?

Kind Regards,Marinco is the marine industry's leading source for wiper motors, arms and blades

Jason

Hi Jason,

The best practice is to have circuit protection for each wiper motor. If you keep the current fuse/breaker and add a second wiper motor to the system, you will get nuisance tripping when both motors are on. If you simply increase the size of your circuit protection, you will get an even greater nuisance – a fire – when you cause one of the wiper motors to bind up.

The simplest solution is to double the size of the circuit protection at the wiper switch. Add an in-line fuse at your current wiper motor. Connect the grounds of your two wipers. Connect a second in-line fuse to your wiper power wire at the same location to form a “Y” in the harness and connect this your second wiper motor. If you bind either wiper motor, you will trip the corresponding fuse and your boat will be safe.

Let me know if you have any questions,

Kevin

Posted in Boat Wiring, Circuit Protection, Marine Electrical, Wipers | Comments Off