[Irelands child]

About a year ago I installed a Mighty Wiper in (on?) my car and it made 3 wipes across the windshield and died with a puff of smoke. I pulled it and installed one of those common boat wiper motors that I had instead to register the car. Finally a couple days ago I decided to see what happened and it was an easy fix - cold solder joint that came apart. I hooked it up but really do NOT like the wiring arrangement - the motor is always electrically 12VDC 'hot'. You do not, without having a second kill switch, have any alternative to their wiring arrangement. Maybe I'm overly cautious, but in a vehicle like a fully home built street rod, feel that this can be a dangerous situation. The wires to this motor are no more then 22ga, with the lead supplied at only about 30-34 inches long so regardless of whatever you do, you have to splice some additional lengths to the supplied wire - and unless you solder that tiny wire, it sure wont hold in crimp connectors. These wiper motors seem to have a pretty good reputation and should have for their exorbitant price. This raises my question - has anyone here had any problems with these? Should I replace the supplied wire with something like 18ga - it would be easy to do?

Dave W

[302 Z28]

Dave I have one on my 34 and I am not really pleased with it. I have yet to use it in a rain (I avoid rain), but my main complaint is it doesn't stop in the same place twice. I can adjust it so it is completely up to the top edge of the windshield then turn it on, then stop it and it stops before it gets to the position it was set. .

Vince

[Joe G]

The motor draws less than an amp so the supplied 22 gauge wire is mathematically sufficient, but I usually install a plug close to the motor and then run 16-18 gauge from there down to the switch, because I too tend to be overly cautious.

Originally Posted by Irelands child

.... I hooked it up but really do NOT like the wiring arrangement - the motor is always electrically 12VDC 'hot'. You do not, without having a second kill switch, have any alternative to their wiring arrangement. Maybe I'm overly cautious, but in a vehicle like a fully home built street rod, feel that this can be a dangerous situation.

All self-parking wiper motors require a constant hot for the parking function. It would typically be wired to key-on power rather than full-time power, so the wire to the motor/switch is only hot when the key is on.

As much as I like to worry, I wouldn't worry about it.

Hope this helps.....

Joe G.

[Irelands child]

Originally Posted by Joe G

The motor draws less than an amp so the supplied 22 gauge wire is mathematically sufficient, but I usually install a plug close to the motor and then run 16-18 gauge from there down to the switch, because I too tend to be overly cautious.


All self-parking wiper motors require a constant hot for the parking function. It would typically be wired to key-on power rather than full-time power, so the wire to the motor/switch is only hot when the key is on.

As much as I like to worry, I wouldn't worry about it.

Hope this helps.....

Joe G.

Joe - Yeah, I know the amp draw is low but that wire is just too fragile and that plug set up is exactly what I ended up doing and it is keyed to the on switch.

Vince - as far as self parking, mine wont consistently either.

I have to pull it off again to drill and pin the shaft in position as I had to shorten it to work clamped to a bracket on top of my windshield. The 'C' clip is lost when the shaft is shortened and in my haste forgot to finish the job. I'll also see if it will work on a single wire, hot only when the switch is flipped on. These things are $140 bucks now and when compared to the boat wipers, too much money.

Dave W