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Surely auto-on gizmos don't work without ignition on so no drain on battery?
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Do not leave "auto-on" if you go off on holidays.>>
They dont work with the "ignition" off.
In my Focus if you leave the auto wipers "on" they wipe once when the ignition is turned on, not good on a frozen screen. Easily done if it stops raining some time before you stop. Auto is the only method of getting an intermittant wipe, the only gadget I wish my car didnt have.
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The wipers may not be om but the sensors can be - IS200 for instance.
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If the forcast for your region is frost, then lever the wiper arms away from the screen. Then in the morning, clear screen ,whatever method, and replace the wipers back onto the screen. Do same for rear wiper. I do it and have no trouble with stuck rubber.
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The wipers may not be om but the sensors can be - IS200 for instance.
My auto lights have been selected for five years, auto wipers often forgotten and left selected for days, no apparent problems. Auto mirror, no idea. :-)
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The Peugeot auto-wipe system I had on a few 406's certainly needs to be reset after each start - exactly as it should be.
Mrs BP now has a Honda Jazz with auto wipers and they don't cancel, so they will try to wipe on start-up if the screen is wet. Apparently they don't detect frozen screens, but I can imagine owners who defrost their cars with warm water could be in for surprise when the wipers suddently start as they pouring the water on to the screen!
Edited by Bill Payer on 24/10/2009 at 17:27
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Yes, but I have often wondered: how do automatic wipers actually work? What do the sensors sense? Is it some sort of optical system?
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A small beam of light is aimed at an angle thru the glass from the inside and reflected back onto a sensor which detects the reflected beam. If the glass is wet the beam does not reach the sensor as it is refracted by the water, the sensor detects no beam and sends a signal to the wiper motor to wipe.
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I believe a low power laser is reflected off the outer surface of the windscreen onto a sensor, when the beam is disrupted by water on the screen it turns on the wipers. EDIT, Snap AS. :-) I am a slow typist.
Edited by Old Navy on 24/10/2009 at 18:28
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As previously mentioned the one I'm sure will catch me out is the automatic selection in reverse gear of the rear wiper in conjunction with the front ones when my bike rack is in the way.
:-(
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Easy enough to remove the rear wiper arm when the rack is on.
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Aye true, but it would be even easier if it just had an on/off switch......
I don't want my car thinking for itself too much !
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Doesn't it have on/off, most with auto wipers / lights have off/auto/on settings.
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On my Focus if you have any mode of front wipers on, the rear wiper comes on while reverse is selected even if the rear wiper is switched off.
Edited by Old Navy on 24/10/2009 at 18:48
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That's what I'm grousing about ON ( and Cheddar's new car.....)
I used to quite like him.......
;-)
Edited by Humph Backbridge on 24/10/2009 at 18:50
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That's what I'm grousing about ON ( and Cheddar's new car.....) I used to quite like him....... ;-)
He obviously cant quite figure out the on/off/auto/beyond your control modes. :-)
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Easy enough to remove the rear wiper arm when the rack is on.
Or pull the fuse...that's what I did with my old SAAB900 when I had a bike rack on the back.
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>> Easy enough to remove the rear wiper arm when the rack is on. >> Or pull the fuse...that's what I did with my old SAAB900 when I had a bike rack on the back.
Excellent move, easier than my idea of removing the wiper arm. Fuse 78 in a MK2 focus.
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The Peugeot auto-wipe system I had on a few 406's certainly needs to be reset after each start - exactly as it should be.
A VW Passat I had worked like that. But the replacements (Mondeo Mk III and then Mazda6) behave like Humph's car.
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"Auto mirror, no idea. :-)"
My auto mirror exploded this summer. After about three weeks of constant mid-thirties and the car being left in a sun-trap I opened the door one day to find it had burst and jettisoned a load of corrosive fluid over the gear selector which ate away the printed P, R, N, D, 4, 3, 2 and 1. Very very annoying. And some of the liquid is still in the mirror so it resembles a spirit-level now.
Never gave them any thought before but I guess they work by passing a current through this liquid to darken the glass...
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The Peugeot auto-wipe system I had on a few 406's certainly needs to be reset after each start.
My Vectra-C also turns itself to the off position and manually needs switching back on after the ignition has been switched off.
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Gadgets which should ALWAYS (IMHO), switch themselves off when the ignition key is removed (requiring a manual switching-on later): wipers; F/R screen heaters; aircon/climate control; fan; headlights; foglights; interior lights; glovebox and boot lights (engine bay light for the lucky few!); and finally the cigarette lighter/power socket! (Some are permanently powered, but they never seem to have a switch.) I keep leaving the phone charger plugged in (without phone) and return to the car to find a very hot charger.
Word of warning about retracting wipers from the screen on cold nights: those nice flash (expensive!) Bosch Aerotwin ones are a cinch to change, aren't they? And lots of cars have them, right? Well, that makes them very tempting to steal, as a colleague of mine discovered last week. Shame they never thought of a locking mechanism, too!
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Ford have just recalled many MK2 Focuses, (Foci?), to convert the cooling fan from permanant powered up to "ignition controlled" due to a fire hazard when unattended, caused by corrosion in salted road countries. That would be handy in your garage at night! Glad mine has been done.
Edited by Old Navy on 25/10/2009 at 09:49
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Funny you should mention fire-related recalls.
Spoke to my brother last night and he said he recently had a recall on his Panda.
Apparently it was to do with the ABS unit which the letter said could catch fire while the car was parked.
tinyurl.com/yc43wfd
Edited by ifithelps on 25/10/2009 at 10:02
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My old 306 XSi had an early auto wiper system and it was dreadful. The wipers would change between off and full pelt, manic flapping, and then back again just overtaking a truck in light rain. They would fail to come on sometimes until you couldn't see, and then other times come on when someone spat 15 miles away! Overrode the things permanently. The later system fitted to our Grand Scenic worked flawlessly. Left it on and never noticed it.
It's amazing how quickly you get used to auto lights and wipers though. After a period in the Scenic, I would just assume these would work automatically, jump in the Mondeo I had at the time, and almost howl in despair when I got to the end of the street at night with no headlights on! :-) The Scenic's auto lights always impressed me going through tunnels - the lights would come on and go off within seconds of when I would have operated them manually, every time and without fail.
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I'm sorry, but auto wipers really do seem to be the most pointlessly useless things which seem to insinuate that owners are not capable of making straightforward decisions. Auto lights - well maybe if you are prone to driving at night without lights - but surely to goodness and in the name of all sanity you just put the wipers on when it rains. Am I missing something? I seem to remember that there has recently been a 'most useless innovation' thread recently, but this must be up there.
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No more pointless than an automatic gearbox, surely. Using the same logic, anyone driving an auto is incapable of making the decision as to what gear to be in for given speeds. The truth of course is that they don't want to be bothered with it, or have to think about it. I wonder if people said the same thing when automatic ignition advance came in - I bet there were still people who though they could do it better with a lever on the steering wheel.
Besides, you can disable these systems if you don't want to use them, and their cost in the context of the overall cost of the car is peanuts. I don't see what harm they do.
Personally I want to see an automatic fog light activation feature with no manual override, and with mandatory installation in all new cars. When is an appropriate time to use foglights is one decision too many drivers clearly are not capable of making.;-)
Edited by DP on 26/10/2009 at 14:46
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>>I wonder if people said the same thing when automatic ignition advance came in - I bet there were still people who though they could do it better with a lever on the steering wheel.
I've never tried a manual ignition system, so not sure of the benefits or otherwise of an auto system over it. But I'm inherently suspicious of many labour saving devices which may well be more trouble than they are worth. My last car had electric front windows, and it was not possible to order it with manual ones. When the motor packed up, it cost a significant amount of money to put right - far more than would be the case to fix a wind-up, I am sure. I like electric windows for their convenience, but if I had a choice I'd always go for wind-ups. Likewise, I'd always go for a manual gearbox as long as I was able to use one. Now don't get me wrong - I'm not a complete luddite - but I just don't see the point of automatic wipers.
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" When the motor packed up, it cost a significant amount of money to put right"
I've never in all my born days been in a car with a failed motor in an electric window.
I've been in thousands of cars with a broken hand-winder, where the toggle has broken off and you have to shove your finger in the hole that is left or turn the winder like the key of a big clock. Awful things.
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Bristol01 - I can only assume you've never had them? When they work well they are brilliant, when they don't they are a waste of time.
The Audi auto system had a switch to change the senstivity, I barely had to change it. Left it on the minimum setting and it was rare it swept continually as it adjusted very well to the amount of rain falling. When overtaking trucks after heavy rain it would go from sweeping very rarely to full speed sweep with the blink of an eye before stopping as soon as the wagon was passed. Brilliant as I knew I could just drive past and not have to think about turning the wipers on before overtaking.
The Jag system has the worst of both systems. A fully auto mode or selectable sweep period. The auto system is just too sensitive. As soon as you get a slight amount of rain the wipers go into full speed wipe which is uncessary for 99% of the time, so I'm left setting the manual sweep speed.
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but surely to goodness and in the name of all sanity you just put the wipers on when it rains
It's not the auto bit that I find good it's the "infinitely" variable intervals between swipes. Just spitting then it will wipe when there is some build up on the screen. Pass a truck during heavy rain and it will speed up when needed and then slow down immediately. When passing the truck you might not want to be fiddling with wiper speeds.
I don't think they are pointless. They work well on the Mazda6 and a Passat I had (both had sensitivity selectors) but the Mondeo was not quite so good (no adjustment).
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Yes, rtj, I do see what you mean, but I am not convinced. However, I am a miserable, grumpy sod at the best of times when it comes to such devices (and much else besides).
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>>> I am sure. I like electric windows for their convenience, but if I had a choice I'd always go for wind-ups<<<
I'll wager you're 'the type' that gets up to change TV channels rather than use the remote :-D
I wouldn't even think about a car without tinted elec. windows/mirrors/locking, auto +pas, starting handle etc., etc., etc.
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Television! Pah. Only the wireless for me.
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The Light Programme on Long Wave?
JH
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