I wonder what the record is for replies to a topic. This one is getting up there.

Damn, stop reading the board for a month and someone posts something worth reading. I would be interested in the delay assembly as well if more are made.

Thanks

I just put it in and it works great! The money is on its way.

Hey ElectroKen,

I just got your device in the mail and hooked it up in about a half hour. It works great. Hoping for rain to see if 10 sec. delay will be good. It seems about right. I like that the window washer still works to wipe off the wash without delay.

Putting your check for $20 in an envelope as soon as I get off the computer.

Thanks for listening to us all and helping us out.

Not even close.

And...?

And what?

just got the thing in the mail and i'd swear it came from the factory (actually, it looks a little bit better than some things that have come from the factory). i'll get it installed this weekend.

you da man, electroken

Any word on a second batch of those very cool rear wiper delays?

I would be really interested in the wiper mod. Does anyone have a picture of what it looks like installed?

Thanks

AND, what is the record. I don't really have time to go through all past topics to find how high one has gotten. Please enlighten me.

Oh, sorry.

39 pages and 502 posts long. Started by me, and driven on by the likes of yours truly, mineralblue, cds3, Ian, Tonka Ross, PNUTMNM, and several, several others. Called the, "Here ya go Tonka Ross/Booty Call" thread, it is still the record.

Unfortunately, Ian destroyed it.

Well then, you are right, not even close. So that's how you guys have so many posts to your name.

Electroken,

I was curious if you are using the PIC1208A or some other 8 pin micro.

Ken.

Do you suppose there would be a benefit to putting a glass inline fuse on the power lead?

The box includes a self-resetting "polyfuse" that trips at 0.6 amps. When the power is removed the polyfuse resets. It's all the protection it needs.

Close. I'm using the PIC12C671 because I wanted an analog input. The box includes a trimpot that is read by the micro to set the delay from 1 to 20 seconds.

ElectroKen, are you going to make any more? Please?! Pretty Please!! :p

The last 3 units from batch #1 ship on Friday. The building of batch #2 starts next week.

Ahh...yes the PIC12671. Well I guess this is a good use as any for the A/D input.

I know the PIC makes things a lot easier to change through software changes, versus an analog approach (I'm also a digital person so I understand), was there another reason that you didn't want to use the 555 timer to set some on/off duty cycle via the RC constant? It just seems like using a PIC is almost like using a Cray as an adding machine, but as with anything more power/flexibility the better

Just another curious electronics junky.

Ken.

The 555 is a great part but I've come across a few designs that simply worked better with a micro.

When using a 555 as a timer its repeatability is only as good as the capacitors used and when timing 20 seconds they can get large. I confess that I never did the math to find out just how big the timing cap would be in this situation.

The 555 also has another quirk when the circuit is first powered. The first interval is always considerably longer than the rest. It triggers at 0.33*VCC and 0.67*VCC and when you first turn it on it takes longer because it has to charge the cap to 0.67*VCC from zero. Does it matter for wipers? Probably not.

There are ways around all of these problems, but with micros being so cheap now it wasn't worth the trouble. Only 8 pins and with an internal oscillator! (granted, an RC).

I do not need one but wanted to say Electroken you are the man. It is very nice to have someone like you in our community. Keep up the excellent work.

It may not be so excellent-

Anyone installing the box should also test the rear washer when they are done with the installation. Someone with the box has reported that their rear wiper no longer comes on with the rear washer, which of course is not the way it should be.

If the 2000 and 2002 wiper switches are the same then this should not happen, but WE DONT KNOW FOR SURE THAT THEY ARE THE SAME.

12 boxes have been built and shipped. I am building no more until I know for sure that these 12 work as intended.

Thanks for trying to help but a sample of one is not enough. There could be a mid-year wiring change that I don't know about.