In the heavy rains that I occasionally find myself in, I have come to the conclusion that the stock wiper motor in my 94 civic sucks. It operates as it should and is in fine working condition but the highest setting just isn't fast enough to drive safely in the rain.

After a quick google search I found out that the wiper motor setup is rather simple, a worm gear driven by an electric motor. Therefore, I need to look into the wiper switch as that is the leading factor in the output of the wiper, as the motor is driven by the amount of current flowing into it from the switch.


Are there any easy upgrades to the wiper switch? I'm under the reasoning that if I can better regulate the current to the motor I can have better performing windshield wipers. Or is the worm gear for the most part already maxed out in terms of rotation?

 

The motor, not the switch, will be the limiting factor for performance.

 

Now why would you say that. It's a simple DC electric motor so say I supply it with 12v and vary the current going to it and it would spin with a different angular velocity corresponding to the change in current.

If you meant to say that the stock motor is a limiting factor because on the highest setting it is already at full potential then surely that would make sense.

 

The stock motor.

A switch would not be designed to have high resistance.

 

Ok, so on that note I would have to look for a new motor and most likely the matching switch. Would that be a larger DC motor, larger worm-wheel or shorter armature? I'm not sure exactly what I would be looking for as a whole to get better (faster moving) wiper arms.


* I believe the integra switches have more settings, and maybe larger motor, but I haven't been in one to determine if the highest speed is any faster relative to the stock civic one.

 

Have you considered using RainX liquid to help keep your windshield drier? And using higher end blades?

 

Some cool batteries exist that have 16v potential and 12v source for the main wiring. They are used for high torque starting circuits or amplifier buffering in audio systems.
Charging it would be done with a seperate charger (plug in with converter) and provide a big boost in speed with the additional volts.
The entire wiper circuit MUST be seperated from the car wiring to eliminate dangerous consequences.

 

That's interesting, but that may put me well beyond the safe working limit of the stock wiper motor. The added amperage/voltage could result in added heat in the circuit but I'll be damned if I don't try it out, out of the car that is. Next time I go to the junkyard I'll get another wiper motor and build up a little circuit to see how it works out.

 

We will need pictures and a video. This could turn into The Wiper Motor Build thread.

 

Hey, I'm just trying to bring some tech to honda-tech lol. Instead of the 16 volt battery(which I have never actually heard of) I might just setup 2 12v batteries in series which a voltage regulator and see what happens.

 

Nah, just run them in series and see what a 24V does to those motors. :D