Hmmm,

New voltage regulator, new Optima battery.
12.73 volts at idle, 12.75 at speed.
But now my wipers are going really slow.
Even on high they are slower than they were on low before.

Any ideas guys??

 

I would kinda like to see a little more voltage, maybe 13.2.

 

alt?

Doyle

 

Those wipers should be moving fine at 12 volts if you are able to push enough current .. try putting your old battery back just for laughs ..

 

Has anyone else thought (?) about the minimal change in voltage output? Maybe the connectors are dirty? Ground strap need to be replaced? If those wire strands are broken, the resistance will be too high, and the alt will not be able to push voltage through them.

 

no doubt it should be higher at speed as Whale points out . but i still think a fully charged bat should be able to run the wipers.

 

True. Maybe it's worth a closer look at those battery cables and connectors. What is the CCA on those Optimas? Over a 1,000? Better make sure it's fully charged.

 

yeah no kidding .. i 1000 cca battery that can't move a wiper?

 

Hmm, she cranked fine with the new battery, so if the starter as enough juice, I would have to assume the wiper motor does too.
I installed a new ground strap to reach the Optima Neg terminal.
The Optima I got was the heavier duty one, 800 CCA.
I'm wondering if something happened when running them at 18V with the bad VR.
Or maybe they were just faster then LOL

 

Either that, or the VR is doing its job now

 

kind of reminds me of when I replaced the recepticles in my kitchen. forgot they were split recepticles and forgot to break off the little tab. I actually did think the kettle boiled kind of fast but it wasn't until I put a piece of taost in the toaster that i realized me error ... the inside of the toaster went completely white and my breadd burst into flames practically....
now back to your regularly scheduled program....

Ian I would measure the voltage at the wipers ,but i am sure it is a current issue

 

Yeah, I'm gonna get to that soon. Measure the voltage at the motor, calculate the voltage drop across and current draw.
Might be able to compare measurements with someone else and see where the problem lies.

 

either that or only drive it when sunny ...

 

Sounds like my wipers had the "Tim Taylor" done on them.
I suppose I've been running @ 18V since I got the car 2 years ago.

 

DRY windshield = SLOW moving wipers, especially well worn wiper blades.