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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Screen wiper delay unit

For years I had a Smartscreen unit on the Frogeye, but it failed recently. I don't want to buy the same again, because when it fails it disables the wipers altogether. For several days I have struggled to connect another unit, the Quasar 8093. But the supplier seems never to have heard of a Lucas wiper motor and the instructions make no sense in relation to my car's wiring. They assume the motor is turned on by sending 12v to terminal 2, when it is actually turned on by earthing terminal 1 via the switch.

So has anyone fitted a unit that works in parallel with the existing switch, is easy to install, and doesn't cost the earth?
Les Rose

Les,

I've not used the unit but from the PDF file the motor is switched by a relay with connections 2 and 3 so I can't see why you can't use it to switch the earth.
David Billington

Les,

Having thought about it a bit more you can wire the 8093 in parallel with the dash switch so both will switch the earth but you'd need to provide a switch to power the 8093 intermittent unit. Turning on the normal switch would give continuous wipe even when the intermittent was on as the 2 are in parallel.
David Billington

Les,

You could try this setup. I don't have one but I do have their emergency flasher unit and other than having to crawl under the dash it was easy to install.

https://retronicsonline.com/product/rwtm/
Martin

i had a smartscreen and when mine failed the wiper still worked but would no longer park
mark heyworth

My screen wiper delay worked brilliantly. All the time.
Then I realised the fuse had blown 🤣
GuyW

Thanks chaps. I have now worked out how to connect the unit, and before seeing Dave's advice I also concluded that I can connect it in parallel with the switch. But when I do that the relay in the unit chatters and doesn't switch. It somehow doesn't like the car's wiring.

The Retronics unit is out of stock, but very expensive anyway (sour grapes). The supplier is now poring over the Lucas RD2 wiring to try to understand it. It didn't help that he used rather arcane language in his advice rather than simply saying "connect the relay in parallel to your switch and the + and - terminals to your car's wiring".
Les Rose

Les,

How have you wired it currently when the relay chatters as the relay contacts are independent of the intermittent wiper control circuitry and so shouldn't effect the relay operation by connecting the contacts across the wiper switch terminals. How have you connected the supplies to 6 and 7 to power the control circuitry.
David Billington

This thread was discussed between 12/02/2023 and 15/02/2023

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