How to make heated front wipers

Drivers who drive all year round are constantly faced with the problem of freezing wipers in winter. All known methods of windshield processing do not always help, and it happens that there is simply little time, but you have to go. A regular stove will cope with ice on the brushes in 15-20 minutes. In this case, not all the glass will thaw, but only at the bottom. But there is a way out.

How to make heated wipers

There are not many ways to solve the problem. The first is a trip to the auto shop for a heated windshield wiper. But for many, the purchase is prohibitively expensive. The second option is to purchase overhead elements for wipers. Here, too, there are nuances: the windshield is subject to sharp temperature changes, which can lead to the appearance of microcracks. Therefore, it is more expedient to install overhead elements on the rear wiper, if it is there. the third option is to make the heating of the wipers yourself, using the existing brushes. This will be discussed.

"Modernization" of windshield wipers using nichrome thread

This refers to the heating wire used in many household appliances. It is inexpensive and is usually sold in hardware stores in the form of a spiral (a kind of twisted tube). The purchased wire with a diameter of 0,3 mm must be pulled into a straight thread about 45-50 mm long. The easiest way to do this is with a rod or screwdriver. Thread it into a spiral (tube) and unwind to the desired length. It is advisable to measure the resistance of the segment with a tester, which should be in the range of 6-10 ohms. Then the wiper will warm up in about 1 minute. When the wire is prepared, you can proceed to the next step.

Removing wipers

Windshield wipers of different designs are installed on different cars. Therefore, it is difficult to give specific recommendations for disassembly. Generalized action plan:

• ✅ unsnap the wiper from the leash
  
• ✅ remove the elastic band and stretch the nichrome wire into its central hollow part (back and forth) so that its two parts do not touch each other
  
• ✅ make the threads exit on one side, leave a small loop on the second and insulate it (it is needed for temperature compensation of rubber and nichrome)
  
• ✅ bring the two ends of the thread out by soldering a couple of pieces of ordinary wire about 1,5 m long to them
  the resulting double “cable” must be brought into the engine compartment or under the windshield niche
  

Fasten the elastic in the structure and install the wiper in its regular place - a leash.

How to connect

To do this, they usually use a "positive" wire going to the cigarette lighter. You can, of course, do everything directly through a button or switch. But if you want to get a more or less reliable and safe heating system that will not harm the car's electrics, it is better to additionally use a relay and a 10-15 amp fuse. It is connected in series (into a gap) of the wire coming from the "plus" of the cigarette lighter. Connect the other end of the cable to the power contact of the relay and to the same second - "minus". Connect the nichrome wire to the two remaining terminals through the button. It can be installed separately in the cabin: where, depends on the design preferences of the car owner. Some of them simply hide the switch under the panel.

Factory wipers

If there is a possibility in terms of finances, it is easier to buy wipers already equipped with a heating system. In this case, it remains only to find a suitable model to match your car, and connect it according to the manufacturer's instructions. Below is an example of relatively inexpensive factory heated wipers.

Burner

This model has a universal mount and a length of 425 mm. The wiper is powered by the on-board network car 12 V, can heat up to +60 C° with a power consumption of about 70 W. The heating element is made in the form of a metal plate, which gives the structure additional rigidity. The kit includes many adapters, so the brushes will fit almost any car model.

Other ways to deal with icing

The most radical method is to install a windshield with a built-in heating filament. The method is effective - the wipers and almost the entire area surrounding it will thaw out in 3-4 minutes, while the engine is warming up. However, a couple of problems immediately emerge. The first is that it is not at all easy to find glass for the corresponding car model. And the second is cost. For the Chinese version of the product for budget cars, you will have to pay from 5 to 20 thousand rubles. Add to this the cost of removing the old windshield and installing a new one if you are not able to do it yourself.

Strip heaters

An inexpensive way, which means heating the rest zone of the wipers (at the bottom of the windshield). Strips can be bought at an auto shop or on the market. And not only foreign, but also domestic production. Usually they sell transparent ribbons. It is best to connect through a separate button and relay, as described above. It can also be connected to the heated rear window, since the strips consume relatively little: from 14 to 20 watts. Ribbon stickers can cause problems - sometimes you have to remove the torpedo to get to the wipers' rest area from the other side of the glass.

Additional airflow

The essence of the method is to purchase a small fan with a heating element. Despite the widespread advertising of the device, it has low efficiency, because it blows at one point. But if you warm up the car engine for a long time, then the device will do (first, a small area on the windshield will melt, and the rest will be “finished off” by the standard heater). It is inexpensive, installs quickly and connects directly to the cigarette lighter.

Heating "antifreeze"

Another option to keep the wipers from freezing is worthy of attention. Since this method not only melts ice, snow, but also allows you to remove dirt from the glass. There are two ways here. The first is to heat the injectors. A resistance is built into them, which is connected to the on-board network and heats up. Due to this, heated liquid is supplied to the glass. You can make such a system yourself. It is enough to find a 300 Ohm resistor, build it into the nozzle (you will have to drill a groove) and connect it to the same rear window heating.

The second option is to use special soft plates with a thermostat. You can find them in retail outlets selling radio components, sometimes in household stores. When a certain temperature (+50 С°) is reached, the heater switches off. Most often, self-adhesive plates are found on sale, so fixing them on the washer reservoir from the outside is a simple task.

Conclusions

As you can see, there are many ways to heat the wipers, and along the way, the windshield. To equip your car, you can use the most suitable of the above methods. But if you do not have experience in connecting, you should give preference to factory products, because the intervention of an unprepared user in the electrics of a modern car is fraught with failure of nodes, the cost of which is incommensurable with the price of factory heated wipers.