A programmable Intermittant Wiper capability .

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CanisLupus

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Joined
Sep 16, 2016
Messages
121
I believe that this could be programmed without the addition of any hardware . It would utilize the single sweep position of the wiper control arm (ie. pushing down on the control arm) .

1. To activate the intermittant mode you would press down on the control arm and the wipers would sweep once as normal . But if you press down on the control arm again within the 'Max Interval' , the wipers would go into the intermittant mode at the interval of time between the 2 presses of the control arm .
2. To deactivate the mode , another single press of the control arm could either give one last sweep or just turn off the mode without a final sweep .
3. But , another press within 'Max Interval' would change to a new rate of sweep .


The 'Max Interval' might be perhaps in the high single digits of seconds .
 
While it doesn't always work perfectly, the camera based system they use is pretty good at determining when and how fast the wipers need to work. Conditions can change radically in a short time...having the computer decide seems to work pretty well. I do not remember if that function is standard or optional, but it is on mine. If it is optional, why would they support another method? While I don't always agree with their option packaging (you need to buy bits that you don't really want), it is a fact of life these days that is not unique to BMW.
 
Perhaps , also , in the settings menu , the function could be turned off for those that don't want it .
 
CanisLupus said:
Perhaps , also , in the settings menu , the function could be turned off for those that don't want it .
The adaptive wipers is already user selectable...it is turned on by pressing the button on the end of the stalk. You can get a single swipe by a light depression of the lever, and into fixed speed by further pressing the lever down (unless I'm confusing it with my other BMW). I generally just use the adaptive setting.
 
I believe the auto-wipers on the i3 use sound to determine rain. It is a fairly common technology used on most vehicles with auto-wipers. What sets the i3 apart from all other brands that I have owned is the need to turn the auto function on every time the car has been started. In most cars the wiper control is simply left on, and the wipers start wiping whenever there is rain. I also find that the i3 auto-wipe function is less responsive and less accurate than other cars I've had with them, but the i3 wipers do work fine for me. Just sometimes a bit faster or slower than optimal.

Since rain typically speeds up and slows down, sometimes only because the driving speeds up or down, the fixed interval wipe is not that useful all that often, by comparison to the auto-wipe that does speed up and slow down in response to how much water is hitting the windshield. For this reason, I think the programmable fixed interval idea, although quite brilliant actually, is more complex than useful. That is, the idea is wonderful, and simple enough to use, but still more complex than simply turning on the auto function with the press of a button, with a resulting better solution.
 
The intermittant function would be a good stand-in for the conditions in which the Auto function doesn't work well , ie. cold weather .
 
they just need to improve it...... not as good as I have seen in other cars (sometimes just wipes way too late, then starts wipping dry windows.....).

And YES: auto at start the car in settings please (in general more start the car settings ar needed).
 
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