Auto Wipers

[37 RUBY]

Originally Posted by Rocinante

No, it hasn't seen a main dealer in a few years now. The consensus therefore seems to be drifting towards giving it a clean.

Again, if anyone can assist in how I would go about this, without breaking it, or requiring a dealer to reset/re-calibrate something I've disconnected in the process, it would be appreciated.

I find road traffic film and car wash was make the sensor on my XC70 less sensitive/inoperative or even activates on a dry screen.

I've had a recalibration done at the dealers but it was not a deal better.

The best response I get from the sensor is after I clean the whole windscreen with traffic film remover, rinse with plain water then use some Autoglym glass polish solely on the sensor area. I never wash the windscreen with car wash and wax.

From my experience if the sensor see's large beads of water it activates quite well but if the water upon the screen is fine/flat the operation is poor.

I've given up on it to be fair. Previous two cars(not Volvo's) had it and they were no different.

My eyes work far better and the wiper stalk is within reach

HTH

Cheers

Dave

[Rocinante]

Originally Posted by 37 RUBY

I find road traffic film and car wash was make the sensor on my XC70 less sensitive/inoperative or even activates on a dry screen.

I've had a recalibration done at the dealers but it was not a deal better.

The best response I get from the sensor is after I clean the whole windscreen with traffic film remover, rinse with plain water then use some Autoglym glass polish solely on the sensor area. I never wash the windscreen with car wash and wax.

From my experience if the sensor see's large beads of water it activates quite well but if the water upon the screen is fine/flat the operation is poor.

I've given up on it to be fair. Previous two cars(not Volvo's) had it and they were no different.

My eyes work far better and the wiper stalk is within reach

HTH

Cheers

Dave

It's not perfect, but until recently I found it to generally function adequately. It's not a big deal, but like a lot of things on modern cars, it's a convenience you get used to.

I'll give cleaning the screen a go, and see if it helps, if no one can advise anything more specific.

[I-S]

Originally Posted by 37 RUBY

I find road traffic film and car wash was make the sensor on my XC70 less sensitive/inoperative or even activates on a dry screen.


From my experience if the sensor see's large beads of water it activates quite well but if the water upon the screen is fine/flat the operation is poor.

This.

The sensor works by firing IR light outwards. When raindrops fall on the sensor, some of the IR is refracted within the raindrop back to the sensor.

This works really well with beads of rain, it works poorly with flat/oily film. It also works well with a flat windscreen, but one that's a few years old with thousands of fine wiper scratches in it then not so well.

You can massively influence the sensitivity of the rain sensor by properly decontaminating and then polishing (ideally machine polishing) the windscreen. You need to use an actual abrasive polish, not just "glass cleaner".

[Easington]

Originally Posted by I-S

This.

The sensor works by firing IR light outwards. When raindrops fall on the sensor, some of the IR is refracted within the raindrop back to the sensor.

This works really well with beads of rain, it works poorly with flat/oily film. It also works well with a flat windscreen, but one that's a few years old with thousands of fine wiper scratches in it then not so well.

You can massively influence the sensitivity of the rain sensor by properly decontaminating and then polishing (ideally machine polishing) the windscreen. You need to use an actual abrasive polish, not just "glass cleaner".

Some say that wire wool is good for this

[kdst5]

Don't think I would try wire wool I would have thought that was to abrasive. A glass cutting compound would seem like the most sensible choice.