/diy/ - Do It Yourself

Hello /diy/,

newfag from Germany here. As we all know, Winter is coming, especially a winter that puts a nice thick icecoating over the windshield of my car. Of course, I could put some stylish cover over it, but would I post that on /diy/? No.

I came up with something involving a timer, a fan and a heating wire. The timer would go off some 10 minutes before I rush to my car, starting the fan and the heating wire to warm up (at least parts of) the windshield of my car. Anyone done something similar or interested in the outcome of this experiment? I'd like to share the results and receive input, be it a working thingy or a burnt automobile, and I'd like /diy/ to comment or at least keep me off doing something that hasn't worked for you (and burnt down your car).

Problems I am facing atm include

- energy source: Should I wire this thingy to my cigarette lighter? In case of trouble (or stupidity or both) I might empty my battery, with the effect of having a superclean windshield, but not able to move the car.

- tube: I'd simply use a piece of plastic pipe, drill holes into it and duct tape it to the front of my wind shield and put the fan and heating wire to the center. In this assembly most of the heated air would escape the tube in the center. How about small airholes in the center, increasing in size with the distance?

- timer: There's a whole load of ICs and stuff - I only need to decide, which suits me best.

- heating wire: I guess I need some sort of casing, so to NOT set my car on fire by any chance.

Plus, the problems I haven't thought of yet. That's where you come in. /diy, speak to me please!