Wipey promises clean helmet visor

There has been no shortage of inventions over the years to keep the rain off your visor and now there is Wipey which is a portable windscreen wiper.

Wipey is a snap-on device which fits in seconds to your visor and uses a small electric motor to wipe it clean like a car’s windscreen wiper.

The Slovenian company cancelled a crowd-funding campaign and advised that supporters would get a full refund.

They have now found an investor to start production, but also started another crowd-funding campaign to reduce the price per WiPEY unit.

The campaign was fully funded with six days to go on the campaign.

Wipey snaps into a tiny plastic guide which can be fixed to the visor with two M2 screws or double-sided tape. 

How Wipey works

You can put the small 55g unit on the top or bottom of your visor and there is a big black button to push to activate it. One push gives one sweep, but a longer push starts the intermittent wiping.

While it’s on, press again to go from a one-second intermittent wipe to three seconds snd again for six seconds.

One long push of the button then turns it off.

Seems awkward, but an optional Bluetooth handlebar-mounted remote will also be available.

They say it does not impede the anti-fog function of a Pinlock visor insert.

It looks like it could easily be dislodged, but they say it has been tested at 130km/h.

A 3V battery will last up to three hours of continuous use or 12 hours intermittently. You can also use 3V rechargeable batteries.

Price for Kickstarter supporters is $US89 or $119 with the button.

It will come in yellow or black with a one-year warranty and the wiper blade can be replaced.

Victorian police might take a dim view of this product since they still believe any addition to a helmet is illegal.

They also object to novelty helmet covers because they “have the potential to impede vision through the visor”, so this may be deemed illegal.

Visor cleaning inventions

Wipey follows many inventions trying to solve the same problem of rain on a helmet visor.

The simplest solutions are sprays such as Rain-X, gloves with a small wiper blade on the forefinger, or the glove-mounted Visorcat washer/wiper that washes as well as wipes your visor. 

However, there have also been automated wipers like Wipey around for a long time such as this Turbo Visor that “spins the rain away”.

The closest to Wipey is Rainpal which raised money through a crowd-funding campaign a couple of years ago yet has still not gone into production.

We can’t tell you more about Rainpal as we have been threatened with legal action.

Wipey is a little different because it is small and portable and quickly snaps on to any visor.