Trying to hook up wiper motor to star roller

[Almostparadise]

I've got a 20 amp motor  controller and a 12v lawnmower battery for the power source and having problems powering up my wiper motor. First of all this wiper motor has no pig tail, just a place to accept a plug 4 prongs. When I touch the wires to the inside two prongs I get a good spark and pop. Reversing the wires and prongs yields same result and no movement of the motor at all. Obviously I'm pretty clueless here so any help would be appreciated! 

[Arthur]

A modern car parks the wiper blades out of sight when not in use, and sweeps an arc at different rates when needed. You need to work out how the motor creates this motion, and how to change the motion to continuous turning in one direction. Looking at your pic of the connector I see what could be 4 big pins and eight smaller pins. These will almost certainly go to an electronic controller that controlls the motor's speed and direction of motion and any intermittent wipe cycles. You need to find out how the motor works, and how to convert it to work how you need and at the speed you need.  PRIOR to "park out of sight" wipers, a wiper motor simply rotated a crank internally and the blades went left and right according to a mechanical system. "park out of sight" better called park out of slipstream wipers will likely be controlled by one of the car's computers. 

[Almostparadise]

😧 It was so much simpler in my head. I can't even get the motor to turn whatsoever. I figured by touching the hot leads to the right prong by trial and error I would get some kind of movement at least. I had no idea wiper motors had all these bells and whistles. Plus I can find zero literature on this particular motor which makes it a bad joke considering my.lack of expertise. Without lit, finding out how the motor works is going to take time is all.

Any recommendations for an ac gear motor about 65 rpm like plug and play in the $40-$70 range? I've got everything ready but the motor. Sick of using my drill.

Edited 9 hours ago by Almostparadise

[Arthur]

The bonnet of a modern car slopes from the radiator grill to the glass of the windscreen. Part of that is for aerodynamic effeciency (and better miles per gallon) part is for injury reduction in the event of a car-meets-person collision (projecting parts hit hard and break skin and bone).

The only way a wiper motor can tell where the wiper blades are is by sensors on the output shaft. The only way a blade can park out of the wiping arc is to run the motor both ways controlled by a computer from the sensor contacts. To make a modern motor run one way will take a lot of work, to make an older motor run one way may be much simpler, and the motor will be OLD. Look in a scrap yard for a simple motor from a car before hidden wipers were all in vogue. The motor you hae could be a normal brush motor or it could be a stepper motor. You'll discover which if the dealer will tell you or if you can take it apart without damaging it. 

I've wondered, but never tried it, whether an old DJ turntable (- Technics 1200 or the like) would make a base for a star roller. You try it and report back BUT I'VE NEVER TRIED IT. However since DJ'ing has moved from Vinyl to CD to PC, even a working turntable might be either history or ridiculously expensive. Second thoughts If I had a spare SL1200 turntable I'd sell it for $600+ on ebay

[Almostparadise]

I've got a 6" inline fan I don't use. I have it on a speed controller that slows it down to nothing. I wonder if it has any torque at low speeds. I'll check it out.