Cruise Control...real cruise control

I found this link on the PC800 forum.

For all who've been looking for a genuine cruise control here is a link for a clone of the discontinued Audiovox CCS100 cruise control which has been installed on a few Silverwings: http://www.murphskits.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=422

It's not a plug & play product, but at ~$180 the kit is not hugely expensive. It will, however, need some additional parts as well as installation.

Tim

Nice one.

I wonder if the control unit (rocker switches) is water proof.

Found the answer to my question by following the various links: Its not, but...

"Weatherproof the control pad by taking it apart and removing the membrane switches from the housing. Smear some silicone adhesive around the holes in the housing and replace the membrane. Snap the control pad back together then smear some more silicone around the seam on the back and gob a liberal amount around the wires where they come out the back. Looks waterproof to me."

I actually have this kit mostly installed but not working yet. It was going to be a thanksgiving weekend project last year (I mean over a year ago) but for some reason after i connected everything I couldn't get the control module to power on. My SW is my daily driver and I couldn't leave the bike unbuttoned for too long so I put it all back together, zip tied the control pad under the handlebar cover, and let it lay dormant for over a year. I hope to get this working the next long weekend I have. Until then the throttle lock I bought has been working ok, although it's a pain on hilly interstates to have to constantly adjust up & down.

BTW I decided not to use a vacuum actuated system shown above. I am instead using a Rostra unit that has a stepper motor rather than the vacuum servo to adjust the throttle. For a similar price it seemed like better technology.

Jesse in Atlanta

I have the original audiovox unit on my bike.
If the clone works just as well, you're stylin'!

dspevack wrote:

I have the original audiovox unit on my bike.
If the clone works just as well, you're stylin'!

Dspevack how did you connect the CC cable to the throttle cam? I ended up filing down part of the barrel-shaped end of the cable (throttle cam side) to slip the loop-type cable adapter over it, but not confident with the result.

Also, how did you secure the CC cable to the bike to prevent it shifting? I had it zip tied to the fuel rail but also not happy with that solution.

Jesse

I did none of the above.
There was a guy in Kingsport Tennessee who loved to meet fellow Silverwing riders. He had these kits, and if you came to his home he would charge you about 300 for the cc installed.

He did it all for me.

I had a skiing accident a few years ago and was off my swing for awhile, when I was ready to get back on it had deteriorated so badly, I had it stripped of aftermarket gadgets and junked the carcass.

All of my stuff is bubblewrapped and waiting for my finances to change so I can reinstall it on another wing. And no none of it is for sale. Too valuable

Dan

Must be nice to have someone to do the work for you

Jesse

toolboxjesse wrote:

Must be nice to have someone to do the work for you

Jesse

Must be nice to have the knowledge to do it yourself

Some people are mechanically inclined.
Some are mechanically reclined.

And I had to ride all the way from Miami FL to Kingsport Tenn. to get it done.
I had decided to attend the Honda Hoot that year in Tenn. So it wasn't much farther to ride.

Dan

It takes a bit of fiddling to install a cruise control on a bike. I put a Rostra electronic unit on a '80 GL1100 about six years ago. It worked well but took a good bit of head scratching to get everything located and hooked up. The real work came calibrating it. I spent a fair bit of time adjusting the sensitivity, delay and a couple other parameters. One thing you MUST be able to do is override the actuator. If it should fail at a high throttle setting or just go 'all engines ahead' it must be possible to overpower it with the throttle grip. On the GW there's four switches to shut off the cruise one on each brake and one on the clutch plus one down on near the carb so if you shut the throttle off manually it kills the cruise.
On the SW you don't have a clutch so that's one less safety. A cruise control is great on trips but you have to be careful how you install it so you can't get a runaway, that could spoil your day.
I plan on installing one on my SW in a couple months when the temperature in the garage is a bit warmer. I'll have to decide whether to go with another Rostra electronic or the Audiovox units.

Looking through the instructions you connect it to the back brake light to enable/disable the cruise. Since the break light is operated by both left and right levers that gives us two switches to disconnect the cruise.

I like the idea of "throttle off manually it kills the cruise" but can you close the throttle with the servo holding it open?

I saw on one of the links from that site where someone installed a switch inline with the controller to kill the power do it, sounds like a good idea.

RArch wrote:

Looking through the instructions you connect it to the back brake light to enable/disable the cruise. Since the break light is operated by both left and right levers that gives us two switches to disconnect the cruise.

You can connect it to either brake light switch - the switches are essentially in parallel, so if you connect it to one, using either switch will result in power present at the other switch's normally closed terminal. Just don't connect it to the microswitch that does the engine start enable function.