Audiovox cruise issues.

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Northwoods Snowman

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I have two issues I'm trying to diagnose with my cruise. First is that one a two hour ride in the rain this weekend the cruise system ingested some water somewhere and disabled it. Green light would not turn on when I hit "on". Once it dried out, all was good. Are there particular connections I should be waterproofing?

Also, I have an issue where it will allow the bike speed to drop 10 mph below set speed before it will re-engage. I think it happens most often after I speed up to pass someone and then try to coast back to set speed. I have not been able to recreate the issue reliably. Any ideas what may cause this?

 
1) The control pad with the 'buttons' needs to be sealed against the elements.

2) In all probability there is too much slack in the bead chain at the throttle pulley. Lack of vacuum sound compelling but if that were the case you would have MAJOR speed drift when going up hill.

I did some troubleshooting for a Forum member that had cruise issues.

The pad snaps open. The person that sealed this pad didn't seal around all the openings and used a silicon that was not copper friendly. The wire exit hole on the back side of the control pad needs to be sealed too.

Pad3-1.jpg


The black dots behind the ON/OFF SET RESUME buttons are little carbon dots which are somewhat conductive -- just like water.

Pad1-1.jpg


When the button is pressed the carbon dot shorts out one set of the interlaced gold fingers which is sensed by an IC. Water infiltrating the pad can cause the same finger shorting and perhaps short more than one set of interlaced fingers at a time. Also note that with water seeping in over time, the wrong silicone and the presence of electricity has resulted in eaten up circuitry. This 'un be dead beyond all recovery.

PCB1.jpg


Some people have replaced the control pad with miniature switches mounted in the left handlebar control pod.

 
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I sealed my control pad. Details in this post. [edit] Used for four years, much of it in rain, never a problem. Only stopped using it when I updated my cruise control to Yamaha's 2014 model. [/edit]

 
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The control pad does seem like the weakest link in the AVCC model. I used liquid electrical tape to seal it up as best I could and so far in 4 years it seems relatively stable, but then again I don't ride too often in the rain so its hard to say how it would work in harsher climates.

I think FarWestEddie did a write up on putting switches into the left handlebar switch module which seems like a better way to go for a long term solution....

 
I'll have to pull apart the switch housing and see how well it's sealed up. Thanks for the info! I know the back is siliconed but I do not know about the front as the PO installed it.

The daisy chain has just enough slack in it that it will not pull on the throttle when the bike is off and the throttle is closed. I occasionally had a sticking throttle so I encased the daisy chain in shrink tube to hold it in line and that fixed that issue. No idea what was catching, but occasionally the throttle would stick open momentarily until I forced it closed. I doubt that is related to my 10mph speed drop though. I can't remember for sure, but I want to say I've had this problem before putting the shrink tube on.

 
Good posts! For the speed drop, if you set your speed, then back off 5 MPH or so and hold the throttle steady the cruise will take over from there in 10-15 seconds.

I did that for a couple of years on my KLR until I actually got around to fixing it correctly...two weeks before I sold it to my buddy
smile.png


 
Remember this was on Kawasaki KLR 650,, and not our FJR.'s I had the cruise cable pulling from the wrong angle. Originally, the gas tank was right were I wanted to put it, so I compromised on the location but it didn't work too well.

I moved the cruise cable to be in line with the throttle cables which gave a straighter pull angle and it worked great. No more speed drops when first set and it held speed really well on the interstate. Just fit under the gas tank too.

 
...I compromised on the location but it didn't work too well...I moved the cruise cable to be in line with the throttle cables which gave a straighter pull angle and it worked great. No more speed drops when first set and it held speed really well...
Thanks for that. We are still at the bead chain/cable to fix the sagging speed on initial setting.

 
Remember this was on Kawasaki KLR 650,, and not our FJR.'s I had the cruise cable pulling from the wrong angle. Originally, the gas tank was right were I wanted to put it, so I compromised on the location but it didn't work too well.
I moved the cruise cable to be in line with the throttle cables which gave a straighter pull angle and it worked great. No more speed drops when first set and it held speed really well on the interstate. Just fit under the gas tank too.
Good to know. I don't think that's exactly what my problem is as I know I'm pulling pretty straight. About the only way to improve it for me would to set up the daisy chain on a cam like the throttle cable.

I did notice something today though. I was riding home and had the cruise set at 80. It did it's drop off thing so I held it manually at about 75 for about three miles without it re-engaging. Then I let off and it dropped to about 66 before it finally sped back up! How ridiculous is that!?

Also, I ride down a long hill going to work, and when I tried using the cruise this morning it would overshoot a little (set at 65, overshoot to about 67) and then let off and not re-engage until I had dropped to 5 mph below my set point. Then it would speed back up and start the process all over again. I finally have up and turned the cruise off.

Seems a root cause of the issue has something to do with it not being able to compensate when the bike goes faster than the set speed, but I don't know how that would translate into slowing down so much before kicking back in.

 
Had symptoms not totally dissimilar from yours on my installation on my '10. I'd sealed the actuator against water ingress because of its mounting position. This stopped air bleeding into the actuator's body, so that the vacuum operation was somewhat compromised, see posts 13 and 14 in that topic.

Any chance this could be an issue for yours?

 
Any play in the cruise cable connection to the throttle bodies can cause the speed drop you mentioned. I know you said that you removed all the play in the cable, but can the bead chain eyelet connector (Part # 25 from the CCS100 manual) move before the cruise cable actually starts pulling on the throttle?

On my '05 FJR , the speed would drop if the bead chain connector could move. Once I fixed the bead chain connector so it wouldn't move, the speed drop went away.

The cruise has to get rid of any play before it actually starts pulling on the cable. That play can cause your speed drop.

 
Any play in the cruise cable connection to the throttle bodies can cause the speed drop you mentioned. I know you said that you removed all the play in the cable, but can the bead chain eyelet connector (Part # 25 from the CCS100 manual) move before the cruise cable actually starts pulling on the throttle?
On my '05 FJR , the speed would drop if the bead chain connector could move. Once I fixed the bead chain connector so it wouldn't move, the speed drop went away.

The cruise has to get rid of any play before it actually starts pulling on the cable. That play can cause your speed drop.
Yes, as a matter of face I believe it can. I left a slight bit of play to make sure the cruise didn't prevent the TBs from closing all the way. I'm pretty sure the connector is free to rotate around the shaft it's on. i"ll see if I can get in there and tighten it up. I would have thought it should be free to rotate so it's always pointing in the direction of the cable. So how exactly did you set yours? Adjust the cable play until the cable just barely allows the TB's to hit the idle stop? What direction do you have to chain connector anchored in?

 
Had symptoms not totally dissimilar from yours on my installation on my '10. I'd sealed the actuator against water ingress because of its mounting position. This stopped air bleeding into the actuator's body, so that the vacuum operation was somewhat compromised, see posts 13 and 14 in that topic.
Any chance this could be an issue for yours?
I'm not sure. I will have to look into it! Worth a check. The PO installed it and I don't know what little things he did that may be hidden inside.

 
I drilled the throttle tab; put a small cotter pin on the link between the last two beads so that the link was in the 'eye' of the cotter pin; pushed the cotter pin through the hole and spread it's legs
smile.png
then wrapped the legs around the throttle tab so they can't get snagged on anything. I had pillion assist the throttle adjustment. I would adjust the CC cable until the throttle tab just touched the idle stop then had pillion open the throttle just a fraction and let go, I watched to be sure that the throttle tab returned to the stop. I wanted to be sure that even with light throttle spring action it would still return to idle. Everything worked good. Done -- until Part II.

Part II -- I did a throttle body synch and got everything all synched up and running smooth. I had to adjust the idle speed several times during the process. Then my CC didn't engage as well as it used to. Light dawned -- I moved the position of the idle stop which changed the seating height of the throttle tab. I readjusted the CC cable and all was right with the world again.

Unrelated to the cruise control but worth noting, changing the idle speed also slightly tweaks the offset of the Throttle Position Sensor. Nothing to worry about, but it will be changed a tiny bit.

 
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So I wanted to follow up on this. Over the winter I sealed up the cruise switch (good thing I did, the corrosion had already started but hadn't progressed too far to ruin anything) and tightened up the bolt holding the cruise cable to the throttle cable cam as was suggested. Problem solved. I took the bike out a couple weeks ago for a test ride once it finally warmed up enough and I could set the cruise and accelerate manually, then let off the throttle and the cruise would kick in about 1 mph under the set speed. Thanks for all the help, I wish I would have taken the time to do this sooner!

 
So I wanted to follow up on this. Over the winter I sealed up the cruise switch (good thing I did, the corrosion had already started but hadn't progressed too far to ruin anything) and tightened up the bolt holding the cruise cable to the throttle cable cam as was suggested. Problem solved. I took the bike out a couple weeks ago for a test ride once it finally warmed up enough and I could set the cruise and accelerate manually, then let off the throttle and the cruise would kick in about 1 mph under the set speed. Thanks for all the help, I wish I would have taken the time to do this sooner!
Thanks for the update - I should probably go check my control pad and see how it looks inside. I sealed it up several years ago but have never checked to see how good the job has held up. If I remember correctly, Murph's Kit included a 2nd control pad so there should be a spare somewhere (can I find it if I need it? probably not).

 
Another followup: I still would have the problem of the speed varying about 4 or 5 mph at the right speed (wind load) range and in hills. I decided to adjust the cruise to the "standard" setting for the vehicle power to weight ratio DIP switches (most recommendations I've seen are for the high power to weight ratio setting). Seems to have solved that problem too. Reduced the variance to about 1 or 2 mph since it kicks in faster. Not too abruptly unless you're in a low gear like 3rd around town or something. On the highway it behaves much more like a car now. I can drive down a hill and it won't let me slow way down before it kicks back in and it doesn't overshoot as bad.

 
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