SV650 cruise control, Help

Okay, I know this is not an FJR question. But maybe some of the smart guys here can help. So here goes anyway.

I installed a cruise control on my wife's naked SV650 a while back. I used a well established installation procedure used for V-Stroms except I did not use the speed signal. I initially installed the cruise control with just the coil signal and it worked well. However it was has recently been flaky (I think this is associated with hot weather) so I decided to try using the gray wire to the VSS wire, pink with white, on V-Stroms and SV60s. On the SV650 this was the in the headlight shell.

I used the same wiring as outlined for V-Stroms. The cruise control works great with the gray wire running to the pink and white wire.......but..... no speedometer and no odometer :blink: , the speedometer shows 0 and the odometer does not move. When I disconnect the gray wire from the VSS wire I have a working speedometer but of course no cruise. I think the difference is associated with the different speedometer types. The V-Strom uses an analog speedometer display and the SV650 uses a LCD digital speedometer display.

I am thinking about trying an adjustable resistor. Perhaps if I can find the right level of resistance there will be a point at which the cruised control and speedometer both function. Any comment? Any other ideas or work arounds?

How about using some sort of a small optocoupler in series with the connection to the Speedo/ODO wire? Since there's not appreciable current being drawn you could use a tiny solid-state optocoupler, which should be cheap and readily available.

JamesK said:

How about using some sort of a small optocoupler in series with the connection to the Speedo/ODO wire? Since there's not appreciable current being drawn you could use a tiny solid-state optocoupler, which should be cheap and readily available.

Click to expand...

I understand the concept, and it sounds like a good workaround, but haven't a clue how to actually use an optocoupler in the circuit.

rfulcher said:

JamesK said:

How about using some sort of a small optocoupler in series with the connection to the Speedo/ODO wire? Since there's not appreciable current being drawn you could use a tiny solid-state optocoupler, which should be cheap and readily available.

Click to expand...

I understand the concept, and it sounds like a good workaround, but haven't a clue how to actually use an optocoupler in the circuit.

Click to expand...

First thing I would do, given your knowledge level re: electronics, is simply add a series resistor between the speedo signal and the cruise control input. Start with 10k ohms (1/4 watt size should be fine), and work your way down in steps until you find a value that doesn't overload the sensor to the point the display stops working, yet the CC is getting enough signal to function.

There may be no resistor value that will make this work reliably but it's relatively easy (if somewhat time-consuming) to try and won't cost much. Of course I have no idea what the input impedance of the CC is and how much current you can draw from the speedo signal without killing the speedometer/odometer, but someone who understands electronics could suss these things out fairly easily.

I could draw you a simple opto-coupler circuit (note that an open-collector output type optocouple may or may not work, so it might need to have 12V plumbed in) but I will let someone else do the honors and I'll get back to doing work stuff...

olsonm3915 said:

First thing I would do, given your knowledge level re: electronics, is simply add a series resistor between the speedo signal and the cruise control input. Start with 10k ohms (1/4 watt size should be fine), and work your way down in steps until you find a value that doesn't overload the sensor to the point the display stops working, yet the CC is getting enough signal to function.
There may be no resistor value that will make this work reliably but it's relatively easy (if somewhat time-consuming) to try and won't cost much.

Click to expand...

I will try to find an adjustable resistor at RadioShack and start with a resistance that allows the speedo to function and then gradually decrease resistance until both work. I hope there is such a sweet spot.

Thanks for the replies.