Audiovox Cruise Control CCS-100 vs. Rostra-100 Electronic Cruise Control

[Pezzz]

Woo Hoo !!!!
Cruise Control arrived today .....
Stay Tuned ... opcornopcorn

 

[Reg_Siemens]

I'm including a few pics of the bracket

Hello again Reg,
Firstly, What a great write up. I love it when things are documented so even I can understand
Do you have any pictures / drawings of the bracket you made up to extend the cable travel?
The first part of the article looks like it may have been cut off right at the crucial part where you are talking about making up a bracket to attach to the throttle to give more than 41mm travel.
Thanks again in advance.
I will let you know how my install goes as well.
I will probably do a detailed install write up on www.ozstoc.com and then copy and paste it all up onto here as well.
Mark.

 

[Reg_Siemens]

Meant to also include some of throttle lever...

 

[Pezzz]

Thanks Reg, I went away for the weekend and have been busy with work.
I am hoping to get to this very soon but every weekend through September is booked......
I will keep you all informed anyway.
Thanks again for the info ...

 

[STurgisSTeele]

Might not have tech support anymore... Their website has this...
Cruise Control Notes: We do not recommend using any Rostra cruise control systems on motorcycle, ATV, or other non-automotive applications as we do not validate the operation of these units on these vehicles. Due to safety concerns surrounding these installations, Rostra representatives are unable to provide technical support on these applications.
CC sure would be nice; but just have to rely on my throttle lock for now.
BeST of luck with your inSTall. I have the same bike and look forward to your report.

 

[the_gr8t_waldo]

I had an occasion to call their help line about 4years ago. up until that point I was working off of some prints that their engineering dept. had drawn up for an 1300 owner that is also is an member on this forum ( I've forgotten the name, and I apologize for this) I had chopped up the wiring harness pretty good and had a question about the harness wiring. as soon as I mentioned that this was an motorcycle install all communication stopped....at that point it was like talking to a brick wall. polite, but a wall just the same. the "tech specialist" wouldn't even answer my question about the ome harness ( at that point I only asked questions about the unit as it was shipped from their warehouse- I wasn't asking for validation, just information and still got "the wall") I ended up figuring it out on my own.. great unit, but three thumbs down on their help after the sale. there's nothing that I can see that precludes the unit from being installed on a motorcycle. I am under the impression that they are just lawyering up! it's probably with good reason, but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

 

[Reg_Siemens]

I haven't spoken to Rostra for nearly 10 years but they were very helpful. Being a business owner that has to pay a ridiculous premium for liability insurance, there's little doubt that the "wall" that you experienced is a function of that. Underwriters assess risk based on various factors and I bet anything that providing that non-automotive disclaimer and refusing any kind of support and/or advice for installation in a non-tested application are things that are a condition of their liability insurance. Our quick to sue mentality has brought this on ourselves!

 

[The Dan]

I read there disclaimer and was ready when I called with questions...ON MY HONDA CIVIC..Got all the info I needed. Just don't tell them it's a ST.

 

[Pezzz]

Well after 4 months of procrastinating on this projects (work got in the way) we managed to get it all in .
A big thank you to Reg_Siemens for your information as well as digging out all the photos that had gone missing.
We used a combinations of Reg's install and drseth's found at https://www.st-owners.com/forums/showthread.php?125590-Rostra-Cruise-Control-for-ST1100/page3 .
I would also thank Yorkie from the OzSTOC.com forum for his help as we actually did the work at his place
The circumference of the rear tyre is 2m which means with 6 magnets (1 in each disc bolt head) we would end up with 3000 pulses per km. Without buying a signal multiplier, there was no dip switch setting for this (the closest being 2500 ppk). So I ended up using 4 magnets instead inside the heads of disc bolts - more on this later.

The main unit we mounted in the duck tail with cruise cable running down left side of bike and wiring harness down right side.
The hardest part by far was the installation of the cable to the throttle. That and working out the wiring. As Yorkie said - the main problem is instead of buying 1 unit, we are buying 3 parts to make 1 unit (the universal cruise control, the pickup / signal generator, and the controller). After a fair bit of head scratching and shortening, we got the cabling sorted out.
We followed drseth's install for the cable but used a longer piece of metal from the bolt securing the throttle cables. I am not sure if drseth wound the loop cable around the spring or just attached straight onto the stop like we did.
Yorkie put a notch in the idle stop on the throttle assembly to hold the cable in and routed cruise cable behind throttle cables.
Next time I have cover off i will add a photo or will add once Yorkie sends me his pics.

On the ride back from York, i tried the unit at 100kph. The bike surged up to about 105 and then dropped back to around 80 .. then back up to 100 and back down and so on and so forth. Needless to say the rest of the trip was done with just normal throttle handling.

I spent a few hours yesterday (and around 100km on a 4km circuit) setting dip switches to all sorts of things, removing magnets, playing with cable slack (over and over again). What was happening was that when i would engage the CC at say 80 kph, the bike would surge forward to about 84, then drop to 70 then back up to 80 and straight back down to around 65, back to 80 then down to 60 ...... very jerky ... Wombat suggested it sounded like a pickup / sensor problem and i should either move sensor closer or further away. It was around 10mm away at this time so i moved it closer. Surging didn't change noticeably so I moved it away to around 13mm (1/2") ....
It Worked !!!!!!!!
Set at 80 kph, holds at 80 kph (around 50 mph) ... maybe a little rough when it needs to adjust but have not tried any real hills etc. I found the higher the speed, the better it performs (rock solid at 100 kph on flat-ish road).

Thoughts so far ...... An interesting project ... once sorted it seems to perform OK.
Bear in mind this was 1/3 the price of the MCCruise. Yorkie has the MC Cruise and said that it was made for the bike in that all terminations were there to add to existing ST1100 harness so no need to strip wires etc, and being 1 kit, all works happily together - no guessing of wires. I bought the controller with the engaged light and still cannot get that to work.

Thanks again to all involved and for the advice from this forum.

Pezzz

 

[kiltman]

Surging didn't change noticeably so I moved it away to around 13mm (1/2") ....
It Worked !!!!!!!!

I spent two hours last night sifting through all posts regarding ROSTRA cruise control. This was the solution to my woes! My cruise now works!

 

[ST Gui]

My cruise now works!

Congratulations! That must feel great!