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Electronic cruise control?

Started by great white, August 06, 2015, 09:50:35 AM

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great white

A little background: I broke my right wrist a long time ago. My problem is I can't hold the throttle very long without my hand going numb. About 10 mins tops. Throttle locks are all well and good and they do let me "shake it out" to prolong riding time, but don't do much for you on up or down hill grades.

I was looking at my 89 FJ12 and noticed it's got a funny little blanking plate right in the middle.

Oddly enough, it looks just like the slot on my Yamaha venture cruise control throttle housing. Actually, the entire housing looks pretty much the same. would probably even swap if I cared to try.

That got me wondering if it would be possible to retrofit the Yamaha VentureCruise system on an FJ. It's all pretty self contained, all it needs is power and a speed sensor signal.

I've got pretty much a complete 1985 spare system in the parts loft From a venture I scrapped this year.

The throttle cables even look like they would work.

There's a vacuum pump and pot to hide, but the FJ12 has a big enough fairing to get it in there (easily).

Just spitballin' at this time, but has anyone else done anything similar?

My Venture has lots o' torque to pull a cruise system, the FJ has at least as much.

An electronic cruise seems like such a good match for a bike like the FJ12 that's billed as a "sports tourer".....

:scratch_one-s_head:

FJmonkey

That sounds like it is worth the attempt. Considering you have most of the system already. I don't have as much difficulty with my wrist but I use a Cramp Buster for the longer hauls on the slab. I use the narrow one as it allows me full access to the grip by shifting my hand inward. Then when I want my hand to rest and hold the throttle I shift it out. I got mine from Randy at RPM. It works really well with both normal and foam grips. If you get the cruse control to work then please post it for the benefit of others.

http://www.rpmracingca.com/proddetail.asp?prod=M%2FC%3ACrampbusterN

The glass is not half full, it was engineered with a 2X safety factor.

'86 Ambulance - Bent frame, cracked case, due for an overhaul
'89 Stormy Blue - Suits my Dark Side

Arnie

There is or at least was an Electronic Cruise Control for the FJ.  It was an aftermarket car unit that was slightly modified IIRC.  I'll take a look through my saved files and see if I can find it and post to the list.
This was on the old netpath/mica list many years ago.
One of the other fossils here will probably remember too.

Arnie

ribbert

Quote from: Arnie on August 06, 2015, 10:30:15 AM
There is or at least was an Electronic Cruise Control for the FJ.  It was an aftermarket car unit that was slightly modified IIRC.  I'll take a look through my saved files and see if I can find it and post to the list.
This was on the old netpath/mica list many years ago.
One of the other fossils here will probably remember too.

Arnie

I also remember reading about a crowd that makes motorbike specific units.

FJSpringy in Sydney has proper bike cruise fitted to his FJ

Noel
"Tell a wise man something he doesn't know and he'll thank you, tell a fool something he doesn't know and he'll abuse you"

simi_ed

BTDT.  Bottom line is it didn't work.  There was no way to minimize the sensitivity of the cruise control to safely modulate the throttle of the FJ.  Minor speed drops would WHACK the throttle, almost tossing me and the wife of the bike.  the only possible solution I could think of was to use a 'gear reduction' set of pulleys to minimize the throttle actions, more trouble than I was willing to go through.  I still have the setup, if your interested!


































1
-- RKBA Regards,

Ed
===
Ed Thiele 
Simi Valley, CA -- I no longer have SoCal manners.
'89 FJ12C (Theft deterrent Silver/White)


- All that is necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for
enough good men to do nothing.

- Edmund Burke

roverfj1200

1988 FJ1200
1991 FJ1200

Richard.

great white

Heres a pic of what got me thinking about the venture cruise swap:



Suspiciously similar, no?

:)

Paul1965

I've really come to like the Throttlemeister that came on my FJ when I bought it. Does a pretty good job of holding the throttle for a good length of time, giving you a chance to rest your right hand.  Obviously it doesn't hold speed going up hill and allows you to go faster down hill.

For a real cruise control, here's a setup on eBay that's advertised to work well on bikes. Might be a lot easier to install this than try to retrofit the Venture cruise (although having that OE look would be a bonus!).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rostra-250-1223-Universal-Cruise-Control-Kit-with-250-3593-Dash-Mount-Control-/260987064062?hash=item3cc40a8efe
1978 Yamaha 400 Sold
1984 Yamaha Maxim 400 Blew up
1982 Yamaha Vision Sold
1983 Kawasaki GPz1100 Sold
1984 Yamaha FJ1100 Killed it
1991 Yamaha FJ1200 Sold
2009 Triumph Sprint ST Sold
2014 Triumph Trophy SE

simi_ed

-- RKBA Regards,

Ed
===
Ed Thiele 
Simi Valley, CA -- I no longer have SoCal manners.
'89 FJ12C (Theft deterrent Silver/White)


- All that is necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for
enough good men to do nothing.

- Edmund Burke

great white

Nah, not going aftermarket. I'd just do a throttle lock for 30-40 bucks first.

I'm just intrigued by the venture cruise and the similarities in the throttle cables and bar controls.

I've gone through whats needed to do the swap on my Venture to an 86+ cruise control (has accel/coast/resume vice the 83-85 on/set/off)and the Yamaha system is actually pretty simple.

The 83-85 venture cruise isn't much more than an electronic/vacuum throttle lock, except that it maintains speed for wind and hill loads.Not accel/decel/resume functions.

The only real hangup I see is the throttle cable and the speed signal.

As can be seen here:



It really is simple. I gave all the components so why not give it a go?

The switches and throttle quad are easy peasy. Looks like a direct swap. The boxes, pump, dump valve and vacuum actuator are a simple weld a few brackets on in the right places and bob's yer uncle.

I don't have the wiring harness, but that's not a big deal. I'll just go with weatherpak connectors and make my own disconnects.

The brake and clutch switches are dual channel on the Venture cruise (ie: switches have 4 wires vice 2) but htat is easily handled with a couple relays triggered off the FJ's 2 wire switches.

The big question is the speed sensor and the throttle cables.

I think the speed sensor might not be a problem, as the FJ has what looks like the same sensor on the back of the speedo as the Venture. Visible here on the FJ cluster:



Need to dig deeper on that one though. The FJ service manual calls it a reed switch and the Venture manual calls it a speedo sensor. Even if the sensors are sinilar, if one is putting out a diffeerent PPM (pulse per mile) thant the other one, the cruise is going to be all messed up.Not so much the maintaining speed (it just looks for change) but it only activates between 50-130 KPH. If it thinks the bike is doing less/more than that whem you try to switch it on, it's not going to work.

The throttle cable for the venture will obviously be too long to the handle bars, but the lower portion from the splitter might work fine as is. They even habve the same bend down to the carb linkage. I might be able to use the short FJ splitter to handle bar cable portions with the venture lowers. You can see the differences here.

FJ:



Venture:



I may get lucky and the cable from the venture fit the FJ as is, but I doubt it. They are most likely just too long.

Even so, the junction box in the Venture cable comes apart and there's a wheel assembly in there that joins them all together and makes it work. If the FJ cables don't work with it, I'm sure there's a set of cables out there that are the right length. I've just got to find them.

This is all concept stage at this point. I'd like to work on the FJ this winter, but most of the off months (and money) will be eaten up by the Venture project. Amongst other things, it's getting VMax heads and cams, a 2002 Venture star transmission, VMax rear differential, etc. Basically, I'm building a VMax inside a Venture touring bike. Should be a fun ride....

:)

FJmonkey

Keep posting and keep up the work...
The glass is not half full, it was engineered with a 2X safety factor.

'86 Ambulance - Bent frame, cracked case, due for an overhaul
'89 Stormy Blue - Suits my Dark Side

Harvy

Quote:

"The FJ service manual calls it a reed switch and the Venture manual calls it a speedo sensor."

I'm pretty sure the reed switch is to do with the speed restriction as present on Domestic Japanese models. I've seen a picture somewhere that those 2 wires coming from the back of such models do in fact connect to a reed switch at the back of the speedo and go to the igniter to cut the spark.

Maybe a swap to the whole Venture speedo will do the trick for cruise control using that gear.

I may be completely wrong too!


Harvy
FJZ1 1200 - It'll do me just fine.
Timing has much to do with the success of a rain dance.

movenon

On the read switch, I think it is tied to the self cancelling turn signal system. Somewhere in the service manual it explains the theory of the self cancelling turn signal.  I am out of town and away from my manual at the moment.
George
Life isn't about having the best, but about making the best of what you have...

1990 FJ 1200

great white

Quote from: movenon on August 06, 2015, 08:18:13 PM
On the read switch, I think it is tied to the self cancelling turn signal system. Somewhere in the service manual it explains the theory of the self cancelling turn signal.  I am out of town and away from my manual at the moment.
George

makes sense. The Venture also has self cancelling. I need to get it apart to verify if the reed switch/speed sensor outputs the same signal. If it does, it's almost a plug it in and go scenario...

great white

Quote from: Harvy on August 06, 2015, 08:09:53 PM
Quote:

"The FJ service manual calls it a reed switch and the Venture manual calls it a speedo sensor."

I'm pretty sure the reed switch is to do with the speed restriction as present on Domestic Japanese models. I've seen a picture somewhere that those 2 wires coming from the back of such models do in fact connect to a reed switch at the back of the speedo and go to the igniter to cut the spark.

Maybe a swap to the whole Venture speedo will do the trick for cruise control using that gear.

I may be completely wrong too!


Harvy

Swapping the speedo could be a possibility. I do have a couple on hand. But I would prefer to stay with the FJ gauge if possible. I won't really know until I get the FJ apart this winter....