Cruise Control (with MPG sensitive logic)

[Bruce_3]

Originally Posted by Joggernot

I had a similar drop-out problem. Part of the problem was lack of power (couldn't hold the speed, so it dropped out), and the rest was overheating somewhere. I sold the car without fixing it.

Thanks, I bypassed my new circuit for the remainder of the trip and the stock cruise worked fine. So it must be something in my circuit. When we get some cooler weather here I'll try to isolate the problem.

[OITW]

This is a technical thread, but it seems to be overkill to me. In my 2004 PT Cruiser the fastest way to get the engine to high gear/low RPM is to put it into cruise control. Seriously, once I cross 40 mph, pop it into cruise control and it automatically goes into overdrive and the RPM drops. Moreover, on the highway, even in hilly eastern Pennsylvania, going up hills was not a problem leading to excessive RPM because it stayed in overdrive as long as it could, and for a heavy car added RPM only sparingly.

In fact, downhill is where I have to watch it. In cruise control, a sharp downhill will force it into a lower gear and run up the RPM, so I have to make a point of tapping out of cruise control on those hills.

[gone-ot]

I believe the concept is to maximize MPG via variable MPH, rather than current systems which constantize MPH without regard to MPG.

[OITW]

Tele man (for Telecaster?), I understand you, and depending on the cruise control used, I understand the desire to mod it. I have had cruise controls that had odd characteristics. It's just that in light of my simple goal of maximizing MPG, I find that my cruise control set to maintain constant MPH does quite well, probably better than I can do with my foot on open road. And that's in a car that's otherwise a mileage disaster. It's about the only thing done right in that regard.

[cellurl]

have your cruise drop down 5mph going up hills. Achievable. http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...rol-30471.html since gps gives altitude. You can "tell" you are going uphill.

[Kurre86]

Modern (european atleast) trucks have fuel optimal cruise control logic. They use GPS with maps with detailed topographic maps to determine when to ease of the throttle to maximize the gain from coasting and optimize the speed profile over a hill to minimize fuel consumption while maintaining roughly the correct average speed.

Search for Scania Active Prediction or Volvo I-see... It would be awesome with something like that for passenger cars!

[cellurl]

Another app I want to build is, "am I on time?".
It works as follows:

You drive the same route every day. You constantly rush, "just because".
If you knew CHECKPOINTS, you would get feedback that you are on-time,
so you would speed less.

The app would know exactly how ahead/or behind you are in your journey, so you don't guess, you know you can "relax", or "rage".

I write apps (see cellurl on google play), like Back-Seat-Driver, so I like these kind of goofy apps.....

BTW, I found that volvo car and read about it. Thanks for that tip.

Take care.

[cosmick]

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

I believe the concept is to maximize MPG via variable MPH, rather than current systems which constantize MPH without regard to MPG.

Seems dangerous, plus I get annoyed when I'm driving anything that the cruise lets the MPH be more than 1 MPH below or above the speed I set. That's the point of cruise. What you guys need is switchable cruise.
And don't be slow when someone's behind you in a no-passing zone. When I'm in my big dually truck and someone doing that brake checks me, I don't even lift. They always get scared and speed away, because it's obvious I can and will go right through them. And all I'll need is to polish my big chromed steel bumper, while they'll need a whole new car. That's obvious also. I'm a real man who stands up for myself, and don't tolerate undeserved nonsense. You wanna go slow, drive after midnight.

[TEiN]

Originally Posted by cosmick

Seems dangerous, plus I get annoyed when I'm driving anything that the cruise lets the MPH be more than 1 MPH below or above the speed I set. That's the point of cruise. What you guys need is switchable cruise.
And don't be slow when someone's behind you in a no-passing zone. When I'm in my big dually truck and someone doing that brake checks me, I don't even lift. They always get scared and speed away, because it's obvious I can and will go right through them. And all I'll need is to polish my big chromed steel bumper, while they'll need a whole new car. That's obvious also. I'm a real man who stands up for myself, and don't tolerate undeserved nonsense. You wanna go slow, drive after midnight.

Haha!

Overcompensate much?

[cptsideways]

For those running old skool clockwork diesels (bosch vane type) the hand throttle works perfectly in combination with the inbuilt governor on the pump. At steady state throttle the Governor adjusts the load up or down by about 10-20% to suit the input demanded. Uphill it'll increase the fuelling slightly, downhill it lifts off fuelling. The hysteresis on the pump is much more subtle than the factory CC.

I have run old Landcruisers for years, with the factory hand throttles & adjusted them to work in the 2500rpm range (60 ish mph) it works perfectly & is so much better than the factory cruise usually fitted. It also matches the natural speed of other traffic much much better, eg slowing uphills & speeding up downhill etc. Where the CC would simply floor it uphill & not gain speed downhill.