Cruise Control (with MPG sensitive logic)

[MetroMPG]

This is a really interesting modification, jomelmaldonado. Nice work, and congratulations!

[jomelmaldonado]

That would be the ideal cruise control, and I think it is possible, but it would have to be programmable. At this moment I don't know how to do that, but I am studying electronics and one of my classes is going to be programming with Parallax controllers. I think that with a Parallax, it is possible to set an algorithm to control the vacuum and dump valve solenoid and that it would be monitoring both vehicle speed sensor and engine manifold vacuum. With this configuration we will achieve high MPG while still be in the legal speeds. This is called lower and upper droop setting.

[Sean T.]

This is really cool! Just wanted to let somebody know that the link on the front page of EM (leading to Jomel's first post) does not work. I am guessing it might be because his post is on the second page.

[MetroMPG]

Sean- thanks for the heads-up on that. It's a bug in vBulletin. That post "permalink" link doesn't actually work very well on multi-page threads, as you guessed.

Anyway - fixed!

[bbjsw10]

Jomelmaldonado, you are the Man!! I hated cruise control until reading about what you have done. I may have to change my Christmas wish list, and get a CC and Ford map sensor. That would be great around where I live nice and flat, Ohio (land of corn fields).

I was thinking of this the other day, when my heavy work boots were killing my FE. Guess it just takes someone with a little smarts to figure it out. I know it is not the perfect setup by far but a lot better than OEM. Great job!

Edit: Was thinking could you do something like shown on relay to enable you to switch from VSS to the Ford map? That way enabling you to select which style of cruise you would want. Or would it cause havoc with the gain settings etc.?

[wagonman76]

Ford MAP/BP Sensor Operation and Testing

I did some reading and simple calcs and came up with the same thing as your testing. It looks like if youve got a stock cruise control, and your cruise control gets in the neighborhood of 8000 PPM like a lot of vehicles here appear to, you could just substitute the speed signal for the Ford map sensor signal. Have a switch to go between speed sensing and load sensing.

My cruise module sends a 12v signal, and senses when that signal is connected. So looks like I would need to have the Ford map sensor pulse a transistor rather than send the voltage direct to the cruise module.

This would work well in the van, at 8000 PPM. My cars are 4000 PPM, which may or may not work. Substituting a cruise module from a junkyard van into the car may work, Id just about bet theyre the same thing except for the PPM they receive.

[beatr911]

Great thread! Several months ago I saw on a big-rig site that intelligent cruise is offered. I wish I could remember the site to share. Anyway the cruise adapts to the terrain (hilly/flat) and load of the rig. I think it also had a mode where it maximized economy, and the unit is somewhat tuneable.

This isn't that new and it's been done, but not offered to the masses of personal vehicles. Just the big commercial vehicles. Maybe the time is right for this for MPG optimized vehicles or for us nerds. I doubt that the general public could grasp the training needed to use an intelligent cruise. Maybe a basic version perhaps for a marketing point?

[mrcs007]

Thumbs up. Very nice work. I think a simple programmable chip could be produced for upper and lower mph. Take in the setting when CC set and then apply a +/- programmed by the user and bingo

[jomelmaldonado]

Hello everyone, sorry for the delay in responding the threads. In response to bbjsw10 question, it is possible to switch from Ford's MAP sensor to VSS if the frequency at witch the VSS pulses is near the 90-160 Hz that Ford MAP sensor also pulse. This could be made simply with a SPDT switch to select from the VSS or MAP sensor outputs.

In my case, I can’t do this, because my Suzuki Swift has a VSS output of 4000 PPM. The frequency range for the Ford's MAP Sensor is from 90-160 Hz, that when converted to PPM, it falls in the 8000 PPM setting, the difference it to large between each setting. But remember that Audiovox CCS-100 also has a setting to modulate speed using the Tach Signal only. This setting works perfect if the car has a manual transmission or an automatic transmission with a torque converter that has a lock-up clutch. If it has an automatic with out lock-up, it should still work, but not as precise because there's a torque converter slippage that can not be account by the CCS-100, so when going up hills, it could fall under the set speed because the RPM will be maintained constant, but the torque converter will allow a certain amount of slippage due to the fact that it doesn’t has lock-up.

So what can be done is to change DIP Switch # 3 on or off to change between constant MPG and constant MPH. I know it is impractical to change that switch on the servo motor that’s located in the engine bay area, but if you solder to wires, one over each of the terminals of DIP Switch #3, and take those 2 wires inside the cab, then connect them to a SPST switch, this way you can control it from inside the car. You have to let DIP #3 open in the servo, so you can remotely control that setting from inside the car. When you want the signal to come from the MAP sensor for constant MPG’s, leave the the SPST switch in ON position for VSS signal. If you rather prefer a constant Speed, leave SPST switch in OFF position for Tach Only, this way it will ignore the MAP sensor’s output and only pay attention to the engine's RPM.

This is the next experiment I will be doing in my car, probably in 2 weeks or sooner. I will be posting my results and the corresponding diagram. Any questions or comments please let me know. Hope this info. is useful.

[eco86]

As far as switching the cruise control feed from the Ford MAP sensor to the stock VSS signal, would it be possible to adjust the pulses from the Ford sensor to be closer to those of the vehicle's VSS sensor pulses? Looking online quickly, it seems that you can halve the frequency output of a device by using an IC such as the LM 555 or LM 556. If the frequency could be halved, it would be possible to go back and forth between a cruise control set for MPH or MPG without the vehicle's ecu thinking that something's wrong...
Just a thought.
Also, there's a PDF available on Rostra's website that has information on VSS pulses per mile for cars from 1986 to 2007. Rostra Precision Controls, Inc. - Technical Support