Page 1 of 19 12311 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 186

Thread: Developing a cruise control kit - now for sale!

  1. #1
    Administrator Daox's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Germantown, WI
    Country
    United States
    Posts
    4,999
    Thanks
    2,892
    Thanked 1,804 Times in 1,017 Posts

    Developing a cruise control kit - now for sale!

    I would like to add cruise control to my 2014 Mirage DE. So, I read this thread that explains how to do it. I'll summarize it up because its a long thread. You basically need to:

    - Install an 2014-15 Mirage ES, 2017 SE / GT, or Outlander steering wheel with controls
    - If its an Outlander steering wheel, you need to solder in new resistors for it to work right
    - Install a brake pedal switch
    - Install a clutch pedal switch (if you have a manual trans)
    - Get a mini VCI cable
    - Download etacs decoder software
    - Have a laptop to program the etacs computer (using the mini vci cable and etacs decoder software) to enable the cruise settings

    If you add this all up, the cost is really not unreasonable. However, the process is not all that straight forward. So, I would like to simplify the process and also make it cheaper. I'm not sure how many people would be interested in a kit like this, but if you are please post and let me know.


    With all that out of the way, lets get on with how we are going to do it!

    First off, I am not going to use the fancy ES steering wheel. I will be keeping the DE wheel in place. That means I won't have steering wheel controls / switches, and thus I'll have to recreate them elsewhere. I am currently thinking that I can put all the controls on the dashboard by the mirror adjustment. There are blanking plates that you can pop out, and I can 3d print new plates to install with the switches mounted to the plate.

    To get a visual, I have modeled up a rough idea of what this might look like. It still needs work as there are too many 3d printed parts here. I need to combine them into less pieces. However, its a start.

    Name:  cruise1sm.jpg
Views: 6316
Size:  28.1 KB



    Again, if you're interested in something like this, please post and let me know. It does change the way the kit is designed if its just for me, or if I am developing it for others. For example, I'm comfortable soldering and cutting wires, but a lot of people aren't, or they just don't want to do it on their brand new car..


    Custom Mirage products: Cruise control kit, Glove box light, MAF sensor housing, Rear sway bar, Upper grill block

    Current project: DIY Nitrous oxide setup for ~$100

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage DE 1.2 manual: 47.2 mpg (US) ... 20.1 km/L ... 5.0 L/100 km ... 56.7 mpg (Imp)


  2. The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to Daox For This Useful Post:

    01-7700 (01-03-2018),2of9 (03-01-2018),Fummins (01-03-2018),Top_Fuel (01-03-2018)

  3. #2
    Senior Member 01-7700's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Location
    Maine
    Country
    United States
    Posts
    308
    Thanks
    193
    Thanked 135 Times in 94 Posts
    I'm somewhat interested but not in a conventional cruise control. The problem with cruise control is that they usually coast to the bottom of the hill then floor it all the way up the hill. Not very efficient. I would like to see a cruise that uses the engine speed as a limiting factor in acceleration more than the wheel speed. As an example, if you are hypermiling, you would be more concerned with how much pressure you put on the gas pedal than how well you are maintaining a set speed. So my ideal cruise would cut off at a high set speed like conventional but apply the gas in a more conservative fashion using engine vacuum maybe - I don't know. It would be the egg on the gas pedal - only allowing so much acceleration. It would be annoying top the other cars on the road but I'm ok with that.
    Skills: Cage fighting, computer chatting, making sweet moula

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage 1.2 manual: 38.0 mpg (US) ... 16.1 km/L ... 6.2 L/100 km ... 45.6 mpg (Imp)


  4. The Following User Says Thank You to 01-7700 For This Useful Post:

    Daox (01-03-2018)

  5. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by 01-7700 View Post
    I'm somewhat interested but not in a conventional cruise control. The problem with cruise control is that they usually coast to the bottom of the hill then floor it all the way up the hill. Not very efficient. I would like to see a cruise that uses the engine speed as a limiting factor in acceleration more than the wheel speed. As an example, if you are hypermiling, you would be more concerned with how much pressure you put on the gas pedal than how well you are maintaining a set speed. So my ideal cruise would cut off at a high set speed like conventional but apply the gas in a more conservative fashion using engine vacuum maybe - I don't know. It would be the egg on the gas pedal - only allowing so much acceleration. It would be annoying top the other cars on the road but I'm ok with that.
    Find an aftermarket cable controlled cruise control, hook it to the gas pedal with lots of slack in it so it can't floor the car or put a block under the pedal. Or design a cruise that works off vacuum. When the car makes too little vacuum(high load/revs) it backs off the throttle? Just please don't merge onto a freeway like a turtle in front of me.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage SE wussie cvt edition. 1.2 automatic: 37.7 mpg (US) ... 16.0 km/L ... 6.2 L/100 km ... 45.3 mpg (Imp)


  6. The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Fummins For This Useful Post:

    01-7700 (01-03-2018),Daox (01-03-2018),Timinator (07-10-2018)

  7. #4
    Administrator Daox's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Germantown, WI
    Country
    United States
    Posts
    4,999
    Thanks
    2,892
    Thanked 1,804 Times in 1,017 Posts
    Actually, flooring it isn't really that bad for fuel economy. Flooring it then mashing the brakes however is bad. But, running an engine around 80% load usually results in the most power output per volume of fuel used. What we are talking about here is brake specific fuel consumption. Here is an example of a BFSC map for a 1.0L Geo Metro. The top line with the Xs on it is peak torque output. Thus the vertical axis is engine load. The map shows the amount of fuel used in grams per kWh. Less grams for the same kWh means better efficiency, so a lower number is better.





    You can see that you actually get better fuel efficiency if you are loading the engine up pretty darn good. In this case, it looks like ~70% engine load is best for the 1.0L Metro engine. Most other engines I've seen tend to like 80% load to get the best fuel efficiency. Increasing load beyond the 70% shows diminishing gains, but not hugely so. Its worse to be running below 40% load than it is to be at wide open throttle. Kinda strange eh? But, its true.

    We have a bunch of BSFC maps listed on EcoModder's wiki page. Sadly, we don't have one for the Mirage's 3A92.

    This also shows why putting a smaller engine in a car tends to increase fuel economy. A smaller engine will be under greater load vs a larger engine doing the same thing. Higher load means better fuel efficiency.

    So, ideally we'd love a cruise control that limits our max acceleration to peak BSFC. Doing this is really a job for the OEMs and it may already be being done. We really don't know what is all programmed into the cruise logic. I know with the CVT Mirage I tested, it does do this to some extent. I couldn't get as good of fuel economy driving manually vs with cruise. I noticed it lowered the engine's RPM with the cruise enabled (which increases engine load).
    Custom Mirage products: Cruise control kit, Glove box light, MAF sensor housing, Rear sway bar, Upper grill block

    Current project: DIY Nitrous oxide setup for ~$100

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage DE 1.2 manual: 47.2 mpg (US) ... 20.1 km/L ... 5.0 L/100 km ... 56.7 mpg (Imp)


  8. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Daox For This Useful Post:

    01-7700 (01-03-2018),Fummins (01-03-2018)

  9. #5
    Senior Member 01-7700's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Location
    Maine
    Country
    United States
    Posts
    308
    Thanks
    193
    Thanked 135 Times in 94 Posts
    That does seem counter-intuitive to my problem statement. It may be more efficient to load up the engine from the engine's perspective, however, I have not seen any other hypermiler recommendation to support this. If acceleration is reduced, wouldn't the force required to propel the car also be smaller?
    Skills: Cage fighting, computer chatting, making sweet moula

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage 1.2 manual: 38.0 mpg (US) ... 16.1 km/L ... 6.2 L/100 km ... 45.6 mpg (Imp)


  10. The Following User Says Thank You to 01-7700 For This Useful Post:

    Daox (01-03-2018)

  11. #6
    Senior Member 01-7700's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Location
    Maine
    Country
    United States
    Posts
    308
    Thanks
    193
    Thanked 135 Times in 94 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by Fummins View Post
    Find an aftermarket cable controlled cruise control, hook it to the gas pedal with lots of slack in it so it can't floor the car or put a block under the pedal. Or design a cruise that works off vacuum. When the car makes too little vacuum(high load/revs) it backs off the throttle? Just please don't merge onto a freeway like a turtle in front of me.
    sadly, i'm not skilled to design a cruise control system - I can only state what I don't like about they work now
    Skills: Cage fighting, computer chatting, making sweet moula

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage 1.2 manual: 38.0 mpg (US) ... 16.1 km/L ... 6.2 L/100 km ... 45.6 mpg (Imp)


  12. #7
    Administrator Daox's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Germantown, WI
    Country
    United States
    Posts
    4,999
    Thanks
    2,892
    Thanked 1,804 Times in 1,017 Posts
    The pulse and glide technique is specifically designed to take advantage of this. Its a lot of work, but can produce some great fuel economy. This is how fuel economy racers do things, from regular rallys to the college engineering team purpose built machines that get over 1000 MPG in things like the Shell Eco-Marathon (pic of racers below). What they do is accelerate up to a top speed (pulse), and then kill the engine and coast down to a lower speed (glide). Once they hit the lower speed, they restart the engine (usually with the clutch by bump starting) and pulse back up to speed. This ensures the engine is only ever operated at peak BSFC and thus returns the best fuel economy.

    Name:  shell-eco-marathon-americas-prototype-cars-on-track.jpeg
Views: 5786
Size:  37.7 KB
    Custom Mirage products: Cruise control kit, Glove box light, MAF sensor housing, Rear sway bar, Upper grill block

    Current project: DIY Nitrous oxide setup for ~$100

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage DE 1.2 manual: 47.2 mpg (US) ... 20.1 km/L ... 5.0 L/100 km ... 56.7 mpg (Imp)


  13. The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Daox For This Useful Post:

    01-7700 (01-03-2018),LetItMarinate (04-03-2018),mohammad (07-16-2022)

  14. #8
    Senior Member 01-7700's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Location
    Maine
    Country
    United States
    Posts
    308
    Thanks
    193
    Thanked 135 Times in 94 Posts
    very interesting
    Skills: Cage fighting, computer chatting, making sweet moula

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage 1.2 manual: 38.0 mpg (US) ... 16.1 km/L ... 6.2 L/100 km ... 45.6 mpg (Imp)


  15. #9
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
    Location
    mn
    Country
    United States
    Posts
    111
    Thanks
    702
    Thanked 51 Times in 38 Posts
    I'd be interested in a kit but would prefer a switch like this Replacement Switch Audiovox CCS100 Command to give me more mounting options
    Last edited by poorman1; 01-03-2018 at 06:00 PM.

  16. The Following User Says Thank You to poorman1 For This Useful Post:

    Daox (01-03-2018)

  17. #10
    Senior Member Top_Fuel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Ohio
    Country
    United States
    Posts
    3,694
    Thanks
    2,572
    Thanked 2,532 Times in 1,467 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by Daox View Post
    ...I am not going to use the fancy ES steering wheel.
    Will this eliminate the need for etacs programming? If so, I think you are on the right track. Until I see an easy, straight-forward demo of etacs programming, I don't think I want the frustration of messing with it.

    Of course it would be great to have a plug-n-play solution without any wires to cut/solder...but that's probably asking too much.

    My car has cruise control...but I'm still interested in your product development.


        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 52.2 mpg (US) ... 22.2 km/L ... 4.5 L/100 km ... 62.6 mpg (Imp)


  18. The Following User Says Thank You to Top_Fuel For This Useful Post:

    Daox (01-03-2018)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •