Sideline Project - Custom switch kit (this one for Cruise - feedback appreciated)

ottafish

Registered
Hey All,
Been working on this project for off and on for a while. It started out a few years ago as NOS controller setup for a bike we were going to race. But it never went ahead due to costs. Later on, a couple or more years ago, I fitted Rostra electronic cruise my my M109r when I had it and wasn't happy with the supplied switch assy.

So I did some digging, a bit of research and some old school circuit design. Put together a real rough version. From there, decided after speaking to a couple of developers, that it would be better making it microprocessor based, which we did. So, today I picked up my first prototype which I am going to test on the Busa as I have fitted Rostra electronic cruise.

The beauty of the end result is that we made allowance for the ability to accept two lots of switch banks, giving the rider a total of 8 separately controlled switches. They could be both mounted on the left hand side, (one vertical, one horizontal, both horizontal) or one on each side. And they can be used for anything based on the coding in the processor. For this one, we wrote the interface to work with the Rostra as that's where I'm at now.

Some of the possible uses I've thought of: Auxiliary driving lights, manual fan control, ecu map switching, air ride suspension, NOS control, laser/radar detector kill

So here are a few pictures of what it looks like.

I'm after some feedback if you have any - be appreciated. (bit of background, I started working as an electronics tech many years ago..)

This is the prototype picked up today. It's got cutouts to be zip tied to the handle bars, or can by mounted differently.

The switch unit is fully sealed and waterproof which is why I ended up here. The standard Rostra one needs a bath in silicon and looks a bit "blah"...
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Where the dots are, can be drilled thru and screwed to a flat surface. Can also be trimmed down to just before the holes - To remove the handlebar scalloped out bit
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Microprocessor assy. Once tested, the final unit will be epoxy sealed in the case and made professional looking for full environment protection

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Front / riders view
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Press the top button to arm the cruise - the second button goes red to say I'm on, armed and waiting... (by the way, the unit is permanently back-lit white)
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Press the third button to engage the cruise, the light changes to green to show it's active and I'm now cruising (and can rest my right hand/wrist for a bit)
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Press the red/green back-lit button, turns the whole unit off. -no cruise for you!!
Button use if mounted vertical:
  • Top button - turn on / make ready for the cruising
  • second button - turn the whole thing off.
    • Also goes red to say I'm ready - switches to green to say I'm cruising
  • third button - set / coast
  • forth button - resume / accelerate.
It isn't as big as the pictures show. It's quite a compact unit. It doesn't need the relay for the engaged light as per Rostra unit as we redid the logic required.
Possibly going to add code to include the brake light relay that's needed to for led brake lights. Simplify the entire installation.

As I mentioned, the uses are endless, depending on what would be required. It's not user programmable and probably never will be.
I will see if I can add some pictures over the weekend in a dummy mount on the Busa.

Thanks and be gentle :)
Otta

ps - Apart from my GirlFriend, this is the only public place I have shown this
 
That looks very identical to MCCruise's kit. Keen to see the progress though.

You would be correct. That's where the switch part is from.

Spent ages looking for a good, slim, programmable, waterproof switch. There's nothing out there.
Came across the McCruise switch and thought, "why reinvent the wheel".
We just built a different vehicle around it is all.
We reverse engineered the switch and through the interface I designed, enables it to work with the Rostra unit. (and anything else now)
 
Awesome project! The only concern I have is that not using the same switch to power on and off seems counterintuitive. I'd suggest the top button be power on and off, and that either of the top two buttons cancel the set speed while cruising for ease of operation.
Top- on/off (cancel in cruise)
2nd- set/cancel
3rd- coast/decel
4th- resume/accel
 
Awesome project! The only concern I have is that not using the same switch to power on and off seems counterintuitive. I'd suggest the top button be power on and off, and that either of the top two buttons cancel the set speed while cruising for ease of operation.
Top- on/off (cancel in cruise)
2nd- set/cancel
3rd- coast/decel
4th- resume/accel

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply - appreciated..
I have actually been tossing around the same ideas, but not adding a cancel function, which holds the last set speed in memory - thanks

Top - push for on / push again for off. (light on second button goes red for Cruise enabled)
2nd button - push to engage cruise - changes from Red to Green showing Cruise active and engaged.
* At this stage, Rostra is hard coded to be "set/coast" from the same signal
* Need to rewrite the code to change the outputs to try and make this happen (maybe Version 2)
* From memory, the Rostra controller has no option for "cancel" only hard off. Would be a good option
3rd - would be Resume/accelerate
4th would be blank and not used in this setup, until the code is adapted to enable a cancel option on button 2, which would change 4th to coast/decel
 
So if there's no 'cancel', only a hard off, what does 'resume' do?

The cancel is picked up from either when the brakes are tapped or clutch is pulled in.
And it's picked up from different inputs
Resume is then picked up from when the brakes or clutch is applied
 
The cancel is picked up from either when the brakes are tapped or clutch is pulled in.
And it's picked up from different inputs
Resume is then picked up from when the brakes or clutch is applied
Okay, that sounds reasonable. Maybe a two button cancel is overkill then? In my experience being able to turn off or cancel cruise without illuminating the brake lights can be handy, but it's not always necessary.
 
Seeing the updated fixture almost makes me want to buy two kits, the older version looked out of place and didn't look "stylish" and blend well.
 
Now y’all got me looking at cruise control units...lol. With my GSXR tail conversion however ever, I have no place to put extra equipment
 
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