Cruise Control on an Activa?

[Zelandeth]

Well I've just done a trip a good portion of the length of the country in mine, and couldn't have asked for a better car to do it in. It really is a motorway devouring secret weapon.

The one odd omission in spec though is cruise control. This simply wasn't even available on the Activa according to the brochures I have. Now I do understand these were intended as the more sporting version, rather than the Exclusive version which was aimed more at the company man tearing up and down the motorway...so guessing that was the logic.

However it's something the car could do with in this day of speed cameras and average speed traps. She's just far too capable of creeping very quickly up to very illegal speeds! Be epic on the Autobahn though...

So, is there actually any technical reason cruise wasn't offered on the Activa?

Assuming it is possible to fit, what bits would I need to find? Guessing throttle actuator, it's associated plumbing/cabling, the dash button, stalk and lower steering column cowling, and brake pedal switch if the fitted one isn't the double contact type. Am I right in thinking that the control itself is handled by existing ECU hardware, that the necessary wiring should already be in place and that once the hardware is fitted that it should be the (relatively) simple matter of enabling it via Lexia?

[CitroJim]

It could be done... Most of the infrastructure is there to retrofit the Hella Vacuum system and I believe the wiring is present too...

Have a chat with Alasdair as he is breaking a V6 and you may be able to score the full cruise system...

All you will need to arrange is break-switches on the clutch and brake pedals... That's the hardest aspect... The rest is relatively trivial...

[Hell Razor5543]

It is possible that citroenxm could provide some help here, as he has managed to get cruise control working on a Xantia HDi.

[xantia_v6]

The (late) HDI is the only engine with cruise function in the ECU, so you need the Hella system as fitted to the Xantia V6, also Xantia MK2 2.0 exclusive autos and any XM with cruise.

It is likely that your car does not have the wiring fitted, look for the connector for the vacuum pump behind the LH corner of the front bumper, or the relay socket in the box under the rh front wing, or see if the connector to the brake pedal switch has 3 wires on the car side of the connector,

[CitroJim]

It is possible that citroenxm could provide some help here, as he has managed to get cruise control working on a Xantia HDi.

Unfortunately that won't work on an Activa James as the engine ECU has no provision for cruse control. The later HDis had engine ECUs that were cruise-ready...

Shame really as it would have been so simple otherwise...

EDIT: Sorry Mike, our posts crossed...

[Zelandeth]

Right, sounds like I'm picking up a picture of how things work anyway.

I'll have a crawl around and stand on my head tomorrow to see whether any of the wiring is present - hoping the answer is yes as routing additional wiring through any car made this side of 1985 always seems to be an utter pain in the proverbial backside, especially if you're having to get from one side of the bulkhead to the other. Given that she's a pretty late series 1 car I'm crossing my fingers that there's at least some hope!

Sounds like the system itself is pretty self-contained like the one Saab used back on the original 900s then.

Had forgotten there would also be a switch for the clutch! Pedal switches shouldn't be too hard to deal with though as there must be something there to attach them to - they're not going to have used different pedals or brackets for the cruise or non-cruise equipped cars surely...

[xantia_v6]

The clutch switches are readily available on ebay, they were fitted to many PSA vehicles, including the Xantia HDI (with and without cruise control).

[Zelandeth]

I'm no stranger to electronics, nor stripping things for stuff that I think might be handy one day. As a result I've got a box full of various types of limit switch, microswitches with all manner of operator arms etc, so may well have something "in stock" so to speak. Will see what sort of price they're going for...if they're sensible numbers for a switch I'll just buy them...

That's easy compared to the faff routing wiring will be though! Don't I remember reading about spare pins on some of the penetrators coming through the bulkhead for the ECU wiring etc?

[RichardW]

The clutch switches are readily available on ebay, they were fitted to many PSA vehicles, including the Xantia HDI (with and without cruise control).

When I stripped the ECU etc out of my HDi to send to Paul, I had a look for the clutch switch. I thought I could *just* see it at the top of the pedal. I can't imagine that you would be able to get to it without removing the dash!!