So far I have been playing with the settings in the Cycle Analyst for the last couple of days and I have found a few settings that make the cruise control hunt significantly less...
First off, the CA is set up to operate from 0-5v for throttle out but for some reason if you set it to 0v it creates a wide open throttle (WOT) condition, so I was forced to set it to 1v. I suspect (can't confirm untill I get my multimeter back...) that the throttle opperates a full 0-5v. I will confirm this when I get my electrical tools back. I recently moved overseas and my tools havn't arrived yet :-(
The first setting I had to change was 'ITermMin'. My CA came set at 1v. This setting determines how low a voltage can go for trimming throttle. I set this to 0v and that helped to allow the CA to put out lower wattage levels to smooth out cruising.
The second thing I changed was 'PSGain'. PSGain is the Proportional Speed Gain. I am running a 48v LiFePO4 pack and found that with the higher voltages I needed to set this higher to change how much the CA will throttle back. I set this to 0.30 (default is 0.08). This allowed the CA to react more appropriately when throttling back.
The third thing I have changes and I am still working with is the IntSGain. The default IntSGain is supposed to be 200, but when I got mine it was set to 800. From my experience the higher the value the quicker the throttle back sets in and the lower the value the later it sets in. When I set this to 500+ I find that my bike will overshoot the desired speed quite often. Right now I have been testing different values between 150 and 200 and find this range to be the most acceptable. Right now it is set to 200.
With these specific settings I find the CA's performance fairly acceptable. Right now I currently live about 1.5 miles from where I work so my main reason for using the CA is so I can change the speed limit on the fly. When I commute to work I set speed limit to 40mph so that I can get there quickly as the distance is so short I disregard battery life all together. When I go on longer trips around 30+ miles I will set it to 12-15 mph for better battery life.
As far as the Cycle Analyst and my personal experience goes I have noticed a MAJOR annoyance with using it as a throttle interceptor. If you have your speed limit set and you go faster than approximatly 10% over the CA cuts all throttle to the controller untill you reach 80% of the desired speed. So, If I have it set to 12mph and go over 13.2mph the CA will not kick back in untill I drop to 10mph, and if you drop to 11mph you will not get any throttle response untill I drop to 10mph. This wouldn't be so bad except accelleration is the largest consumer of power. Also, for some reason the CA, when being used in as a throttle interceptor, has a 2-3 second throttle response delay that leads the rider into over accellerating in most cases as it is hard to judge throttle position with such a delayed response.
Untill they start making the CA with a faster signal processor I would HIGHLY recommend that if you have an external controller that you set the CA up as a throttle override instead of an interceptor. There is less wiring involved and the CA only kicks in if you exceed the limits and then pulls the throttle voltage down untill you meet the specified restrictions. When the CA is set up as an override the controller/motor will retain its quick response nature and still be limited. I have a Magic Pie III with an internal controller so I did not want to open the controller and set mine up this way right now because I don't have adequate tools untill the end of the month when they arrive. When I get my tools I will be setting the CA up as a override instead of an interceptor because the throttle lag is driving me nuts.
I would also recommend that if someone buys a MagicPie 3 that only wants to do a set speed limit all the time to just get the USB cable and set the speed limit in the MP III controller itself. Before I hooked up the Cycle Analyst and I was just using the built in cruise control I found that getting up to about 15mph and then hitting the cruise control button worked plenty well enough. One of the things that I did LOVE about the built in cruise control was that if you set it to a certain speed and turn cruise on and then peddal a bit that the internal controller was very smooth about backing off power as you exceeded the set cruise speed and then very smooth about reapplying power as you gradually dipped below. The margin of enguagement/disenguagement was very narrow and was quite good at keeping you at a certain speed. I liked this mode of opperation the best so far HONESTLY because it allowed me to peddal assist when I hear the motor working a bit too hard. You can not do this with the Cycle Analyst that is set up in Throttle Intercept mode as it confuses the crap out of the CA and then it wants you to slow way down before helping again.
So, right now I can only see the Cycle Analyst set up as a Throttle Interceptor usefull in applications where you do not peddal at all. Again, this is only because of the lack of throttle response and required slow down. I am hoping that when I change the configuration to just act as an override and then see how I like it. I have a feeling that it will be more acceptable at that point.
TLDR (Too long didn't read...)
If your country has speed limits, just use the USB cable and set it that way.
Get a Cycle Analyst because the data it gives you is great. don't use it in Throttle Intercept Mode, You wont be happy. If you have an external controller, use it in the Throttle Override Mode. If you have a MagicPie3 and don't want to open the controller just be happy with the built in cruise control, it works very well right out of the box.
@Gary
Thankyou for the acknowledgement! I am glad you found the information useful, and I hope you find this info helpful as well... Also, it rained on me during my ride home from work today so when the bike dries off I will crack open the CA and take pictures and whatnot.... And when I crack open the MP III controller at the end of this month, when I get my professional tools, to change the configuration to Override Mode I will be sure to take plenty of pictures :-)
I plan on repurposing a few wires in the main harness. My shifters are integrated into my brake levers, so I can not use the brake regen right now. I plan on unhooking the horn wires from the controller and connecting that in place of the brake regen connection and then using the brake regen wire to hook up the Throttle Override. This way I can use the horn button to get regen and still hook up the Throttle Override without having to run any extra wires or drill into my Magic Pie... I will just sacrifice one brake handle for the wire and prefab connector so everything will hook up nice and clean :-) My only question is... would opening the controller or changing wire solder points void the warranty?
~Duck
