Installing The Electronic Clutch Switch (Ecs); How The Ecs Works; Fitting The Ecs - Honda Goldwing GL1200 Installation Manual

Honda Goldwing GL1200 ©
Cable tie the wire to the frame tube running diagonally forward
and up from the battery.

Installing the Electronic Clutch Switch (ECS).

How the ECS works.

The electronic clutch switch (ECS) is not a true switch, but is a device that monitors the rate of gain of engine
speed and also the absolute speed of the engine by monitoring ignition pulses. If the switch detects a rapid
increase in engine speed, such as when the clutch is disengaged while throttle is applied, the ECS will activate
and disengage the cruise control. The switch does not respond to a decrease in engine RPM. For example, if
the motorcycle is travelling down a hill with the cruise engaged and no throttle applied, and the clutch is
disengaged by the rider, the engine speed will drop to idle. The ECS will not disengage the cruise control.
When the speed of the bike drops to the set speed the cruise will apply throttle. Only when the engine speed
starts to increase will the ECS detect the change, and then disengage the cruise.
The switch will detect the engine speed increase and switch off the cruise by the time the engine has gained
1,000 ~ 2,000 RPM. How high the engine revs above the initial 1,000~2,000 depends on how much throttle the
cruise has applied at the time. If the throttle is open a significant amount, such as when travelling up a hill, the
time taken for the throttle to return to idle position may mean the engine gains a lot of revs when the clutch is
pulled in.
If the cruise has only applied a small amount of throttle the rate of change in the engine speed may be so slow
that the ECS will not detect it at all. The engine may reach redline or beyond if the rate is slow enough,
although this is unlikely. For this to occur the engine would have to take 5 seconds or more to go from idle to
redline. On high revving motorcycles (sports engines) the ECS should activate regardless before redline is
reached as the engine speed exceeds the inbuilt limits of the ECS.

Fitting the ECS

Note: - Some versions of this motorcycle have a seat adjustment release lever on top of the fuel tank. If
your bike has this refer to the addendum on page 28 for ECS mounting details.
Mount the switch beside the cruise control computer on the fuel
tank. Clean the tank with methylated spirits (wood alcohol) and
mount the switch with small self adhesive pads supplied in the
kit.
Route the orange and purple wire back and around to the left to
the cruise control computer and connect the two pin plug to the
matching plug on the short wires coming out of the computer
plug.
The green earth wire with the eye connector should be attached
under the head of the bolt that attaches the front seat mount or another 6mm bolt that will provide an earth
(ground).
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