TheSamba.com :: View topic - AudioVox CCS-100 button schematic?

Tue Jul 08, 2025 6:57 am

While ot, strictly speaking, a Westy part, I have an AudioVox CCS-100 cruise control installed in our Westy.

Of late it's become temperamental about engaging. One possibility is the actuator is, after about 10 years in the engine bay, giving up the ghost. I recently bought a spare.

The other possibility is the buttons are pooping out again. The original button assembly let out the magic smoke (literally), and I had to rig up an external momentary contact button as a workaround. I bought another CCS-100 for spares. Now it's possible that button set is fading, too.

The buttons themselves are graphite pads in a silicone sheet. Pushing a button puts the pad on a set of interleaved fingers etched on a PC board. The gotcha is there's more than just the contacts on the board; there seem to be active components on the board (there's also LED lighting).

In a perfect world, I'd adapt a stalk cruise control button set for the rather sketchy AudioVox button set, but I don't know if those active components do anything meaningful. There's an on/off function, set/decelerate, and resume/accelerate functions, for a total of four momentary contacts.

While there's lighting tied to the headlight switch, there's only a "power on" LED and no "Engaged" LED (wish there were. With a talk, this is all moot.

Has anyone looked into the buttons on a CCS-100?

Sat Jul 12, 2025 11:55 am

Short answer:

Are you aware that you can just get one of these, Rostra part number 250-3593. (or 250-3592)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/253133956988

These have a better design, the circuit board contacts are now sealed metal bubbles. I can post a photo of what they look like inside if you want.

Long answer:

That old Audiovox kit was made under contract by Rostra. After that marketing deal ended, they sold out their back stock and switched to a better modern electric servo motor cruise control unit, instead of the old vacuum-servo on the Audiovox. And the basic "open circuit" dash switch that came with the Audiovox kit, can be used with the new Rostra 250-1223 controller.

I have a very old Camry in which I have the modern Rostra 250-1223 cruise control unit hooked up to an old Audiovox dash switch.

And I know by how it feels what kind of switch it has and I've rather been expecting it to go bad at some point, but its been in that car for 8 years now and it still works.

But when it dies, I know that I can just switch to the equivalent modern Rostra switch. The buttons are bit harder to press.

I was having issues with the 250-1223 kit I have in my 85 Golf recently. That car has the modern Rostra 250-3593 version of that switch. And I bought another one two months ago as part of troubleshooting. Waste of money as the problem was elsewhere but I "had to try everything" .

I do not remember the documentation that came with the Audivox kits (I installed a couple of those back in the late 2000s) but the installation and data sheet for the modern Rostra switch is on their website:

https://www.rostra.com/manuals/250-3593_Form2560D.pdf

Now I'm not sure if you can fix the older switch. I have this thumb size IR temperature reader that has the exact same kind of switch in it. A couple of years ago I went to use it and nothing. So I took it apart and cleaned the contact pad and board with, I think, some denatured alcohol. That got it working again, but I just now got it out and tried it... it works but it takes a LOT more thumb pressure to register than it did in that photo from 2006.

Sat Jul 12, 2025 1:03 pm

When my CCS100 became balky I opened it up and cleaned the (white nylon?) shafts that the solenoids operate. After that it has been fine for several years.

Sat Jul 12, 2025 3:47 pm

@glutamodo Great thanks for the links!

@Ahwahnee Did you open the actuator? How'd you get into it? It thought it was pretty much a sealed unit.

Sat Jul 12, 2025 4:53 pm

I did open it. I don't recall how but I'm pretty sure I had found a YouTube video that showed the way.

Sat Jul 12, 2025 5:15 pm

Given how long the gizmo's been stuffed in the engine bay, and its general way of fading as it gets hot, a good cleaning seems in order.

Sat Jul 12, 2025 5:50 pm

Now that I've thought a bit it was a text procedure, not a video and I found it on a motorcycle forum.

Sat Jul 12, 2025 6:08 pm

Whew! That covers a lot of territory. If you come across an address or copy...?

Sat Jul 12, 2025 6:32 pm

Good news, bad news. I found a how-to, except Photobucket no longer supports the images.

NTL, try this link.

Sat Jul 12, 2025 7:40 pm

Above, I was mostly focusing on answering the question about the dashboard control switch.

To talk a little about not engaging...

I guess an engaged light might be of help, if it lights up but the system does not work. The newer Rostra unit I have in my 85 Golf was not engaging as well. While my control switch did have the engaged light, I never wired up a relay to make it work. (I don't know of the Audiovox kit has that functionality or not, I suspect not though)

I'm guessing Vanagon owners who install cruise, usually try to get a VSS generator for their speedometer. If you have that then just ignore what I have to say next.

Because instead of trying to track one of those speedometer units down, I went the other way on my Golf, I had three Audiovox era magnetic VSS generators left over from the installations I had done a few years before. With these you attach a couple of magnets to a CV Joint and mount a pickup coil in line with them. And I think a bad pickup coil was my issue.

I have no specs but I could hook up a volt meter and wave a magnet next to the pickup coil. I actually had three Audiovox pickup coils and the first two barely made any voltage. I forgot I had another (used) one, but once I dug it up and tested it, it made more voltage than the other two put together. Installed that one and... now my cruise control works.

I have no idea how these would go bad, they are sealed units, and the worst one was New Old Stock out of a sealed bag.

Sat Jul 12, 2025 8:22 pm

Both of my motorcycle installations, and the original Westy installation used the coil lead (i.e., RPM), not VSS. The (moderately) bad news is the system is driven by RPM, which means doing Resume in 4th after Set in 3rd can be...um...memorable. Particularly on a BMW K1200RS. Oh my yes it can!

Sat Jul 12, 2025 9:02 pm

Oh wow, I don't know if I ever knew that the Audiovox unit could use RPM that way. The two Audiovox kits I installed were on 1998 Jettas, which have a digital VSS generator for the speedometer on the transaxle. (and one of those Audiovox units started acting up, so I had to buy another kit to fix it. This is how I ended up with three unused Audiovox magnetic VSS kits, and an extra dashboard control switch, and a huge bag full of all the other unused installation gear)

On the Rostra units, using RPM instead of VSS is not even an option. It does hook up to the coil but just to disengage when the RPMs spike when you declutch.

Sun Jul 13, 2025 3:43 am

IIRC there are AudioVox DIP switch settings related to using the coil as the speed signal source.

Wed Jul 16, 2025 3:29 pm

The problem's been resolved, and the cause was...um...curious.

Unlike the previous control unit, this one was clean, with no signs of trying to let out magic smoke. I wiped contacts with 91% alcohol (not rubbing alcohol!).

If the controls were OK, what about the servo? Simply put, it tried to disassemble itself. Specifically, the top, where the throttle cable comes from, was freed from the rest of the body. Put everything back together, and all is well again.

The explanation for the disassembly is educated guessing. I put the servo in the right rear corner of the engine bay, with the cable coming out and heading for the passenger side (but curved back to the throttle body). The hoses coming from the power steering reservoir seem to have pushed against the servo top, and eventually popped it loose (<-- educated guess)