New Challenge And Opportunity With The IMA

macarose · 01-10-2013, 01:54 PM

Well, it was bound to happen in due time...

My 01 Insight was always between two clicks to full and full for nearly four years.

I come back from a month vacation. Turn the switch, and the dreaded IMA light and check engine come on. The code seems to indicate IMA replacement.

However I have a couple of ideas.

The first is to have the IMA battery inspected for the health of the sticks and start performing daily grid charging. I think there is a place south of Atlanta that would have the specific diagnosis equipment needed. I just don't know the name of the outfit.

The second is to just sell the IMA, have the related systems that recharge the battery removed, and go forward with driving the car as it is. I do have a replacement engine for the vehicle and a spare catalytic converter due to buying a spare Insight two years ago. So I should be good for a while.

Any help or experience with this would be wonderful. Thanks as always. All the best!

retepsnikrep · 01-10-2013, 03:28 PM

Because it has been left a month it has simply gone out of balance.

Buy or build a cheap gridcharger, charge it and it will probably recover.

Jivko57 · 01-10-2013, 05:39 PM

chances are you can squeeze a couple of more years of useful life out of it if you follow peter's advise above.

macarose · 01-10-2013, 05:46 PM

I just want to make sure that it can hold the charge up after it's balanced.

Is there anyone who has the grid charger around Georgia?

This is who I am by the way. Just so folks know that they're not dealing with a complete stranger in this case.

Steven Lang | The Truth About Cars

Just a relative one. If it makes things better Artric has met me in his travels.

All the best!

**jeff652** · 01-10-2013, 06:29 PM

Welcome to the forum. A grid charger is a wise investment that will significantly improve the life of your battery.

There are three main options on where/how to get a grid charger.
(1) You can build a 'simple' one yourself. Here is a good thread with info.
(2) You can have a 'simple' charger built for you - I build them and offer them for sale. Here is more info.
(3) The third option is Mike's 'complex' Genesis One charger. It has many features that the 'simple' units do not have, but is understandably more expensive. Here is more info.

All three are great options. Making the decision is a personal choice that really boils down to how much you want to spend, whether you want to build it yourself, and which features you feel are necessary.

TopFuelTim · 01-10-2013, 08:36 PM

Hi Steven,

FWIW, I have Mike Dabrowski's GC01 Grid charger / discharger, and am located about 30 miles north of Atlanta. It is a fantastic piece, and has revived two of the four batteries I tried to recondition. The other two had to be disassembled. One was beyond help (and 11 years old) and the other ended up with four bad sticks. Both the "bad" ones had gotten to the point where daily grid charging was required to keep them functioning, and that got old pretty quick.

My 0.02 worth,
Tim Glover

eq1 · 01-11-2013, 05:00 AM

Though a grid charger would be a good investment, you can probably just rev the engine over 3000 and charge the battery up that way and/or reset the IMA by pulling the 12 volt negative and then do the rev charge... As I recall, this was something recommended to Honda dealerships in a service bulletin for cars that sat on the lot a while...

retepsnikrep · 01-11-2013, 08:11 AM

Doing what Eq1 has suggested will not rebalance the battery.
It was bad advice from Honda and not good for a battery which had sat especially if the balance was a bit off.

You need to buy/borrow/make a cheap grid charger and use that properly to fully charge the pack.

samwichse · 01-11-2013, 11:13 AM

What do you charge for your grid charger kit? My dad's car has thrown an IMA light and I think he could do the install fine, but I know he couldn't build a charger himself.

Sam

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeff652

Welcome to the forum. A grid charger is a wise investment that will significantly improve the life of your battery.

There are three main options on where/how to get a grid charger.
(1) You can build a 'simple' one yourself. Here is a good thread with info.
(2) You can have a 'simple' charger built for you - I build them and offer them for sale. Here is more info.
(3) The third option is Mike's 'complex' Genesis One charger. It has many features that the 'simple' units do not have, but is understandably more expensive. Here is more info.

All three are great options. Making the decision is a personal choice that really boils down to how much you want to spend, whether you want to build it yourself, and which features you feel are necessary.

**jeff652** · 01-11-2013, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by samwichse

What do you charge for your grid charger kit? My dad's car has thrown an IMA light and I think he could do the install fine, but I know he couldn't build a charger himself.

Sam

You have a PM

. Point Barrow, AK, huh?

I have property in Alaska, but not that far north hahah