Who still has their original IMA battery?

[The Citrus Smoothie]

@ theaveng Oh dear, you got caught on that one...

[theaveng]

Caught? What do you mean?

[joecvt]

Originally Posted by theaveng

What you did is a last-resort method to squeeze a few more months from end-of-life cells. I have a charger that does the same thing: Deep discharge followed by recharge (followed by discharge, followed by recharge) (et cetera). But it does it ONE cell at a time, in order to prevent accidental reversing of voltages.

If I damaged a cell (or a couple of them) or not, I was not in a position to purchase two new batteries from Honda or aftermarket just to pass inspection on two cars. Two out of three Insights had the IMA light and they all appear (for now) to be acting normal and strong. Please keep in mind that before this, I was getting countless IMA lights (while trying to be light on the assist) during a 50 mile trip and pulling fuse 18 (MCM reset) each time by the side of the road. Since then, I tried to abuse the assist and no IMA light and not even a recal which is a remarkable before and after difference. I basically did what I needed to do to get these cars inspected and time will tell just how long each battery pack will last until the IMA light comes back on again.

By the way the 2003 Insight has yellow sticks and the pack has never been replaced. Owned it still less than five thousand miles on the odometer. When researching what Insight to buy back in 2004, I remember reading that Honda made a change to the IMA in 2003. Wasn't sure back then if they meant batteries or BCM / MCM stuff. Anyway, my 2003 had the newer yellow wrapped battery sticks since brand new.

JoeCVT

[Eli]

Interesting regarding the yellow cells in your 2003 CVT. Mind sharing which revisions of the computers you have?

[joecvt]

Originally Posted by Eli

Interesting regarding the yellow cells in your 2003 CVT. Mind sharing which revisions of the computers you have?

I haven't taken the IMA cover off of that 2003 Blue CVT for awhile now. Awhile back, Ron H was talking (n this forum) about the difference of orange sticks and yellow sticks and I was curious what ones I had since I read before buying the car that there were changes to the IMA in 2003. This was the reason I was looking only for a 2003 or 2004 Insight (I purchased in 2004 so there were no newer model years).

I removed the cover and verified the color of the sticks being yellow and I believe I reported back in that thread awhile back. Anyway, there was not much discussion about revisions of IMA controllers back then so I did not take note of them (especially from a CVT model). The cover was once again off only to install Perter's BCM gauge (the original one) and the cover hasn't been removed since then. That battery is still going strong and is the original. I do not know the history of the first 4,800 (four thousand eight hundred) miles but I would most certainly believe that the pack was not changed with such a low number of miles and being purchased by me in 2004, it did not sit too long.

If you Google "yellow sticks" site:insightcentral.net
you will see lots of previous discussion.

The next time I take the cover off for whatever reason, I will make note of it and report back.

JoeCVT

[021stGen]

Hey guys new to the forum and happy to be a part of a great group of Insight Owners!


I currently just bought, arriving at my house tomorrow an '02 Insight with it's original IMA battery and waiting to see what kind of shape it's in??? Currently own and daily drive another '02 with 74K on it.

This Insight is a single owner and only registered ONCE back in Sept of 2002 according to CarFax and Honda America, it's only got 12,981 TOTAL MILES ON IT'S CLOCK...

[Willie Williford]

Be gracious and include your location in your profile/details/location. Thank you.

So it has only been registered once since 2002?
Lots of back registration due?

Willie

[Bugone]

Originally Posted by 021stGen

Hey guys new to the forum and happy to be a part of a great group of Insight Owners!


I currently just bought, arriving at my house tomorrow an '02 Insight with it's original IMA battery and waiting to see what kind of shape it's in??? Currently own and daily drive another '02 with 74K on it.

This Insight is a single owner and only registered ONCE back in Sept of 2002 according to CarFax and Honda America, it's only got 12,981 TOTAL MILES ON IT'S CLOCK...

I wonder if years of low usage means the battery will be knackered.

[Bob D.]

It did with mine. Bought an "03 MT in July 2010 with about 51,000 miles and it needed a new IMA battery at about 60,000.

[kaypee171]

I believe I still have the original battery in my 2000, but I don't know for sure. However, I can tell it has seen better days. I don't get IMAs. I have only had one, but I was testing the battery on a warm day quite aggressively and probably deserved it. I have drained it as well as I can with OBDII C&C SoC reset, then recharged with a dumb charger in cold weather. But it force charges even at 60% SoC. If I floor it, I only draw about 38 amps. The most recharge I get is about 22 amps. Still, I don't use a lot of assist and I can still get auto stop if I keep the battery going, so I am trying to keep it functional until a viable lithium solution is available. If not, I'll give Bumblebee a call, although I would prefer more capacity.