Starter battery good for 2 years per manufactures warranty?

[Cobb]

Ive notice the dash and lights get noticeability brighter once I start the engine.

Ive seen this the past 2 days, so put the battery on the charger over nite. I notice the date sticker said 12/10, meaning I replaced it December of 2010.

In a way I kicked myself for not buying he top of the line battery and ended up with this one from advance auto with a 2 year warranty. The guy behind the counter referred to it as a civic battery and that they needed replacing often. I am using a group 51 size.

Today it more or less did a rolling negative recal with little assist.


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[egads]

Well the real question is why, if you were going to not buy an upgraded battery did you pay for one at all?

Warranty: Honda Genuine Replacement Batteries are covered by a 100 month prorated warranty.
Proration Schedule: During the first 3 years of service – A defective replacement battery will be replaced at no cost to the customer with a new Honda Genuine Replacement Battery and installation.
After the first 3 years of service – A prorated credit, based on years of service, will be applied toward the purchase of a new Honda Genuine Replacement Battery and the owner is responsible for the installation expense.
No cash reimbursement will be made.
The credit is calculated as follows: (Usage in Months)
0-36 = FREE
37-45 = 60%
46-55 = 50%
56-65 = 40%
66-75 = 30%
76-85 = 20%
86-95 = 10%
96-100 = 0%

[Cobb]

It was purchased from advance auto. I got the silver vs the gold or 2 vs 3 year warranty. I typically have a battery outlast its warranty and then some. Maybe the charging system coming on at 12.5 volts vs holding a constant 14 volt is the reason?

[RedDevil]

How come the charging system is set to just 12.5 V?
That would prevent the constant overloading of the battery and unnecessary resistance of the alternator.
Yet, apparently, the battery suffers from not being topped off.

I was wondering if it were possible to deregulate the voltage to exacktly 12.5 V combined with a small solar panel. As the alternator will not top off the battery the solar panel can actually do some good while the car is parked. It is not going to make a huge difference in MPG but it would keep the battery healthy.
The real savings is is the alternator doing less work (12.5 V versus 14 V means 11% less friction, not overloading the battery is pure gain though hard to estimate)

If you have no alternative way of charging your battery, you should set the alternator back up to over 13 V.

Maybe the battery can be saved by recharging it a few times.
Over the years I have revamped several stone dead batterys to more or less working order by gently charging and discharging them repeatedly, monitoring the voltage and amperage while doing that. (charging voltage should never rise more than say 20% of the battery's operational voltage).
At some time I even bought several packs of failed batterys from a telecommunications dump for my own little pet projects. I got all but one of them back to at least 80% of their original capacity by just doing this.

[Cobb]

There is no adjustment or alternator.


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[RedDevil]

So what is charging your battery, then?
Do you feed it from the IMA in some way?
Can or should I do so too?

[samwichse]

No Insight has an alternator, a DC-DC converter feeds the 12v system from the HV system attached to the IMA motor/generator.

Sam

[Cobb]

Yes, dc to dc converter from the IMA system switched by the ELD. All Hondas have a switch on the charging part that is called the ELD which turns it off and on plus helps mpg.

I left the charger on the battery for 5 hours yesterday. I see some improvements. The battery to our lawn tractor died, I put it on the charger for a few and it too has come back to life.

One of many projects on the shelf is a somar charger for the insight. Ive been derailed on a quest for a mppt charge controller.


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[RedDevil]

I'd really like the idea of a solar charger. There are basically 3 options:
- Charging the 12V battery. Like with a small solar panel, as to maintain full load when the car is not in use for a while. This is not gonna save the polar bears though.
- Charging the IMA battery. That will usually be not entirely full so charging it does help, maybe adding 100 wH each day or so. That might save you up to 30 liters or 8 gallons a year. But it needs a >100V charge regulator and stuff.
- Charging an extra battery pack that operates like a PHEV kit. This can save maybe up to 1 kWh a day, but you'd have to fully cover the roof with solar cells.

I wonder which option you're aiming at; probably the last one as you already have the PHEV kit?

What worries me is the time needed to earn back the investment and the weight that the larger arrays of cells add to the car.
Yet both batteries and solar cells get better and cheaper over time. One day it will be worthwhile. I'd just like to be sure when and how.

[Cobb]

My 4 kilowatt phev kit paid for itself in 17 months in fuel savings. I use just a little over a kilowatt an hour.

The starter battery solar trickle charger is something Ive wanted to do, just havent. Like Ive said I need to find an inexpensive mppt charge conroller. I am assuming a cheap low power solar panel with just a blocking diode is safe, I mean how can a 1-5 watt panel do any damage?

On the other hand this investment with a controller and decent sized panel will likely never break even in mpg savings. If you are going for mpg and return on your investment, just precharge your 12 volt battery before driving off with an existing charger. You will gain the most for trips under 7 miles, then the mpg tapers off.

Yeah, getting enough cells alone to solar charge the IMA battery would be a lot of real estate. You need 134 volts no load.

Mike DB2K made a coloralplast folding panel you lay on the windshield to do this, but I think he had safety issues with getting shocked.


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