Meeting of Mid-Atlantic Gen1 Insight Owners

[jime]

(NOTE-PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS THREAD WHEN DISCUSSING THE 2013 EVENT. USE THE NEW THREAD WITH 2013 IN THE TITLE)

I'm getting a good response so the event is certain. There are currently 15 folks who have expressed a serious interest in the event. The event will take place at Gambrill State Park near Frederick, MD on September 8-9, 2012. I have secured reservations for picnic pavilion number 2 so that we have shelter from any rains that may arrive. We will probably start at about 10:15 a.m.

The Saturday agenda:
10:00 Introductions
10:15 Battery Maintenance & Repair
11:15 Break
11:30 Battery Options
12:00 Lunch Cookout
1:30 Modifications
2:15 Break
2:45 Hypermiling
3:15 Break
3:30 Open Discussion, Questions, Feedback
4:00 Long Break, Tech Talking, Hiking
5:00 Dinner Cookout
6:00 Insight Movie

There will also be a "hoods up" walk around so everyone can see what improvements have been made by others. Attendes are asked to think about what they have done to improve their Insights and be prepared for show and tell.

There will also be a display of tools, such as grid chargers, refurbishment tools, diagnostic tools, etc. Again, attendes are asked to "show and tell."

There will be ample time devoted to breaks and the cookouts so that we can all socialize a bit.

The current plan for Sunday is to have a morning rally of some pretty MD countryside. The rally will be scored as a fuel economy run, for those who chose to participate. The rally will be limited to 1 hour since some folks are coming large distances and need Sunday afternoon to get home at a reasonable hour. You will find the rules in post #14 below.

If participants are interested, we will organize a Sunday breakfast in a pretty section of old Frederick, near to the rally starting point. We can also meet somewhere near by for a Sunday luncheon if there is interest.

Gen2 Insight folks are certainly welcome to attend. There is a growing perception that Honda will soon leave us to our own to keep the cars running and we need to better network to support our cars. Some of the Gen 2 folks are prior Gen 1 owners and will have valuable contributions to make, after all, the technology isn't much different. Cobb is a Gen2 owner who has an interesting LiFePo4 Engineer kit installed in his car and can talk to folks some about that technology, and I think he would be able to contribute some to our discussion of battery alternatives.

As you notice, things are begining to get firmed up, so this is a good time to get your suggestions into the mix! I will be listing the growing number of screen names soon.

freezin4(Pete) is in charge of the barbeques. Please refer to his opening remarks in post #14 below for you comment and feedback. Menu is sounding good. Still time for some options, but let's not load him down too much. Fillet is not on the options list I think there was one vote for chicken breast and that sounds pretty reasonable if that person is attending.

So there it is. Please feel free to give me your largest range of feedback and suggestions. I think the meet in "on" with the current number of interested parties, but I would like to reach the largest number of Gen 1 owners we can. Contact help is requested. My method of PM'ing has worked fairly well, but it misses a lot of potential attendees. Personal knowledge of all of you out there can add folks who are not on IC. Most of us know at least one other Gen 1 owner who would be a candidate, so lets get with the program!

[firsthonda]

This may be something I may be able to participate in if Gen 2 guys are welcome.


BTW had anyone heard from Cobb recently?

[Cobb]

I am sure Jim wouldnt mind. I will try to attend. I am up for any meets, even if it is just 1 person. I use to crash Scion shows, but those have really dried up.

I just saw JimE get 120 mpg with his Mima setup. To my surprise it connects into the boxes in the IPU, I thought all its wiring was up under the dash. I need to read the shop manuals and see how the connectors and voltages match up. Maybe Mima2 isnt quite so dead yet?

[jime]

I did some surveying of the meeting pavilion on Monday. It is in Gambrill State Park near Frederick, MD. It is a very nice covered spot with restrooms, electricity, grills, parking, picnic tables, and lights. Have to check but I believe the hours are from 9 am to 8 pm EST.

We are now up to 15 folks so I think the early turnout is very good. I have a volunteer, freezin4, to help with the food, so that is a load off my plate. We'll probably plan on a long Saturday and two meals.

I also did some surveying of routes for the fuel economy run. Very nice countryside around the park once one gets out of the highlands. Will probably pick a start/completion point somewhere outside the park as we only have the pavilion for the one day. I have posted a poll so folks can vote their desired length for the FE run. We have some folks coming from great distances, so I think we need to get the FE run started early and finish before noon. I'll try to find a decent restaurant so that those who don't need to leave can socialize a bit after the run.

I'll probably ask for donations a bit later to defray the cost. A bit too early right now until we see what the final numbers are. It'll be inexpensive. The pavilion was only $37 or so and freezin4 is planning inexpensive cookout type of food. Do we have any great burger flippers?

I'm leaving the question of 2nd Gen Insights open for the moment. If we allow it, then I think we want to restrict the numbers. I don't want to detract from a whole host of interesting Gen 1 topics.

Please vote your preferences in the poll.

[Cobb]

I cant eat beef, but chicken is fine, like chicken dogs.

Feel free to take advantage of me Jim since I am local to you if you need help hauling anything. Id like to take my i2, but Ill work with you if you need a driver or want to take something for a tow.

If I take my i2 I ask to be able to plug it in when I get there. I need a plug capable of a thousand watts for 5 hours for a full charge of my phev kit.


Sent from my Autoguide iPod touch app

[jime]

Originally Posted by Cobb

I cant eat beef, but chicken is fine, like chicken dogs.

Feel free to take advantage of me Jim since I am local to you if you need help hauling anything. Id like to take my i2, but Ill work with you if you need a driver or want to take something for a tow.

If I take my i2 I ask to be able to plug it in when I get there. I need a plug capable of a thousand watts for 5 hours for a full charge of my phev kit.


Sent from my Autoguide iPod touch app

We'll have some chicken items for those who don't want to eat beef. I'll leave that to freezin4 since he is food chairman. Early yet.

You are gonna need a very long cord to tap the 120v. As I recall you will be about 25 yards minimum from the parking. You can't run without the Engineer battery?

I think we are probably going to limit the Gen 2 folks to 5 total. Certainly we want to socialize, but we don't want to swing the character of the meet away from Gen 1 stuff. The Engineer kit would probably be of interest to some Gen1 folks also, assuming it works in Gen1.

Thanks for your offer of help

[jime]

Don't want to take much "air time" from our British friends whose event is coming right up, but a couple of remarks on status. First, we are up to 18 folks attending already, so the event is looking more solid all the time. Second, I would like everyone to answer the poll regarding the length of the fuel economy contest. I need to factor that into the planning pretty early on so that I can settle on a course. I know that some are coming a fair distance and will want to leave town on Sunday as early as possible.

freezin4, who is from the Frederick area, and I have had some discussion about the food, but we have lots of time yet - time for everyone to get their plans in order. Hope to see you all there

[ikhoudvanu199]

i am interested in going to this

its only about 5 hours from me

it all depends on work, finances at the time, etc

have we set a date for this yet?

[jime]

Originally Posted by ikhoudvanu199

i am interested in going to this

its only about 5 hours from me

it all depends on work, finances at the time, etc

have we set a date for this yet?

Yes, the dates are Sept. 8-9. The details will always be contained in the first post in the thread.

We are obviously still in the planning phase, but we do have the pavillion secured.

Love to have you come. It may be some distance from you, but the roads in/out of the area are good. It is just barely off I70 in Frederick, MD.

[ikhoudvanu199]

wow, i dont know how i missed the dates in the 1st post!

hopefully i can make it. do you have an rsvp deadline?