Battery Life

[WearSunScreen]

After 57,000 miles of normal usage over four years, the battery died. The bill to replace the battery and controller as over $5,000. Thankfully I was still under warranty so Honda paid that bill and gave me a rental car. (It took 10 days to get my car back).

I sure hope 57,000 miles / 4 years is at the extreme low end of battery life expectations! The dealer said it was the first time they've seen a battery need to be replaced.

Has anybody else needed to replace their battery?

[JeffKinTN]

Oh boy....

I had mine replaced at 47,000 miles, this was due to Honda not being able to identify why the IMA SOC seamed stuck at 50% no atter what.

[Resist]

I take it you are talking about the battery pack and not the regular battery. But at 5 grand your Stealership must be doing well. Last time I priced out the battery pack it was not over $3,000.

[Delta Flyer]

This happened to me this February at 94,000 miles.

Do you drive a 2000 Insight? The replacement BCM and MCM are supposed to be different - protect better against under and over charging.

[jags]

I just bought a 2000 insight from a trusted friend 3-31-11 .
He had the car since new. He is a retired engineer and you could not find someone who treats their insight better. She is like a goddess to him.
And he drives very mildly and follows all recs to the letter.
He had to replace his battery at 80K and again
at 119K, then again at 125K! Thankfully all under warranty and by the dealer
via Honda.

It has 130K on it now.
My question is why did it last only 39k the time before last and only 6K the last one? Honda doesnt really know. Maybe a defective battery the last time,
but the time before at 39K is low too. Is there something that could be wrong on the system thats eating up batteries? Honda said no.

[Eli]

Defective batteries seem unlikely, though certainly possible.

Did he drive it less and less during these periods of time? Sitting is bad for the battery.

[mb1285]

History of battery pack on 2000 Insight (purchased in '05), 5-speed manual transmission

01/25/06 ... 48,502 ... failed motor control module / check engine light / ima light ...
replaced motor control module / covered under warranty

11/15/07 ... 62,746 ... ima light / check engine light / failed motor control module ...
replaced motor control module and batteries (1st time?) / covered under warranty

12/04/07 ... 63,294 ...
replaced ECM under warranty, the computer, otherwise check engine light would be on all the time, related to catalytic computer

11/18/10 ... 77,623 ... ima light ... IMA battery internal failure
replaced the IMA battery (second time, after 3 years, 14,877 miles) / covered under warranty


They said the reason my batteries die soon are probably that I don't drive the car enough, and we have cold winters.

Why are new batteries so expensive? Are they different from the D size NiMh that I can buy in the store?

Is there a way that I could attach a Battery Tender to the IMA batteries?

They should make it so you can plug the car in, it charges your batteries, keeps them cool in the summer, warm in the winter, then they should last longer.

[Eli]

1) The batteries in the Insight are capable of being charged at 50A and discharged at 100A. You will not find a consumer-level NiMH cell that can do this.

2) Yes, there is a Grid Charger/Balancer being developed for our cars. ETA is July. If you do not drive your car regularly, which is obvious by your milage - 14,000 miles in 3 years(yikes!) - you MUST invest in a grid charger, or your battery will fail again in short order.

Grid Charger - MIMA Honda Insight Modified Integrated Motor Assist

Contact Mike Dabrowski for more information -

Contact Us - MIMA Honda Insight Modified Integrated Motor Assist