MIMA has an option to use Aux2 for boost enable, or the brake light activation, but I do not go into that in the code or operation information, as that signal is not disabling the boost in all conditions. More work to do to make it 100% reliable.
Sounds good to me.
Of course it is one of a 100+ projects on your list of projects.
What conditions were you thinking to possibly have the Aux2 signal enable for boost?
Wouldn't booster current confuse MIMA about the state of when Regen , Assist, or none of the above are happening?
The problem with the present code is that the boost enable control is a subroutine that is called after the assist/regen has been applied, and therefore can sometimes turn off the boost too late.
The boost control needs to happen before rather than after the fact, and it will never have issues. The code does not presently look at the ECM generated IMA control signals to determine if the ECM is requesting assist or regen, so the boost enable can only respond correctly when MIMA is active.
Both are solvable issues, but will involve spending some time with the code.
Any software guys with MIMA that want to tackle that?
I put up the 1_5_5.ASM code that includes the boost enable function. I believe that most of the systems that are out there have that version.
Wish I had more hours in the day. So much I want to do.
I have been driving my factory origional 2000 Insight for about 7 months now and I can now get 80 miles per gallon for the last 3000 miles. Although it would be such fun to get the MIMA system in my car I have calculated that it would take 80000 miles to recoup thecosts at current gas prices. I was wondering if some other aspect of the system would help to justify the cost IE the IMA system would last longer or the engine would ...
Duane, there are ways and ways to justify a MIMA system for your Insight...you could look at some of your current extravagancies and compare..I regularly tell myself that if I drink less beer, then I will pay for whatever it is in x months...I find it works every time..
Or you could just focus on the fun aspect and the thrill you will get from paying less of your hard earned "dosh" to the tax man..
Or if you are really serious you could ship your Insight to Europe where the current average price of an American gallon of fuel is $8 ( £1.08 per litre) that way you would recoup your investment in a few nanoseconds.
Just do it! MIMAs are going to be a while rolling off the production line anyway, so you have some saving time right there
Rog
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Blessed are the "cracked" for it is they who let in the light.
Duane - you will never regret MIMA - I agree the "payback" takes a long time, but you can keep the car at lower rpms, acheive higher mpg and have an extra boost of power when you need it.
You can put less stress on the engine by not charging the pack when going up hill too, which was a constant annoyance to me. (also increases gas mileage too)
I am driving the car faster than I have been previously, due to recent insane people on the freeways (gas goes up, let's drive the SUV faster - great idea) and am still seeing a 15% boost in my F/E.
Duane,
A look at the MIMA users page, will give you a good overview of what other MIMA users have experienced.
When people spend $1000 for a nice sound system for their car, they do not worry about payback time, It makes their time commuting more enjoyable, that is all the payback that you get. Fancy seat covers can cost as much as MIMA.
Why would you expect MIMA to pay for it self?
The satisfaction that you get when you can stop charging while climbing a hill, or climb hills without stepping down further on the gas, or stop a battery pack recal, or get 100MPG on a trip that you could only get 80 on before, or get better MPG while driving at the prevailing traffic speed, rather than 10 or more MPH less.
All of these events bring on my MIMA Grin, and for me that is all the payback I need. I hate driving any other car, and find my hand reaching for the (missing) regen joystick on every deceleration whenever I have to drive my van.
If we can ever get a production boost system for a reasonable price, the MPG improvements shoot up another 10-20%, at which point the system may in fact pay for it self even faster.
Many guys have stated that once you drive an Insight with MIMA, you feel that the car is incomplete without it.
The waiting list is over 30 people, and I get calls nearly every day from people that want a similar system for the Civic. I got a call today from a guy that is looking for a used Insight so he can install MIMA, and have actually had someone from the last batch get an Insight after the he got the system.
It is fun, and saves gas, what else could one want.
Mike's first batch of kits was either 7 or 8 IIRC, and he wanted to be involved personally as much as possible in the installation of those first kits, so he tried to keep them pretty much in his locale, again IIRC.
I contacted him and said that if he didn't have enough takers, I would be interested in installing one myself. He allowed that they had seen no problems with the installations and operations of the boards that had been done in NE and he had a built board left, if I was interested. I have loved every minute of it.
It is also a near essential piece of hardware for control of any addition battery/electrical capacity, and to be able to dish out the SOC from a grid charging application, in a high FE sort of way. As for payback time/miles, that continues to shrink with each passing trip to the pumps. M MA
Randall
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MIMA #005
A founding member: Knights of the MIMA Roundtable
MIMA is worth more than what people pay for rims, stereos, GPS, On-Star, Low-Jack, or any other vehicle accessory that can cost hundreds of dollars.
MIMA was a great first step... Second Step is the Secondary battery I am working on to be able to MIMA even more... Third Step Enhance net vehicle efficiency with energy recovery systems on exhaust and radiator, Electric AC, electric brake pump , etc.... Fourth Step many years ( at least 5 and likely 10 ) from now is a EV Mode for 20 to 30 miles... I think of it as my five step plan, were the 5th step is the wide open with possibilities future.
the MIMA project to me is a benefit to all Insights in particular and to a limited degree all HEVs... It brings together the right kind of people... even if those people are all busy with there own plans most of the time... It is a enthusiast level project / group... Given the computer controlled everything of more modern cars... a MIMA Insight is about as Fuel Efficient as you can get and have the manual control you can have ... I doubt we will see this level of user control ever again.
MIMA is open source so like other open source projects... anyone willing to contribute is open and freely able to do so.
It is one of the greatest add ons for fun I have for my biggest toy
My understanding is that if we want to inject boost power at the main battery mdm/pack interface we must only do so when system is requesting boost/regen or the zero level check will set an ima code? Correct Y/N
Any V boost system can obviously make use of the Aux2 MIMA output to enable the boost charge as desired (I note some work reqd on code). We can adjust mima background charge to command some regen at all times and so allow the Vboost to operate without error, but am I right in assuming the mima regen level will be suplemented by our Vboost charge which comes on at the same time, or will the regen be replaced by the charge from the Vboost system, or will the extra Vboost when it comes on make MIMA think something is wrong and make it to dial down the regen to the level you set? Hope that makes sense?
As I have quite a few TS 200Ah Li-Ion cells kicking about now (I sold my van minus bats)I have made up a 12v 200ah 20kg boost battery from four of them, and am looking at a 2kw 12-240v dc-ac inverter to modify. Theoretically boost bat should supply 200A (Call it 2kw) for one hour, but realistically with these old cells I'll call it 1kw for 1hr.
Seems like concensus is to tap into 12-240v inverter just after transformer before it is chopped into ac waveform, possibly reduce number of windings to suit final output voltage 175vdc or thereabouts.
Lot's to do!
I've luckily got the cash for a 144v pack of new Li cells and I can't decide betwen a set of 45 Thunder sky lcp50aha (65kg) ones to replace the nimh pack or a set of cheapo Li-Fe 20ah ones as a booster pack. I would really prefer to replace the nimh altogether and con the BMC with an add on pic/bms monitoring the new pack. A 50aha pack would pretty much give you unlimited assist for daily journeys
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re: New MIMA Thread
