Its now 5 weeks since I bought the Insight. For that entire time I have not seen 100% on the SOC. I get to just 1 bar short of %100 and there is has always stopped. But last night, the first time I have driven at night, with that AC ON and the radio ON and the lights ON, I achieved 100% on the SOC in less than 10 miles!
I am wondering if the heavier than normal electrical usage of the 12V system might not trigger a switch in the CPU program that in turn causes the IMA charging to be more aggressive???
Anyone know??
__________________
Jim Isbell
2000, 5 speed, 250,000 miles
"If you are not living on the edge, well then,
you are just taking up too much space."
If this is truly an effect, then a simple switch that could simulate the headlights being on to the computer would be a cheap upgrade to be available when you have a depleted IMA.
__________________
Jim Isbell
2000, 5 speed, 250,000 miles
"If you are not living on the edge, well then,
you are just taking up too much space."
Before mima I rarely saw higher than 19 bars of SOC. The only times were if I had a long downhill stretch. With mima it became easier to force an additional charge. Even now with plugin charging (upto ~10 Ah) the system will still do a positive recal to 19 bars and then stop. The only way to go higher is to charge more with the car. 19 bars appears to be normal in my experience.
Yes, this is normal. Any time there is higher 12V load (lights, fan on high, rear defogger, etc. all work the same way), the IMA will start "hidden charging" (i.e. charging the battery without turning on the green charge bars on the dash) more frequently and also with ~20% higher current than without 12V loads on.
Before MIMA, this was a trick to keep the IMA battery charged.
Don't know about forcing it in ways that don't use power. Probably uses signals from the DC-DC converter that might be hard to fake...
Armin did measurements and documented this "quirk" (?) in a post wayyyy back when...
However, there have been credible reports (IIRC no actucal current measurements though) that the 3rd generation BCM logic has reduced or eliminated this additional hidden charging. To enumerate: any 04 -06, any 02-04 that has had the MCM/BCM reflashed with the updated control logic and any 00-01 with the updated controllers. i.e. any that had an IMA battery pack replaced under warranty (newer or reflashed BCM and MCM's are required under warranty, if your paying its your nickel).
A little vauge, but AFAIK the _original_ factory BCM & MCM on 00-01's are not reflashable hence the required replacement as per the IMA battery warranty bulletin. ECU implies engine computer (ECM). AFAIK No control software for the IMA system resides there.
I'd have to dig through the TSB's and FSM to determine if the ECM is reflashable. IIRC it is.
I just did the TPS filter Mod and what a change!!! I didn't do the variable resistor method, I just added a 5.1K resistor with a 100uf capacitor across the line and getting into and staying in Lean Burn is a snap now, even in areas where I never tried before because of the roughness of the road and the short trip length.
After adding the mod I went on a test drive just to make sure I hadn't screwed up anything. The trip meter was showing 275 miles at 58.5 mpg. With that much mileage and with the test drive only being 12 miles I really didn't expect to see any improvement of the average. I just wanted to see if it still ran. But I was surprised! On a triangular trip of 4 miles on a side in a wind of about 20 mph and a rough road, all conditions that tend to make lean burn impractical I was able to add 0.4 mpg to the average and move the trip average up to 58.9 mpg. It was much easier to find lean burn and when I found it I was able to keep it even in the unsettled conditions of the test run.
I cant wait to see how it goes out on the open road at highway speeds. I never got above 50mph on this run so I am sure that at 55 on the highway I will be able to keep lean burn for long periods of time with this modification.
__________________
Jim Isbell
2000, 5 speed, 250,000 miles
"If you are not living on the edge, well then,
you are just taking up too much space."
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Lights on instigates more agressive charge?
