This would be a nice feature

Rick · 01-06-2005, 01:29 AM

I recently picked up a GM EV1 owners manual off ebay and was reading it when I came across one neat little feature that would be relevant to us. The EV1 used a 12 volt accessory battery just like our cars, which is used for intermitent loads and to get things going before the DC/DC converter fires up, just like our Insight's. The feature is a battery recovery button, it was located up under the dash some, not that hard to find, but out of the way. My guess is all it does is force the DC/DC converter to run so 12 volt power is available. It says to press the button for 30 seconds then the vehicle should be able to start.

Rusttree · 01-06-2005, 10:24 PM

I totally agree. I've actually wondered why Honda engineers didn't include something like that in the Insight. Both times I've accidentally killed my 12V battery by leaving lights on overnight, I had a full charge in my IMA battery. It was frustrating that there was all that power back there but I couldn't use any of it to start the car.

Hmm... I wonder if there's a manual way to force the DC-DC converter to wake up while the car is off. That would be a neat mod.

-Dan

Foxpaw · 01-07-2005, 07:03 PM

Ermm.. I believe that the reason the DC-DC converter wouldn't work like that is fairly simple - the DC-DC converter requires a 12 volt supply to operate. If the DC-DC converter doesn't have enough power to run itself, it won't be able to charge the 12 volt enough to start the car.

b1shmu63 · 01-07-2005, 08:38 PM

"Catch 22 ?"

Plus using the 144 volt battery like that would probably force a recal. Having a second 12 volt battery, something like a motorcycle battery, onboard and trickle charged would achieve the required result too.

flunkysama · 01-10-2005, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Foxpaw

Ermm.. I believe that the reason the DC-DC converter wouldn't work like that is fairly simple - the DC-DC converter requires a 12 volt supply to operate. If the DC-DC converter doesn't have enough power to run itself, it won't be able to charge the 12 volt enough to start the car.

That's not strictly true. But you do need 12V spin the fan that blows air across the convertor's heatsink. You would also like the the computer that monitors the convertor for overheating to be on. It needs 12V. And would not you like to have the BCM powered up so an accurate State-of-Charge can be maintained?

JustinGray · 01-10-2005, 12:12 PM

the solution i found was to use one of those cheap "emergency battery paccks" that you plug into a lighter socket to give the car battery some juice.

Normaly these devices are retarted. You can not hope to start the car off one... pulling that kind of current through you 12v acc wiring is a bad idea!

So you end up leaving the thing inplace for 30-50 mins to trickle charge the battery back from it.

However ... on the insight the situation is different. You only need to provide enough juice the get the IMA controler up and running... a task this small little battery is more than up to ! ... plug it in... count to 30 ... start the car off the IMA.

TADA

Rick · 01-10-2005, 04:33 PM

Justin, one of those accessory outlet jump packs won't work. The lighter outlet is dead unless the key is on. And I don't think it would work to just turn the key to the on position either if the 12 volt is dead.

JustinGray · 01-10-2005, 04:42 PM

the acc socket is dead only because it is hooke up to a switched 12v source... in otherwords... the socket is only grounded when the key is in the on position ....

so you plug in the charger to the on position.... let it charge up the 12v for like a minute. Then the battery has enough power to wake up the ima controller. That is assuming that the switched 12v sources in our car are not active in the start postion... ill check on that later tonight.