New battery or grid charger

[decisive]

Purchased an HCH I about 2 months ago, car has about 112k miles on it. IMA light is on however 12V battery is still being charged and I am getting limited assists/charge, battery recals semi regularly (once per 8-10 mile trip to work) but not as often as others have described. Would it be recommended to get a grid charger or new battery?

The conundrum I have is if I get a new battery I should probably get a grid charger anyway to keep it balanced/extend life however this is a very expensive proposition. Anyway, just looking for advice and thoughts.

[thedhgroup]

Originally Posted by decisive

Purchased an HCH I about 2 months ago, car has about 112k miles on it. IMA light is on however 12V battery is still being charged and I am getting limited assists/charge, battery recals semi regularly (once per 8-10 mile trip to work) but not as often as others have described. Would it be recommended to get a grid charger or new battery?

The conundrum I have is if I get a new battery I should probably get a grid charger anyway to keep it balanced/extend life however this is a very expensive proposition. Anyway, just looking for advice and thoughts.

Depends on how much you want to spend and how long you will keep the car.

If you drive it till the wheels fall off, I would invest in a grid charger but keep in mind that 6 months to a year you will probably need a new battery anyway. When you do get a new battery I would not go to Honda but one of the re-builders on this site. Bumblebee Batteries as an example.

[samwichse]

There's no reason the simple, cheap maintenance grid charger a la this thread wouldn't work for the HCH1 as well.

Assuming you have a place to plug in (I don't).

Sam

[jeff652]

Originally Posted by samwichse

There's no reason the simple, cheap maintenance grid charger a la this thread wouldn't work for the HCH1 as well.

Assuming you have a place to plug in (I don't).

Sam

Unfortunately, It wont work due to the cooling fan issue. The HCH uses a 'smart' fan that varies it's speed depending on cooling needs. I have developed a simple management function for the IPU fan that will be released for sale with my grid chargers by the end of this month but it is way beyond the Insight setup.

[RedJellyBean]

Originally Posted by jeff652

Unfortunately, It wont work due to the cooling fan issue. The HCH uses a 'smart' fan that varies it's speed depending on cooling needs. I have developed a simple management function for the IPU fan that will be released for sale with my grid chargers by the end of this month but it is way beyond the Insight setup.

Any chance you can explain more? Simply splicing into the fan's + and - terminals and applying constant 12v wouldn't work?

[Hybrid-Battery-Repair]

No, you can't. It has to be fed a PWM signal to run. Basically, there is circuitry inside the fan itself.

Now there is nothing stopping you from attaching something to the air inlet on the back dash and blowing air in, just make sure it is big enough that you can't forget to remove it when you drive the car.

Originally Posted by RedJellyBean

Any chance you can explain more? Simply splicing into the fan's + and - terminals and applying constant 12v wouldn't work?

[Hybrid-Battery-Repair]

Or limit your grid charging to (8 hours * % of SOC from top showing on the gauge) + 2 hours. That way you won't get too hot at 350Ma.

empty? (8 * 1) + 2 = (8 ) + 2 = 10 hours
1/4 full? (8 * 3/4) +2 = (6) + 2 = 8 hours
1/2 full? (8 * 1/2) +2 = (4) + 2 = 6 hours
3/4 full? (8 * 1/4) +2 = (2) + 2 = 4 hours
full? (8 * 0) + 2 = (0) + 2 = 2 hours

[retepsnikrep]

A simple PIC pwm chip and a suitable power supply hacked into the power leads sounds like the answer then.

Only issue I see is the brushed squirrel caged motor is prob not designed to run at full chat for hours on end so will need to run at something like 25% power to ensure reasonable longevity.

Clearly a temp controlled solution would be best.