Is there a minimum "healthy" milage per year for the IMA system?

[gtr-hybrid-owner]

Greetings,

This is a first post from a long time insight owner.

I have a dealer purchsed 2000 Honda insight (manual transmission, all that was available in that year) with between 80,000 and 90,000 miles on it.

When I originally bought the vehicle (in MA) I was commuting an average of 80 miles a day. I needed no service beyond oil changes for the first 60 or 70 thousand miles. About 5 years ago I moved and have been working from home ever since (in MS). Over the past couple of years I've had the IMA battery pack replaced twice and the techs at my local dealer are telling me that the problem is that I am quite simply not putting enough miles on the vehicle for it to cycle the batteries and keep them in good condition.

I am looking at the third replacement of the IMA system and I believe this time it will be on my dime (I think the coverage is for 80,000 miles and I'm now over that limit).

Is the notion of a minimum usage correct? If so, what are the exact parameters?

The techs had recommended that at the very least I drive for 1/2 hour at least once a week .. which I had been doing (at least to the best of my abilities) for the last year. However that doesn't seem to have been enough.

Is there a way to trickle charge, disconnect, condition or otherwise preserve the batteries? If there are any collectors out there who are looking to minimize the mileage on their Insights, what are they doing?

Any input, suggestions, and pointers would be greatly appreciated.

-GTR-Hybrid-Owner

[IamIan]

the Gen-1 Insight is 10 years 150,000 miles ... unless you have a salvage title or something... see the dedicated thread for more details if you like.

The batteries do have a self discharge rate which if unused will put them out of a state that the car's computer system is happy with... it does not actually do any permanent damage to a NiMH battery from this treatment... even though it will expedite IMA error codes.

Unless something is off the 10 year 150,000 mile protection should still cover your IMA ... even beyond that period another forum memeber Hybrid-Battery-Repair will service the battery and get you back on the road for a fraction of what the dealership will charge.

If you are into electronics and batteries and stuff yourself ... there are also threads here on Insight Central ( IC ) that can help you to treat and even service your IMA Hybrid NiMH battery yourself.... if you are not that type of DIY High Voltage Automotive electronics person maybe you should stick with using people who are.

[Hybrid-Battery-Repair]

Originally Posted by gtr-hybrid-owner

Over the past couple of years I've had the IMA battery pack replaced twice and the techs at my local dealer are telling me that the problem is that I am quite simply not putting enough miles on the vehicle for it to cycle the batteries and keep them in good condition.

It's not the mileage or the time, but rather the frequency. Their suggestion of driving it 30 minutes per week is good, but I would recommend splitting up that 30 minutes and driving it a few times a week.

As Ian said, your warranty is 10 years, 150,000 miles. Those 10 years will be over very soon, so start driving your baby more often or you'll probably be giving me a call.

[aisbell]

Originally Posted by gtr-hybrid-owner

Is there a way to trickle charge, disconnect, condition or otherwise preserve the batteries?

An IMA battery trickle charger has been designed and is being used by several people, including me, who do not drive their Insights frequently enough to prevent significant IMA battery cell imbalance. It is too early to tell whether this will solve the premature battery failure problem, but doing nothing is certainly no better.

So you might consider building or buying one of these chargers. I bought mine from an Insight owner in the United Kingdom. I'm not certain whether anyone in the U.S. is selling these chargers yet.

[kennedywill]

To save the IMA balance I propose shutting the ON/OFF switch after a drive. Can anyone speak against this?

[Eli]

Originally Posted by kennedywill

To save the IMA balance I propose shutting the ON/OFF switch after a drive. Can anyone speak against this?

Will do nothing.

The imbalance is essentially caused by Honda's BMS system lacking a balancing routine.

[aisbell]

Originally Posted by kennedywill

To save the IMA balance I propose shutting the ON/OFF switch after a drive.

The cause of the imbalance is due to the normal internal self-discharge of each NiMH cell in the battery pack rather than a discharge due to an external load. So turning off the ON/OFF switch will do nothing to prevent this internal self-discharge.

And as Eli stated, the IMA system has no capability of fixing this imbalance. However, an external IMA battery charger/balancer can fix this imbalance.

[bryankwalton]

I'm in a similar situation. I used to drive about 75 miles RT 5 days per week. I then joined a commuter van pool to work to lower the number of miles I was driving per year. I now only put abut 30 miles per week on my Insight, and am suffering from the battery out of balance -- just like the original poster. Within 6 months of joining the van pool, I started having recals and they are now occurring more frequently. I'm anxiously waiting for Mike to finish his grid chargers so that I can try and rectify my problem.

-Bryan