IMA light on and now off

insightbuyer · 10-23-2011, 04:02 PM

This is for an 00 Insight with 153K miles that I just bought. I noticed since buying it that the battery would sometimes show full bars, and then go completly empty. Most of the time it seemed to work properly.

Went on what would be my longest driving since buying the car, maybe like 80 miles highway, and noticed the light came on, I think it came on after stoping for 20 minutes. Light stayed on, until that night when I started car to return home and been off since.

I pulled the error codes: P1447 and also had P0134. The check engine light is not on.

I do know that once I tried starting the car while in Auto Stop and the check engine light came on briefly. Maybe this threw the p0134 code?

I have the time to fix the battery issue now. Does anyone know any links that help you through step by step to recondition your own battery?

What would be the best thing to do at this point with the battery? I want to try and keep costs as low as possible, as I have plenty of time currently to fix it myself as I am not working.

With the p0134 error code, which seems to be the oxygen sensor, should I do anything about this or just leave it as the check engine light has not been coming on and car seems to run fine.

Eli · 10-23-2011, 04:06 PM

You'll want to get rid of the P0134. I say reset it and see if it comes back first. Running for a prolonged period with a bad O2 sensor will damage your cats.

The procedure to test the battery is to take it apart and run each stick through 4+ cycles at as high a charge/discharge amperage as you can manage. Note capacity, and replace the sticks that don't match.

insightbuyer · 10-23-2011, 04:10 PM

Eli: with the o2 sensor. how do I reset it, just disconnect the battery cable? Do I need to recheck with a scan guage, or can I just wait and see if the code comes back? Can I just not wait and see if I have my CEL light come back on?

Also, what equipement do you need to run it through the charge / discharge cycles? Do I need any advanced electronic equipment?

Eli · 10-23-2011, 04:17 PM

You can either clear it with your scantool or pull the negative cable, yeah. Then just drive like normal and see if it comes back. If the CEL is off, the error corrected itself even though the code is still present. Or the light is burned out.

I use the MRC Superbrain: MRC Super Brain 989 Pro AC/DC Peak Charger (NiCD, NiMH, Li-Poly w/RB126 Balancer) [MRCRB989] | Electric Accessories - A Main Hobbies

I'm not sure if it's maximum specifications are adequate to thoroughly test a pack anymore though; it's maximum charge/discharge is 10A, and our packs can see many times that. Should be better than nothing though. This is what Ron used for a long time.

insightbuyer · 10-23-2011, 04:29 PM

Eli: if I use this method to recondition my battery pack how much noticable improvement in performance will I notice? How much longer will the battery last?

Is this similar to what people who charge like $1,000 to recondition batteries do?

With the charger you recommended, can I plug it into a regular AC socket, or do I need an AC to DC converter?

When you get a new battery pack at a dealer, is that for a new one with new cells, or reconditioned?

Eli · 10-23-2011, 04:38 PM

1) You can expect the IMA light to go away and the battery to perform satisfactorily until the next weakest stick in the pack begins to show it's ugly head. There's no real way to tell how long it will last. It's also possible that every stick in your pack is equally degraded, in which case you would need to replace all 20 sticks.

2) Yes. These units are what Ron used for a long time. I think he's moved away from them though. Like I said, it can only charge/discharge at 10A. The information you get from this is telling, but isn't directly comparable to the usage patterns the batteries see in our cars, since they can be charged at ~50A and discharged at ~90A.

3) Yes, it runs off a regular A/C outlet. It's just a hobby charger.

4) The cells are "new", but they are New Old Stock. There is anecdotal evidence that the "new" batteries aren't lasting as long as they once were.

Even if they were brand new, current production cells, it's not worth it to purchase a Honda battery with the BetterBattery available.

Here's what a pack that I tested looked like. This was only at 5A charge/discharge. At this rate, the pack looks OK. I haven't tested it in a car to see if that's actually the case. This method of testing the batteries is state of the art circa 2009.. it is not perfect, but it's cheap and can work if you have sticks that are severely out of balance.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...B1enc&hl=en_US

kennysmith · 10-23-2011, 05:47 PM

Eli, I don't know how to read the chart. With a volt meter you measured each stick that had been sitting 1-1/2 years and then you put a 5A drain on them? And how long did you do that and then what are those 4 digit numbers? I sort of understand electronics a bit, but I feel disoriented cause I can't figure out those numbers and when they were measured. Why no measurement of voltage after the series of cycles? Did you quit with those 3 subpacks because they met some criteria? Thanks as always.

insightbuyer · 10-23-2011, 06:46 PM

I can find very little information on reconditioning the hybrid battery. Seems like it is not a very popular option for many people to do?

Anyway I did find this video of somebody using what seems to be a much better charger. It is 40amp charge rate, and can be connected to the computer for a diagram as seen in the video.

You Tube

Would something like this yield better results? Again, can not find much information on what is the best method for determining which battery packs should be replaced.

This charger only costs $250, so maybe it is worth the extra features over the model you recommended Eli? Can anyone confirm this?

Eli · 10-23-2011, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kennysmith

Eli, I don't know how to read the chart. With a volt meter you measured each stick that had been sitting 1-1/2 years and then you put a 5A drain on them? And how long did you do that and then what are those 4 digit numbers? I sort of understand electronics a bit, but I feel disoriented cause I can't figure out those numbers and when they were measured. Why no measurement of voltage after the series of cycles? Did you quit with those 3 subpacks because they met some criteria? Thanks as always.

You're trying to match capacity and internal resistance/self discharge. The numbers are the charge and discharge numbers in mAh.

One critical component of the test is to measure their self discharge. As you can see, I didn't follow through with this aspect of the test. But the batteries capacities are fairly well matched.

The reason nobody likes to test the pack themselves is because it's kinda a voodoo thing to do. Only Ron knows how to properly test a pack with a decent margin of actually fixing the problem.

This method will only work for finding grossly out of balance sticks.