Had mine to a local Honda dealer. Car sat for 3 years. Dealer told me the battery was shot. (No warranty/salvage history). Bought a used battery, had them install it. Told me it needs a BCM. Found a used one had them install. Told me it needs a dc/dc converter. Found one and had them install it. Then they told me it needs a battery. Again. Now too much time has expired and the used battery warranty is over.
I brought it home and am going to attempt to fix it myself. Battery is out and apart. Need to charge and test the cells.
The MRC989 is discontinued. What is another good charger/balancer that can be used?
There was another thread the other day asking a similar question, charger alternatives. IamIan suggested a few. Maybe search 'superbrain 989' in the body text to find that. One suggestion is one of the Powerlab models, here's a link to some, not sure which one, I think I was reading about the 'Powerlab 8': Cellpro PowerLab 8 (EC5 version)
Frankly, unless you were really into batteries the price seems a little steep, for what will most likely amount to one or perhaps two-time use. Maybe someone who lives near you will loan you their Superbrain.
Here's a pretty decent, recent thread discussing reconditioning with the SB989, with links to other threads: Cell conditioning
Here's that thread with charger suggestions, though it doesn't make many explicit ones as I had thought: Charger for Cell Reconditioning
Had mine to a local Honda dealer. Car sat for 3 years. Dealer told me the battery was shot. (No warranty/salvage history). Bought a used battery, had them install it. Told me it needs a BCM. Found a used one had them install. Told me it needs a dc/dc converter. Found one and had them install it. Then they told me it needs a battery. Again. Now too much time has expired and the used battery warranty is over.
I brought it home and am going to attempt to fix it myself. Battery is out and apart. Need to charge and test the cells.
The MRC989 is discontinued. What is another good charger/balancer that can be used?
Thanks in advance! MarkAdams
Uh.. Wow.
Find a new dealership, NOW!
The chances that your car needed a new BCM or DC-DC are pretty much nothing. You are getting taken for a ride.
What codes do you have?
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Bumblebee Batteries, LLC - Helping your hybrid get from point A to point Bee!
The chances that your car needed a new BCM or DC-DC are pretty much nothing. You are getting taken for a ride.
What codes do you have?
You know I thought the same thing. I don't think they put their "best" hybrid tech on my car. (Maybe wrong) Seemed to me he was just "poking and hoping" somewhat. To change battery, BCM, DC-DC then back to the battery again, made me suspisious.
They did however allow me to find my own parts and helped me out on labor costs, so I didn't want to say too much, but the bottom line is, still not running correct.
I'll run a scan on it today and see if there are any codes.
I tried disconnecting the BCM to run it on gas only, but it wouldn't charge the 12 volt at idle. Had a voltmeter on it and it kept dropping until I took the rpms up. then it did charge. 13.8 volts.
Thanks Tim. Can you find the weak cell by using a grid charger? I do have 2 complete batteries I was hoping to make 1 good.
Hi Mark,
If you have Mike Dabrowski's grid charger / discharger, you can do this with the discharge test mode. A home built grid charger cannot do this.
Also, my experience with the 989 was you have to charge / discharge, but then let it sit for many days (I used 21 days on my last test) and see how much capacity is left when you do a single discharge / charge cycle.
My 0.02 worth,
Tim Glover
Last edited by TopFuelTim; 01-11-2013 at 01:01 PM.
Reason: can't spell
.....If you have Mike Dabrowski's grid charger / discharger, you can do this with the discharge test mode. A home built grid charger cannot do this....
Well, I guess the home built approach is not the most obvious, but it can be done if you're persistent, as shown below.
The picture with the "stick cycling setup" verbiage shows my home built discharge resistor, and 10amp power supply to the right.
Just for kicks I hooked my DVM to the battery and my large lead acid charger (set on 10 amps) to a stick. Zapped it for about 30 seconds and now its reading 8.3 volts. Actually felt some heat after removing the charger. Just a little over room temp.
Is that all it takes to charge these?
And thank you to everyone contributing to this thread!
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Need help with my 2004 IMA battery
