My wife went to start her Insight after it sat in the garage for 12 days. She hadn't driven (she is a teacher) since Dec 18th and on Dec 30th no lights came on, the key fob would not lock the car, and nothing when she tried to start it. We had it jumped and I took it to the dealership where they found nothing wrong. I have never had this happen to any of my past cars. I find this strange and want to warn you to carry jumper cables in this extreme cold weather.
White EX with Navi and Sirius
My wife went to start her Insight after it sat in the garage for 12 days. She hadn't driven (she is a teacher) since Dec 18th and on Dec 30th no lights came on, the key fob would not lock the car, and nothing when she tried to start it. We had it jumped and I took it to the dealership where they found nothing wrong. I have never had this happen to any of my past cars. I find this strange and want to warn you to carry jumper cables in this extreme cold weather.
White EX with Navi and Sirius
That's odd.. I don't have sirus, have an EX w/ Navi and I've left my car non-driven for 8 days at -2 to -15 C, hybrid battery was still full, I didn't check the 12-volt, but as far as I know the hybrid battery is the one used to start the car as well.. If you need to let it sit for 12 days again or unsure, you might want to force charge the battery.
Also it could be the Sirus raido is wired directly to the live 12-volt instead of the accessory 12 volt, so it's never off? Was it dealer installed?
If you have a multi-meter try this test, measure it 12v battery 15 minutes after the car is off and measure it again if you don't drive it for 5 days. Let us know the voltage difference.
What was the 12 volt battery condition metercolor? Red, blue. black? The battery has a sight glass in it. Id bought new cars before with bad 12 volt oem batteries.
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Enginer 4 kilowatt PHEV, 3000k 35 watt fogs, Eco bulb highs, 4300k 35 watt low all w/relay kits, DRLs/Rear Wiper removed&rear interior gutted, Sony HU W/front speakers, Tanabe nf springs, 35% tint all around, all LED lamp replacement, 09 fit progress rear sway bar, OEM block heater, full gril block, KN Filter, Honda vent visiors, group 51 battery, home made balancer/grid charger Best/Worse MPG 96/36
What was the 12 volt battery condition metercolor? Red, blue. black? The battery has a sight glass in it. Id bought new cars before with bad 12 volt oem batteries.
I did not see the battery. We have free roadside assistance from the dealership and the tow truck came, jumped it and we let it run a while. He said that he has seen this with the Prius if they sit too long without starting.
The Sirius was installed at Best Buy and it is connected behind the dash connected directly to the Nav unit radio. It is off when the radio or car is off. How do I force charge the battery?
If you have a friend who knows how to use a multimeter you could check the current draw on the battery. It is a really easy check to do. There will always be a small current draw for the radio/clock memory and security system.
The Insight has a smallish 12-volt battery, but it surly should have lasted longer than 12 days. The next time you have a chance to let the car sit for a time, do as Cobb has suggested and check the battery indicator on the top of the battery. If it shows that the battery is low you will want to have the dealer make it right under warranty. If it is just a bad battery, that is an easy fix. If it is 'something' else, you should use this as a sign to find out what the real problem is. An ounce of prevention...
Ive parked mines for 2 weeks before with no problems. I am thinking a bad or not fully charged 12 volt battery. Its always possible the "experts" at best buy screw up something so the sat radio draws constantly when the key is off.
To force charge the hybrid battery, put it in park, set the parking brake, hold the engine to 3 thousand rpms and wait a few seconds while holding. You should see the charge/assist indicator move to charge 1/4 way and hold it til it returns to the center mark. That charges the hybrid battery.
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Enginer 4 kilowatt PHEV, 3000k 35 watt fogs, Eco bulb highs, 4300k 35 watt low all w/relay kits, DRLs/Rear Wiper removed&rear interior gutted, Sony HU W/front speakers, Tanabe nf springs, 35% tint all around, all LED lamp replacement, 09 fit progress rear sway bar, OEM block heater, full gril block, KN Filter, Honda vent visiors, group 51 battery, home made balancer/grid charger Best/Worse MPG 96/36
I forgot about that battery test window. Not all batteries here have it and so I still carry a multi-meter.
The current draw will probably require you to pull a fuse and use the multi-meter to connect so an exact measure can be made, if you do do this, only measure it when the car is off, most multi-meters can't properly handle more than 10A before blowing the internal fuse or melt wires.
I noticed in my owners manual that the battery ships in two capacities a 35 Ah version and a 28 Ah. On my EX, I got a 35, I presume all EX models came with a 35 and LX a 28? This could factor into how long it can sit for, or if they "mixed" up the batteries?
Ive parked mines for 2 weeks before with no problems. I am thinking a bad or not fully charged 12 volt battery. Its always possible the "experts" at best buy screw up something so the sat radio draws constantly when the key is off.
To force charge the hybrid battery, put it in park, set the parking brake, hold the engine to 3 thousand rpms and wait a few seconds while holding. You should see the charge/assist indicator move to charge 1/4 way and hold it til it returns to the center mark. That charges the hybrid battery.
I held the engine to 2000 rpms and waited. The IMA Battery Level Indicator (MID) went from Level 3 to Level 4.
Then the charge/assist indicator returned to the center mark.
After two new attempts with 2300 rpms the IMA Battery Level Indicator went to Level 5 and Level 6.
Are 3000 rpms a better solution?
How do I reach full operating temperature. Canīt hear "cooling fans" (owners manual).
How long to wait? How many rpms?
mine sat in an unheated airport for 3 weeks and the horn would not work with the remote but it unlocked and started up ok. after idling i switched it off and the horn started working ok. IMA battery was still fully charged.
the stock 12V auto battery is pretty wimpy. they should just have a bigger IMA battery instead of two batteries.
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Battery drained sitting for 12 days!
My wife went to start her Insight after it sat in the garage for 12 days. She hadn't driven (she is a teacher) since Dec 18th and on Dec 30th no lights came on, the key fob would not lock the car, and nothing when she tried to start it. We had it jumped and I took it to the dealership where they found nothing wrong. I have never had this happen to any of my past cars. I find this strange and want to warn you to carry jumper cables in this extreme cold weather.
