Am I having battery problems?

jrlnc · 09-03-2010, 05:29 PM

Well, today this started happening again.

I did several short trips of stop-n-go city driving. It was really hot today (96F) and I decided to use the a/c.

After one of my stops, I decided to put the battery level display screen on. All of a sudden I had no power and I knew what that meant (forced regen was happening).

In normal driving with the a/c & forced regen, this car is almost undrivable. I almost have to floor the accelerator to get any response out of it.

For the first time ever, the battery state of charge showed it was completely empty! I really have never seen that. Of course the IMA was in recharge mode, but it took a long time for it to recover. Eventually it got back up to half, then 3/4, and then showed full very quickly. I don't think the SOC display is linear.

My car only has 32,000 miles on it and in extreme conditions I cannot either use the a/c or ECON mode.

Oh, and guess what? I've done some looking, and my EX-NAVI is worth about $15K for trade-in or sale. Honda has dropped the price on their Insights and ours aren't worth too much now.

I'm getting really close to dumping this thing just to get a regular Civic EXL-NAVI. I drove one and it has excellent power. With my 50/50 driving mix I bet I could get in the mid to high 30's with the Civic.

For the additional cost and aggravation of the low battery capacity, I don't think the Insight is a good vehicle. It was not designed to be drivable and fuel efficient at the same time. In most conditions it is very peppy and efficient, but these times I start to really hate the damned thing!

I think the only other alternative is to turn off ECON on hot days that I need to use the a/c. That sucks because then I don't get 50 mpg. It's close to the 40 EPA figure.

Does anyone else have similar thoughts?

rafk · 09-03-2010, 06:46 PM

You've already lost a lot of the car value just by driving it off the lot.... wouldnt 40mpg w/o econ still be better than mid 30s w/ a civic? Unless you really hate driving the car I cant see that trading it in would be much better. I havent had to deal w/ the sluggishness much although I did get pretty hot here this summer and I did drive w/ the ac on. I'm still pretty happy w/ my Insight 1 year later.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrlnc

Well, today this started happening again.

I'm getting really close to dumping this thing just to get a regular Civic EXL-NAVI. I drove one and it has excellent power. With my 50/50 driving mix I bet I could get in the mid to high 30's with the Civic.

For the additional cost and aggravation of the low battery capacity, I don't think the Insight is a good vehicle. It was not designed to be drivable and fuel efficient at the same time. In most conditions it is very peppy and efficient, but these times I start to really hate the damned thing!

I think the only other alternative is to turn off ECON on hot days that I need to use the a/c. That sucks because then I don't get 50 mpg. It's close to the 40 EPA figure.

Does anyone else have similar thoughts?

cheesie · 09-05-2010, 10:21 PM

yeah i hate the hot wether too
i need to push more the pedal wen taking off but thankfully ive never seen the battery empty

i wonder how much my car without nav and 30k miles is worth now

mikept03 · 09-06-2010, 03:46 AM

This sort of thing happens to me often, and it's kinda scary at times when you pull out expecting the power to be there and it's not (I normally don't watch the battery screen). Then, once the battery is full again, the stupid thing immediately changes its behavior and becomes really assist happy. I've actually accidentally chirped the tires a few times starting from a stop when this happens.

For me it usually happens upon coasting to exit a freeway, and 9/10 times happens at the exact same point on my commute every day, although lately its been happening at seemingly random times for no explicable reason as well.

The only time I've seen the battery at absolutely 0 was after the 12V battery had been disconnected. You may want to have your 12V battery checked out, since I've read this can cause problems for the hybrid system.

Cobb · 09-18-2010, 09:16 PM

Yeah, ac drains it a lot, as well as the power steeing. Since its les than 100 degrees out I have driven without AC or power steering nad can am half a mpg from breaking 70 mpg. The IMA charged the hybrid battery, the hybrid battery charges the 12 volt battery. Neither battery are that big. My advice would be to get a bigger or higher capacity battery for under the hood or a second remote battery.

firsthonda · 09-18-2010, 10:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cobb

Since its les than 100 degrees out I have driven without AC or power steering nad can am half a mpg from breaking 70 mpg.

How can you drive without power steering? Did you disable it?

Cobb · 09-18-2010, 10:24 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmolNKkEsSA

Just unbolt the 2nd lug from the driver side where the 40amp fuse is on the positive cable. Just takes more effort to steer. Test it first. This is likely why I did not experience this behavior the first year I owned my insight as I had a big honking group 27 battery in the back for the subs. I since down sized to a u1, 117 amp hours to 30.

attilla · 09-19-2010, 11:22 AM

Hello Cobb,

I don't mean to be dense, but could you give more detail on how you disabled the power steering? Any idea on how much this improved your MPG? Very intriguing!! Thanks.

firsthonda · 09-19-2010, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by attilla

Any idea on how much this improved your MPG?

I'd like to know too.

firsthonda · 09-19-2010, 06:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cobb

. The IMA charged the hybrid battery, the hybrid battery charges the 12 volt battery. Neither battery are that big. My advice would be to get a bigger or higher capacity battery for under the hood or a second remote battery.

I'm also wondering if a larger 12 volt battery would have a significant impact on MPG?