[born2drv]

i'm not sure what is causing this problem.

occasionally i'll be driving and it just seems like the car doesn't want to charge while cruising at all. and i'm not talking about when the battery is nearly full, but with only 3 or 4 bars left.

i thought maybe it was trying to be "intelligent" and detect my aggressive driving behavior so it would not charge in anticipation of some much needed acelleration or something.

i also thought maybe it was due to the fact that i was low on gas sometimes and it was maybe trying to run the battery dry... but then i noticed it did it when the gas was full too.

during this time, the only way i could get it to charge would be when i was coasting or applying brakes, and even when applying brakes with a lot of momentum it wouldn't have the charging gauge maxed out but only partially charging when normally it would be fully charging.

then i'll turn the car on another time and jump in and it works perfectly fine, charges like normal. what do you guys think the problem is???

 

[Motty82]

My bet is on thermal management. Batts don't like the heat they have been seeing the past month or so... : )

 

[Calpod]

I will be installing thermocouples on the battery compartment this weekend, and I will let you know what the temperature is, Willie and I talked about it last weekend in our meeting, He even showed me an Insight manual and we looked at a couple of places where the thermocouples will go.

Give me about a week driving and I'll report on the temps.

 

[Corey872]

Aggressive driving...summer temps (although you don't say where you are or if the car has AC)...probably just heating up the batteries which will result in the ECU cutting charge till they cool down.

Also, I think some have reported better charging / more full charge after replacing the 12V battery underhood. You don't say what year the car is, but it seems to me like the 00's are starting to run into the end of service life for the 12V bat. Probably hard-driven / extreme condition 01's aren't far behind.

 

[IHonda2002]

Turn your headlights on. After about a minute it will start charging.

Mine does this occastionally too. Other have also reported it. Can't figure a rhyme or reason why it sometimes does, sometimes doesn't, but the headlight thing works for me.

 

[born2drv]

Thanks for the replies.

It's a 2001 / 5spd 79,000 miles and I live in Los Angeles and sometimes I tend to use the a/c a lot, so maybe it is a heat thing. I will try the headlight trick and turn down/off the a/c and see if that helps, thanks for the suggestions

 

[Willie Williford]

While you are at it, why don't you add your location to your profile?(For further reference.)

"One of my major complaints."

 

[MikeF]

Turn your headlights on. After about a minute it will start charging.

Not for me on Sunday afternoon. I have this problem periodically -- once it was in March in Massachusetts, so I don't think it's temperature-related. Happened again on Sunday at the beginning of a 200 mile drive home from a weekend in Maine. I turned on the headlights, left them on; then turned them off; then pulled over to shut the car off; then tried headlights and interior lights. Nothing worked. But this whole time, I was showing about three bars of regen (and assume I had proportional drag bringing my mpg down).

After about 80 miles, the regen started working.

Interestingly, once I got above half-way charged, regen cut out while cruising (no surprise) -- but I kept watching the battery charge, and saw it keep rising slowly, even though no regen bars were lit.

Strange.

MF

 

[Sparky5501]

I tried the headlight trick and it worked for me this weekend. Got back up to full charge again. Although it could be temperature related as it's in the 70's now.

Mike,
looks like you will need a new 12volt battery soon. There has been a lot of replaced batts this summer. Including mine.