[MarkC]

Hi -
I've just purchased a used 2000 5 speed Insight. I'm wondering about the Battery Level. The Battery Level Gauge is usually right betwwen all the way up and all the way down (sometimes a little higher, other times a little lower). Should it ever reach all the way to the top? I've been driving it for only a couple days now and I average 53.0 mpg.
Do I need to be concerned about the level on the gauge?
Thanks,
Mark

 

[Guest]

Hi MarkC:

___If you cannot get the SoC reading up to 19 of 20 bars on a steady highway cruise without using assist in ~ 15 - 20 minutes as well as keep it there afterwards, you should be concerned as this is not proper operation for a new or used good pack in a well performing Insight.

___Here is a copy/paste of what you requested and I sent you a week ago. You did take a look at it as well as saw this action when you test drove it before you purchased it from whomever, right?

When you turn the key (1-click before it starts up or 2 clicks to start it), you can see how many bars are lit. If you take the time to count, there are 20 bars if it was fully lit. You will never see 20 as Honda’s SW doesn’t let the SoC go that high except under very particular circumstances … 19 of 20 bars lit is normal for the best of Insight’s with lesser bars being lit for lesser ones depending on the previous 20 minutes of driving before you actually looked at it.

___There is a ton of junk as well as worn out Insight’s out there. I just hope you didn’t receive one of them

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___[email:22yco7go][email protected][/email:22yco7go]

 

[Yves M.]

I pretty much always have the SOC half way. When I drive fast in the city, it is near 1/3 and when I drive fast on the highway it i near 2/3.

I need to be attentive to keep the SOC higher or shift at a higher rpm.

I think that in city driving, the higher the RPM shift the higher the SOC is and the lower shift the lower SOC.

Maybe check your tire pressure. Most dealers put it to 32 PSI but the sticker says 38 front and 35 rear. I use 44 all around (for me in the summer) as per the tire sidewall max cold pressure

 

[Guest]

Hi Markc:

___A good pack in a good Insight and especially a new one will get you to 19 of 20 bars after 15 - 20 minutes of steady cruise with no assist.

___Count the bars in the SoC display in the pic from 4/25/2004:

___Here is another from 10/29/2004 although you might have to blow it up to count them:

___With maybe 75 pics of the Insight’s gauge cluster from various dates, I have only 3 with 18 of 20 showing. The rest are 19 of 20 and you will see this after a 15 - 20 minute cruise with no assist unlike whatever Yves does in his given his low lmpg

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___[email:35hjlwtl][email protected][/email:35hjlwtl]

 

[Insightful Trekker]

The BCM (battery condition monitor) sometimes gets "lax" in performing a recal. The IMA gauge then reads less than the full 20-80% SoC (state of charge) of the IMA battery. Mine has gotten "stuck" somewhere in the 20-40% range for weeks at a time making me believe that the IMA batteries were approaching failure. Constant low IMA gauge readings with fragile SoC responses to assist.

I'd recommend trying the IMA reset procedure.

http://www.insightcentral.net/encyclope ... orage.html

HTH!

 

[Philosophy]

That IMA reset is really good stuff. I would strongly recommend it, that and possibly replacing the 12V (I hear that often).

Good luck with it,
-Phil

 

[Yves M.]

I agree with Wayne that I am among the lowest. And he is the highest. So the reallity is in between. All the pics are with an MPG average of above 100 MPG which is high

I have been doing SOC test in the last 3 days. It comes from the habit I have of charging the battery to full a few times a year.

The battery was a little lower than half at the start. When I charged the battery (3000+ rpm in neutral) everything seemed fine: the bars where going one by one, about a minute or two per bar. But the last 5 bars where lit up at a speed of one bar per second. The car had never done that in the past.
It used to do hte bars one at a time all the way to the last one that the system stops charging.

So since then I have kept the 20 bars lit. To keep them, I drive (I only do city) and shift above 4000 rpm. No assist in First, 3 seconds of assist in Second and no assist for the other gears. I use the 'regen' button all the time.

I'll do that for an other 4 days. Then I'll drive my usual way so that the SOC becomes lower and repete the 'manual' full charge test.

This to check if the battery will show the same charging effect. I beleive that it could be that the battery has lost some life and the top charge no longer exist. The battery is at 75% of it's original capacity.

 

[Yves M.]

I have found the answer for the upper recal I experienced, here is the new thread I created:

http://www.insightcentral.net/forum/vie ... php?t=2254