[icweb]

Hi. I just purchased a 2003 MT/AC Insight. Test drove fine. I was driving back from the dealer, and paying attention to the guages. The Assist lights seemed to be coming on more than the Charge lights, but the battery charge indicator was steady around 80% full.

Then, after I'd gone about 80 miles, the car abruptly lost a huge amount of power. I happened to be in the left lane, and had to downshift just to keep above 55 MPH. I looked at the guages, and the battery had dropped to about 20% almost instantly.

I moved over to the right, and kept driving. From this point on, the Charging indicators seemed to come on more than the Assist, though I occasionally got Assist, too. The battery started charging, and about 15-20 minutes later was completely charged to the top. The power seemed back to normal.

Fortunately my car has a short warranty. Is this something I need to get looked at, or is the Insight just trying to condition the battery after it's sat on a dealer's lot for a month?

I guess my mental model of batteries was based on laptop batteries, that typically take hours to charge and discharge. Is it normal for an Insight battery to discharge suddenly and then be full up just 20 minutes later?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[dice]

you experienced what is commonly called a recal, or recalibration of the gages. The software determined that the gage indicator did not match the voltage test values, so it re calibrated the system. From my understanding, this is normal and will happen from time to time. Do a search and you'll find lots of reading.