[mkeeton]

Hi,

What a great forum. I have modified performance cars for years but you guys/gals are the ultimate car modification owners. Thanks for a great collection of information.

I have an 04, CVT with 52K miles arriving soon. It is stock. Original battery pack and motor. I live on the benches in Salt Lake City. The car will be used mainly as a "run around town" car. Mostly 5-15 mile around town driving. The challenge is that our house is at 5200 feet and the valley floor is 4300. That 900 foot climb on the way home takes place over about 1.7 miles. Part of the climb is very steep at almost 9% grade.

So, my question is about the battery management and how it will handle the climb home. It would make sense if the system allowed the battery to draw down as much as possible since it will get a good charge on the way down on the next trip. But of course the management system doesn't know that and I suspect the car will be charging at the same time as climbing the steepest part of the hill.

What will be the best driving style?
What would be the most cost effective mileage mods in this setting?

Looking forward to many years of fun driving and modifications.

Thanks for any ideas and information. Mark.

 

[racer26]

Unfortunately, the car being a CVT means you won't be able to use the CARD switch mod to avoid parasitic charging while climbing.

I expect for the steep part, you will want to climb with your foot pretty well on the floor, in order to maximize boost from the battery, and on the ride down the hill, you'll want to ride the brake pedal very lightly (to activate maximum charging without applying any hydraulic braking). You may find that a max regen button (wired in parallel with the brake pedal switch, to activate brake lights, and max regen, without touching the brake pedal) to be helpful in maximising the charge you can achieve on the downhill run.

You would probably find MIMA, possibly with a secondary battery pack so you have more capacity for climbing the hill to be the most effective modifications, however, it won't come cheap. MIMA costs between $200 and $700 depending on how much work you're willing to do yourself, and batteries are expensive.

You may also find that the battery is worn down (its approaching 8 years old, where these batteries often failed) to significantly below nominal capacity, ESPECIALLY if the car has sat undriven for any appreciable length of time. If an IMA light pops, you should be able to get it warrantied, but if it doesn't, you might consider an IMA BetterBattery from Hybrid-Battery-Repair. Its a drop-in replacement for the Honda-issued battery, but at a fraction of the cost (a typical new Honda battery costs about $3000, H-B-R's BetterBattery costs $1800, AND it has better capacity, discharge, and thermal characteristics that mean its more powerful, and theoretically longer lasting than a factory battery).

 

[mkeeton]

Thanks that is very helpful.

A max regen button would be a quick and easy start. I will check the forum to see how others have done this mod. Then I guess I need to drive it for a while and see how it does overall before I decide on what direction to go.

I assume all the usual things like synthetic 0/20W oil, clean high airflow filter, tire pressure etc need to be attended to but the car has been in daily use so hopefully the battery is in good condition.

Thanks for the info.

Cheers, Mark.

Unfortunately, the car being a CVT means you won't be able to use the CARD switch mod to avoid parasitic charging while climbing.

I expect for the steep part, you will want to climb with your foot pretty well on the floor, in order to maximize boost from the battery, and on the ride down the hill, you'll want to ride the brake pedal very lightly (to activate maximum charging without applying any hydraulic braking). You may find that a max regen button (wired in parallel with the brake pedal switch, to activate brake lights, and max regen, without touching the brake pedal) to be helpful in maximising the charge you can achieve on the downhill run.

You would probably find MIMA, possibly with a secondary battery pack so you have more capacity for climbing the hill to be the most effective modifications, however, it won't come cheap. MIMA costs between $200 and $700 depending on how much work you're willing to do yourself, and batteries are expensive.

You may also find that the battery is worn down (its approaching 8 years old, where these batteries often failed) to significantly below nominal capacity, ESPECIALLY if the car has sat undriven for any appreciable length of time. If an IMA light pops, you should be able to get it warrantied, but if it doesn't, you might consider an IMA BetterBattery from Hybrid-Battery-Repair. Its a drop-in replacement for the Honda-issued battery, but at a fraction of the cost (a typical new Honda battery costs about $3000, H-B-R's BetterBattery costs $1800, AND it has better capacity, discharge, and thermal characteristics that mean its more powerful, and theoretically longer lasting than a factory battery).

 

[ffearless]

I have a similar situation, my return trip from work is 78 miles and has an elevation rise of 1400 ft. The last 500 feet of rise is in the last half mile. What works for me is to run the battery down on a rise the shift down so I run at least 3000 RPM. I let it regen heavily on the declines. When I get home I put it on a grid charger I bought from Artric. The battery is full in the morning. This works for me. Your mileage may vary.

 

[jdstew]

Here's a link to a good article on the Brake and Clutch mod. I think you can ignore the clutch part and follow the nice pictures/instructions for the Brake Regen.

 

[mkeeton]

Awesome. Thanks. This car looks like it will be a really fun project.

Always like to have a car project going and my last one was a diesel Dodge Ram running propane that I got up to 35mpg on the diesel side by burning propane which is a lot cheaper in our area.

Mark.

Here's a link to a good article on the Brake and Clutch mod. I think you can ignore the clutch part and follow the nice pictures/instructions for the Brake Regen.

 

[MN Driver]

You might not really need the brake switch, I don't have it. If you have a foot that you can control well enough you can put the foot down enough to where it turns the brakes lights on but there is still freeplay in the brake pedal so there is no hydraulic pressure there.

From reading I think the CVT isn't quite as 'touchy' as our stick shift cars are with regen, it seems we try to do everything to avoid assist with the MT but with the CVT it seems to be reasonable.

 

[Eli]

lol.. well, I typed this all out and then realized you have a CVT.. Oops. Oh well, maybe it will help someone else.

It is unlikely that you will be able to regen everything you output if you use full assist up. Find how much you can get back, and downshift before you reach this point so you can use the engine power only.

Then do full regen all the way down. This should be your "true" MPG, overall. If you use all of your battery power up on the way up, and don't regain most of it on the way down, the battery will continue to be charged in the background, lowering your MPG for much longer overall than the short burst of power up the hill.

These conditions will hinder the Insight's MPG though. She really shines out on the open highway.