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Recal once a week???

5391 Views 32 Replies 18 Participants Last post by  Insightful Trekker
my 2000 insight with 65,000 miles is recaling once a week. is this too much? i'm afraid if i take it in, honda's just gonna tell me everythings normal. i drive about 20 miles a day to work and back. is my battery on it's way out?
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I can only think of maybe 1 person who has gotten any kind of response from Honda to frequent recalibrations... IIRC they were seeing a recal daily or perhaps even more often. Try searching this forum or (more likely) the Yahoo! forums to get a sense of what other people see as far as recals go. Be prepared to wade through a lot of material.

Where do you live? People seem to get more frequent recals in hotter climates compared to cold ones.

Is your daily commute a steady cruise or in stop-and-go traffic? Do you accelerate / decelerate hard? People seem to get more frequent recals when the batteries are used more. Also, steady cruising gives more time for the battery to be "hidden" or "trickle" charged.

I don't think you are likely to get a response from Honda that will satisfy you unless the IMA light activates.
It's been about a month since I've had a recalibration and I have 61,000 miles on mine. Round trip to work is 50 miles, but 85% of it is freeway driving.
i use to drive my insight really hard, and it never recalibrated, I have 24,000 miles on it now, and it has never recalibrated once.
I'm often in stop-and-go traffic in the summer when I recalibrate.
I Just hit 100,000 Km on my 2001 Insight


i have a feeling people arent exercising there batteries enough, I drive my insight hard, and i play my 1300 watt stereo Loud
that's about normal

That's about how mine behaved at 65k
i live in central florida, very hot right now, and i drive it pretty hard. it's a mixture of stop and go traffic to work. it seems like right as i get the battery up to almost full charge, i get a recal. i also use the A/C econ mode all the time in the summer.
where in Florida?

I live in hudson, FL! I've noticed that running the A/C while sitting awhile will trigger a recal because the engine has to work harder, I would assume.
Getshocked.ca said:
I Just hit 100,000 Km on my 2001 Insight

... and i play my 1300 watt stereo Loud
After playing it for that long, in that enclosed space, :shock: how do you know it is loud -- now? :D
flemingljr said:
i live in central florida, very hot right now, and i drive it pretty hard. it's a mixture of stop and go traffic to work. it seems like right as i get the battery up to almost full charge, i get a recal. i also use the A/C econ mode all the time in the summer.

I live in central florida also, I do all the same things you do, it still does not calibrate,,,, maybe its because I drive my car a lot.
flemingljr said:
my 2000 insight with 65,000 miles is recaling once a week. is this too much?
Have you replaced the original 12V battery yet? My Insight was recalibrating now and again until I replaced the 12V battery. It was only when the original battery was removed that I could see the fluid level was an inch below the minimum line (hidden in the battery compartment - that's my excuse). I have not had a recal since my battery change and I am now achieving my best MPG per tank (plus 5MPG on previous).

For those in the UK, I bought my replacement battery from Halfords - it is the same size as the OEM battery and is sold as 'Heavy Duty'. It cost £40, guaranteed for 3 yrs, model number HB028. HTH.
I replaced my 12V battery 2-3 months ago. Apparently it was responsible for my hybrid batteries being completely depleted a couple of times. Don't have that problem anymore.
SPeacock said:
After playing it for that long, in that enclosed space, :shock: how do you know it is loud -- now? :D

Because I can feel it :)
Getshocked...Pics bro, gotta have pics :) or at least your parts list :p
I have 67K miles, and I've been experiencing a recal about once every two weeks. I've been keeping a log of every recal since the start of the year, and have had the dealer I use check it once so far (the invoice indicates the battery pack was operating "normally" and they fully charged the IMA battery before returning the car to me, but no real change in behavior). I'm due to take it for normal service and the headlight recall soon, and I'm going to ask them to check both the IMA battery and the 12V under the hood. I figure I'm gonna have them check it every time I take it in, and will bring my log and graphs in hoping that maybe somehow I'll end up with a new IMA battery if needed prior to the warranty expiring. We'll see how it goes.
I've been getting recals one a week for a few weeks now. I drive about 230 miles during the week but rarely drive at all on the weekend. The first day of driving after the weekend is when I get the recal. I'm under the impression my 12V battery is weak.

I topped off the water level in my 12V battery this weekend. The levels weren't to bad, but it looked like a bar graph assending from neg to pos terminals. I also noticed the battery had boiled over at some time on the neg side. All of the cells are now on the top fill mark, I'll see if it makes any changes to my system.

BTW, you need to remove the battery from the car to fill it. This is kind of nice cos it gives you the chance to force a recal on the sys and clean the gunk under the battery tray.

If I keep getting recals I'll replace the 12V with a Hawker like most everyone is is doing.
I need to check my 12V and see what its status currently is. The weird thing about my recals is they almost always only happen when the SOC is showing a full charge. In some cases, its almost like as soon as I get full bars the recal begins. As long as my battery power is showing below full, I never get a recal. I'm going on a long trip this coming weekend (600 miles, Baltimore to Indy to go to the 5th USGP) which would most assuredly see a good portion at full charge, so we'll see what happens.
Sparky5501 said:
I've been getting recals one a week for a few weeks now....The first day of driving after the weekend is when I get the recal. I'm under the impression my 12V battery is weak.
That was my experience when my 12V battery started failing - had to charge the battery on Monday after a couple of "days off".
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