Fire safety
That's a nice install, but are you sure that you want to put wooden parts that close to your exhaust? :shock:
Fred
That's a nice install, but are you sure that you want to put wooden parts that close to your exhaust? :shock:
Fred
___The Hawker battery install might be one of those items that may be as important at preventing a future problem as changing your oil!On Monday, September 8, 2003, at 10:19 AM, David Orman wrote:
> As of today, no recalibrations since the replacement of the 12v
> battery with the civic model.
I have to add some further evidence that a "weak" 12 v. battery may, indeed, be related to recalibrations, as difficult as this is for me to understand.
When I took my Insight to a local Honda dealer to verify the
recalibration problem I've been having, the dealer was unable to
observe a recalibration. After picking up my car, I drove to the long
upgrade that I was once able to ascend in 4th gear at 45-50 MPH without
a recalibration. For several months, a recalibration has been
occurring on this upgrade reliably at 50 - 60% SOC; this time was no
different :-( I wish the Honda mechanic had driven this road which is
actually quicker to get to than the road he chose, but...
So after reading about a 12 v. battery replacement "fixing" a
recalibration problem, I decided to replace my OEM battery with a
Hawker Genesis G13EP that I have had sitting around for a few months
waiting for my OEM battery's capacity to fade away completely. This
battery has about half the capacity of the OEM battery but can deliver
a large burst of current when necessary (e.g., should the starter motor
be needed). It weighs less than 11 pounds which is perfect for the
lightweight Insight. It is a sealed absorbent glass mat battery, so it
should never need maintenance and there is no acidic liquid electrolyte
to spill or leak out. Its design life is 10 years at 25 C, 15 years at
20 C. But under-hood temperatures are considerably warmer, so I don't
expect it to last that long. Another possibly life-shortening problem
is the DC-DC converter output voltage which is rated at 14.3 v.; Hawker
recommends 13.5-13.8 v. for a float charge. However, with my car
idling, the voltage across the battery terminals is 13.95, so that's
not as high as I expected.
The Hawker battery does not have automotive terminals, so I hacksawed
the terminals off my OEM battery after drilling them so I could attach
them to the Hawker battery using stainless steel bolts. Because it's
about 3" shorter than the OEM battery, I placed about 3" of rigid and
compressible foam under the battery so the battery clamp would hold it
in place. The Hawker terminals are reversed relative to the OEM
battery, so I relocated the ground strap to an existing bolt in the
battery box frame so it would reach; the positive cable reached with no
modifications. I placed a photo, "InsightGenesis.jpg", in the "Files"
section for those who'd like to see the installation. I'll remove this
photo after a week or so to free up space.
After installing the Hawker battery, I drove up the "recalibration
upgrade". I made it to the top of the upgrade with no recalibration
and 50% SOC remaining! I descended the other side, turned around, and
climbed back up pushing assist as hard as I could while avoiding the
downshift light and remaining near the speed limit. Still no
recalibration, but I ran out of hill before dropping below 50% SOC. I
descended the other side purposely avoiding regen as much as possible
so that I could force the SOC below 50% on my next run up the hill. I
was able to use assist down to 6 bars (30%) before running out of hill!
I can't recall whether I've ever been able to draw down the IMA
battery that far without a recalibration. There are a couple of hills
that are long enough to completely discharge the IMA battery, but these
hills aren't very close. The next time I'm out that way, I'll drain
the IMA battery as far as I can to see what happens.
I'm cautiously optimistic that my recalibration problem has been
solved by replacing my 12 v. battery (!), but it's a bit too early to
claim victory yet. Maybe one of these days, I'll understand how this
might have solved this problem.
Art Isbell
2000 Insight A/C #559
___In any case, if there was a Group Buy from the Insighter’s started, the Hawker Genesis G13EP may become even cheaper then the $30.00 (battery) + ~ $10.00? (shipping) + $12.00 (car battery terminals) that I am seeing over at SurplusEV today?PC680MJ vs. PC680
What's the difference? The specs are the same but the PC680MJ has a protective metal jacket that helps protect the battery under adverse and hot conditions. Odyssey batteries are flat plate design that are assembled under very high pressure. Heat can cause the plastic casing to heat and soften which could allow the outer plates to expand and compromise the integrity of the battery.
___Yes, that Wayland guy is making me spend more money then I did for Christmas on the familyRick said:(it's all Waylands fault, he started this discussion on honda-hybrids months ago).
___As it stands, I can pick up the Hawker Genesis G13EP for just $29.50 shipped from the Ebay offering. When adding the terminals, I am still north of $40.00 which is a good deal imho … I have to think about all this some more to decide what is best but I sure do like Rick’s install choice right now given the cost and very HQ high tech AGM battery. My brain hurts from looking all of this stuff up today… Then we discovered Hawkers, small deep cycle sealed AGM batteries that yet, could dish out huge currents and act like an SLI type. I've had Hawkers last 5 years of EV drag racing!