Project: Zombie Insight (2000 Honda)

[bikeracer]

I've been playing with my switch a lot as well. I don't have the slick brake relay setup you do, but with my switch being on the shift knob, I can easily turn it off to regen, since in a braking situation, I'm usually shifting as well. The other thing I really like about having the switch ready-to-hand is that it can be turned off to help the engine through its lower rpm's when accelerating and then back on when the engine is in its happy power band. This works great for 23mph to 45 or 50mph 2nd gear pulse-and-glide. It doesn't take much out of the battery—it seems like you could use the assist in that range for that amount of time and in that way all day without emptying the pack.

Originally Posted by RobertSmalls

It's great, and it still works flawlessly. I usually just leave the switch in the on position and forget that it's there.

The electric motor + battery is only 70% efficient round trip, so you want to be careful not to use assist unless it's necessary. Without the mod, assist kicks in whenever I accelerate or climb a hill, then regen drags down the fuel economy to charge the battery back up. With the mod, I'm free to move the throttle through its full range without much impact on the fuel economy, and hills don't hurt my fuel economy.

Btw, I'm warming up to the side view camera, too.

[RobertSmalls]

Take a look at the BSFC plot. Any assist you do will have to be paid back at (225g/kWh) / (.70 efficiency), which is about 320g/kWh on the electric portion. At first, that sounds terrible, but if you would otherwise be unable to stay below 3500RPM, I think it works out in your favor.

Consider an example where you're climbing a hill at 80% throttle. With assist, you'd have 1/4 of your power produced at 320g/kWh, and 3/4 at 235g/kWh, which works out to a total of 255g/kWh. You can see the points on the BSFC plot where you could do better by downshifting.

@Bikeracer: I bet you could P&G with even better results if you left the electric motor out of the picture.

@Formula: I haven't checked for open loop, but I don't see any signs that the ECU is worried about the lack of assist. However, it's your right foot and right hand that control where on the BSFC plot you fall, not the ECU. With assist or without, if you push the throttle pedal all the way to the floor, the throttle plate is wide open, and the ECU gets wasteful because it thinks you need power.

I try to keep my TPS gauge between 50 and 75 for acceleration. Note, that would result in lots of assist if it were enabled.

The only regen I do is regenerative braking. I prefer DWB, but on offramps and in traffic, you have to slow down faster than that. This regen braking is enough to keep my battery charged. As the weather gets warmer and regen braking works faster and across a wider RPM range, I'll end up with more juice than I need in the batteries, so I'll spend it at some point.

[jamesqf]

Not to mention that over here on this side of the country, we have hills. You can do a LOT of regenerative braking in 4000 vertical feet of 7% grade :-)

[Formula413]

Not sure if the Insight is much different but on my car I'm pretty sure the battery would get too hot and disable regen fairly quickly on a 7% grade.

[RobertSmalls]

Originally Posted by silverinsight2

Another great idea Robert, a few questions;

1.When cruising at night, does this tend to drain the HV battery?
2. Any effects on the auto-stop?
3. Will the car restart automatically if the voltage drops below the IMA preset level?
4. Any luck with the idle air circuit?
Thanks

1. Very, very slowly, I'd imagine. Deep-cycling both batteries, you should be able to run for at least four hours at night without recharging, assuming no regen or assist. Deep-cycling just an Optima D51R, you should last an hour with a 400W load.
2. Nope.
3. The clutch switch mod does not affect the forced regen behavior that happens when your state of charge falls to three bars or lower.
4. No, but thanks for reminding me. I set my ScanGauge to display RPM, and I'll investigate what the minimum coolant temperature for a smooth idle is. I believe it's about 70°F, so in a month or so, I might just unplug the IACV until fall.

[RobertSmalls]

With the intention of teaching myself to work with fiberglass, I upgraded my coroplast radiator block to a fiberglass grille block this evening. I'm learning as I go, but feel free to speed up that process with your criticism of my technique.

I decided to permanently block the entire upper grille. First, I screwed a block of styrofoam in place, driving two drywall screws into the plastic bumper cover. There may have been a way to do this without putting holes in the bumper, but I don't plan to un-block the upper grille, and screw holes are pretty easy to patch anyway.



I shaped the foam with a serrated steak knife (couldn't find a hacksaw) and a rasp. The rasp actually removes material very quickly, and the whole process doesn't have to take long. I get the feeling this is the stage where it pays to spend enough time to get exactly the right shape.

I made a small cutout so you can reach the hood latch. You can also see that I should have started with a larger block of foam.





I ordered one yard each of twill weave and regular weave fiberglass cloth. This is the twill weave, which is more fragile, but also more flexible. Regular weave probably would have worked better here.

I thought I'd experiment with a quick and dirty construction technique on the lower panel. What happens when you hang fiberglass cloth over a bumper opening or fog light well and epoxy it in place? Will it be smooth, neat, and strong, and is the epoxy enough to bind fiberglass to a bumper cover? If not, my panel is held on by three screws, and I can add more as needed.

My license plate is an aerodynamic device. It's currently in the winter position, so 1/6th of the lower grille is open. When it gets hot out, I'll move it to the passenger side, over the lower grille block, thus leaving half of the lower grille open.

[Wonderboy]

Nice, keep going. Let's see what comes next!

[silverinsight2]

Looking Forward to this mod Robert. I've considered it m'self.

[discovery]

Very cool job, one question what happened to the silver insight?

[Wonderboy]

I think the zombie Insight can now be considered a franken-zombie Insight. I remember him posting about finding an insight in his local junkyard and stripping its parts with extreme prejudice.