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Old 05-19-2016, 12:37 AM   #45 (permalink)
Natalya
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Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Atlanta
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Red 2000 Insight (2017 through 2019) - '00 Honda Insight 5MT
90 day: 64.72 mpg (US)

Red 2000 Lithium Insight (2020) - '00 Honda Insight LTO
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Quote:
Originally Posted by aerohead View Post
Took 195-lbs of aluminum to the scrapyard awhile ago (Beechcraft/Lockheed wing tank/sailboat components) and went by the shop on the way here.
After resetting the computer,the check engine light comes on almost immediately.
The zorched battery pack has been implicated in over-taxing and burning out the control module.
They've just now located a control module ($180 ) and will purchase that,and enough battery 'sticks' to freshen the pack.(to protect the new module).
I raised the project budget to $1,000.
They'll use the Insight to train a new electronics tech,and give me a break on labor cost.
They'll call me.
Install a no-assist clutch switch and a full-regen brake switch. Should take a couple hours with a soldering iron and some wire cutters.

What you do is you disconnect the 12v battery for like 10 seconds, reconnect it, get in the car, activate the no-assist clutch switch, and drive like that. Unless the IMA is like absolutely beyond any sort of redemption, it should charge the IMA and then just stay charged.

Don't use it to assist, or assist only sparingly. Install the full-regen brake switch as well. Use that coming to stops to get the IMA fully charged. Once the gauge reads full try using small amounts of assist here and there until you see the first bar on the IMA gauge go out and then stop assisting and only use regen.

If you do that, you're essentially babying the pack so that no cells ever go out of range and the computer won't know that half the sticks are bad. You can drive without a CEL or IMA light in this fashion for months and pass your inspection.

You might need to do a grid charge right after you install those switches just to get the pack balanced enough to begin operating it like this.


@Control Module:
Are you talking about the Battery Control Module (BCM) ? I've never heard of that going bad. You're probably getting the IMA light shortly after trying to reset it because the sticks are super unbalanced.
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