Honda Insight w/Acura TSX engine - Ecomodding

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by mpg_numbers_guy

When you drive the "new" Insight, do you ever mash the gas only to realize you're not in your K-sight?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=McJJeukIWSA

[Ecky]

Originally Posted by mpg_numbers_guy

Does the IMA work?

Now you can do direct comparison MPG tests between the two in same weather, driving and road conditions!

When you drive the "new" Insight, do you ever mash the gas only to realize you're not in your K-sight?

IMA does not work. I actually helped the previous owner bypass and removed the battery, and he similarly (though less skillfully ) rebuilt the rear hatch area. It has a Mean Well power supply tucked away in one of the rear wheel wells.

I haven't driven it extensively, but I do have some impressions. The original motor, by comparison, is far more civilized. It's easier to drive, it revs up and down more slowly (probably a much heavier flywheel), it's quieter and vibrates less. It also feels more... maybe disconnected? You can really tell there's more soft rubber and parts with momentum between your foot and the road. The K series motor by analogy is like riding a wild stallion without a saddle, to the stock motor's fairground pony ride. I think this has more to do with my design choices than something inherent to the K series.

In other news, I tried to get an amperage measurement on my headlights and got no meaningful data from my clamp meter. Maybe a better way would be to measure at the battery cable rather than at the back of the headlight.

[Ecky]

Originally Posted by rmay635703

I believe Brian had a B series motor in that one.

It was largely this crash that caused him to take so long to get the Insight mounts done. I think he might have been avoiding the car after having had such an accident. He walked away from it without any serious injuries, but at one point was believed to have pulled more than 20 G's in the spin and tumble, resulting in bursting a lot of small blood vessels throughout his body. He was purple and black all over.

Edit: unrelated but today it was unseasonably warm. I reset my meter when I got on the highway and over the net zero elevation ~20 mile drive home from shopping I managed 52mpg traveling at an average of 75mph.

[Natalya]

I finally met him at InsightFest 2019. He did a really good job with that roll cage.

Originally Posted by Ecky

I don't fancy paying registration and insurance on a third car, but it would give me some more freedom to work on my K-Sight. I guess I could always move the plates over on the days I'm driving it.

That's the problem with cars... you can only drive one at a time. I'm down to just one Insight these days.

[Ecky]

Update with pictures on the headlight bulbs. Finally got off my butt and measured the wattage of these.






As I said before, I'm pretty happy with how little light scatter there is, and with the clean cutoff, despite being LEDs in housings made for halogens.

On Amazon they're advertised as "80w - 9600 lumen" (40w per bulb). The 9600 lumen claim was clearly bunk, but turns out so was the 40w per bulb claim. With my meter I measured 2.63 amps low beams and 3.93 amps high beams, which works out to around 18w low / 27w high per bulb, using 13.8v as a reference. If wattage scaled linearly, to hit their advertised 40w, these bulbs would need ~20.4v.

They're really not bad. Low beams are 1/3 the wattage of halogens with similar usable light output, but if I had to buy again I'd look around to see if I could find something a bit brighter. The images above exaggerate their light output a bit compared with what my eyes see.

[MeteorGray]

Thanks for the info. Yeah, pictures are very deceiving relative to what-they-show and what-you-see relative to lighting. Biological eyes don't have shutter speeds, and there are great variations in light sensitivity relative go digital or chemical elements.

[serialk11r]

Yea they look a little weak in the first picture, you can tell there's not enough hotspot in the second, but it's a little better than the 40 dollar ones I had I think.

[hayden55]

Originally Posted by Ecky

Update with pictures on the headlight bulbs. Finally got off my butt and measured the wattage of these.






As I said before, I'm pretty happy with how little light scatter there is, and with the clean cutoff, despite being LEDs in housings made for halogens.

On Amazon they're advertised as "80w - 9600 lumen" (40w per bulb). The 9600 lumen claim was clearly bunk, but turns out so was the 40w per bulb claim. With my meter I measured 2.63 amps low beams and 3.93 amps high beams, which works out to around 18w low / 27w high per bulb, using 13.8v as a reference. If wattage scaled linearly, to hit their advertised 40w, these bulbs would need ~20.4v.

They're really not bad. Low beams are 1/3 the wattage of halogens with similar usable light output, but if I had to buy again I'd look around to see if I could find something a bit brighter. The images above exaggerate their light output a bit compared with what my eyes see.

I like those lights but they burn out really fast and linearly over about a year and a half. Seems to me like there should be a market to replace the led chip on them. I ended up just going back to the oem osram lights for me. Can't beat oem quality that last for 8 years.

*I assume they are being overheated constantly as the reason probably.

[Ecky]

Luckily it's cold here when it's dark. During summer we have something like 5-6 hours of true darkness where I'd need to use lights, almost always after I'm already settled in.

[hayden55]

Originally Posted by Ecky

Luckily it's cold here when it's dark. During summer we have something like 5-6 hours of true darkness where I'd need to use lights, almost always after I'm already settled in.

I wouldn't imagine the 14-degree difference in weather between our states would make a difference in life.