ECM Enabler. Running a G1 Insight with no IMA.

[retepsnikrep]

Worth a look for those without $2000 to drop on a new IMA battery.

Making the car driveable with the IMA inoperative. - Insight Central: Honda Insight Forum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8wCj7Y2F4g

Comes in at a much more reasonable $49 for the hex code + $10 in parts.

[sheepdog 44]

I really want one of those, Can you explain exactly what it does?

I think this is a safe forum, so to heck with the legal people at IC. If my car only gets 63mpg with the battery removed instead of 65mpg, who cares? It'll still be cleaner than 99% of cars on the road.

I had my battery out for a week once. I had a connector made up so my 12 volt would charge. But of course it had all those lights on (Which in some states need to be off to pass inspection.) I think you know what question i'm trying to ask?

[sheepdog 44]

Will this enable lean burn in a MT car with the IMA battery physically removed?

[Insight for life]

Thanks For posting here Peter.
How about the "readiness monitors" do they set?

[retepsnikrep]

I expect LB will operate fine and the readiness codes will be ok as the car thinks the ima is present but is just not able to give any assist/regen.

The cel/ima lights are all off, the whole point of the device is to enable the car to run normally without the IMA. Not everyone can afford 2k for a battery.

Personally I don't use it as I like having the ima working.

Someone needs to try it in earnest/long term. So over to you.

[Insight for life]

Originally Posted by retepsnikrep

I expect LB will operate fine and the readiness codes will be ok as the car thinks the ima is present but is just not able to give any assist/regen.

The cel/ima lights are all off, the whole point of the device is to enable the car to run normally without the IMA. Not everyone can afford 2k for a battery.

Personally I don't use it as I like having the ima working.

Someone needs to try it in earnest/long term. So over to you.

I may not understand, but this only requires wire splicing? Or do we have to build the board and program it ? that is beyond my skill set.

[Baltothewolf]

Originally Posted by Insight for life

I may not understand, but this only requires wire splicing? Or do we have to build the board and program it ? that is beyond my skill set.

This.

Peter, if you would like to build one and send it to me, I would happily test it in my CVT insight for a few weeks and see how it does. I do have a few questions however.

What about auto-stop? Will that cause problems with the car wanting to turn off?
What about 4krpm+? Does it just always have the DC-DC converter running?
Can I completely remove the IMA battery from the car, for the reduced weight savings?

[sheepdog 44]

As long as i can get the car to pass inspection it would be great. My battery is original and over 14 years old. The CVT has done a remarkable of keeping it functional over these years without issue. But as more years pass i know it will fail completely, and my long term goal for this car is to keep it running as a gas only car.

For those interested, my experience with driving my CVT with the IMA physically removed: The idle is a little rough, you don't really notice until its gone that the IMA does smooth it out. The idle is perfectly fine and normal to what a 3 cylinder car does though. The car is lighter but since it accelerates slower it "feels" as those it's heavier. It starts up and runs on the 12 volt, and auto stop is permanently disabled. It charges the battery perfectly fine, when you go above 3K something rpm the Brake lights go on but go back off once you lower it. The CVT does a fantastic job of keeping it under 3K rpm anyways. What you really notice is that the power band is fine except when you start from a stop. The IMA helps a tremendous amount from a standstill (0-15mph), without it the car stays in a lower gear and you really miss the IMA.

The overall experience is good and highway performance is unchanged and possibly better. IT does much better up extended mountain climbs on the freeway. Vtech will kick in, where as with the IMA the battery would discharge halfway up and force regen up the other half making the car feel like a pig.

At this point i wasn't trying to hard to get good mpg. With IMA i averaged 65-66mpg, without IMA i averaged 62-63mpg. I attribute it to idling at red lights and having to put in more throttle from a standstill. Overall the car performs exceptionally well without the IMA, much better than a Geo Metro i would think. Just like driving a normal gas car.

[retepsnikrep]

Autostop is not a problem as one of the signals I modify tells the car it is not available so it never tries to do it.

The dc-dc is always on but does stop above 4K rpm due to excess voltage. That's always been an issue with a dead/disabled ima batteries. Note i did propose a partial solution to that on IC but have not had time to build anything to test it yet.

Preventing dc-dc shutdown above 4000rpm or 200v - Insight Central: Honda Insight Forum

Yes you can remove everything, ima battery, mcm, bcm.

You need the connector for the 12V side if you are removing the IMA battery/switchboard.

I'm happy to knock up a couple of circuits if people want them, but the price built is $199 + postage $15 + paypal 5%. It would then just need splicing into the wires in the back.

[sheepdog 44]

Looks pretty easy to build, the programming part is what i don't understand. What's required to upload the hex code to it?