Got a new UFO*: 2000 Honda Insight 5-speed (ailing IMA hybrid battery pack)

[MetroMPG]

Update on the EGR related driveability issues... I miss the "burp"!

If you've been following this thread, you know the car came with some pretty serious hesitation / bucking / herky-jerky engine issues under light load when transitioning into lean burn.

Back around post 51 ( http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post239474 ), I mentioned I cleaned the EGR manifold, and later the EGR valve itself.

I also ran a container of combustion chamber cleaner through the first tank of gas.

I can report the problem is 100% fixed. Ironically, I'm ever so slightly disappointed about this!

My butt-o-meter is no longer able to feel the transition in and out of lean burn! I almost wish the tiny lean burn "burp" / stumble that existed right after doing the EGR fix was still there. But, nada. Can't feel the NOX purges any more, either.

Unfortunately, minus the burp, I have to visually monitor the instant fuel economy display to be able to know for sure when lean burn is active & how deep into it the engine is. A nice audio signal would be useful!

Silly to complain about a perfectly functioning lean burn system in an engine with 270,000 kms on it!

[MetroMPG]

Mods to date:

I mentioned tank #1 was for "baseline" purposes. I'm about 1/2 of the way through tank #2 now (@ ~800 km / 500 mi.).

The only mods I've been playing with so far (and of course not finished) are grille blocking and passenger mirror replacement with a much smaller custom outside mirror + medium size inside convex mirror.

Grille blocking to date has been only with cardboard & tape. I have found I can block all but about 24 square inches (3x8) of the lower grille + all of the upper with no adverse effects (in my particular driving regimen - ymmv!), in the hottest summer weather

[MetroMPG]

Oh - I'm also keeping an eye out for a deal on a Super Brain 989 battery charger - thinking about diagnosing the health of the car's disabled, ailing NiMH hybrid pack.

[jamesqf]

Another cheap and effective (especially in your winters, I'd think) is the hot air intake mod. Disconnect the OEM breather pipe at the air filter box, and run a piece of SCAT ducting (or other heat resistant material) around behind the engine to pick up hot air from the cat converter. This will increase fuel economy by warming the engine sooner and so allowing it to go into lean burn more often.

Monitoring the IAT via ScanGauge is useful - I see 120-140F as good operating temp.

[MetroMPG]

Thanks, good point.

I'll probably do that, however I also won't be driving the U.F.O. through deepest, darkest winter.

While the aluminum unibody may not rot in our salty environment, there's still enough ferrous bits underneath (suspension, brake & fuel lines, etc.) to make me want to save it. (There's enough corrosion already in the engine compartment -- eg. bolts -- that made servicing the EGR problematic, and the bolt heads are completely fubared on the coil packs, so I haven't been able to check the spark plugs yet.)

So the U.F.O. will go into the garage and I'll put the Firefly back on the road before 2011 is done. (Plus the Flea has been treated multiple times with rust-proofing spray.)

---

Also, while the Insight is off the road, I'll have a chance to diagnose & repair the hybrid battery pack... I'm happy to report I just scored a great deal (yay eBay) on a special battery charger that will let me test (charge/discharge cycle to determine capacity) the NiMH subpacks:



The Super Brain 989, as recommended by several other Insight owners.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Thanks, good point.

Also, while the Insight is off the road, I'll have a chance to diagnose & repair the hybrid battery pack... I'm happy to report I just scored a great deal (yay eBay) on a special battery charger that will let me test (charge/discharge cycle to determine capacity) the NiMH subpacks:



The Super Brain 989, as recommended by several other Insight owners.

Although it wouldn't discharge very quickly $3 would buy a battery charger that would charge it nice and slow so you could equalize and watch the pack manually.

i made mine out of a diode and burnt up multi-outlet and an old light, but you can also make them out of caps and a bridge.

My "charger" can be used to place a load of a known value on the circuit or used to slowly charge the battery, I also have used the switch on the power strip to convert the unit into a capacitor charger (but it only puts out maybe 1/4 amp)

Cheers
Ryan

[Daox]

The SuperBrain 989 is exactly what MetroMPG needs to fix up his pack. It will not only cycle the batteries automatically, but it also spits out a Ah capacity at the end. With that he'll know if he has any bad sticks in the bunch. You could do this manually with a charger, a discharger and a timer. But, I've done that and its a real pain when you have to do a number of cells.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by Daox

The SuperBrain 989 is exactly what MetroMPG needs to fix up his pack. It will not only cycle the batteries automatically, but it also spits out a Ah capacity at the end. With that he'll know if he has any bad sticks in the bunch. You could do this manually with a charger, a discharger and a timer. But, I've done that and its a real pain when you have to do a number of cells.

I agree, it works fine (when you know how to use it) and is safe on a handfull of small Ahr cells at a time.

My charger would allow him to "overcharge" the whole pack at once to equalize then he could procede to use the Superbrain to do individual cells.

Usually a good slow "slight" overcharge or 2 (with a discharge) will mostly bring back a honda pack.

[Daox]

Unless I'm missing something, charging the entire pack won't show if there are bad cells unless you have some form of individual cell monitoring.

[MetroMPG]

The automated charge/discharge cycling feature of this charger is a big benefit here.

You set it to run each stick (subpack) through a number of full cycles and it records the amp-hour capacity of each stick for later viewing.

Multiple cycles on each of the 20 sticks is a time consumnig process. Apparently it takes something like a week or two to fully examine the pack in this way to identify the bad/weak sticks. Doing it "manually" would be a marathon!

I haven't yet read up on grid-charging to equalize the pack, though I know some owners are grid charging.