The Impsight: My mischievous little devil of a car. ('00 Insight fixing and modifying)

[Stubby79]

I figured a 2.5ah total discharge would be safe...woke up to find it down to 97v! Ha!

Not what I was going for, was expecting 120-130v. Oh well. It’ll come back faster than expected or not at all. We’ll see.

[Stubby79]

2 hours in, and we're not yet down to the starting voltage of yesterday. I take that as a good sign.

...make that 3 hours.

...just dipped under at 4.

...and woke up - 13 odd hours in - to find it @ 95V. Still not stellar, considering how low the draw is, but certainly better than yesterday.

Looking forward to it not being charged by the time I get home from work, if that ever happens. (That will mean it's capacity has reached 50% or more of original)

[Stubby79]

"Fully" charged by the time I got home, in 9-10 hours. Presumably means it's still under 3AH.

Discharge #3 is underway. If I don't see much change, I'll try discharging even farther...then give up and see if it was enough to get the IMA running again.

[MetroMPG]

Chiming in to say: FANTASTIC! You got yourself the fuel economy nerd's Ferarri!



Did you know it has 5 (FIVE) factory fuel economy gauges in the cluster?

You're making me miss mine.

That's a screaming deal for a west coast (brake/fuel lines not corroded away) running & driving Insight! What's the story on how you found it / lost it / bought it for so little money?

[Stubby79]

It would have been a one-line story, but it took a twist...

I search local online classifieds regularly for certain things, including EVs and Prius'...but occasionally check for cheap hybrids.

So a week or more before I bought it, I found it advertised. Very little information, no photos...color, mileage, IMA not working...$500. I got stupid excited and emailed him in the middle of the night and then called first thing in the morning...took a few calls, spread apart, but I got ahold of him mid-morning. Said i was calling about the Insight for sale. He said "Yes?" as in, go on...meaning he still had it...told him I'd like to see it ASAP...

Only to be told it was sold, and he was just waiting on the guy to pay and take it. He wasn't about to sell it out from under the guy.



I was so...deflated.

A week or so passes, I got an itch for a deal and a hybrid, go check out a 2010 Prius, that turned out to be an over-priced turd. Glad I was able to walk away, despite that itch. Get home, sit down...get an email from the Insight seller..."Still available, if you'd like to see it".

Send him an email seconds later, saying I want to see it, and as long as it can move under it's own power, I'll definitely take it. Even if it can't, I want to see it.

It will, he replies. I (more calmly) said "TAKE MY MONEY!!!!"

Set up a time to see it the next morning. As early as I could get him to.

Pestered him with questions in the minutes before going to bed, and some after.

Went the next morning. Has been sitting parked along side half a dozen other vehicles of his. Barely checked it over. He started it, I checked that the trans and clutch worked - couldn't drive it, not insured - and then asked him if he had the registration handy to sign it over. Paperwork, signature, viola!

I had the keys and paper work in hand, and had to remind him - twice!! - to take the money.

Went 10 minutes up the road, got plates and insurance, decided to play it safe, since it wasn't charging the 12v battery, and called a tow truck. Told it would be half an hour before they get there. Get called back before I get out of the parking lot, 10 minutes away. Tow truck beat me there.

He arrived with it at my house all of a couple of minutes after I got there. Offered to sign me up for BCAA for about $15 more than the cost of the tow, which covers 3 more free tows, so I signed up for BCAA.

And that's how I got BCAA coverage.

Wait, What?

*Totally just econerded out*

[MetroMPG]

That is an awesome story.


I remember how excited I was when I found my 2000 Insight at a rural used car dealership, sitting (unwanted) among the pickup trucks, SUV's and tractors. When the guy told me they only wanted $1400 for it, I literally thought: "POKER FACE... Don't let them know how much of a deal this is! POKER FACE!!"


You're going to have so much fun.

[Stubby79]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

You're going to have so much fun.

I expect so! I won't get rid of this until I'm too old and broken to drive it any more.

[Stubby79]

I let it discharge longer, by an hour, which meant it also got an hour less charge time before I got to check in on it...dropped down to 95V, was 168v when I checked on it...170 is fully charged, in theory. Gives me a better idea on capacity than getting home and not knowing when it hit 170.

Had over an hour since then, only up to 169. The longer, the better...unless I lost a cell!

Hmm. Do I discharge even farther next time? Do I leave it on charge for 24 hours, like some very unscientific guys recommend? (I'd feel better about that if I limited the current to like 50ma)

Life changing decisions!

Charge-line is now bi-directional. No more janky alligator clips!

[Stubby79]

Interesting. It got it’s shortest charge today/yesterday, not much time at 170v since I was working on the charge cord for a couple of hours...and yet it was still at 150v after nearly 9 hours of discharge!

I’ll take it as a good sign.

I did not want to over do it, so I put the discharging on hold until the morning, when I’ll be able to monitor it and prevent it going too low.

[Stubby79]

Just getting down to 140 volts after 13+ hours of discharge.

...

...

Weird.

Think I'll go for broke this time!