Trollinsight Modding Thread (2000 Honda Insight)

[HyperMileQC]

Originally Posted by payne171

I am with Peter (retepsnikrep). The OBDII C&C does everything the scangauge does, PLUS it tells you what is going on with the IMA system.

I think building and/or buying a grid charger is also a must for battery health. I built a dumb charger. My 2000 has its original battery, I think, and while its capacity is down a bit, it doesn't cause me any problems.

Once you get some RE92s, make sure you keep an eye on tire pressure, I.e. as high as you feel comfortable with. Many go 60 PSI+, depending on what kind of potholes you deal with.

Can you program the Gauges shown on the C&C to be displayed on the SG-II? Cause I don't think I can afford 150$ for another OBD-II computer .

I would really like to build a grid charger. My battery pack has been replaced 6 years ago and I'm sure that grid charging could improve its SOC range.

Once I get the RE92, I'll probably inflate them between 50-60 PSI. I don't want to inflate them more than 60, because my rear shock absorbers are broken. For now, my winter tires are inflated at 40 PSI.

[payne171]

I guess if you already have the scangauge, you can either stick with it or sell it used to get the C&C (I am sure you could find a buyer here). You might benefit from finding an Insight driver around you that has it and seeing firsthand what it can do.

The grid charger is pretty easy. I built my own. Just type dumb grid charger into the search engine on Insightcentral and you will get easy to find results. A rough explanation is that you wire a couple of 90 volt LED power sources in series with the proper diodes so the current flows in one direction. Pretty easy, and my wiring experience is limited to car stereo installs.

60 PSI is what I use without problem, although I might be careful with blown shocks. I could easily be wrong, but my gut tells me the front tires are a bit more important than rear anyway.

[retepsnikrep]

Originally Posted by HyperMileQC

Can you program the Gauges shown on the C&C to be displayed on the SG-II? Cause I don't think I can afford 150$ for another OBD-II computer .

No you can't they work in different ways, the scangauge does not talk to the car on the correct data lines either.

[payne171]

One other little thing to keep in mind is the 12v battery. The Insight is kind of hard on them, and they don't last long. However, you don't use them to start the car except in REALLY cold weather, so you might not realize they are going bad. Once they start to go, the Motor will leech a small amount of engine power to perpetually try to charge them. This will make it a lot harder to stay up with the flow of traffic in lean burn. Also, and I don't have empirical evidence to back this up, but the engine seemed to run less smooth and with a bit less power. I assume it had to do with a weaker spark. Some have had better success with deep cycle batteries, but I didn't go that route, so I can't testify to that. A new 12v will make it feel like you have the wind at your back compared to a bad one.

[HyperMileQC]

Originally Posted by payne171

One other little thing to keep in mind is the 12v battery. The Insight is kind of hard on them, and they don't last long. However, you don't use them to start the car except in REALLY cold weather, so you might not realize they are going bad. Once they start to go, the Motor will leech a small amount of engine power to perpetually try to charge them. This will make it a lot harder to stay up with the flow of traffic in lean burn. Also, and I don't have empirical evidence to back this up, but the engine seemed to run less smooth and with a bit less power. I assume it had to do with a weaker spark. Some have had better success with deep cycle batteries, but I didn't go that route, so I can't testify to that. A new 12v will make it feel like you have the wind at your back compared to a bad one.

The 12v Battery on my car is brand new. For now, I've never heard the 12v starter.

Update : Received my LED yersterday. Could put 6 of them in the front + interior. The 2 others (brake lights) blown 2 of my fuses... I changed them, tried again, same results... Returning to disgusting stock brake lights...

Also bought a Block Heater Cord, tested the EBH for about 1 hour and c°WT went from ~18°C to 44°C! Viva el EBH!

[payne171]

For what it is worth, I am starting to suspect that mine was more a grounding issue than a bad battery. The old battery looks okay. I imagine I did a better job of grounding it when I attached the new battery. No matter, I have another car that needs a battery. I will just switch the terminals. Still, what I said about batteries holds true, and I got a good lesson on proper grounding as well.

[HyperMileQC]

Did a ~30 km trip today and got 61.3 MPG on the FCD. Temp was around 12°C, it was rainy and windy, and I got some traffic. With a passenger. Pretty happy with that! The EBH helped alot when I started, I could definitely see the difference between a cold start and a 2 hour EBH start .

Also, I have the Insight #95, FWIW. I think that my 144v IMA battery is strong, I read alot on the subject on IC and from what I've learned, when the battery take alot of regen and assist to increase or decrease, this means that your pack is in good shape. I can not compare because I only have one Insight, but I think my pack is pretty stong. It has been changed in 2007 on the garantee. The IMA Battery Gauge toggles from 19 bars to 1 bar. I've never seen it at 20 bars. [EDIT : Saw it at 20 bars recently, 12/04/2014]

[HyperMileQC]

Repaired my Trip Button problem... I changed the OEM switch for a printer keyboard switch. It doesn't fit perfectly and the switch doesn't react the same way, but it works! I can now toggle from Trip A-Trip B and Lifetime. Used this tutorial to repair the switch : Long writeup of trip button repair.

This is the switch I have used (very crappy quality pictures)... :


And a random interior picture :


Only little question, I've heard somewhere (in a MetroMPG thread) that you can reset yout lifetime FC. How? I've tried reseting it by pushing for several seconds the trip button in the lifetime display, and it does nothing. The FCD button, if holded for several seconds, deactivate/reactivate the fuel consumption AVG and graph bar.

I also removed the DRL, EPS and E-Brake lights from the dash cluster.

[MetroMPG]

Be aware that the e-brake light also shows if your brake fluid gets low - it's not only for the parking brake.

=----=

As for the lifetime mileage:

Press and hold the trip button for 5 seconds or more until it begins to flash. Then release and press again to clear.

[HyperMileQC]

It worked! Thanks. Had to hold it for ~20 seconds until it flashed. Then it resetted like a trip. I was pretty annoyed when looking at the 4.7 LHK / 49.8 MPG lifetime. Below EPA... I hope it stays in the 70+ MPG range now