Unit-02 Red Honda Insight

[Natalya]

I think all this has really helped. I also got the tires back up to 52 PSI, they were in the high 40's, probably because it's been freezing here.

But anyway, tonight I made the drive home from work, never using the IMA for assist, temperature just below freezing the whole time, total distance about 27 miles. I got my trip FCD (about 300 miles on it right now) to creep up from 70.2 to 70.8, so I felt pretty good about that. This is a hilly commute by the way.

[Daox]

Woohoo, very nice.

[Natalya]

Last night I drove 25 miles from work to home. After about the first mile (there was a red light) I didn't use my brakes until I had to stop inside my neighbourhood to back the car into the driveway.

This included city driving right through the middle of downtown Roswell, GA and entering and exiting the highway and switching from one highway to another.

[rnjason]

That's a really impressive build you got there.

[Natalya]

Hi, thanks. Copy anything you want. I think I saw you post on Insight Central. If you ever get the chance install a clutch switch to mask (to the ECM) the problems with your IMA battery.

My car I'm doing around 70 right now I took a couple days of semi-normal driving which killed this current tank average, but I have a few hundred miles left to push it back up a bit.

Driving in Atlanta sucks for MPG. 50 on 285 is dangerous even in the right lane.

[Natalya]

Today I installed these LED Headlights:
H4 LED Headlight Kit | H4 LED Foglight Upgrade

I like to use my EFAS button for a couple long engine-off-coasts on my commute home, but the coasts usually end with my IMA battery voltage going down from being sucked by the DC/DC into my 12V battery (due to headlights and other electrical draw) to the point that the car stops charging the 12V battery and it won't restart from shifting into gear as is typical for this vehicle. Instead I either need to bump-start while still coasting or key-on start it back up at the end of the coast.

The current draw at night as measured by OBDIIC&C was 1.8 amps with my headlights on. Now it's only 1.0 amp that gets drawn with the new LED headlights on. I hope this will let me stay in EOC longer without depleting the IMA battery beyond the DC/DC shutoff threshold.

[Natalya]

Okay last night I installed heater pads under the oil pan and the transmission case near the drain bolt.

The pads came with 3M adhesive on them, but maybe there's like something I can use to glue them on tighter//get more heat transfer straight into their targets? I have 3M polyurethane crap in a tube I could maybe use that, but I don't know if it will hold up to the temperatures. I don't think the pads are going to fall off though, I have a metal panel underneath them sheltering them from the wind.

Anyway, today was cold so I plugged them in both before work and after work before leaving to go home and like they definitely helped. Cold starts on cold days like this you know usually the car is noisier and it runs a little rough for a few minutes, but today both times everything was smooth like immediately after turning the car on. I usually get a MPG hit right when starting (as displayed by the car on the FCD) but today it wasn't as bad as usual.

As someone on here once said, "Happiness is a warm transmission."

[Natalya]

Now I finally got a block heater installed too! This means I have 3 plugs to the wall.

Looking for suggestions:
I think I should have like the 3 cords plug into something together inside the car and have only 1 wire that gets plugged into an extension cord. I'm wondering about like if there are best practices or something regarding this.

[Daox]

You could:

Make sure the power strip / connector is not going to be exposed to (much) water.
Put the connector in a case of some sort.
Use dielectric grease on the connections.

[Natalya]

I had the plugs kinda hanging about until yesterday. On the inside of the wheel well I installed this power inlet. It's linked to the pads and to the block heater.

The switch on the left goes to the block heater only, so it can be turned off. I did that because some power outlets (at my job I don't always park in the same spot) get tripped when I have all three going. At my house I can have the heater and the heat pads running at the same time no problem.



Wondering what I should do next for mpg?