Archives




View Full Version : Unusual SOC phenomenon


HCHCIN
11-23-2007, 10:33 AM
Hi all--

I searched the forums a little to see if I could answer my own question, but nothing fit the bill quite exactly. Here's the story:

One-year-old HCH-II with 10,000 miles. Headed out of town for a mini vacation this week and started out with 5/8 bars SOC. The trip west from town includes a long climb from the river valley, probably several hundred feet over three miles. Add to it that the on-ramp to this highway is sharp and at the bottom of the hill, and I knew I'd get to four bars and the usual forced regen penalty, right at the start of a 300-mile trip. Boo.

Forced regen set in, as expected, and I didn't monitor for a few minutes as traffic was thick. Nearing the top, I noticed SOC had dropped to one bar. I have never, over a year of ownership, seen it that low. It did, over several miles, happily rebuild to 7/8, and seems normal now.

Maybe it's not a problem, but I've noticed of late that the normal 5-7 bar operating range seemed smaller than usual -- i.e., SOC seems to deplete faster than normal, but also rebuild much faster than normal under standard operation (regen braking, etc.). I don't often get the visible forced regen. I should add that it seems the SOC/pack behavior changed after my first maintenance stop.

So my question is: what happened here? Either the pack is normal and the hill just killed the SOC naturally, or (my fear) is this a recal? It seemed as though the hill did kill it, and I never saw bars 2-4 disappear (it happened quickly), so I wonder if the computer realized there wasn't as much charge as it thought and adjusted the SOC bars?

I guess I'm asking for an education on recal behavior and conditions. MSantos, as ever, I'm looking in your direction. --RN

xcel
11-23-2007, 11:04 AM
Hi HCHCIN:

___Although I have literally “0” experience in the HCH-II, it sounds like a quick recal like behavior (this is not as dreaded an event in anything but the Insight that I know of :rolleyes:) Sure sounds like a recal to me given the 1 bar of SoC left but I do not know anyone that has actually seen a recal event in the HCH-II either? With temps what they are in your locale as of late, the pack charge and assist algorithms are different then during warmer temps if that helps.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

msantos
11-23-2007, 12:44 PM
___Although I have literally “0” experience in the HCH-II, it sounds like a quick recal like behavior (this is not as dreaded an event in anything but the Insight that I know of :rolleyes:) Sure sounds like a recal to me given the 1 bar of SoC left but I do not know anyone that has actually seen a recal event in the HCH-II either? With temps what they are in your locale as of late, the pack charge and assist algorithms are different then during warmer temps if that helps.



Wayne is absolutely correct.

In fact I can say certainty that our local owner base (made up of a few dozen of HCH-II owners) has experienced this same behavior at least once- As a matter of fact, this was one of the topics we discussed at our last meeting.
I have personally experienced it twice already.

It is pretty normal and benign.

Cheers;

MSantos



Copyright 2006 Clean MPG, LLC. All Rights Reserved.