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Well, it had to happen sooner or later. 4 1/2 months into a 5 month extended RV trip, the Insight hybrid battery failed. Daughter tried to wake it up one morning and was greeted with an IMA light and lots of trouble codes. Took it to the local Honda dealer who needed about 10 days to land ship in replacement batteries, but all is now well. At 72,500 it was replaced under warranty.

I'm wondering if we have done a poll on battery life?

I'm sorry to hear that, Jim. :(

How long have you been leaving it undriven? You might want to consider investing in a grid charger to avoid this in future. It isn't the self discharge that damages the battery but attempting to use it (ie, start the car). With a charger you can simply top it off before attempting to use the car and it should be fine.

zero charge state is not supposed to hurt nimh cells, besides cell balancing and possible reversal and so on.. but these cells grow conductive "tendrils" that pierce the separator as they get older.. if the battery has some level of charge they tend to self heal by zapping the tendrils clean off.. but batteries at this stage are starting to get marginal. How old is the car?

Jim's got a 2006 and this is his first battery replacement. Most Insight battery failures these days are due to inactivity allowing cell imbalance... resulting eventually in cell reversal when the car is used after the cells have gotten unbalanced enough. Those who drive the car daily typically manage many more miles before encountering issues with the battery (in some cases over 200,000 miles).

...Those who drive the car daily...

I like the sound of that.:) Now, I just need to find someplace to go.:p Jim, here's hoping this pack lasts much longer.

Jim's got a 2006 and this is his first battery replacement. Most Insight battery failures these days are due to inactivity allowing cell imbalance... resulting eventually in cell reversal when the car is used after the cells have gotten unbalanced enough. Those who drive the car daily typically manage many more miles before encountering issues with the battery (in some cases over 200,000 miles).

MY HAH has a "use it or lose it sticker" in regards to IMA battery pack. :flag:

I have had two extended RV trip, leaving the car at home. I think the trip which probably killed the battery was the one I took last fall. That trip was about a month and the car sat totally unused. Since that time, I have had lots of recals and some pretty funky behavior, from my meager understanding. During the just past RV trip, which lasted 5 months, my daughter drove the car, but only about every couple of weeks or so.

A former Honda mechanic were she works for BMW told here that though the mileage ws not excessive, the time on the battery was pretty near where there have been many failures.

These questions are one of the reasons I thought a survey or poll might be worthwhile, but then obviously driving conditions might make such a poll inconclusive. Unfortunately, this old retired guy with far reaching travel habits probably is far from typical ;-)

On a related quest, I somehow formed the weak notion that dealerships were using reconditioned IMA replacements. From the work receipt, it looks like the Honda part number was 1181H5. Can some of our Honda mechanics confirm that this is a new battery or a reconditioned battery? Thanks.

Our previous '06 Civic Hybrid was sidelined by an accident one time for nearly a month: fired up once or twice to go to sub-contractors, that's about it. Though it's not "ours" anymore, we've been baby sitting it for the last 3 weeks. I made a point of driving it maybe twice a week, and each time pretty much there's been a recal.

I think that idle month with the accident is a factor in it's current behaviour. How do you argue that to insurance adjusters, though?

Our previous '06 Civic Hybrid was sidelined by an accident one time for nearly a month: fired up once or twice to go to sub-contractors, that's about it. Though it's not "ours" anymore, we've been baby sitting it for the last 3 weeks. I made a point of driving it maybe twice a week, and each time pretty much there's been a recal.

I think that idle month with the accident is a factor in it's current behaviour. How do you argue that to insurance adjusters, though?

It is interesting that you wonder how to argue it with an insurance adjuster as it seems it is even difficult to argue with service reps at Honda.

My life style results in the Accord Hybrid sitting a lot and I specifically asked both of the local dealers what I should do in regards to maintaining the IMA battery if the car couldn't be driven for many weeks. Both said, "don't worry about it, you might have to jump the 12V but it will be fine." I said what about the sticker that says it WILL damage the IMA pack if not used. They all said "what sticker."

Pressing the issue I found a rep and tech at one of the dealers who understood and they demonstrated how I could get the car to force a charge on the pack without having to drive it. That we could get done.

Shame that they don't have a factory trickle charge available.:flag:

It is interesting that you wonder how to argue it with an insurance adjuster as it seems it is even difficult to argue with service reps at Honda.

My life style results in the Accord Hybrid sitting a lot and I specifically asked both of the local dealers what I should do in regards to maintaining the IMA battery if the car couldn't be driven for many weeks. Both said, "don't worry about it, you might have to jump the 12V but it will be fine." I said what about the sticker that says it WILL damage the IMA pack if not used. They all said "what sticker."

Pressing the issue I found a rep and tech at one of the dealers who understood and they demonstrated how I could get the car to force a charge on the pack without having to drive it. That we could get done.

Shame that they don't have a factory trickle charge available.:flag:

Honda may not have a trickle charger available but, I do have one for my 2000 Insight. It is 350mah at 177V. It took about 1 hour or so for my son and I to install it and most of that was from removing/replacing the access cover.

EVuser, I believe the same charger could be configured to work with your HAH. Let me know via PM if you are interested in that and I'll direct you to the fellow building them.

I had my battery replaced after 4 and 1/2 years and maybe 40,000 miles. It was replaced under warranty and no problems except I also had to wait for 10 days while it was shipped in. The battery went bad driving back from the airport after leaving it parked there for about a week, so some of the reversal talk could easily apply. I heard that the whole battery and electronics had to be replaced. the bill in 2006 would have been $4000+ if I would have needed to pay it.

Currently my battery is acting pretty wonky. I am again hitting the 4 1/2 year mark on the new battery so it is getting me worried. It could be the triple digit temperature that is hurting it's performance now.