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Every so often, my Insight will rapidly discharge it's battery, and then go into what seems like an aggressive charging cycle (That kills my mpg). Since owning the car, it has maybe done it 4 times, but the last 2 times have been within a couple of weeks of each other. I rarely get into IMA assist, and thus don't discharge the battery myself, should I?

Is this a sign the battery is starting to go?

Cheers,
Dave

The infamous recal - what Insight drivers dread more than all else.

Typically, when the SoC goes under 55% on the dashboard's bar, the Insight's computers decide you need a forced recal. Once it starts, there is nothing you can do - you have to be alert and remember to do regen braking before you cross that threshold.

Hi Euroford:

___You experienced a classic recal event. Your pack is not what it used to be of course but with a full reset of the BCM (disconnect the 12V’s battery terminal’s) for a few seconds, force a recal, let the car bring it back up and than staying out of the pack to the best of your ability for that point forward. You can limit or remove the possibility of seeing one again but the pack is not new by any means. Most in the Insight community see this as a sign the infamous IMA light will be coming soon and that means a new refurbished pack from Honda depending on your miles and such.

___As an edit, what Chuck said!

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Hi Chuck,

Thanks for the reply. So is it actually draining the battery itself during the recal? It's so frustrating. It happened yesterday on the way home while I was a a tare. I was well into the 80's (mpg) and had nothing but clear backroads ahead of me, when it went into the "recal". It dropped that trip down into the low 70's :(

Dave

Actually, the IMA light is the most dreaded thing, but the recal is the runner up.

When a recal happens, the phrase "resistance is futile" goes thru my mind. :(

Hi Dave:

___It doesn’t drain the battery, the BCM just loses track of what the actual capacity is. When it recalibrates (recals), the BCM places the pack at its minimum SoC and brings it back to the top (at the expense of power and FE). Afterwards, the BCM knows the full range of SoC again after the re-calibration.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Dave,

When you swap 12-volt batteries or disconnect it, a forced recal will happen...think of a power outage longer than a few seconds and you have to reset all the clocks.

Thanks guys! It's something i need to learn to live with then...

Take Care,
Dave

Actually Dave, it might be worth your while to disconnect the 12V as described by Chuck to force a full recal -- the car might behave better afterwards?

I really don't know if this would work for you or not but it couldn't hurt worse than what you are already doing...

How many miles are on the car?

It's got 104000 on it now. It's just had a bunch of recall work done with my local Honda dealer, so everything was powered down just last week.

Dave

I guess that isn't going to work then. :(

Hi Sean,

This is it's first recal since all the work was done at Honda, so maybe it's just getting it's act together. We'll see if it happens again in the near future. If it does, I'll force the recal as Chuck described above.

Cheers,

If it happens more frequently than a month during normal driving, that would be a concern.

I'd just make a mental note of where it starts. For me, I'm safe if 55-60% of the SoC bar is there.

I know this could be up for debate, but some assert a recall every few months is a good thing...I believe it's Honda's position. Several recals a month is definitely bad.

I've noticed my Insight likes to recalibrate around 50% of SOC so I do what I can to keep it above 50% such as driving routes that have more regen options or turning on headlights during my morning commute to the office.

...
I know this could be up for debate, but some assert a recall every few months is a good thing...I believe it's Honda's position. Several recals a month is definitely bad.

Indeed.

... And if the vehicle has been subjected to recent recalls and servicing I would suggest that the occurrence of these recals multiple times in a month is not abnormal either. I would say that under some circumstances, a weekly recal may not be necessarily bad as in many cases these are also purposely being induced in the newer and recently updated vehicles.
As it turns out, the frequency of recal may no longer be sole determinant of the pack's health. Charge hysteresis among other more discreet module variables and inputs seem to be newly preferred indicators.

I know this may be a little disconcerting for those of us who had the earlier Honda hybrids for a long time, but Honda's engineering group has been actively incorporating many revisions and updates to their battery management profile that reflect a "better understanding" of the SoC management routine.

Around these parts most Insight owners have seen a steady change in SoC behavior and that has left them with no choice but to poke their dealers for answers. These changes occurred as a result of software updates that are often applied discreetly to their vehicles when they go in for regular service. And the word is typically: get used to it.

Cheers;

MSantos

My SoC never drops below one or two bars from the top, and I still get the occasional recal. I live in a very flat area with little traffic, which allows me very slow acceleration and slow speeds, so I get very few people "up my bumper".

I'm wondering because I use so little battery power, is this causing the system recal alot?

Dave

Dave, I do not believe "disuse" is the cause -- Wayne's Insight never had a recal in all the time he owned it and if anyone was able to leave a pack "untouched" it is he. ;)

get a MIMA and make the system do what YOU want it to. i keep regen off while the car is warming up at 25 mph for 4 miles. then i program it for medium assist and light regen on the freeway. generally keeps the pack fully charged, within 25% or so from the top. when the system decides to recal (every couple of months) *I* control how it brings the pack back up, ie: downhill regen only.