An Insight into a Honda Insight.

Own a hybrid? Don't feel left out; heres a little corner just for you.
Tam
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2007 11:56 pm
Location: Streat, Nr. Ditchling, Sussex.

Postby Tam » Mon Aug 13, 2007 9:43 pm

Thanks for that Qdos - I'll track Chris down and be nice to him...

User avatar
retepsnikrep
Posts: 1387
Joined: Sat May 26, 2007 4:50 pm
Location: North Yorkshire England
Contact:

Update Seven weeks on.

Postby retepsnikrep » Mon Oct 01, 2007 6:55 am

Update 30/09/07 seven weeks after MIMA computer upgrade and 2500+ miles driven, mpg now hovering at 101.6 :) an improvement of about 5% over my previous best on that sort of distance/time in regular day to day use. :D

Pushed mpg over the magic 100mpg mark which is very nice and a great talking point :wink: especially as fuel has just gone up another 2p per litre!

Colder weather is here and we will all suffer from the effects of this now taking an mpg hit :( I hope to maintain 95mpg+ for the winter ahead but even I (Mr Slowcoach 8) ) probably won't be able to keep it above 100mpg during the coldest months :(
Regards Peter

Two MK1 Honda Insight's. One running 20ah A123 Lithium pack. One 8ah BetterBattery Nimh pack.
One HCH1 Civic Hybrid running 60ah A123 Lithium pack.

User avatar
retepsnikrep
Posts: 1387
Joined: Sat May 26, 2007 4:50 pm
Location: North Yorkshire England
Contact:

PHEV Upgrade

Postby retepsnikrep » Mon Jan 12, 2009 9:52 am

Li-fepo4 PHEV 50x40ah Highpower Cell Upgrade.

As this is really Insight related rather than BMS related thought I better post it here.

Warmer Weather :D

Drove to work today in a balmy 11C. Battery much more lively giving 75% assist. As we know warmer weather improves mpg and meter was pegged at 140mpg+ for most of the 13 mile journey. KWH consumption also coming down, only used 1.3kwh yesterday for my 26 mile commute.

Done about 700 problem free miles now since install, including the week long freeze when low (70C) engine temps due to the small amount of fuel being used was a potential issue, mpg for the 700 miles is creeping up, now 91mpg (US) 110mpg (UK)

No autostop though :? presumably due to soc only three bars, I might have to include Forced Auto Stop if the bcm (battery control module) fooling plan does not work. Trouble is now i'm too busy enjoying the car to work on it :lol: I'm probably going to leave it in analog mode until weather is a lot better and I have tried the bcm experiments. ;)

After the months of work it's such a relief to get it working that i've run out of steam temporarily :roll:
Regards Peter

Two MK1 Honda Insight's. One running 20ah A123 Lithium pack. One 8ah BetterBattery Nimh pack.
One HCH1 Civic Hybrid running 60ah A123 Lithium pack.

User avatar
qdos
Posts: 2089
Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2007 10:26 pm
Location: Dorset
Contact:

Postby qdos » Tue Jan 13, 2009 2:55 pm

retepsnikrep wrote:After the months of work it's such a relief to get it working that i've run out of steam temporarily :roll:


You've been building a steam engine?! :o

User avatar
retepsnikrep
Posts: 1387
Joined: Sat May 26, 2007 4:50 pm
Location: North Yorkshire England
Contact:

Postby retepsnikrep » Tue Feb 17, 2009 12:50 pm

Just a PHEV update. I've been runing about for about two months now, and since weather has finally taken a turn for the better temp wise in the last few days, I'm now doing over 120mpg on my daily commute.

13 miles each way to work with a cold engine start.

I expect on a decent A road journey (100miles or so) in good conditions now I'll be getting close to the max 150 mpg display can show. :shock:

Batteries seem to be holding up well. I've been helping a lot of other UK Insight owners recently so have got a bit stuck finishing my BMS :roll:
Regards Peter

Two MK1 Honda Insight's. One running 20ah A123 Lithium pack. One 8ah BetterBattery Nimh pack.
One HCH1 Civic Hybrid running 60ah A123 Lithium pack.

FlossyThePig
Posts: 25
Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2007 11:44 am
Location: Suffolk, UK

Postby FlossyThePig » Tue Feb 17, 2009 1:09 pm

Peter

What is your cruise speed, when commuting and/or on a long A road journey?

Hugh

User avatar
retepsnikrep
Posts: 1387
Joined: Sat May 26, 2007 4:50 pm
Location: North Yorkshire England
Contact:

Postby retepsnikrep » Tue Feb 17, 2009 1:44 pm

Varies greatly but 45-55mph, I never go faster than 60mph unless downhill, regenerating or demonstrating the car.

Say 45-50mph on a long distance trip on A roads, 56mph on motorways etc the time factor does not bother me.

I don't drive it like a normal person !!!

I use the throttle like a cruise control based on mpg rather than speed.

Prior to my phev upgrade I would set the throttle at 100mpg as shown on instant fuel consumption gauge. I then drive at whatever speed the car can manage at 100mpg, slowing down when climbing and going faster when going downhill.

In good weather 100mpg could equate to a road speed of 60mph+ on the flat, but in mid winter it might only do 40mph at 100mpg. Either way I'm not bothered.

When I first did my conversion and in the bitter weather we had, I moved my mpg point to 125mpg for the first few weeks.

Now it's warmer I drive with gauge at 150mpg as much as possible applying the same principle as above, but with a more electric assist in the background to offset the decreased fuel usage.

You still need to burn a minimum quantity of fuel or the engine never gets warm. There is virtually no wasted heat now from the cooling system. In the cold weather with heating on, engine temp got above minimum reqd but never got near thermostat opening point on my commute. So nothing was being wasted. If the stat opens or rad fan operates you are wasting energy. Every little helps.

Image
Regards Peter

Two MK1 Honda Insight's. One running 20ah A123 Lithium pack. One 8ah BetterBattery Nimh pack.
One HCH1 Civic Hybrid running 60ah A123 Lithium pack.

User avatar
qdos
Posts: 2089
Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2007 10:26 pm
Location: Dorset
Contact:

Postby qdos » Tue Feb 17, 2009 11:12 pm

122mpg !!!!!!!!!! my god Peter that's amazing!

I've just been up to London and got averages of 58mpg on the trip there and improved that to 59mpg on the trip back (100miles M way and 100 miles A roads) but I was cruising at regular traffic speeds. Not bad for a Picasso I think. I expect you'd be devastated at those figures mind you! However I used no electricity :lol:

What I did notice however (unfortunately right at the end of the motorway) was that if I followed a big truck I got about 20mpg more. I knew you could get improvements due to less wind resistance but allways assumed you had to be up the arse of the truck which is bloody dangerous and downright stupid. But it seems 100 yards back you can get the benefit of a 20mpg boost in your fuel consumption so I may well be joining the truckers in the LHS lane on my next M way journey. I dare say they would all be furious about getting stuck behind you though ;) . Shame there's no M ways in Dorset

User avatar
retepsnikrep
Posts: 1387
Joined: Sat May 26, 2007 4:50 pm
Location: North Yorkshire England
Contact:

Postby retepsnikrep » Wed Feb 18, 2009 7:05 am

Trucks can def help you on motorways if you are prepared to stick at 56mph with them, I am. You don't need or want to be right up it's Ar*e, a safe distance back and you can still get quite a benefit especially if you would have been battling a headwind without them.
Regards Peter

Two MK1 Honda Insight's. One running 20ah A123 Lithium pack. One 8ah BetterBattery Nimh pack.
One HCH1 Civic Hybrid running 60ah A123 Lithium pack.

User avatar
ChrisB
Posts: 4657
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2006 11:33 am
Location: Hampshire on the Southcoast
Contact:

Postby ChrisB » Wed Feb 18, 2009 8:38 pm

Must admit I use this trick in the Berlingo when on the motorway, quite often if I can get sucked into a lorrys tail wind I can do the same 15mile run all on the motorway but only use 5% of my energy, compared to no lorry assistance when it uses 15-18% 8)

ChrisB
I reject reality and substitute my own !!!!!!


Return to “Hybrid's Corner”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 15 guests