Hi Lars-ss:

___Hmmmm … Let’s start out at 18 + bars first although I do not think that is an issue at all. I haven’t driven the HCH w/ a stick inside the techniques boundaries so it may in fact act differently. Hit the highway for about 5 miles and turn the lights on to bring your SoC up before you start. After that, perform the technique just as described above. You should see your SoC fall ~ 2 bars at each pulse and then at some lower SoC, you will not see any Assist during any pulse following. This is the SoC you want to hold during every P&G cycle afterwards. Forced charging may or may not appear in the MT but if you stay at 1 bar and do not see any Assist, something is holding her at 1 bar and I can only assume a heavier hidden charge is at work. If you do see Forced charging on a pulse, that is another tip that the SoC is where it should be and the BCM is controlling just as it was supposed too.

___Are you saying you have never seen a forced charge down at that level of SoC, ever? I never had the opportunity to drive the Insight 5-speed using this technique but the BCM has to kick and say hey, its time to bring the SoC up or you would deplete the pack after X many of Assists (dependant on rate of discharge) and it would never charge back up. In fact, it would be a useless paperweight afterwards! The pack has to be depleted to some relatively low level before the BCM says no Assist and only Forced or Hidden Charging can take place. I am thinking you are not into the accelerator enough possibly? A 2,450 - 2,650 RPM acceleration in the CVT is not what I would call a light take off in the least. Play with your acceleration rate until you see a Forced Charge appear given you own the stick. That will lead you to Auto SoC control although it may not be the optimal acceleration rate?

___Last item … Have you had the ECU update performed by chance?

___Good Luck and keep us updated.

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net