I'm having a problem with my IMA battery charging on my HCH and wonder if anyone else has heard of this. Tomorrow will be the 4th time back to the dealer's service dept. It is intermittant, no trouble lights ever come on and the first 2 times it was taken to the Honda service it was working perfectly, and checked ok.

I brought it last week when the problem was actively happening, gave the tech a ride to show him the problem, and he seemed very confused, told me that this is new technology and he wasn't sure about it and to come back on the 24th for a meeting with the svc manager and lead technician.

Here's the trouble:
While driving the engine is supposed to recharge the battery.
*When I'm pulling a hill it uses some battery power. the battery gauge drops a little.
*If I coast for... say 5 miles the engine is supposed to replace what was used.
It does not.
*Suppose after the 5 miles I have another hill and use some more battery. Now the battery is lower than before. The engine does not recover the charge, and after coasting for miles and a few more hills now the battery is down to only 1/4 charge.

*Now the low battery charge comes on and displays 4 green continuous bars until the battery reaches 1/2.
*The charge stops. I can drive for 10 miles coasting all the way and it is still at 1/2 charge. After a hill or two I use some battery down to 1/4 and it goes into its continual charge to 50% again, effectively cycling from 1/4 to 1/2 over & over.

*I can pull off of the road, put it in park and fast idle to 3.5-4K RPM for 10 minutes and it doesn't charge at all.

*Later I'll start the car, it will charge back normally to 98% battery over about 5 miles and work great.

Anyone seen this?
Steve & family

Efficient drivers do it better.
1003 miles a tank personal record. 74MPG calculated. HCH1 CVT

well... there is only one electric motor in the HCH so if it is being used, the gas engine can't recharge the battery. maybe when it drops to 1/4, the sole motor then switches over the generate energy, but it doesn't help move the car: only the gas engine is running the car.

that's just my hypothesis

A Prius a day keeps the doctor away!

Steve,
I have an insight but it looks like the BCM needs to be reset. In the insight it involves pulling a few fuses but I don't know on a HCH. The BCM manages the battery and yours is not doing it well. Have fun, RIck

Can you tell us where to find the information resetting BCM? Thanks!

I checked with weather.gov and you all down in Georgia have been having a heat wave.

You may be suffering from the same thing we have been talking about over in the Altima forum. A battery sensor that thinks the battery is overheating because of the extreme 100+ degree heat.

If the sensor thinks the battery is too hot, it may shut down the recharge until it thinks the battery is cooler. Nothing wrong would show up at the dealer because it’s a safety feature that is working, as it should.

This is just a theory however, and I know next to nothing about your car.

I personally feel that ac should be used in hot weather to help keep these batteries cool. The batteries work best at the same temperatures people work best at.

I also have a feeling that people who use their AC will have batteries that last longer than those who do not use the AC. Heat kills these batteries.

My Mariner has dedicated AC lines in the battery pack that help keep it cool.

Just my 2 cents.

Rick.