The IMA Battery gague on my 06 HCH has a total of 8 bars on it. When it gets down to 3 bars left it no longer assists the motor and will only recharge at that point. The majority of the time the battery charge stays in the lower half of the gague.

My 04 was just the opposite only it had a total of 22 bars on the gague and usually remained in the upper portion during normal driving. It would not stop asisisting the motor until it only had 1 out of 22 bars remaining.

Does all this sound normal or is there perhaps something wrong with the new IMA Battery?

Mine also does not provide any assist when the charge is low. I've actually never seen it below four bars. I think it's designed that way to provide a longer battery life. The batteries don't do well if they are deep-cycled.

My experience is different from yours when it comes to the typical level of charge. Driving up the hill to my house it often gets down to four bars. But coming back down the hill I always get it back to eight (full). Maybe you're seeing it always low because of your driving conditions and style. If you do a lot of city driving on flat terrain, there may be no good charging opportunities.

2006 HCH Alabaster Silver w/Navi
2003 Honda Accord LX

I don't think I've gotten to the full eight bars yet. I can easily get to seven, but not eight.

Aneil

Aneil Mishra, Ph.D.
http://www.totaltrust.wordpress.com

I've gotten 8 a few times. Never seen it get below 4.

Mine is almost always at 7 or 8 bars.

Very rarely have I seen it below 4 bars.

Ron in SoCal

Saving the Dinosaurs . . .

Mine is usually one to two bars above the center. I have seen it lower and also higher but not often enough to say that it was even more than once each.

My experience parallels ElanC's. I live at the top of a 4 mile 7% grade (about 1200 ft elevation change). When I drive up to my home, it usually quickly depletes the battery down to 4 bars, and I lose the assist. In fact, it sometimes goes into charge mode while climbing the hill. Going down the hill, the regen charges the battery all the way up to 8 bars. Other than that, the charge usually is in the top half.

Same here. I'm speaking of the '03 variety, but mine I'll usually deplete to about just under 1/3rd full (the point at which the reserve batttery power is only used if it's necessary to "floor it") every day going home, and often will cycle the battery that much multiple times a day depending on my destination. Most of the time for more steady highwy driving over gradually rolling hills though, the battery stays at around 3/4 charge the whole time. However, the battery is rarely completely full, except for when I just descend a huge hill, because the IMA is very quick to give assist when the pack is compltetely full. If a necessary stop comes up and the pack is already full, there is no room to reclaim anything with regenerative braking, so this is why the computer tends to keep things around 3/4 charge (nominal charge, not actual charge, wich never leaves the 20-80% range)

Doesn't sound like anything wrong to me. There are other threads in the forum that talk about the battery SOC being maintained between 40% and 80% to maximize life. I don't know what percentage 3 bars is, but the assumption is that 4 bars is about 40% and 8 bars is 80%. So if you're down to 3 bars, it's going to protect the battery. It's not unusual to have it always hanging between 4-6 bars - that's where mine usually is. Of course, as others have said, it depends on the terrain and your driving habits.

When you say it's always below half, does that mean it is usually at either 3 or 4 bars? If that is the case, then there is something unusual going on, imo. If that's the case, tell us more about the terrain and how you drive it. But if it's more like 4-6 bars, I think you're probably seeing normal operation.

Good luck.

I've seen it up to 8 bars often, just depending on how long I hold the regen on. I've seen it WAY below 4 bars. Hell, I've had it down to 2 bars, and maybe even one, I can't remember. It didn't stay down there long, but going on a blitz from 55 to 100 will definitely put you down there =) I've only had ONE instance where the assist turned off, and that was climbing a hill on the way to Vegas.