If you're the original owner, and you haven't replaced the battery, it's almost certainly bad. Personally, I avoid the dealership for anything but recalls.

I bought one (51R) at Walmart ($115 or so) and installed it myself. It was very easy, but I have installed batteries in all kinds of vehicles dozens of times. If you can handle a 10 mm wrench for the battery terminals and a 10mm deep well socket (can use wrench instead of socket), you can handle it yourself.

A 151R may be harder to find, but they're out there. I prefer the 51R for the improved capacity. Make sure the replacement ends in "R". "R" stands for "reversed" posts from the non "R" versions, i.e., the positive and negative terminals are at opposite ends of the battery than the non-"R" version.

The following video shows a stock battery replacement:


If you replace with a 51R, you need to pull out and discard all the plastic shroud pieces including the plastic tray in which the battery sits. If you secure the battery firmly with the clamp, there will be no issue with the bottom of the battery directly contacting the metal of the frame. If you're really worried about it, you can cut off the lip of the tray and use it as a plastic shim between the battery and frame.

Good luck,

Steve

 

Thank You Keith and Ross.

It was the 12V battery. So far the car is good. I am thinking of getting rid of it before it shows up its true colors with IMA battery. I did call Honda and they were clear that in GA the Warranty for IMA battery was up 9 yrs and/or 96000 miles.

 

Glad to hear you got it sorted. Did you replace with a 151R or a 51R?

I don't know how scared you should be at the IMA going bad. I'm at 132K on my '06. I have frequent recals, and I've thrown a couple of IMA lights over the last few months. With full A/C use here in AZ, I'm still getting 37-38mpg in mixed driving. If I'm very conservative and I turn off A/C, I can still get mid 40's.

I'm pursuing the grid charge/discharge method to restore some life until I can get to the "stick-level" refurbishment of another pack. I've been at it since Thursday evening, and I'm pleased with the results so far.

As-removed following a recal and showing 8 bars, my voltage was 172. I used a 500W halogen lamp for only a couple minutes followed by a 40W bulb for nearly 30 to get down to 120V

I charged for 4 hours @350mA/184V to get 174. I discharged with a 500W halogen lamp. It only took six minutes to hit 132V. I ceased discharge to avoid potential cell reversal. The voltage rebounded a bit. I used a 40W bulb for another 18 minutes to bring it down to 118V. The pack rebounded and settled near 132V.

I put a 190V 350mA charge on it for almost 14 hours. During discharge, the 500W bulb ran for 28 minutes until it hit 148.4V. I let the pack settle for nearly 3 hours. Voltage rose to 164. I discharged another couple minutes on the 500W lamp to 120V followed by 7 minutes on the 40W where it rose to 130V. Settling in prep for the next charge saw the voltage rise to 134.

I put a 130mA charge @ 190V on it for nearly 15 hours. The 500W lamp burned for 31 minutes to 148.4V. I unloaded and let the battery rest for a couple hours. Voltage rose to 163.9. For the next 1/2 hour or so, I used decreasing combinations of 640W, 540W, 500W, 140W, 100W and 40W to drain the battery to 103.8. I let it settle to 112V and used 40-140W to pull it down dow 102.4.

I popped the cap off the pack to see the end of the sticks (12 cells per). I then recorded voltages across all the sticks. They ranged from 8.98V to 13.76V. I then proceeded to drain the individual sticks by a combination of a 0.4A 12V 120mm computer fan and the aforementioned bulbs. One stick in particular held notably more charge than the others and took nearly 30 minutes to bleed down to a loaded 9.5V.

I've got it all buttoned back together. A few minutes at 40W discharge pulled the whole pack down to about 100 from 111V. I've got it on the grid charger again at 350mA and 190V. I'll leave it on for at least 18 hours to top it off. I'll do one more pack discharge and charge before installing Sunday evening.

I'm a little worried my high voltages are indicative of high impedance within the cells, but if I can get 60% of the rated capacity back by rebalancing, I'll be tickled.

I'll let you know how it goes.

 

In the process of my 3rd discharge. I charged for 33% more time and got 41% more time at 500W discharge (45 minutes vs 32). This is better than it sounds as the rate of charge towards the end of the charge cycle is slower than when the battery is less "full". So I got 41% more time with significantly less than 33% more "juice" added to the pack.

 

18 hours re-charge and 9 hours "settle" time before install. Quick trip around the block was very promising. No recalls, strong assist on demand and never dropped below 5 bars even after forcing the "electric only" mode described elsewhere.. where I was actually slightly decelerating while the gauge showed 2 bars of boost.

The morning will be very telling. I ALWAYS got a recal, and I started off the 12V battery as often as not.

So far, I'm hopeful. 5 recals each way to and from work was frustrating. If that drops to even a couple a day, I'll call this a success.

 

I was very pleased with my commute this morning. It's only 18 miles, but it's nearly a perfect 50/50 mix of surface streets/freeway - 3.5 mi stop/go (45mph max), 9mi freeway (75-80mph), 5.5 mi stop/go (35-45mph). I would typically get 5 recals each way. The first would initiate before my house disappears from the rear-view. The 8 bars I parked with last night stayed there this morning. Started off IMA motor (pre-grid charge = 50/50 IMA vs. 12V start). Held 6-8 bars of charge to the freeway. Full throttle accel to 80mph dropped me from 7 to 4 bars with a gradual recovery to 6 bars. An up-hill curve required significant accel (at 78mph), and pulled me down to 5 bars. When I needed power, the boost gauge never failed to satisfy even down to 4 bars. This is stark contrast to prior behavior... IF I have 7-8 bars, I might get a squirt of assist. If I didn't have 7-8 bars, I was in a recal.

The last segment of the drive brought me back to 7 bars as I parked. Average mpg was about 44, which is good for me... one can't expect high numbers running at 75+

I didn't use the A/C, but this afternoon should be warm enough to require it, so I'll have another data point. Previously, a lack of A/C use barely changed the behavior. mpg was higher, but recals were still commonplace (4-5 per commute).

So far, so good...

 

My joy is such that I don't care if anyone reads this...

I forsook my packed lunch to make a run to McDonald's for a couple Buffalo Ranch Spicy McChickens... not because I wanted them, but because I wanted to go for a drive! Ran the AC on "Lo" with full fan, drawing fresh air with the windows open (figured that's as inefficient as it gets). Left with 7 bars, got down to 4 bars with spirited acceleration, but I got back up to six upon my return - boost never failed to be there when I wanted it.

89°F on the drive home... A/C on "Lo" Auto. Ran full blast the whole way. boost faltered slightly at the end of an aggressive onramp accel to 70+mph, but it recovered within a minute and was providing a few bars of boost on an incline. Meter never dropped below 4 bars. On the cruise portion of the freeway, it recovered to 6 bars. The stop and go portion to the house pulled it down to 5 with auto-stop working (still full A/C). Cruise through the 'hood ended with 6 bars in the driveway.

While one can't really say a 1.3L has much "get-up-and-go," the car is far more sprightly than I can recall. It's like I have a new car. At 132k miles, I'm sure the pack is nowhere near what is was new, but it hasn't performed this well for about 1.5 years. I know I'm only 60 miles into it, but I am giddy.

Steve

 

Sounds like you successfully recovered your pack. Lets hope it lasts!

I have found similar success with doing 2-3 full cycles of the pack. The battery behaves like new in most cases other than slightly reduced capacity.

I wouldn't worry about cell reversal too much. I have taken 2 different packs down to 10V total (for the whole pack!) overnight with load, and they come right back when charged. I think you can definitely go down to 50V with no issues. I believe at least one deep discharge helps recover some capacity on the last cycle.

 

hunter,

I've read some of your experiences. I don't recall ever seeing where you said you took a pack that low. You may be right, but I don't think I'd ever be comfortable taking them that low. During my discharge of the individual 12 cell sticks, I dipped into the mid 8V range under light load (.4A 120mm computer fan), which equates to low 90s on the pack voltage. I wasn't comfortable going any lower than that.

What did you use to discharge the pack? I'm impressed with your results. I'm just not comfortable trying to duplicate them on an 8 year old pack that has lived in AZ its whole life.

Rossfree has sold me his old pack and charger. I'll attempt a stick-level refurb of that pack once it arrives. I might get a little more aggressive on discharge at the stick level.

Thanks for the feedback,

Steve

 

Steve -

The deep discharge was actually an accident the first time. I left my 120V incandescent lamps hooked up too long. However, the battery recovered and I have never had a re-cal or IMA since, so I really think it improved the capacity or corrected some bad cells. Hopefully I don't have to recondition the battery again. Its been almost a year and no re-cals.