I have a 2005 Honda Accord Hybrid it has 74,000 miles on it and the IMA and check engine light stay on all the time. I took it in, a couple of times, to the dealer and they said all it needed was codes reset. The last time they wanted to replace the IMA battery for 4200. I took it to another mechanic and he said the IMA battery needed replaced (code POA7F). Does anyone have any solutions for fixing this without replacing the battery? Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

No. You might be able to recover the battery with grid charging. You'll have to spend about $500 for the system, but there are no guarantees.


You can purchase a replacement from Bumblebee Batteries for $2100 with a 3 year warranty.

 

What is grid charging? How do I go about getting it done? In your professional opinion would you try this first or replace the battery? I am the second owner of this car and it has always been garaged, but not driven much (obviously because of mileage). Also it has always had non-ethanol fuel put in it. Not sure if that would make any difference. Thanks

 

It's a way to charge your battery by connecting a special charger to the power grid (grid charging):


https://hybridautomotive.com/collect...ant=5576573316


It slowly charges the battery to 100% ensuring at all 120 cells are full. One then uses the bulb discharger to discharge the pack to near 0%.


This process restores the battery to an optimal state; however, it won't fix a battery that has a failed cell. The down side to this option is you won't know until you try.


If you replace the battery, you know it will work.

 

I experimented with my failing HCH2 IMA turned off, and very quickly flattened the 12V. (My bad, as I was still using airconditioning etc with the IMA turned off, which I think adds extra strain on the 12V.
However, just with reference to your point above, the red battery light stayed on the whole time for me. (Even at 2,000 rpm) when I am fairly certain it was recharging.

A few people have mentioned it is important to trickle charge the 12V when disabling the IMA, and driving without it. However, I have a unique problem - NO garage, so I need to park on street which makes charging tricky, as I would need to leave a charger on a 15 metre extension cord etc, it would get stolen in my neighbourhood!!! As an alternative, how suitable are the Solar battery chargers (10W - 30W?) I have seen them advertised to trickle charge "battery maintenance" and I think would be helpful to keep the 12V topped up (and they can stay inside the car on the dash).
Two questions though... 1) Output is 18V max (which I think would be dangerous to the battery....
2) These Solar Panel chargers have a cigarette lighter input. However, I've been told that the battery might night charge unless the ignition is on? And also, this seems a bit clumsy just injecting electricity into the socket like that (might be fine for a conventional car, but HCH2 are a special beast.

 

1) The battery voltage will rise in response to the current the charger provides.

2) The battery will not charge through the cigarette lighter input with the ignition off. This is all moot as a solar charger is insufficient to provide enough charge to keep your battery charged. They are generally sufficient for cars that are parked and not used for an extended period of time. If you use the vehicle with an inoperative/impaired charging system, they can't keep up.

 

Just checking - has anyone else switched to a deep cycle 12V battery as suggested? My IMA is causing havoc for me at the moment, and a few people have said that these issues can be resolved with a better 12V (I know that sounds silly, but there is of a info in these forums about the terrible 12V performance on the HCH-2.
Are deep cycle batteries only the way to do for disabling the IMA? Or for all HCH-2
My current 12V is a a Calcium, 370 CCA.

 

Completely unnecessary. The scenario the poster described will also kill deep cycle batteries as most boats don't have a parasitic drain (no ECUs, etc.). Cars are constantly pulling a small current to maintain various ECU memories as well as car clock and radio station pre-sets. It's small, but it adds up over weeks.

If you sit a fully charged battery on the shelf, it will have about 60-70% charge remaining after a year. If you leave it connected in a car, it will be dead in 2-3 months depending on capacity... not just discharged, but damaged.

I can't remember exactly, but I think I replaced the stock 154R with a 54R - had to discard the plastic shrouds, but it still fit. About 40% more capacity for the same price.

 

 

Steve, I know its an old post, but I was looking at "your signature" and could not find any DYI instructions for building a charger and discharger for my Honda ..Help?