I just got my 2009 Civic Hybrid - I love driving it. . . truly a great car.

Question: The IMA battery on the display goes anywhere from 4 bars (half) to 8 bars during my commute. Usually, it hovers around the 4-6 bar range. It has not gone below 4 bars, and when it is at 8 bars, it doesn't stay there for too long. Is this normal?

I can't stop watching that battery display, always waiting for the battery to charge up.

Thanks.

 

Sounds just right, you shouldn't see it charge all the way up or stay there offen, same as you should never see it full discharge EXCEPT every now and then (usually change of seasons or heavy stop & go traffic for me) you will get a recalc....not a fun thing... what that is, is when you least expect it, the computer will dump the existing charge, you will show 1 or 0 bars the engine will come on maybe run rough and you will have little power....don't panic, it should reset within 5 minutes just the first time is frightning

 

Yup, that's perfectly normal--the battery is most "happy" when it's at 5 bars. As your State of Charge (SoC) increases above 5 bars, the assist affinity increases, and the car will try to use up the extra energy to bring you back to about 5 bars. If you drop below 5 bars, it will go into regen mode more frequently to bring your SoC back above 5 bars.

There has been some discussion here about 6 bars being the optimal SoC for fuel efficiency, but holding it there for long doesn't seem possible on my hilly commute. I don't really worry much about it unless it drops below 5.

 

Another battery charge/discharge question... Is it normal to have one or two regen bars on while I am maintaining a constant speed on the freeway under these conditions?
1) MPG gauge somewhere between 45-55 (i.e., I am definitely not coasting or deadbanding).
2) Battery gauge at seven bars.
3) Relatively flat terrain.

Everything I have read about forced regen usually states that the battery gauge is at four bars or lower. I don't understand why the system would go into forced regen with seven bars on the battery gauge.

 

Not too unusual, I often see that when I take a trip to see friends and fam two hours to the north.

 

One or two bars of regen is not the forced regen. That's more of a trickle charge.
Forced regen is 4 bars that you can't control (stop). That should not occur unless your state of charge (SOC) gets below 4 bars (I think it's 4).

 

I guess I didn't understand the definition of forced regen. I inadvertently used the term because it is "forced" on me and the green bar being displayed tells me "regen" is taking place. Even though a may be just a trickle charge, I can't control (stop) this from taking place.

 

Forced regen is when the green bars appear and pressing down ever so slightly on the gas does not make them go away, or makes more appear....trickle is when the system is saying what the heck, there is excess power being generated and the battery is not full so might as well capture it in that case pressing down ever so slightly on the gas should make them go away. Of course, pressing down on the gas more that a slight touch will make the bars go away no matter what because then you are accelerating.

 

I've noticed with my car, that once I hit 4 bars SoC the assist is usually only upon initial acceleration from a stop, then it slowly trickles down to 1 assist line. Eventually, if I were unable to obtain some longer runs to allow regen or brake charge it would essentially do a recal and force me into forced regen. Luckily, this usually only happens in the summer months when I've just gotten into the car and moving and turned on the AC. Anyone else notice this with their cars? I'm not worried about it, normal operation for me.

 

Jetmarshall - As everyone has stated 5-7 bars should be the normal range for the SoC display. If you see 4 bars or less, you'll be in forced regen. If you see 8 bars, you've been on a decent trip without starting/stopping frequently and have got some good coasting in and have pretty well charged the battery up. If you ever come down from the mountains coasting, it can get very scary when the battery is fully charged and the battery doesn't need to charge anymore... you end up flying down the mountain the rest of the way and are forced to use the actual brakes (anyone that has ever come down either side of the grapevine on I-5, especially the northbound trip, has experienced this).

dpayne - Yes it is normal if you are under 7 bars for the trickle charge to happen when you've reached your cruising speed. My experience with it has been long stretches between lights or on the highway. Once I get to my cruising speed and stay there, I'll see 1 or 2 bars of green if I'm under 7 bars on the SoC. It will continue to trickle charge until the 7th SoC bar is "full", but won't go to the 8th bar. On a side note, when it is doing this, you'll notice that you will get less mpg on the iFE meter because it takes some resistance to do the trickle charge so it will take a little more to keep you at your speed until the charging is done (definetely not as bad as a forced charge, but still the energy has to come from somewhere).

And just a side note on the battery recalibration... Since I've driven to Florida 2 months ago, the battery has yet to do a forced recal! It seemed to be happening at least once a week in California (especially over the summer). It's been fairly mild weather here in FL ranging from 60-80. But it has also been much different driving "conditions" (pretty flat roads, not as many traffic lights, different commute style, etc).