Re: How many here user a gird charger for their Honda Civic Hybrid Gen II?
 

S Keith has been a great resource in this thread and another one where we've been discussing grid chargers.
I'm still hesitating to shell out the $400 or so to buy one, and don't really want to mess with a DIY job when we're talking big voltages.
Questions: 1) With Honda having apparently extended the warranty on my HCHII IMA, would I be voiding it if I installed a grid charger?
2) I value the anecdotes, but are there any actual experimental studies documenting efficacy and cost-effectiveness of a grid charger?
Thanks in advance

ck

Re: How many here user a gird charger for their Honda Civic Hybrid Gen II?
 

You don't have to buy a grid charger or spend tons of money to charge/discharge your battery. (if you are resourceful)

I bought a BIO-RAD power supply with adjustable current/voltage for like $90 on Ebay years ago. It has more flexibility in charge rates and timer built in.

And I spend about $6 to create a dual Incandescent lamp fixture with leads to use for draining the battery. (to do the full drain/refill cycle).

For under $100 my battery runs like new. I'm not kidding I think it runs better when I bought the car used at 46k miles.

Re: How many here user a gird charger for their Honda Civic Hybrid Gen II?
 

Mouser shopping cart for the basic components:

http://www.mouser.com/ProjectManager...sID=0a7fe1cd7f

The resistor is an optional component for discharging the pack slow and safe.

You'll need to buy wire/clips/fuses/whatever you want to install. A cheap 3 prong extension cord makes a great "harness", but do be careful... :)

I taunt Murphy with a complete lack of safety features. :)

Steve

Re: How many here user a gird charger for their Honda Civic Hybrid Gen II?
 

So back to the question...will this mess up my warranty? If so, I would wait until after the warranty is dust.

And where do I get info on how to do this? I'm trying to extrapolate from using the 12V trickle charger I have, but not sure how/what to do, etc.

Re: How many here user a gird charger for their Honda Civic Hybrid Gen II?
 

If they didn't know, it wouldn't void the warranty.

You get it here! :)

Seriously, there is information all over the place. It's basically as easy as connecting wires to positive and negative leads of a battery and plugging in a charger.

The items in that cart are all you need besides wire, clips and connectors to suit your tastes.

Instructions: Grid charge for ~24 hours the sooner of every quarter or when performance/mpg deteriorates with frequent recals.

Re: How many here user a gird charger for their Honda Civic Hybrid Gen II?
 

So what kind of volts/amps do I need?

Re: How many here user a gird charger for their Honda Civic Hybrid Gen II?
 

>=195, 350mA

The two $13 power supplies I linked will give you a constant current (350mA), variable voltage input from 56V to 200V when wired in series.

The 12V is to power the fan.

Re: How many here user a gird charger for their Honda Civic Hybrid Gen II?
 

And here's a cheaper alternative among the ready-builts...anyone have any experience with this fellow?

http://venicehybridtech.com/products/

And of course, the DIY version: http://99mpg.com/blog/buildingahybridcar/

Thanks, guys, for the help....

Re: How many here user a gird charger for their Honda Civic Hybrid Gen II?
 

Raj's chargers come in cheap plastic enclosures that aren't as well ventilated. He got a lot of criticism from the Insight community because he insisted that cooling wasn't needed, but he did recently add the ability to drive the cooling fan.

http://venicehybridtech.com/wp-conte...12/charger.jpg

The primary working components are almost certainly the same between the two, and they are both based on the original 99mpg.com design.

The board, 3 PS and the POT I linked are all you need to get all the current functionality of the other chargers... :)... for what... $53 after shipping? :)

Re: How many here user a gird charger for their Honda Civic Hybrid Gen II?
 

Is this something that can help a battery that's already got the IMA light on? My new 06 has the IMA light on, I was gonna replace it with a Bumblebee battery when I could afford it, but if this will get a little extra life out of it first, I'd definitely be up for paying someone for the use of theirs then maybe buying one later on