Pretty straight forward, bought this 07 at 212k miles as my 01 Sebring is at 272k miles and I felt I was running on TOO much borrowed times since they are known to die around 140-160k miles lmao.

Currently around the 219k mile mark on the Honda.

What I have done;

CVT Fluid Flush (MAJOR slipping from auto stop if you don't baby the pedal until you hit 20mph, CVT flush fixed this, night and day difference)
Cabin air filter replaced at time of CVT fluid flush @ Honda dealership near me.
Spark plugs replaced. Had misfiring around the 215k mark, easy fix at Firestone.
Oil change when it hit 10%. Turned out Valvoline was who did the oil changed for the previous owner, so had history with them when they ran the VIN thankfully.

Car looks AMAZING for its age and miles, was definitely taken well care of(well, except the usual factory door speakers & tweeter speakers being dead, but I'm putting a full system in it tomorrow morning, so don't have to deal with my music coming from the dying speakers in the trunk any longer)

So, here I am today, to ask for recommendations for either one or both;
Grid charger
IMA Hybrid Battery.

Currently getting anywhere between 36-41 mpg, with the usual IMA light on and indicator going down to 2 bars then to full then to 2 during trips. Car doesn't feel too sluggish, there are some times that it is more noticeable than others, but nothing too terrible. I do drive 80+ miles a day, so I'm sure I could continue to drive it for another couple months without the battery dying completely on me at least, but want it to be replaced or fixed and not to be worried about for at least 6 months.

I am not able to spend $2k on a battery without getting a loan(and I have 10months credit history, so a loan isn't feasible without an insanely high apr), so please keep recommendations below this amount.
I am planning to make this car last for the very least 100k miles. I do drive on the high side of 20-30k miles a year easily, so the higher quality and longer warranty the battery, the better.
There are some batteries at salvage yards near me for $500 but with core exchange, otherwise i'd just buy one of them and replace the cells myself to "build" a good battery.

I am located in Kentucky, so if there's any places in the KY or OH area, then that would be better, rather not pay insane price for shipping for the battery if i don't have to.

 

Having owned 2X '06, please accept my condolences.

Grid charger: Hybrid Automotive. However, there is no guarantee this will provide a meaningful fix. Given that your system is still functioning with recalibrations (2 bars to full, full to 2 bars, forced recharge, etc.), there's a chance, but it will be something you have to do regularly.
Reconditioned battery: Bumblebee Batteries - at least you get a guarantee that your battery will work for the warranty period.

BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING, get the codes read at O'Reilly or an auto parts store in your area. They typically do it for free. AutoZone seems to be the least able to accurately pull codes from hybrids, so I'd use them as a last resort.

Getting another 100K out of the car is going to be tricky.

Abandon all notion that you'll be able to spend $500 and build a good battery. Out of 14 packs, I was able to build ONE good one, one okay one and one probably about like yours. The second and third required periodic grid charging to maintain function.

06-08 batteries have the notorious distinction of being the second worst hybrid battery ever made - second only to the 09-11 Civic batteries - worst ever made.

Honda completely screwed up the airflow characteristics through the packs introducing at least 132 hot spots. It's very common to see an HCH2 pack with 100% cell failure even though that's very rare in other hybrids.. 06-08 had a 16% failure rate after 5-7 years. 09-11 had a 30% failure rate after 2-4 years. Honda arbitrarily extended the warranty on 09-11 to 10yr/150K miles (CA warranty) to avoid being sued AGAIN for their garbage hybrid batteries. Ironically, the Sanyo cells used in the 06-11 HCH packs are also in the Ford Escape Hybrid - one of the best batteries ever made. Ford achieved this by NOT screwing up the airflow AND using the rear evaporator of the A/C system to air-condition the battery keeping it at a cool 85°F all the time.

Good luck.

 

For some reason the site wouldn't show your reply until the next day, even though i had an email showing your reply in it's entirety. Was a bit too busy to reply until now finally.

I made sure to check the codes before buying the car, after doing a test drive in the city and on the highway so I could see what all would pop up after doing 45mph and 65mph for longer than just a couple mins. Codes were low voltage, abs, and ima deterioration. After clearing all that showed up anymore were deterioration, and eventually a map sensor code. Had the later taken care of by firestone when i got the spark plugs replaced.

Have any thoughts on the other battery suppliers? Looking to compare all my options before I finally pull the trigger. I.e. greenbean, greentecauto, besthybridbatteries, falconhybird
Also, are there any actually noticeable difference between the 6.5AH & 8AH packs that a few of the sites sell? Have read in a few places that some of the 8AH packs are just to get more money out of the customer and that they had no difference essentially.

I do currently, and plan to continually, drive very often throughout the week each week, so the most my car ever sits without being started is 2-3 days straight every month or two if i have a long weekend off and online plans, so I'm not expecting for any future battery to die from lack of use.

Lastly, I did get the new sound system installed as I mentioned, I don't plan on leaving my subs running off the 12v for long and will be looking at installing a dedicated pack in the trunk for them. Happen to have any experience with this and can give some pointers before i go about it? I'd prefer to get a dedicated pack, but may do what I've seen others do and install a larger battery under the hood by removing the tray. It gets quite cold here in KY during the winter, so having something with higher cca would give me more peace of mind anyways

(did type this shortly after waking, so if anything sounds odd just lmk and i'll better explain if needed)

 

Replace stock 151R with 51R. About 40% more capacity. You'll have to remove and discard shrouds, but it will fit.

I won't go into detail, but there is no such thing as an 8Ah pack. There are technical nuances that allow one to make claims relating to higher capacity, but unfortunately, it was misconstrued at the outset (over 10 years ago) and as new battery builders piled on, they continued the practice. Now everybody does it, and it would be disadvantageous to change the practice now.

I know the owner of Bumblebee. I have toured their shop. I have detailed knowledge of their process and the lengths they go to testing NEW sticks from China. I know intimate details about reconditioning and the challenges sourcing cells. There are only two Chinese manufacturers that make these cells. One sucks. The other sucks less. Both are notably inferior to the original Sanyo cells. MANY builders just open the box of sticks and install them in the pack. Given that China has no meaningful quality control, this is just risky. Bumblebee does NOT do this.

I purchased used Prius modules from FalconHybrid, and they were complete and total garbage. IMHO, they were clearly hoping most customers won't do anything but check voltage. I have also had negative experiences with Dorman, Cardone and Greentec in terms of very poorly built batteries with very short lives. Greenbean's one know disadvantage is that you MUST get professional diagnostics from a shop before they will even think about talking warranty.

What I know about Bumblebee means that's who I refer folks to because it's exactly how I'd do it.