Beware Ugraded Battery Control Module (BCM)
#1
Beware Ugraded Battery Control Module (BCM)
My 2000 Insight was 7-1/2 years old and was operating fine. I received a recall notice from Honda that the BCM was not designed correctly and needed a warranty replacement. They also replaced the battery.
I soon noticed that the batteries seldom fully charged and spent most of the time at 1/2 and sometimes lower. Knowing that NimH batteries like to be fully charged I wondered about this, but trusted Honda knew what they were doing.
3-1/2 years later, just outside of Honda's 10 year warranty, the replacement battery went kaput :-(, The dealer had no sympathy and wanted $2500 for a rebuilt battery plus $500 to install it!
Following advice on this site I contacted Hybrid Revolt (contactus@hybridrevolt.com). Matt, the very knowledgeable owner, worked with me and sent a rebuilt battery for $1100 and an original version BCM for $25. I installed them and the charging pattern looks like when the car was new- consistently near, or at full charge- I'm very pleased.
As I now understand it the updated BCM is much more conservative- to avoid overheating the batteries, but IMHO seems to have gone way too far...
I soon noticed that the batteries seldom fully charged and spent most of the time at 1/2 and sometimes lower. Knowing that NimH batteries like to be fully charged I wondered about this, but trusted Honda knew what they were doing.
3-1/2 years later, just outside of Honda's 10 year warranty, the replacement battery went kaput :-(, The dealer had no sympathy and wanted $2500 for a rebuilt battery plus $500 to install it!
Following advice on this site I contacted Hybrid Revolt (contactus@hybridrevolt.com). Matt, the very knowledgeable owner, worked with me and sent a rebuilt battery for $1100 and an original version BCM for $25. I installed them and the charging pattern looks like when the car was new- consistently near, or at full charge- I'm very pleased.
As I now understand it the updated BCM is much more conservative- to avoid overheating the batteries, but IMHO seems to have gone way too far...
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Darby Silloway
Toyota Motor Corporation
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03-16-2015 09:28 PM
Soleil24
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