I repair, recondition and rebuild Hybrid IMA batteries for Honda Insights and select years of Honda Civic Hybrids. The Insight is covered by a 10 year/150,000 mile warranty, but many people are exceeding that mileage. It is becoming obvious that most if not all Insights will eventually develop battery problems. A replacement battery in the northeast is at least $2,400. In the southeast, they go for $3,000 and in California the repair can cost as much as $4,000. I can repair an IMA battery for under $1,250. Please note that I can only repair batteries that are throwing P1447 (battery degradation), P1449 (battery overheat) and in Honda Civic Hybrids P1433 (battery deterioration) errors. Anything else is a circuitry problem and should be fixed by a mechanic or dealer.
IMA batteries are made up of 20 battery "sticks". Each stick is made up of six "D" cell NiMH (Nickle-Metal-Hydride) batteries that have been welded together. This means that the IMA battery is really just 120 "D" cells. The cells are welded together to provide large contact areas so that they can handle the enormous charge and discharge current (up to 100 Amps). If you tried to simply replace the cells with off-the-shelf consumer "D" cells, the tips would melt under load or they might even set the car on fire.
NiMH batteries have a life of over 30 years under ideal conditons. The Insight certainly does not provide ideal conditions, so some of the cells will fail early. When they do, they tend to affect the other cells and bring down the performance of some or all of the good cells. I carefully recondition and test the cells to identify the ones that are bad, the ones that are going bad, the ones that are worn but stable and the ones that are fresh and top performers. I then replace the sticks with bad and "going bad" cells with ones that are performing at the same level as the rest of the pack.
The result is a battery that, while not new, will perform properly and should not have any problems for a number of years. A typical customer should expect the battery will work properly for at least another 5 years, after which the battery can be repaired again to replace cells that have failed since the previous repair.
Details:
Crate rentals: $50 plus a $50 deposit that will be returned to you when I receive the crate back in useable condition - within 30 days of me sending it out. These battery packs are heavy and the crates have a short life, so the rental fee helps pay for replacement crates. The rental is for the duration of your repair (while your battery is in transit to me and then back to you). You pay all shipping charges (UPS Ground). This means that if you send your battery in for repair, I take a deposit and then ship you a crate with a pre-printed prepaid shipping label inside. Simply bolt the battery into the crate with the included lag screws, slap the label on the outside and call UPS to pick it up.
Things are busy here and my test and repair methods and equipment are getting more sophisticated. This allows me to make a more accurate diagnosis and rebuild the battery packs to higher quality levels.
Update
My new reconditioning rack empty and with a battery loaded for reconditioning.
Shot of the day: My mechanic is strong! (How it was done.)
Cover removed. Now the battery is dangerous.
Each of the bolts carries anywhere from 14-96V. 96V CAN kill you. If you turn on the circuit breaker, it jumps to 144V. 144V WILL probably kill you. Furthermore, those are nominal voltages. A full pack can hold 168V.
Also, the pack is designed to discharge at up to 100 amps. That's 14,400 watts of power. To put this in perspective, a house outlet is usually 110V at 20 amps which is 2,200 watts. Most houses have 100 amp service which is 11,000 watts. The IMA battery carries more juice than the average house.
Respect the voltage and don't touch.
You are looking at the ends of the 20 sticks of batteries that make up the pack. Each stick is made up of six "D" cell batteries that have been welded together. I test and recondition each of these seperately. THAT'S why it takes three weeks to rebuild a battery.
These spacers are used for the four bolts under the plugs.
I'll stick the four spacers and bolts back in temporarily to make it easier to charge.
When testing and reconditioning is done, I replace any bad sticks with tested ones that I keep in stock.
This battery had one bad stick. Here I am preparing a replacement stick. I recondition/test the replacements as well.
Out with the old and in with the new.
Because this battery has been overheating, it makes sense to make sure the cooling fan is working at full efficiency. The battery's fan pulls air through the battery (from a vent behind the passenger seat). Unfortunately there are air leaks. Believe it or not, this is what every Insight fan shroud looks like. Here is a closeup look at the gap. These air leaks reduce the flow of air through the battery.
How do we fix it? Simple. We add some aluminum foil tape. Foil tape will not dry out and crack like duct tape. (Thanks to Mike Dabrowski - the inventor of MIMA - for the idea.) This is such a simple improvement, that I now do it for all batteries. This is why the fan now needs to be shipped with the battery.
Next is to reassemble the battery without killing myself.
First replace the circuit side. Don't forget to put the spacers and the rubber plugs in.
Next bend all the PTC tabs straight out.
Carefully slide the plate on and make sure all 20 PTC tabs are sticking out. If any are not, pull the plate back off and adjust them and try again. The battery is now dangerous. Next use something non-conductive (like a wooden chopstick) to bend down the tabs. Use a screwdriver with a magnetic tip to install the screws. Put the screw on the tip and guid it into the hole without touching the metal shaft of the screwdriver.
Using your non-conductive wrench, install the bolts without touching the metal socket or any metal of the wrench. Install the top, middle and then bottom rows. Why in this order? Because if you slip, gravity will make you slip down, and after you install the bolts, they stick out a little and you are more likely to hit them.
Lastly, put the cover on. Now the battery is safe.
All that's left is to pack it up, and ship it out. UPS will ship it. Expect to pay $100-$150 each way. If they ask questions, tell them that it is a dry-cell battery (NiMH). They specifically don't ship car batteries, but they are referring to lead-acid batteries.
I also email the test results to the customer.
Pricing:
Testing: $750 (includes disassembly, reconditioning and reassembly)
Replacement sticks: $50 each (usually only 1-4 are bad)
Maximum price for repair: $1,250
You pay shipping both ways to me. I'm in NYC (Staten island).
It takes three weeks to rebuild a battery. At the end, I provide you with a spreadsheet showing all test results. The repair is warranteed for one year against P1447 and P1449 errors (P1433 for Civics) and I will cover the shipping or I will perform the removal/reinstallation at my site if there is a failure within the first 90 days.
If you are in the NYC area, dropoff is preferred (and will save you shipping charges). I can remove the battery from your car and reinstall it for $200. You are welcome to leave the car with me for the duration of the repair and travel home via plane, train or bus. I am near Grand Central, Newark rail, JFK and Newark/Liberty airport.
I take (and prefer) Paypal for payment.
You can reach me at repair@hybrid-battery-repair.com or at (718) 288-7367
If you are in the UK, there is a similar service available at: http://www.solarvan.co.uk
Rebuilding my own pack:
A Honda Civic Hybrid IMA battery pack:
Some years of Honda Civic Hybrids have IMA packs that contain the same NiMH sticks that the Insight uses. I picked one up to use the sticks inside. The pack housings are similar, but not interchangeable. The HCH pack has straps to carry it!
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Pictures of my car during the packwhack: (http://www.99mpg.com/ProjectCars/mimapackwhack/
under "fast pack rebalancing 101")
Pictures of my Honda Insight Now:
And before:
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