Budget Battery Capacity Readout
- Thread starter MrFixit
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I made a quick modification to the sheet and added a plot by Car Age (Months from vehicle build date).
MrFixit
Well-Known Member
By my thinking, the battery degradation is a complicated mix of a whole lot of factors. It may be that there is no single dominant factor.
These factors include age, miles (likely more related to EV miles than odometer miles), number of charge cycles, depth of discharges, charge rates, discharge rates (aggressive driving?), temperature, etc.
Since this whole effort is about trying to understand how this works, and where we all stand in comparison to the expected norm and warranty, slicing the data every which way is part of the quest for knowledge and a good idea. We may find different trends with different slice viewpoints.
Fundamentally it seems like looking at capacity vs. odometer miles provides a lot of insight however. All of the many factors contributing to battery capacity degradation get averaged out across many users with quite different driving / charging scenarios, and this big picture shows a useful overall trend. If you are looking at a used Clarity or want to know how yours stacks up to the overall population (or how far you are from a warranty issue), this seems like a good one-plot summary. Many will have little interest in wading through a dozen different ways of slicing the data.
Hello All
So I took my clarity into a Honda dealer it happened to say it’s clarity certified in concord ca. I went and got an oil change and noticed a few hours after I dropped it off my guess o meter miles went to 37 to 45. But my charge percentage was the same so I knew they did not charge.
I then drove it a few days and to my surprise was getter better all Ev miles and percentage was higher after drive (same routes and temps no A/C etc. After consistently getting better miles I checked my battery capacity and it went up
I have not talk to the dealership but do they have some sort of software for the battery ? Maybe Mr Fix It would know. Thank you all for the help
Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
MrFixit
Well-Known Member
I am not aware of any performance updates, software or otherwise for the Clarity,
Based on your description, I believe that your vehicle has experienced one of the mysterious battery capacity resets. There have been a handful (maybe 6) who's battery capacity readings have been reset to the original factory value of 55 Ah. It is not that the capacity actually increases, but rather, the vehicle [thinks] the capacity is higher than it really is. Over time the vehicle will re-calibrate itself and the capacity will slowly return to what it was before this happened. It seems to take a surprisingly long time, and requires not just driving miles, but many charge / discharge cycles before returning to normal. If you look at Post #409 above, you can see a plot of the members who have experienced this phenomena.
Having said that - I think you will find that you have not experienced an actual increase in your EV range, Your GOM may be indicating a higher number, but you are likely not actually achieving what the GOM is indicating. Pay close attention, not just to the charge levels and GOM, but to how many EV miles you are actually getting before the GOM gets to zero.
Your recent reading of 52.7 Ah is highly unlikely for your vehicle which has > 65K miles.
I would strongly encourage you to record the capacity on a regular basis going forward (I do it approximately once a month). If you provide your data to the shared spreadsheet, we can see if your capacity is dropping back to normal as I suspect. If you aren't familiar with the spreadsheet (or don't want to mess with it) I can enter the data for you if you report it here periodically. If you tell me your current mileage, I will enter this new data point.
I suspect that during your trip to the dealer, they did something to reset this capacity figure. We would love to know what they do, because we have seen it before. As I said, it is most likely that this is a 'false' increase, and the reported number will gradually return to normal.
I followed all the instructions but unfortunately the battery capacity sensor shows blank. Most others are populated, including individual cell voltages (every single of them!), charge status etc. But the main thing I wanted is blank!!! I searched this thread and google and couldn't see any answers. Anyone has ideas?
MrFixit
Well-Known Member
Thanks MrFixit for the quick reply! Yes, I followed the instructions. I chose option #2. These are the things I did for my Nissan Leaf for several years, so I am quite familiar with the operation.
The OBD device I used is the one that I used for Nissan Leaf. I was thinking that is the culprit, but most other sensors are already populated. Why is just capacity sensor blank while most non-useful ones are there!
MrFixit
Well-Known Member
Based on this, I'm almost certain that your OBD adapter is to blame. This issue was described in depth on the Github pages.
I have enough failed experiences with random adapters. Just because they work with other vehicles means nothing. Getting only part of the data is the classic symptom.
Purchase the recommended adapter - I assure you that it will work.
I am more than willing to help if it doesn't, but won't waste any time with another arbitrary adapter.
One more thing to try before giving up on your OBD. After the OBD is connected to your phone and displaying most of the values, turn off and on the car. See if that helps. For me, even after using the recommended OBD2 device and the recommended software, doing the above sometimes is necessary to get all fields showing on my dashboard.
MrFixit
Well-Known Member
*** Just a friendly reminder ***
If you haven't read your HV Battery Capacity for a while, now is a good time to get a new reading and share it with the group !!
When you have your reading, here is a Link to the Shared Spreadsheet.
I also want to introduce a new analysis feature that is now available: On the introduction page of the Shared Spreadsheet, you will find the list of analyses on the right just as before. There is a new entry on this list (highlighted in RED). This is a very nice statistical visualization which @Thomas Clauser has provided. We now have enough data to show a nice trend which illustrates the expected battery performance very well. There are 2 pages in this new analysis (choose the 1st or 2nd page at the bottom). On the second page, you can show views of all the measured data for one or more users (use the ''Name, DriverCar#" on the top right of Page 2 to filter just the users of interest). You can 'clear' this selection to choose all users, but then the graphs become too cluttered to interpret well.
Please feel free to provide any thoughts / feedback on this new analysis.
@Thomas Clauser is an excellent resource and did a great job getting this new visualization going.
Thanks to everyone for their help with characterizing the Clarity HV Battery performance.
We already have an incredible data set, and it will only get even better over time. Your participation is greatly appreciated by all !!
MrFixit
Well-Known Member
To my knowledge, nobody has been brave enough to try.
I think it has a reasonable change of "working" but I would have concerns about overburdening the meager CPU in the headunit.
I contacted the HH developer quite some time ago to see if he would consider reading the battery capacity and displaying it on the header (like the 12V voltage, and CPU loading). I would have provided him with the applicable PID but he seemed uninterested. This would have required almost no resources (as opposed to hosting the entire Car Scanner App).
Casey Martin
Active Member
I finally checked the battery capacity on my 2018 Clarity PI today. I work for a Honda dealer so I used a Honda IDS to check it. My Clarity has 92k miles on it and I bought it brand new. I charge it every day Monday - Friday when I am at work. When I get to work the battery is usually empty or very close to it. I am able to charge for free at work so I intentional drive it so the battery is almost empty when I get there. My commute is roughly 37 miles each way. I charge it occasionally at home but not often because the electricity rates are high in RI and I don't have solar.
Anyway, according to the Honda IDS the battery capacity is currently at 45.6 ah. Does that sound about right for 92k miles?
Anyway, according to the Honda IDS the battery capacity is currently at 45.6 ah. Does that sound about right for 92k miles?
MrFixit
Well-Known Member
@Casey Martin - Thanks for reporting your capacity !
I took the liberty of adding your information to the shared spreadsheet. Your input is especially valuable because we do not have as much data for vehicles with 'higher' mileage.
From my perspective, based on the data that we have, 45.6 ah looks like your vehicle is definitely right on character, maybe slightly better than the average.
If you have a chance to update us occasionally going forward, it would be greatly appreciated ! I try to do it once month, but that is definitely overkill.
Thanks MrFixit and Reyn! I bought the recommended device from Amazon and now I see the AHr, which is 54.2. I am happy about it. My car is only at 7K miles, but it is in hot Texas. It waited to be sold on dealer's lot for over 6 months, under burning sun, and it was 55.1 at that time (I asked the dealer for the report. The sellers were clueless) . 3 years, 3 months and 7K miles later it is 54.2.
My previous car, Leaf, still low mileage, lost more than 20% of capacity in 7 years.
My previous car, Leaf, still low mileage, lost more than 20% of capacity in 7 years.
MrFixit
Well-Known Member
Thanks for providing your data. I would like to enter your information into the shared spreadsheet. If you are OK with that, please provide your model year, and trim level (base or touring). It sounds like it was at the dealer around January of 2018, and you bought it in ~June of 2019?
If you have a chance to update us occasionally going forward, it would be greatly appreciated.
Lonewarrior
New Member
2018 Touring bought in 2018 June
65000 miles and 44.6Ah
65000 miles and 44.6Ah
su_A_ve
Active Member
Just adding my stats (though already added them to the spreadsheet).
Purchased July 2018. 42K and battery capacity is currently at 46.3.
I used to charge it M-F and once over the weekend (mostly during winter time), but during the last few months I'm charging twice a day M-F, and also once over the weekend. The weekday charging is L2 (and free). Home is L1. Although my electric rates are on the high side (about 19c), my guesstimate is that it is still cheaper than the $3.70 per gallon of gas.
My goal was to keep the car to about 7 years (when HondaCare expires) and then replace it with an EV. Hoping for things to recover and get better in the next 3 years.
PS: What I hadn't noticed before is that Maintenance Minder upcoming triggers are also available. For example, currently telling me I'm due for A01 service it's because Code 1 is due in 30 days. Code A is not due for 120. I do get free oil changes so will do it at the time of the tire rotation anyway...
Purchased July 2018. 42K and battery capacity is currently at 46.3.
I used to charge it M-F and once over the weekend (mostly during winter time), but during the last few months I'm charging twice a day M-F, and also once over the weekend. The weekday charging is L2 (and free). Home is L1. Although my electric rates are on the high side (about 19c), my guesstimate is that it is still cheaper than the $3.70 per gallon of gas.
My goal was to keep the car to about 7 years (when HondaCare expires) and then replace it with an EV. Hoping for things to recover and get better in the next 3 years.
PS: What I hadn't noticed before is that Maintenance Minder upcoming triggers are also available. For example, currently telling me I'm due for A01 service it's because Code 1 is due in 30 days. Code A is not due for 120. I do get free oil changes so will do it at the time of the tire rotation anyway...