Clarity Issues

JFon101231 said:
I'll monitor it more closely. I had a Fit EV before my Clarity PHEV, and it would show 100% SOC after pre-conditioning, but it wasn't "real". You could literally drive a few miles and the range would drop like 10+ miles. It was a frequent loop to drop my kids off at school, so I had the opportunity to test plenty of times the affect with/without PC. The L2 charger (one that came with the car, forget what brand off-hand) would turn on when PC was turned on, but this is my guess only, the heater probably pulled directly from the car and the charger was trying to fill the car back up but when near 100% SOC the heater was pulling from the battery faster than the car would allow the charger to push energy back in, and the SOC meter didn't seem to pick that up if you weren't driving. Similarly, IIRC if you PC without a charger on car it would still show 100% SOC until you drove it even though clearly that wasn't possible.
I don't know if Clarity is set up same way rather than pulling 'direct' from the plug, maybe someone with access to Honda Tech can understand the schematics/programming enough to conclude?

I had gotten in the habit of charging to less than 100% and then turning on PC and charging before leaving which seemed to help with the issue with the Fit, and have done that with the Clarity sometimes too. Did it this AM, started at around 91% charged and cabin temp of 20's. Left home with 98-99% SOC and cabin temp of 70ish. Range showed 70 miles; 35 EV and 35 HV. EV did NOT appear to drop like the Fit used to. I used HV for a stint in the middle on the highway since it showed my EV wouldn't make it all the way. I missed the mark a bit b/c arrived with 2.x EV miles. On a 43 mile drive to work I ended up with a remaining range of roughly 20 miles, so original est range was about 10% off.

I've taken a few long trips with the car but haven't yet settled into the daily routine because of the charging issue at work but now the SB is done hopefully I am in the clear and can start so will keep an eye out. I need to watch total range and gas MPG too, because on my trip up to VT it seemed poor. When I fill up today will see what my HV range goes to, I think it will be in the mid-200's but I've seen people say 357 for theirs. I typically run the cabin around 62-64* and run 74mph on the highway for 1/2 the trip and roughly 45mpg avg speed (30 to 50) for the rest so not like I'm trying to make it summer time or go CRAZY high speed so would have expected the gas mpg to be higher. Maybe the cold affects that more than I imagined...
Click to expand...
Your hypothesis about how the FIt EV charged and PCs sounds reasonable. It would be as if at the end of charging when the charging tapers down there isn’t enough power to fully handle the rather high demand of the PC. So then it pulls from the battery. Poor design.

I’m not having this problem with my Charge Point Home level 2 EVSE.
When topping off a charge for a long trip, I started PCing when the taper was at a very low point (first small peak, then large PC peak), then the power spikes for the ~30 min of PCing. I left with full bars and 100% SOC on HL. Range was normal.
E396ED81-4924-4B63-A1E4-4B27EBFDFACF.webp

I have also PCed after charging is over and likewise left with a full SOC and normal range.
29231C62-8967-45F7-B540-ED3D9A327AA6.webp
So it’s apparent that preconditioning uses well over a kWh with temps in the 30s F, and if it’s not coming from the EVSE, you battery’s SOC (and range) are going to take a big hit. I don’t know why yours is acting the way you describe.
Notes:
The time scales of the two graphs are very different. The first is just 30 min while the second is 7 hours.
In both, the preconditioning used about 1.3 kWh. This was with temps in the 30s F. I expect bigger draws as the winter gets colder.
 
To be clear, what do you mean - "the way you describe"?

I noted that today at least EV range did NOT drop noticeably at least according to the gauge after P-C.
I did note that the GoM was off by 10% beginning vs end of drive miles driven plus remaining range, but I don't attribute that to the P-C necessarily. Not sure if it will get more accurate with more miles (1400 and counting, got first scrape today when someone backed into me :eek::mad::mad:).
After filling up, HV went to 269...
 
JFon101231 said:
To be clear, what do you mean - "the way you describe"?

I noted that today at least EV range did NOT drop noticeably at least according to the gauge after P-C.
I did note that the GoM was off by 10% beginning vs end of drive miles driven plus remaining range, but I don't attribute that to the P-C necessarily. Not sure if it will get more accurate with more miles (1400 and counting, got first scrape today when someone backed into me :eek::mad::mad:).
After filling up, HV went to 269...
Click to expand...
I thought you were saying that you could not easily precondition and leave with 100% SOC while I can without doing anything special. My apologies if I misunderstood.
 
Has anyone experienced the rapid beeping when getting out of the car with the key fob on you with the car off? The same noise it makes when you leave the car on but exit the vehicle with the fob. That is when it is suppose to make that noise. I am having the issue when the car is off (I am 100% sure it is off) and it does the rapid beeping. When it does that the walk away auto lock feature does not work. If I try to lock it using the fob it will lock but not beep. If I open the door and close it again then it will go back to the normal procedure. It will beep once when the door is closed and beep again when the doors lock after I am about 5 feet away. At first I thought it was happening because my cell phone was in the same pocket as the fob. I know a cell phone can block the signal of the fob but it shouldn't cause the car to beep rapidly like it is still on. It has happened several times when my cell phone was not near the fob so I know that is not the issue. This appears to be another software glitch with this car.

Also, is there a fix for the XM locking up when using preconditioning? According to my service department there are still no updates for my car.
 
Casey Martin said:
Has anyone experienced the rapid beeping when getting out of the car with the key fob on you with the car off? The same noise it makes when you leave the car on but exit the vehicle with the fob. That is when it is suppose to make that noise. I am having the issue when the car is off (I am 100% sure it is off) and it does the rapid beeping. When it does that the walk away auto lock feature does not work. If I try to lock it using the fob it will lock but not beep. If I open the door and close it again then it will go back to the normal procedure. It will beep once when the door is closed and beep again when the doors lock after I am about 5 feet away. At first I thought it was happening because my cell phone was in the same pocket as the fob. I know a cell phone can block the signal of the fob but it shouldn't cause the car to beep rapidly like it is still on. It has happened several times when my cell phone was not near the fob so I know that is not the issue. This appears to be another software glitch with this car.

Also, is there a fix for the XM locking up when using preconditioning? According to my service department there are still no updates for my car.
Click to expand...
Just give the dashboard lights time to run though the welcome screen BEFORE STARTING the car and you will not have any problem with losing XM.
 
Louis Nisenbaum said:
Just give the dashboard lights time to run though the welcome screen BEFORE STARTING the car and you will not have any problem with losing XM.
Click to expand...
I am aware of that but I forget sometimes when I get in the car. I then have to reboot the radio for it to work. I imagine Honda will have a fix for that eventually.
 
Casey Martin said:
Has anyone experienced the rapid beeping when getting out of the car with the key fob on you with the car off?
Click to expand...
There have been posts on this before. I believe that it is related to the auto-lock feature. I have experienced it, but cannot reliably reproduce it. I suspect it has something to do with the car "losing" the fob when it doesn't think it's reasonable to do so.
 
MNSteve said:
There have been posts on this before. I believe that it is related to the auto-lock feature. I have experienced it, but cannot reliably reproduce it. I suspect it has something to do with the car "losing" the fob when it doesn't think it's reasonable to do so.
Click to expand...
I did some research after posting and it appears this is a known issue with many models in Honda's lineup when using the auto lock walk away feature. There doesn't appear to be a fix or an answer as to why it happens.
 
I have another question/concern. How do you "defrost" the Clarity after a winter storm? We got about 3 inches of rain and snow mix this past Sunday. It was just above freezing when I finished cleaning it off but then temperatures plummeted to below zero that evening. The next morning the area under the wipers, the cowl, was frozen solid. With a normal gas engine vehicle I would just let it run with the defrost on high and it would eventually thaw out enough that I could remove the snow. With the Clarity I don't know what to do. I was lucky enough to be able to bring it into the garage at work and allow it to thaw out. Is there a way to get the Clarity to heat up enough to melt the snow/ice build up in the cowl area?
 
Haven’t had to try it myself, but from what people have shared it’s impossible to do on a level 1 EVSE due to the low power output. But plugged in to a level 2 and turning the car on so you can select defrost (shunting the flow to the windshield) should work I would think. However nothing seems to get any heat to the area in front of the glass, especially in the newer designs.
If I couldn’t garage during a storm I would invest in a windshield cover that will also cover the area where the wipera are in front of the glass. I used to have one for a truck where it was hard to reach the center area and it saved me in a few storms. A pain to put on, but worth it for a few instances.
 
insightman said:
How about using the secret procedure to force the engine to run for emissions testing? That might provide more heat for de-icing.

Today I found I had to run in HV mode to get enough heat from the defroster to melt the rain freezing on my windshield while I was driving. I was disappointed.
Click to expand...
If you turn it all the way to HI I think it should start the gas engine due to climate demands. This is another problem with the smart wiper system. Even if you have Prestone De-Icer washer fluid there is not and soak time for the fluid to interact with the “contaminate” on the window. Prestone big wash has always served me well in the past but now unless it’s just dust or road grime is having to manually scrape it off at a gas station...
 
insightman said:
How about using the secret procedure to force the engine to run for emissions testing? That might provide more heat for de-icing.

Today I found I had to run in HV mode to get enough heat from the defroster to melt the rain freezing on my windshield while I was driving. I was disappointed.
Click to expand...
Thank you for that trick! That is exactly what I was looking for. I will also try setting it to defrost and HI to see if that makes the motor start automatically.
 
LegoZ said:
If you turn it all the way to HI I think it should start the gas engine due to climate demands. This is another problem with the smart wiper system. Even if you have Prestone De-Icer washer fluid there is not and soak time for the fluid to interact with the “contaminate” on the window. Prestone big wash has always served me well in the past but now unless it’s just dust or road grime is having to manually scrape it off at a gas station...
Click to expand...
I have the same issue as most that the drivers side sprayer doesn't reach up to eye level. I am going to try to adjust it but at first glance it doesn't appear to be adjustable.
 
Sorry to join the unlucky group of Clarity owners who have experienced high revving and simultaneous loss of power while on a freeway. Very scary and unsettling. As background, our car was originally delivered to the dealer in Jan, 2018, we purchased it in late Aug, 2018, and currently have 7,000 miles on it. Despite its numerous quirks, we've really liked the car up to this point. But what happened to us is a major safety issue and I'm very concerned for my family's safety going forward.
On Jan. 13 were driving on a super-flat stretch of highway in Iowa (thankfully on a Sunday a.m. with little traffic), 30 degrees, 70 mph. The car had automatically shifted from EV to HV as designed, when suddenly the ICE revved up and speed declined -- as if the transmission had suddenly been disconnected from the engine or power source. Total loss of wheel speed control. My wife was able to safely slow down and get off the side of the road. We turned the car off, then back on, hoping some computer just needed to 'reset'. Eventually we were able to re-enter the freeway and get back up to speed, but with a sense the transmission was connecting/disconnecting for awhile. Once back up to speed, no problems for another hour. After being parked for 4-5 hours, got out of parking lot Ok, but then a similar problem when going 20-30 mph -- a sense of power, no power -- but eventually back to speed and a return home trip of 1.5 hours with no more problems.
After comparing notes, my wife and I remembered a similar thing had happened to each of us once before, but it was at slow speeds around town so didn't seem like a big deal. It's happened once since that day it happened twice on Jan. 13, again at slow speed in town.
I immediately scheduled a service appointment with my local dealer, which occurred yesterday:
1) The Technician was unable to replicate the problem -- no surprise there, it's happened 'only' 5 times in 5 months.
2) No abnormal 'codes' or events were recorded by the Clarity computer, as determined when they hooked it up for a diagnostic.
3) When the Technician called "Honda Tech in CA" they said no Technician has ever called with that type of problem before.
The local service Manager was nice, but offered that their shop doesn't have the expertise to diagnose a complex system like that in the Clarity. We agreed I would continue to document problems if they continued to occur. He understood the severity of the problem as related to safety, but honestly wasn't able to help. So, this will have to be handled by Honda USA, I guess.
Very disappointed, as we loved the car, but man, how can we in good confidence take this car into a large city or a mountainous area safely with this problem? How does Honda think they can sell a new car with a warranty and then just say, "sorry"?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top