paddles

Discussion in 'Clarity' started by JKroll, Mar 1, 2018.

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  1. JKroll

    JKroll Member

    I dont know how to use paddles. Do you not press on brakes and just move the paddles with hand or pressing on brakes required?
     
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  3. iluvscuba

    iluvscuba Active Member

    You can use the paddles to decelarate (regen) the car but it only goes down to 8 or 9km (5mph), if you want to completely stop the car, you will have to use the brake to do that. The only exception is if you are using ACC low speed follow, then the car will stop completely on its own when it detects the car in front of you has stopped
     
  4. jdonalds

    jdonalds Well-Known Member

    JKroll,

    You have two choices.

    1) Use the brake pedal alone. A lighter pressure will only use Regen to slow the car. A heavy pressure will use a combination of Regen and the physical brakes.

    2) Use the paddles alone. The left paddle will add more Regen each time you pull the paddle. The right paddle will decrease the Regen effect. If you hold the right paddle for a few seconds it will cancel the regen which was applied by the left paddle.
     
  5. insightman

    insightman Well-Known Member Subscriber

    Here's something interesting I noticed about the operation of the left Deceleration Paddle Selector. The manual says:

    > Using the deceleration paddle selector situated on the steering wheel,
    > you can sequentially shift through four stages of deceleration.

    However, when you first tug on the left paddle, you get stage-2 deceleration, not stage-1 deceleration. You can use the right paddle to back off to stage-1 deceleration. When I noticed that the first tug produced two "V" symbols in the instrument panel I realized that I needed only 3, not 4, tugs to achieve stage-4 deceleration. Just think about all the meetings and memos that went into determining the effect of the first tug on the Deceleration Paddle Selector...

    Interestingly, the upcoming 2019 Honda Insight provides only THREE stages of deceleration. Were the same people in the meetings for this car? Did the team leader change? Did the designers of the instrument panel introduce a 3-"V" limitation? Does the Clarity offer more stages because it's a higher-priced, more luxurious car? Did a software engineer's keyboard slip go unnoticed until after the car's programming was frozen? Is the Insight missing the Clarity's 1st stage because stage 1 is so wimpy? Is the Insight missing the Clarity's 4th stage because the Insight's battery capacity is so comparatively tiny? Or are the Insight's 1st and 3rd stages equal to the Clarity's 1st and 4th stages? I can't wait to see what happens on the first tug.

    One more thing--what happens to the electricity generated by the Deceleration Paddle Selectors when the battery is already fully charged? Instead of the recharging the battery is there a big resistor somewhere that turns the regenerated energy into heat? If so, that brings up even more questions. Meeting topic: "How important is it for the operation of the Deceleration Paddle Selectors to be consistent?"
     
  6. Kendalf

    Kendalf Active Member

    I've always thought of it as "stage one" is always active by default (and is available anytime you lift throttle) and so there was no need to use the paddle to select the first stage. For the Insight, perhaps the levels of regen are the same, but they decided not to call the default "base" regen level a stage, so Stage 1 on the Insight (one 'V') = Stage 2 on the Clarity, and so on. I think this makes more sense, as it does away with the weird jump to 2 "Vs" on the Clarity.

    When you put too much regen on a full battery, the ICE powers up to transfer that excess energy into engine braking. I don't like this system, as I've had several times before I knew what was happening where I just left home and had the ICE come on when I applied regen going down a small hill just a block from my home. But the energy has to go somewhere, and apparently the regen system cannot apply the physical brakes so this was the way that Honda engineers decided to transfer that excess energy when the battery is full.
     
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  8. prestoOne

    prestoOne Member

    Still awaiting the car but this regen system sounds ill conceived.
    It doesn't make sense that the ICE has to come on to dissipate excess energy, cars already rid themselves of excess alternator energy.
    What does the Nissan Leaf do with the excess regen braking energy? Turn on the closest Clarity engine?

    I heard about the so so regen braking but it must do better than the 5mph reduction per stop at full strength.

    Also being forced to use the paddles everytime to get max setting sounds like something that should be fixed.

    So how weak is the regen braking?
     
  9. iluvscuba

    iluvscuba Active Member

    I don't know what you guys are complaining about regarding this car.

    Remember Honda does not believe in the Electric economy, they do believe in the Fool Cell economy and this PHEV is only for them to recover the cost of the Clarity Fool Cell version and to get credit from California and Quebec etc etc

    That's why there is almost no information regarding charging in the display like other plug-in cars, no information about how strong the regen is, calling it 'deceleration peddle' instead of 'regen peddle', no information on the battery warmer, almost no advertisement...

    You should be grateful that Honda engineer screw up and created a better car (I would dare say one of the best PHEV on the market right now) then their boses wanted them to do. I am pretty sure those engineers are all in the Honda s**t house right now for helping the advance of Electric car instead of the Fool Cell version
     
    dstrauss, jdonalds, AlanSqB and 2 others like this.
  10. LAF

    LAF Active Member

    This has never happened to me. I use the paddles all the time in electric mode and the engine never comes on
     
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  11. loomis2

    loomis2 Well-Known Member

    Me either, but it would only conceivably happen if you have a full battery and drive a stretch of road right away that would use the regenerative brakes, like going down a big hill. That is not something that would happen to most people, but certainly not out of the question. There is at least one person on these forums that has that situation.
     
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  13. prestoOne

    prestoOne Member

    Does anyone have experience with the strength of the regen braking compared to say a Leaf or Prius Prime?
     
  14. loomis2

    loomis2 Well-Known Member

    I feel it is as good or a little better than a 2013 Leaf in B mode, at least at full regen paddle setting.
     
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  15. AlanSqB

    AlanSqB Active Member

    Agree that it is as good or better than my LEAF. Excellent implementation of blended braking. If the paddles don’t appeal to you, ignore them. They are not needed and don’t add much to the experience and then there are no worries about kicking on the ICE.

    BTW the LEAF won’t regenerate in B mode with a full battery either.
     
  16. jdonalds

    jdonalds Well-Known Member

    This may explain why my ICE came on a few times lately. I left home with a full charge, drove 1 mile to the start of the 1/2 mile downhill which regens power back into the battery; perhaps to too much power so the ICE kicks on to dump power.
     
  17. dstrauss

    dstrauss Well-Known Member

    Great post - I can see the evaluations now - "What the h*** were you idiot engineers thinking - people actually like the d*** car - you've screwed up EVERYHTING!"
     
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  18. AlanSqB

    AlanSqB Active Member

    Hmm, drag around a huge, high pressure hydrogen tank just waiting to explode and almost impossible to find a place to fill, or my cute little 7 gallon gas tank which is just perfect for long trips and emergencies?

    I think the Clarity (hydrogen) is dead. Long live the Clarity (PHEV/EV). Sorry Honda. Props for effort. Thanks for accidentally making such a great car :p.
     
  19. bfd

    bfd Active Member

    Putting the car in "Sport" mode can make one-pedal driving possible. There's some use for it on windy downhill roads, too. But for just driving around, it doesn't make sense because the paddle regen won't stick unless you're in "Sport" mode - and if you're in "Sport" mode, you'll eventually be running the engine prematurely. Almost can't avoid it.
     
  20. iluvscuba

    iluvscuba Active Member

    When I test drive it, 4th level of regen can only slow down the car to 8 or 9km/h but I only try it in Normal mode. Are you saying when in Sport mode, regen can stop the car completely?
     
  21. insightman

    insightman Well-Known Member Subscriber

    In Sport Mode, the selected deceleration stage--actually the regen level--sticks until you change it. You can select another level or you can pull and hold the right paddle for a few seconds to cancel all additional regen. In Econ and Normal Modes, however, the selected regen level is canceled automatically within a few seconds even if you don't cancel it manually by holding the right paddle.

    I reject the idea that the car is normally operating under level 1 regen and that pulling the left paddle once (selecting level 2 regen and displaying 2 "V" symbols) and then pulling the right paddle once to select level 1 regen (displaying one "V") is the same as not selecting any regen at all.

    The engine has not started up when I used the paddles right after unplugging our fully recharged Clarity. I'm used to the engine remaining dormant until I overtly do something to start it up, such as pushing the accelerator past the click (we drive only in Econ Mode), or selecting HV Mode.

    Sadly, after the engine starts up in response to my actions, it acts as if I've given it permission to stay on as long as it likes and then to start up again whenever it, not me, chooses (I call this Pretend EV Mode). If I pull over and cycle the Power button, the car again remains in engine-dormant EV Mode (I call this Real EV Mode) until I click the accelerator or select HV Mode.

    My definition of one-foot driving is being able to control all acceleration and necessary deceleration using only the accelerator pedal. In the Bolt and Leaf, you can decelerate much, much faster than even level 4 deceleration with the Clarity. When using the Bolt/Leaf mode that initiates one-foot driving, you can actually bring the car to a complete stop without using the brake pedal.
     
  22. loomis2

    loomis2 Well-Known Member

    No, but you can use one pedal a lot of the time in Sport Mode with full regen paddles so long as you don't need to completely stop. Only the 2018 Leaf and according to insightman, the Bolt, can do true one pedal driving. That is still a new feature. Maybe on future Clarity's, but not this one.
     
  23. bfd

    bfd Active Member

    Can it stop the car completely? Depends on your speed. Works pretty well in stop and go traffic. Not so well at the race-track. Clarity isn't a BEV, so any expectation that it might behave like one is wishful thinking to some extent.
     

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