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Budget Battery Capacity Readout

Discussion in 'Clarity' started by MrFixit, Feb 27, 2021.

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  1. May 21, 2022 #341
    Frankwell

    Frankwell Active Member

    Not the inverter but the DC-DC converter. The DC-DC converter is part of the battery assembly, what Honda calls the IPU (Intelligent Power Unit). I think the Civic hybrid has the inverter in the IPU along with the DC-DC converter, and maybe some other models, but not the Clarity.

    For whatever reason when the DC-DC converter fails under warranty Honda seems to replace the entire IPU. My guess is that while removing the battery is pretty straightforward, removing the DC-DC converter would require partial disassembly of the battery assembly, something that is probably not considered a normal dealer level service procedure. I remember someone said they saw a Clarity battery and they said the DC-DC converter was really buried in there.

    For those who live in states that have the 15 year 150,000 mile battery warranty I think there's a chance that some cars will drop below 36.6 Ah before the warranty expires. Although it probably won't be the original owner by then.
     

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  2. May 24, 2022 #342
    NJClarity

    NJClarity Member

    In some ways I wish I hadn't found this thread. I had asked my dealer about 18 months ago to measure the battery capacity and they didn't have a clue. I used the Car Scanner and got ~46 amps (or about 4% per year which is pretty high). My Clarity is a 2018 with 37,000 miles, and ~95% driven in EV mode. Unfortuately, my commute is 30 miles each way, so I need to charge at work if I want to make it home without using gas. I wish Honda had included more tools to help optimize the charging other than the timer. I guess the good thing I have found is that I can get back up to around the same range as a couple of years ago in ideal conditions (~52 miles on a charge) by driving 65 and not accelerating like a BOH. Was considering upgrading to a full EV and not sure if this makes me want to do that more or go back to a hybrid.
     
  3. May 24, 2022 #343
    insightman

    insightman Well-Known Member Subscriber

    Ann Arbor
    You'd dump your luxurious 52-mile EV range PHEV and go back to a hybrid with gas prices like we have today? Which hybrid would you choose?
     
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  4. May 25, 2022 #344
    MrFixit

    MrFixit Well-Known Member

    Maryland
    Ironically, the Clarity IS a Hybrid !!!
    It's just that it provides additional flexibility (which you are still taking great advantage of) in spite of some range reduction.

    I think there is a tendency for people to 'worry' that their capacity is worse than normal, or is degrading at a rate that feels unacceptable to them. I think many are also 'surprised' at the impact of high speed and aggressive driving (you mention backing off to 65)... Around here, it has become unsafe to drive only 5 miles over the speed limit because virtually everyone is going 10-15 over.

    My advise (to all who are interested in monitoring battery capacity) is to relax. This endeavor has been valuable and will be even more valuable as time goes on, partly to keep the dealers (who you have confirmed are inept) honest.

    You (and I) are lucky enough to be in 'California' emissions states where the HV battery is covered for 15Y / 150K miles. That is a better warranty than what is required for BEV's.

    Please continue to provide us with valuable data so we can continue to track this important parameter as the 'fleet' of Clarities gets older. My intention is to keep mine until it dies (hopefully more than 15 years) !!!

    I took the liberty of putting your number into the shared spreadsheet.
     
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  5. Jun 22, 2022 #345
    Amris

    Amris New Member

    vgate icar pro with car scanner
    2018 Clarity
    65,858
    AV EV range 40
    LV 2 Charge Daily at Home and Work
    Almost All Ev miles
    Battery capacity : 43.14
     

    Attached Files:

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  6. Jun 24, 2022 #346
    Dan Albrich

    Dan Albrich Well-Known Member

    Oregon
    Don't want to be a kill-joy but the battery appears to be 10 years, 150,000 miles, even though related components are 15Y/150K. See
    https://owners.honda.com/Documentum/Warranty/Partslist/2018_Honda_Clarity_Plug-In_Hybrid_-_APL14156_SIS.pdf

    They have it broken down by part. For ZEV states the warranty is much better than in general, but the battery pack does appear to be 10Y.

    -Dan
     
  7. Jun 25, 2022 #347
    MrFixit

    MrFixit Well-Known Member

    Maryland
    You are correct Dan. I misspoke.

    upload_2022-6-25_6-39-21.png

    Batteries are certainly the weak link for any electric vehicle right now. There is a tremendous amount of research going on to improve this, and I am optimistic that incremental improvements will continue and quite likely breakthroughs that result in major improvements over time.
     
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  8. Jun 27, 2022 #348
    SPS

    SPS New Member

    I have a 2019 Clarity that has ~20k miles on it.. 90% driven on freeway in Bay Area in EV mode. I get ~36 miles on full charge every day.. i dont know the battery capacity yet. But the miles on full charge seem very low. Any opinions?
     
  9. Jun 27, 2022 #349
    MrFixit

    MrFixit Well-Known Member

    Maryland
    You will find endless discussions about this topic.

    "Low" range can be affected by battery capacity, but many do not realize how much driving patterns / habits have too. If most of your driving is freeway at > 60 MPH, then this is likely perfectly normal. I encourage everyone who is interested to read out their capacity because that is what the warranty is based on, but my suspicion is that your Clarity is perfectly normal.
     

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  10. Jun 27, 2022 #350
    SPS

    SPS New Member

    Thank you for the reply! but looking at the data for 20-30000 miles there is no one who had such low numbers. i ordered the adapter and will have capacity numbers in a few days.

    In the mean time should I do a reset with the 12 V battery? Can you tell me how to do it?

     
  11. Jun 27, 2022 #351
    Robert_Alabama

    Robert_Alabama Well-Known Member

    The 36 miles is about what I would expect for a Clarity at freeway speeds. I don't think the 12V reset is going to do anything to help your range. When you get your capacity reading, I bet you will find it is fine, probably above 48 Ah.
     
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  12. Jun 28, 2022 #352
    MrFixit

    MrFixit Well-Known Member

    Maryland
    I agree... Don't do a 12V reset until after you have a capacity reading. Do you have a Level 2 EVSE, and if so, is it a 'smart' device that reports the amount of energy consumed during charging? This is another way that you can infer battery capacity.
     
  13. Jun 28, 2022 #353
    ClarityBill

    ClarityBill Active Member

    I drive most of my miles at 78 mph. I got two new tires that were poorly balanced, and I had to slow down to 70 mph max.

    My EV range jumped from 30 miles to 36 miles. Anecdotal, and lots of factors, but it was an interesting jump.
     
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  14. Jun 28, 2022 #354
    Dan Albrich

    Dan Albrich Well-Known Member

    Oregon
    One more detail that I find more significant than any other factor is if the OP is living on a hill (as I do). Going up and down a hill (and likely repeatedly per-day) if that's where home is, definitely impacts both estimated and actual range. Anyway, lots of reasons as other note (like how fast you drive, in the winter time the heater, etc) but the hill, now *that* kills range. So if hill, 36 is great. If no hill, it's some other factor.
     
  15. Jun 29, 2022 #355
    SPS

    SPS New Member

    all of you were right.. i got the adapter today. The capacity read out is 49.54 Ah at 20254 miles.

     
  16. Jul 2, 2022 #356
    Reyn

    Reyn New Member

    Long Beach, CA
    @MrFixit and others, what is the difference between Hybrid/EV Battery System Current and [Clarity] HV Total Battery Current?
     
  17. Jul 2, 2022 #357
    MrFixit

    MrFixit Well-Known Member

    Maryland
    Not certain... It could be an exact duplicate. There are some other parameters that seem to be essentially equivalents.

    The PID's that are preceded by '[Clarity]' were obtained from a scan tool that was aware of the Clarity.

    The ones without [Clarity] are likely from the "Honda Honda/Acura Hybrids" profile that was part of the baseline Torque Pro prior to the addition of the Clarity. Some of these PID's seemed to work with the Clarity. It is possible that these indicate something slightly different, or they may just be duplicates. My suggestion is to use a parameters that start with [Clarity] unless you see something that is only available elsewhere - then use it with a grain of salt.
     
  18. Jul 3, 2022 #358
    Reyn

    Reyn New Member

    Long Beach, CA
    They are not exact duplicates. I shall post some screen captures of the two side by side later.
     
  19. Jul 3, 2022 #359
    Reyn

    Reyn New Member

    Long Beach, CA
    This is the first time I am posting a message with attachments. I hope it works. These are screen captures I took earlier today. Of the two lower graphs, the one at the bottom is the Hybrid battery current sensor and the one above that is the [Clarity] Current sensor. While the Clarity specific graph makes sense, the hybrid graph seems to spike when regen is happening.
     
  20. Jul 3, 2022 #360
    MrFixit

    MrFixit Well-Known Member

    Maryland
    It is hard to make any sense out of these "Hybrid" plots. In the fist two captures, it appears "binary" (either 0, or ~3200), roughly corresponding to when regeneration is occurring. As such, it almost looks like a flag that indicates a regen state but is improperly represented as a numerical value. In the 3rd plot however, since there is no regen, the low state gets massively magnified and there is some activity there. It could be that this activity is present in the other two plots, but the scale was driven so high that you can't see it.

    Bottom like - this parameter (that was not Clarity-specific) just looks bogus to me. The PID behind this provided something useful from the Hybrid vehicle, but seems meaningless for the Clarity.
     
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