"Camping" in the Clarity

[fotomoto]

We had very strong thunderstorms with recorded 109mph winds from downbursts hit us Thursday night. Lots of wind related damage in the area including widespread power loss due to fallen trees and/or large branches. After the storms passed, we were hit by early record heat with temps hovering right around the 100f mark and heat indices in the 112-115f area. FUN!!!

We spent the first night sleeping in the C-Max because it had about 10 miles of range left but it was pretty uncomfortable and once the battery ran low the ICE kicking on/off in hybrid mode was pretty rough and kept waking us up. I probably slept about 4-5hrs tops. Since it was keeping me awake, I at least was able to do some data gathering: once battery depleted, ICE runs for 2-3 minutes to charge, then battery runs for 9-10 minutes with temp set to 72f. Rinse, lather, repeat, the rest of the night.

So the second night because the Clarity was out of battery from my wife's commute and because we have no local public chargers, I drove it around in HV+charge to 57% (26miles estimated) and then filled the tank. The seats reclined to basically horizontal and have more leg room than the CMax so the sleeping position was much more comfortable. But the biggest difference was the ICE performance. First, the battery lasted nearly all night before HV mode took over but the ICE starts/stops were very smooth in comparison and quieter too. I had a much more sound sleep in the Clarity (approx. 7 hrs). Sorry, because I was having a more fitful sleep, I don't know the ICE run to charge ratio like I determined with the CMax.

Starting with 309 gas miles estimated, I only used about 10 miles of range by 7 a.m. Using 40mpg as a divider, that would mean about 1/4 gallon burned PLUS the 57% battery for a night of a/c use set at 72F with overnight low of a humid 80f. Amazing! I'm guessing that a full batt. would easily make it through the night. This is the display I woke up to.

With only a 1.5 mile drive from the gas station to home and then running the car for a couple of hours while parked really kills one's fuel economy numbers! LOL Also, notice the false temperature reading similar to the ones I see when the car is parked in a hot parking lot but quickly returned to ambient once I start driving. Even tho' I had both doors open in the garage for ventilation, it was hot in there but not THAT hot! LOL

It was sure was a great relief to be able to use both the air conditioning and electricity production from my phevs. We ran lights, fans and electronics chargers in the house by using the 120v plug in the CMax (150watts max) and a 120v/125watt inverter in the Clarity for two and a half days. Most of my neighbors left after the first day. Even though I had friends, neighbors, electrical repairmen and tree trimming crews around my house throughout this event, not one notice my cars were "on".

 

[megreyhair]

Sorry to hear that you has such an ordeal. I know how you feel. I went through it with Sandy when I lost power for over a 1 week. Too bad Honda is not selling the 9KW DC/AC converter that plugs into Clarity. It would be a good backup gen.

 

[insightman]

Sorry to hear that you has such an ordeal. I know how you feel. I went through it with Sandy when I lost power for over a 1 week. Too bad Honda is not selling the 9KW DC/AC converter that plugs into Clarity. It would be a good backup gen.

The Honda Power Exporter 9000 costs about $9K and it works only with the Clarity Fuel Cell, the Clarity Electric, and the Japanese-market Clarity Plug-In Hybrid with its DCFC port. It won't work with our port-deficient North American Clarity PHEVs.

 

[2002]

once battery depleted, ICE runs for 2-3 minutes to charge, then battery runs for 9-10 minutes with temp set to 72f. Rinse, lather, repeat, the rest of the night

I had that with my Prius, made it hard to sleep. Engine coming on would wake me up, then I would fall asleep again, then a couple minutes later the engine shutting off sort of woke me up, then a few minutes later engine on again. I would have much rather preferred that ICE ran for say 10 minutes and then 30 minutes of quiet. I realize they have it programmed assuming you are at a stoplight and that at any moment you might start moving again, but you would think after the first cycle they could program it to go into a longer duration since it should be obvious by then that you are parked. But anyway nice to know that with even half a charge of the Clarity battery you can go a long time without ICE. Sounds like the AC is pretty efficient. Now as for the heater that may be a different story.

 

[Mowcowbell]

Sounds like a great backup plan for a power outage. Here in Oklahoma, you are one severe thunderstorm away from a major power outage. In the past year, we've had 6 power outages ranging from a few minutes to almost 12 hours. You don't even need severe weather. The 12 hour outage was caused by a construction accident that put 5000 homes out of power!

My first line defense is a couple of 2000 watt inverter generators that can run solo or paired together. I have a 10 circuit transfer switch wired into my circuit breaker box. The little inverter generators are very fuel efficient and will run for 6-8 hours on 1 gallon of gasoline.

As long as you stay away from Honda/Yamaha inverter generators, they are very inexpensive. I paid less than $550 for my Westinghouse generator, and less than $260 (!) for an Aldi Workzone generator. Both units use a Chinese clone of the Yamaha 80cc engine. Here's a picture of the units connected together with the parallel cordset that Westinghouse sells:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d...cXIzuYVt_itcRsUmG-8EeMvNLXymJeY=w953-h1270-no

With the generators paired together, they will run all 10 circuits in the transfer switch. We have a small 6000 btu window AC unit that we put in our bedroom window during the summer. The generators can handle this window unit with the other circuits without any trouble.