New Clarity owner and his dumb questions

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Landshark said:
Which is it? Keep it on track or let it go off track?

There’s nothing wrong with asking questions. There’s also noting wrong with reading the owners manual or Domenick’s FAQ thread at the top of this forum or searching this forum for the answers that you seek. The 3- bar Menu button in the upper left corner offers a drop down menu with a search option.

There are effective methods available to learn and gain knowledge about this car.

Yes, for best results, start a new thread with each new question.

Floor mats, thread.
Pedestrian Alert, thread.
HV Charge, thread.
Hondalink, thread.
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Or, maybe even better, continue questions in an existing thread on the topic! ;).
 
Sandroad said:
Or, maybe even better, continue questions in an existing thread on the topic! ;).
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Yes, follow up questions that relate to the original topic is what creates a thread. Going “off topic” is generally frowned upon.

What is the topic of a thread that asks a series of random questions?
 
Landshark said:
Yes, follow up questions that relate to the original topic is what creates a thread. Going “off topic” is generally frowned upon.

What is the topic of a thread that asks a series of random questions?
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Randomized Help Thread.

Personally I love threads like this because there are always some surprising subjects that arise. They work more like my brain than strict "on one subject" threads.
 
Robert_Alabama said:
I'll first answer based on my value for "HV Charge". Occasionally I will drive somewhere expecting to be able to charge at the destination and find that I cannot. I don't like driving the Clarity with a fully depleted battery, just believe it leads to high engine RPM and potential loss of acceleration power if needed. I will use HV charge to build the battery back up to as much as 50%, then go back to HV mode. I will then use the last of the battery before I reach my next expected place to recharge. I have also used HV Charge due to forgetting to push the HV charge button after stopping during a long highway trip and depleting the battery below what I wanted to maintain for the duration of the HV portion of the trip. Also, I can see that on a really long HV trip, the battery charge could be reduced enough to want to use HV Charge to replenish as well, since the HV mode will let the charge level creep down a little each time it is engaged, so after multiple stops you could lose enough charge to want to bring it back up some. Beyond this, there are some here that find that electricity can at times be more expensive than gasoline over significant periods of time. They will use HV charge to replenish the battery if it gets to a lower than desired state (or just drive all the time in HV Charge). Since the battery will stop charging at something less than 60%, either method would work fine (either occasionally switching to HV Charge from HV or just driving all the time in HV Charge mode).
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I agree with your post almost word for word.

Friendly Advice: Throw in some paragraph spaces, as it is much more pleasing to the eyes and easier to read than 1 super long paragraph with no breaks.

Im not trying to be an ***.
 
My charge timer in the car set for 1900, when we have lower rate. Today I came home 1930, plugged in - not charging. I guessed that if I plug after the time in settings, car will wait for that time to come - which will happen tomorrow. So I removed the timer and it started to charge. Am I correct with my assumption?
Also is the a way to keep the car charging and providing heat for the person who is sitting inside that car?
 
Alex800st said:
My charge timer in the car set for 1900, when we have lower rate. Today I came home 1930, plugged in - not charging. I guessed that if I plug after the time in settings, car will wait for that time to come - which will happen tomorrow. So I removed the timer and it started to charge. Am I correct with my assumption?
Also is the a way to keep the car charging and providing heat for the person who is sitting inside that car?
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You are correct. It only starts charging on timer if it's plugged in at the start of the session. Been there, got confused, figured it out.

Not sure, but probably not. iirc you cannot charge if the car is running. I don't think you can get heater if not running. Someone who lives in a cold clime might correct me. Being on Las Vegas I have never run the heat.
 
Alex800st said:
My charge timer in the car set for 1900, when we have lower rate. Today I came home 1930, plugged in - not charging. I guessed that if I plug after the time in settings, car will wait for that time to come - which will happen tomorrow. So I removed the timer and it started to charge. Am I correct with my assumption?
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You can leave the charge timer set all the time. If you need to charge at any other time, just press and HOLD the charge button on the fob AFTER you plug the charger in. It will start charging immediately.
 
Mowcowbell said:
Keep digging around here, and you'll find some other bits of good information.

Here's a good one.

You'll learn that you don't need to spend $200+ on a Level 2 evse. The Honda OEM evse provided with the car was manufactured by Panasonic and is capable of running on either 120/240v. All you need is a NEMA 6-20 cord, cut off the receptacle end and replace it with a NEMA 5-20 receptacle which will allow you to plug in the OEM evse into that. I have a NEMA 14-50 outlet (same as found in RV parks) in my garage, so I use a 14-50 to 6-20 adapter. My modified cord plugs into the 6-20 end of the adapter.

No modification needs to be made to the Honda OEM evse itself, so you can still run it on 120v if you need to. The Honda OEM evse pulls ~11amps whether it is on 120 or 240v. Running it on 240v will allow you to charge a 'empty' battery to 'full' in about 5.5 hours.
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I just unpacked original evse that came with the car. Sticker and manual says “110v 12A”, nothing about 240v. Another thing - plug on the evse is 15A (two small parallel blades, just like any other household device). Not 20A, two blades 90 degrees to each other. Is it still going to work on 240v?
 
Alex800st said:
I just unpacked original evse that came with the car. Sticker and manual says “110v 12A”, nothing about 240v. Another thing - plug on the evse is 15A (two small parallel blades, just like any other household device). Not 20A, two blades 90 degrees to each other. Is it still going to work on 240v?
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Yes, mine says the same thing on the back of the evse itself. The J1772 end in very faint letters lists voltage 120-277v.

The unit was manufactured by Panasonic and is identical to the evse provided with the Toyota Prius Prime. Plenty of those owners are running their units on 240v without issues.

The plug itself is of the 15A type... I went with the NEMA 5-20 receptacle to keep my modified cord at 20A at all connections. It does not get more than 10F above ambient temp of my garage, even when my garage is baking in 90F heat in summer.
 
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Landshark said:
Would you consider that a Level 1.5 charger?
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Kind of an artificial construct, this Level 1/Level 2 business. In the UK and Europe, house voltage is 240V. So do they all have Level 2 by default?

My late Volt could only charge at 3.3 kW due to its onboard charger capacity. Most consider that Level 2, but in truth the Clarity EVSE could probably accomplish that if fed 240V.
 
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css28 said:
Kind of an artificial construct, this Level 1/Level 2 business. In the UK and Europe, house voltage is 240V. So do they all have Level 2 by default?

My late Volt could only charge at 3.3 kW due to its onboard charger capacity. Most consider that Level 2, but in truth the Clarity EVSE could probably accomplish that if fed 240V.
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There’s noting artificial about a 12 hour charge time or a 2.5 hour charge time.

Utilizing adapters to provide 240VAC to the Honda provided EVSE appears to charge at ~3.3kW. Hence the 5.5 hour charge time. The PHEV Clarity has an onboard charger capable of charging at 6.6kW with the appropriate L2 EVSE.
 
Landshark said:
There’s noting artificial about a 12 hour charge time or a 2.5 hour charge time.

Utilizing adapters to provide 240VAC to the Honda provided EVSE appears to charge at ~3.3kW. Hence the 5.5 hour charge time. The PHEV Clarity has an onboard charger capable of charging at 6.6kW with the appropriate L2 EVSE.
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So you'd like to make up a new name for it.
Fine.
 
Landshark said:
There’s noting artificial about a 12 hour charge time or a 2.5 hour charge time.

Utilizing adapters to provide 240VAC to the Honda provided EVSE appears to charge at ~3.3kW. Hence the 5.5 hour charge time. The PHEV Clarity has an onboard charger capable of charging at 6.6kW with the appropriate L2 EVSE.
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The OEM EVSE will still be 12A. 12A @ 240V = 2.88 kW.

For some reason the 3.3/6.6 spec is for the older 220 V standard. In reality, the EVSE communicates the amps it can supply and the voltage will dictate whether it is 3.3 or 3.6, 6.6 or 7.2, etc
 
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