Cobb's 2010 honda insight hybrid budget eco build.

[Cobb]

Since I got my license Ive had a 1981 mercedes 240d, 06 scion xa and 09 scion xb. All of these vehicles Ive had the stock systems with the addition of a bazooka bass tube. I ended up having to drive a lot and went to a 2010 honda insight hybrid. It lived up to its name. It got a good 60 mpg, however the heat and ac werent that hot or cold and ate into the mpg. The radio sucked. I turned it on one day and notice it bassed out as I got up to speed. While on the highway I found out the radio only goes to 40 and wasnt loud enough.

I went to pepboys to test door 6.5 inch speakers and settled on the kenwood kfc series. That helped, but it still wasnt loud enough.Not enough bass and I didnt want to do another bass tube as I knew their limits. I decided to try a cap, amp and sub box.

Knowing there is no alternator and the dc to dc charger circuit is limited to 70 amps I decided to do more watts than bazooka, but not that big. I started with no cap, but saw the voltages were all over the place. I ended up with a 10 farad cap. I got a sony xpode 5 channel. I was going to use all, but ended up bridging it to use as a sub amp. It would get warm and start to clip after 45 minutes and started to smell like hot metal. I sold it after I got an alpine m450 and later got a second one.

I started with a nice small box from pepboys with the fancy blue neon and a sony amp. The pepboys speakers lasted 7 minuted, then I replaced then with the largest 8 inch subs I could find, jbl gto 804s. It wasnt long before I broke the inner wall in the box 2 weeks later.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlzX7uv1K1U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTGm5Fuy8rM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-vY0z0nSNw

[Cobb]

In all I settled on this sealed box design a calculator gave me.

Kenwood and slim truck box, fail.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FlfrqH6Iao

Replaced kenwood with a bigger sub, not the sound I wanted

Sono tube, fail, back to a box

In the mean time I grabbed a slanted box with 2 alpine 12e's

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoltl5DVsVE

[Cobb]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDm0zlOyeN4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btKw2TwFT7c

Still cant find the bass I wanted, so tried a bandpass

Almost got it, so got a dual band pass box

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP-RP4GgGbo

[Cobb]

Figured the head unit had its limits too and replaced It. OEM was a clarion and I replaced it with a sony that came with speakers.

Still on the quest found this labyrinth slot vented box on ebay and swapped the alpine 12e's

Naw, like the little box with the 2 804s better, til now. Now I am seeking and building a new box to do this better. This is part of the start of this build. I found this site from a youtube video of the 40k watt suv. http://www.stevemead...pass/?p=2408992

[Cobb]

There we go, replaced the worn out group 51 starter battery or "civic" battery as advance auto called it with a u1 deep cycle one. The 3 little red wires are to the 3 relay kits for the HIDs, low, high and fogs.

Got a second battery pre charging and thats going in the rear with the amps, cap and subs.

The insight starts from the IMA hybrid battery through the IMA motor. Only if the charge is low, its below 10 degrees out or a few other conditions it will use the traditional 12 volt starter mounted to the engine. Like most Hondas it has a device ELD that turns the alternator or charging system off and on as needed to help save fuel, which causes the battery to wear out faster. I went from the stock motor cycle battery to a group 51, now a u1.

[Cobb]

In the thread regarding box for the 804 john253a banged out,http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/165417-jbl-gto-804-touring-8-inch-6812-order-band-pass/page-2

[Cobb]

There we go, got the dirt to fill the boxes with.

Got the quick creek to make the sub box.

10 bags ought to be enough.

[Cobb]

What do you think of this amp?

[Cobb]

The above photo is of the converter that back feeds the IMA hybrid system 5000 watts to help save gas by burning electric. I thought it made for a nice amp photo.

Ok, I reinstalled what I had. Yeah, I know, crapticulator. 10 farad cap, a couple of fuses, a 2nd deep cycle u1 battery like the one under the hood and an alpine m450 amp.Its basically a similar setup to what I had. I am going to add polly fill to the box to see if it helps more. I hacent had a chance to do the new box yet. I am thinking about getting a larger amp and use the 12 inch sub compact sub I had or do some isoberic 4th order setup with these 8s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB_uLV_XC9U

[Cobb]

I love the sound, feel, beat, etc. Just one problem, neither can go loud enough that I have to turn it down. Crutchfield suggested a ALPINE KTP-445U UNIVERSAL4-CHANNEL CAR AMPLIFIER.