AC Recirc not working and AC not as cold as prior to 8.0?

[Racerx22b]

Has anyone noticed the recirculation feature not working like it did prior to 8.0? Before you ask, the option is selected. However, the aroma of outside air is almost as if recirculation is not even on. On top of this, the AC is not as cold as it used to be before 8.0.

I think I saw tweaks to the AC as part of 8.0.

Anyone else notice something similar?

 

[msnow]

Yes, there's several posts on this. Suggest you let Tesla know by emailing them at [email protected] to voice your displeasure. The more that do that the higher the likelihood they will fix it.

 

[Racerx22b]

Thanks. I guess it's somewhere in the 130+ page 8.0 thread. Ain't nobody got time for that!

 

[SeminoleFSU]

I'm still wondering why they made this change? Very odd they spent time working on this when the community (TMC, TeslaTap, Tesla.com) has never asked for it and has many other things that have a pretty good consensus pool on in terms of customers agreeing they'd like to see improvements on. The Nav features like waypoints, etc being a big one... Another common one is the USB music issue (although I don't use this those folks are very vocal and losing the alphabet jump shortcuts would annoy me too)

 

[mastermason11]

I was frustrated with this as well. Here's what I noticed. The recirc function only works when your fan speed is 4 or higher. Lowering the fanspeed to 3 or lower automatically disables recirc.

 

[boonedocks]

Have you also found that the "automatic" fan speeds have been greatly reduced? I have found myself having to reduce the cabin temperature by 3+ degrees from pre-Ver8 to have the same cooling affect with everything on automatic

 

[Racerx22b]

I received an email response from Tesla.... I replied to confirm it was an issue that was being widely reported on the forums.

Thank you for reaching out. I would like to ask our service department follow up with you on your outside air issue, I am not sure if what you are describing is the climate system operating as designed or not. I expect that they will be reaching out to you by Monday. I will also submit your feedback to our firmware team in case it is or it is an unintended effect of the 8.0 update.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

After updating to version 8 I have been freezing cold. I used to keep it set to 70, now I have to bump it up to 74 in order not to feel cold. It's in the 90s outside.

 

[bmah]

Stupid question: If you have recirc set to "Auto", how do you know if if the outside vents are, at this moment, open or closed? Unlike the other settings on the climate control pop-up screen which have "Auto" modes (say the fan speed), there doesn't seem to be any visual indication one way or the other as to what the current behavior is.

Bruce.

 

[SeminoleFSU]

I was frustrated with this as well. Here's what I noticed. The recirc function only works when your fan speed is 4 or higher. Lowering the fanspeed to 3 or lower automatically disables recirc.

I can't think of a reason why they would do this? The only thing I can think of is this is an artifact or unintended consequence of their attempt to make the air velocity match regardless of your fresh/recirculate air setting.... I believe that was called out as a new improvement in the release notes? Which begs another question: Why did they spend time coding that "improvement" when no one was asking for it and there are many other things people were asking for that would be much more impactful/appreciated?? Not to mention pretty much every car I've ever been in has a stronger and colder airflow in recirc than on fresh air... people are used to that... is that really a problem that needed solving? So strange..

 

[AmpedRealtor]

I can't think of a reason why they would do this? The only thing I can think of is this is an artifact or unintended consequence of their attempt to make the air velocity match regardless of your fresh/recirculate air setting.... I believe that was called out as a new improvement in the release notes? Which begs another question: Why did they spend time coding that "improvement" when no one was asking for it and there are many other things people were asking for that would be much more impactful... Not to mention pretty much every car I've ever been in has a stronger and colder airflow in recirc than on fresh air... people are used to that... is that really a problem that needed solving? So strange..

Same with the new feature that factors solar insolation at your location. My 2007 Prius didn't do that, but it still was able to cool quickly and met my expectations. I have to wonder, are the software people at Tesla simply designing for an ideal, utopian environment and not for reality? You don't need to factor insolation, sun angle, or whatever in order to quickly meet and hold a set temperature inside the vehicle.

GET IT TOGETHER TESLA!

 

[SeminoleFSU]

Stupid question: If you have recirc set to "Auto", how do you know if if the outside vents are, at this moment, open or closed? Unlike the other settings on the climate control pop-up screen which have "Auto" modes (say the fan speed), there doesn't seem to be any visual indication one way or the other as to what the current behavior is.

Bruce.

Follow up question: if you have it set manually to recirculate, and the fan set to auto... does it change it to fresh air when the temp setting is in a certain range where the fan speed automatically falls below 4? If so that would be SUPER annoying. I pretty much run in recirculate with auto fan all the time. that way I just use temp to adjust everything... I hope it doesn't change to fresh on a whim... jesh.

 

[SeminoleFSU]

Same with the new feature that factors solar insolation at your location. My 2007 Prius didn't do that, but it still was able to cool quickly and met my expectations. I have to wonder, are the software people at Tesla simply designing for an ideal, utopian environment and not for reality? You don't need to factor insolation, sun angle, or whatever in order to quickly meet and hold a set temperature inside the vehicle.

GET IT TOGETHER TESLA!

Indeed... so weird. how many lines of code is that? How much did it slow down other functions people use all the time? Seems like that's way overthought/over-complicated. Just measure the temp inside the car with sensors and adjust HVAC accordingly. You don't need to calculate phase of the moon and distance to mars... I could see putting something like this into the mars space craft he just unveiled??? maybe.

 

[Racerx22b]

Another response from the mothership.... This was after I advised him that the "glitch" is not unique to my Tesla and others are complaining of a similar issue.

Thank you. I will forward your feedback to our firmware team. I will also look into a possible resolution, and I will reach back out to you if I find a solution.

 

[apacheguy]

So at this point it looks like it is a bug instead of a feature which is reassuring.

 

[SomeJoe7777]

My speculation is that forcing fan speed to a minimum of 4 in recirc mode is a deliberate design decision. They increased cabin cooling in the late 7.1 builds to make the cabin temperature more in-line with the setpoint temperature, and then in 8.0 they added solar heating compensation, which is further increasing cabin cooling. I suspect that since the compressor is now running harder for cooling, that a minimum fan speed is now needed in recirc mode to prevent the evaporator from icing.

If you want a lower fan speed than 4, use fresh air mode. If you have a refresh model S or model X, then block outside odors with the HEPA filter (bioweapon defense mode).

 

[jzhan]

So at this point it looks like it is a bug instead of a feature which is reassuring.

hmm dare I say it's indeed not a bug but a feature? Whether or not people like the new feature or if the feature gets removed in the next update is another matter.

 

[apacheguy]

My speculation is that forcing fan speed to a minimum of 4 in recirc mode is a deliberate design decision. They increased cabin cooling in the late 7.1 builds to make the cabin temperature more in-line with the setpoint temperature, and then in 8.0 they added solar heating compensation, which is further increasing cabin cooling. I suspect that since the compressor is now running harder for cooling, that a minimum fan speed is now needed in recirc mode to prevent the evaporator from icing.

If you want a lower fan speed than 4, use fresh air mode. If you have a refresh model S or model X, then block outside odors with the HEPA filter (bioweapon defense mode).

Sorry but that's not an acceptable workaround. My car runs just fine in recirc mode with low fan speed on 7.1. As do all other cars that have a recirc mode. Luckily I have not upgrade to 8.0 and will not do so until this is resolved.

 

[msnow]

Sorry but that's not an acceptable workaround. My car runs just fine in recirc mode with low fan speed on 7.1. As do all other cars that have a recirc mode. Luckily I have not upgrade to 8.0 and will not do so until this is resolved.

I tested this for a couple of hours today and while I agree it's a strange bug it was never an issue. Keep in mind both of us live in Southern California and it was about 90 today so I had to force it under 4 to trigger the recirc change but under normal driving I would never have noticed. Now when it cools off perhaps it would be an issue but not enough to not install the update IMHO.

 

[Cyclone]

I tested this for a couple of hours today and while I agree it's a strange bug it was never an issue. Keep in mind both of us live in Southern California and it was about 90 today so I had to force it under 4 to trigger the recirc change but under normal driving I would never have noticed. Now when it cools off perhaps it would be an issue but not enough to not install the update IMHO.

I would have noticed yesterday and today. Both yesterday and today I felt little airflow and remembered it was raining earlier, and sure enough, I was on fresh air and auto with a speed of 1 (I run fresh air and auto when it rains to avoid fogging).