Cabin Overheat 154F

[Peteybabes]

just tested this feature this morning.

outside temperature 76 degrees Fahrenheit after 3.5 hours i checked the inside temperature which could normally reach about 125 degrees Fahrenheit or so, and the temperature was at 105 and moved down to 104 then back up to 105...!

seems to be working and probably just sucking cabin air out or something.

 

[wqu06]

I don't think the interior cabin temperature is accurate. I had it parked one day when the outside temperature was <70F with a sunshade placed. The interior temperature throughout the day was constantly 100F+ with the highest being 125F. Is this normal in ICE cars? I always wondered where the sensor was located (see link below, starts at 4:32). Could it be that with how big the windshield is, the sensor is being exposed directly to the sun? It would be interesting to see if a sunshade that covers the entire front windshield would make the sensor work better.

 

[Cyclone]

I had it parked one day when the outside temperature was <70F with a sunshade placed. The interior temperature throughout the day was constantly 100F+ with the highest being 125F. Is this normal in ICE cars?

Yes, very normal in ICE cars.

 

[Jrogville]

I don't think there's any limit. The highest I've seen so far this spring is 136F.

As I mentioned above, when I saw the 136F, I also watched it drop back to 104 over the next few minutes, and when I looked in again a couple hours later, it was still showing ~105F.

Has this happened multiple time?

Yes, very normal in ICE cars.

The car, any car, acts like a greenhouse, soaking up heat and retaining it. It would have to be very cold outside for conductive heat loss (ei air contact with glass) to be able to compensate for the heat gain from the sun.

 

[wqu06]

Yes, very normal in ICE cars.

This is totally subjective but I don't think my ICE car ever reached that high of a temperature when the outside temperature is <70F.

 

[Saghost]

I don't think there's any limit. The highest I've seen so far this spring is 136F.

Has this happened multiple time?

The car, any car, acts like a greenhouse, soaking up heat and retaining it. It would have to be very cold outside for conductive heat loss (ei air contact with glass) to be able to compensate for the heat gain from the sun.

On my X under the current firmware, it's completely repeatable- it's done this half a dozen times this year, and never done anything else.

 

[chris5639]

All of these can be solved with better software. And I believe Tesla will continue to improve it. A simple example would be to compare the outside temperature with the inside one and if difference is greater than say, 10 degrees, turn on the fans. The fans would consume a fraction of the energy as the AC compressor and hence more practical to keep on beyond 12 hours.

if ((outside temp - inside temp) > threshold) && (inside temp > max comfortable temp)) { setrecirculate(off); setfanspeed(max); }

Another would be what some of you suggested which is to make the 12 hour limit configurable,

if ((insidetemp > desiredtemp) && (timesinceparked < configuredtimeinterval) && (batterylevel > configured_min_stateofcharge_allowedforclimate)) then setclimate(on);

And any combination of these type of logic can balance between comfort and energy comsumption. With sensors and every system in the car being software controllable, anything is possible.

I didn't look at how extensive the Tesla API's are but if the sensors are part of the API, we could implement this without Tesla using a custom app or even simply IFTTT. I know the mobile app, via the web services, provide internal temp and climate control. I just don't know if it provides outside temp via api. I suppose you can grab the gps location via api, then call weather.com's api to get current outside temp. Sounds fun

 

[Cyclone]

This is totally subjective but I don't think my ICE car ever reached that high of a temperature when the outside temperature is <70F.

My Toyota 4Runner would be above 100*F almost any day here in Charlotte, even when we were in the seventies ambient. I put a thermometer in there so I can check when coming out of the office. Almost every since time it was over 100*F. My mother's Lexus IS does too, but her ambient is in the eighties and nineties. We also have a Honda Fit and while we haven't done a thermometer test in it, it most definitely is baking by mid-day.

 

[Peteybabes]

This is totally subjective but I don't think my ICE car ever reached that high of a temperature when the outside temperature is <70F.

has nothing to do if it's an ICE or an electric car...

i had a guitar built for me and the builder wrote a nice article on this subject so that owners could protect their guitars from having the glue melt and blow up.

the quote from his page states:

"On a hot day in full sunlight, my car can reach an interior temperature of 175 degrees Fahrenheit in only fifteen minutes. At that temperature, it’s not long before the interior of an instrument case gets extremely hot, too. At around 140 degrees, the glue that holds modern instruments together begins to turn to liquid. LITERALLY."

source: GUITAR MAINTENANCE::GUITAR CLEANING

i should note that he's located in Morral OH and he drives your average Honda, so not an extreme case here at all...

 

[Saghost]

This is totally subjective but I don't think my ICE car ever reached that high of a temperature when the outside temperature is <70F.

In Elon we trust - all others bring data.

If you really think this, get one of those thermometers that shows up the highest an lowest temperature it reached and leave it in the car on a sunny day. I'm quite certain you'll be shocked.

 

[dogldogl]

With the new anti theft sensor installed, cabin overheat protection is disabled (why? Can this be improved in a future software update to temporarily “mute” anti theft when the AC engages?)

After my X spent some time @ internal cabin temp ~ 140F the autopilot features (incl cruise) fail to engage, until the car cools down some hours later in the evening.