Defroster Vent UI Behavior

[brianman]

When Canadians talk of "cold, humid weather" we are speaking of temperatures well below freezing, but still "damp".

Isn't what Doug said akin to folks in Arizona or Florida saying "those settings won't work in hot weather to keep you cool enough"? I was talking about the experiences with my car in my area's weather. To counter with "that won't work (in another region's weather)" is kind of odd. It's like saying "yah that won't work in the arctic" when I wasn't talking about the arctic in the first place.

 

[mknox]

Isn't what Doug said akin to folks in Arizona or Florida saying "those settings won't work in hot weather to keep you cool enough"? I was talking about the experiences with my car in my area's weather. To counter with "that won't work (in another region's weather)" is kind of odd. It's like saying "yah that won't work in the arctic" when I wasn't talking about the arctic in the first place.

Sure, but everything's relative as you say. Doug said Fan speed 1 doesn't work in cold humid weather and you responded that either you don't experience those conditions or your car works differently. I simply pointed out that cold, humid weather means different things in Ottawa and Seattle. I realize you were't talking about "Ottawa" conditions in your post, but Doug was, and that is what you responded to. :wink:

 

[scaesare]

I don't know for certain, but my impression is that my settings (in the part you quoted) doesn't engage the A/C compressor. In fact, if it does engage the compressor then I think the "AC off" UI is broken (at a design level).

I think that in order to make sure we are on the same, page I should clarify and make sure we are consistent in terminology usage (I myself used a couple of different terms for the same vent) for what vents we are referring to: I call them Floor, Dash, & Windshield vents, respectively.

For me if I set A/C Off, Recirc Off, Dash and/or Floor Vents On, and Temp Lo, I get outside ambient air with no additional temp drop applied.

If I additionally set Windshield Vent On, I immediately get temperature drop below outside ambient temps from all enabled vents. I thus conclude the A/C compressor is working, despite it being manually set to "Off".

 

[brianman]

If I additionally set Windshield Vent On, I immediately get temperature drop below outside ambient temps from all enabled vents. I thus conclude the A/C compressor is working, despite it being manually set to "Off".

Can you post a picture or describe the icon you mean for "Windshield Vent On"?

Here's the settings I'm using:

From left to right:

1. Driver seat heater @ 1
2. Driver temperature @ 72 (irrelevant because AC is off). I can roll this up to HI or down to LO and the cabin temperature is completely unaffected.
3. Fan @ 1
4. Front defroster off
5. Direction of flow only to windshield
6. A/C Off
7. Not recirc
8. Rear defroster off

If the A/C is in fact on with these settings, then the A/C in my car is incredibly ineffective (it's well below 72F when the weather is below 60F out) and remarkably cheap w/r/t energy consumption (basically identical to when I tap the Climate button). In other words, all the signs point to the UI being accurate that the A/C is not on.

From what I can tell so far, the user experience is identical between 4.5 and 5.6 with these settings.

 

[scaesare]

Can you post a picture or describe the icon you mean for "Windshield Vent On"?

The Windshield Vent icon I am referring to is on the right in the pop-up panel seen above.

This pic represents the scenario described in my complaint. In this configuration I get air chilled below outside ambient temperature. If I disable the Windshield Vent, then I get outside ambient air. This despite A/C Off being selected in both cases.

 

[mknox]

This pic represents the scenario described in my complaint. In this configuration I get air chilled below outside ambient temperature. If I disable the Windshield Vent, then I get outside ambient air. This despite A/C Off being selected in both cases.

I have a funny feeling that's how it worked in some of my past cars too. I would often over-ride the a/c but found that defrosters would usually activate the compressor, and often without even illuminating the "snowflake" icon that those cars had to tell you the a/c was running.

 

[jerry33]

I have a funny feeling that's how it worked in some of my past cars too. I would often over-ride the a/c but found that defrosters would usually activate the compressor, and often without even illuminating the "snowflake" icon that those cars had to tell you the a/c was running.

At least some of those cars would have had a humidity sensor that tells the system when to use the a/c to dry the air.

 

[brianman]

This pic represents the scenario described in my complaint. In this configuration I get air chilled below outside ambient temperature. If I disable the Windshield Vent, then I get outside ambient air. This despite A/C Off being selected in both cases.

Try disabling the other 2 (meaning keep only the windshield direction). I'm curious what the does for you.

 

[scaesare]

Try disabling the other 2 (meaning keep only the windshield direction). I'm curious what the does for you.

I've tried that. I get chilled air out the windshield vents.

 

[scaesare]

A question on defroster vent behavior: is it possible to enable the defroster vent for fresh air without also enabling the A/C compressor?

I often like fresh outside air in the cabin at ambient temperature with no heating or cooling applied. I can accomplish this in the HVAC control panel by tuning the A/C Off, Enabling Non-re-circulation, and selecting Dash and/or Floor vents. I then set the Temp = Lo on the "main" lower panel.

However, as soon as I select the Windshield vent, it appears the A/C compressor kicks in, as the temp starts dropping.

There is a separate set of front & rear defroster buttons on the main lower panel. I was hoping that as long as this front-defroster button remained disabled, I could keep the compressor from kicking in. Instead it just appears that enabling this main button is just a "shortcut" that quickly selects a preset that selects the windshield vents, cranks up the blower, etc...

Has anybody discovered a way of doing what this?

Thanks.

So... I'm resurrecting my 2-1/2 year old zombie thread, because I think this may have been "fixed" somewhere along the lines of the last few FW upgrades.

I had occasion to try this again with recent warmer weather, and it appears that if I manually:

• Enable non-re circulation ( want fresh air)
• Set A/C to off (I want outside air temp, don't chill it)
• Set temp to LO (again to get outside air temp, don't heat it)
• Enable all three vent positions: floor, front dash, defroster (note I am enabling the defroster vent positions in the pop-up custom UI panel, not enabling "defrost mode" on the main panel)

I am now getting fresh air without the A/C compressor kicking in. Previously it would do so whenever the defrost vents were enabled, despite my having set it to off.

My goal is to get fresh outside air through all the vents without attempting to condition it, and I now may have that.

I've tried it twice under slightly different conditions, and both time it seemed to work. Perhaps there's some unknown variable still lurking (a humidity threshold, etc...), but this seems like changed behavior. Anybody else see similar?

I'm on a relatively recent build of 7.1.