Okay to Turn Off Cabin Overheat Protection

[Timdoggg85]

Good point, most modern cars have computers, however I'm not super knowledgeable of the heat tolerances that are built into these vehicles, and my concern is that extreme heat combined with the heavy computations these vehicles undergo will cause processors to be forced to throttle, reducing peak output of certain features.

 

[raptor5244]

That’s only true if the automaker uses automotive grade electronics which Tesla did not for its first 7 years of auto production

Hopefully, they chose to do the right thing the high volume Model 3 and Y. I would figure we would have heard something by now? My wife's car sits in the south Florida sun and the internal temps get to 145 degrees. 2 years so far and no signs yet.

 

[Family Joules]

My home thermostat has one temperature setting for heat and a different temperature setting for A/C. Any time the room temperature falls between those two settings, the HVAC system remains off. Why can't the same approach be used in the M3?

 

[raptor5244]

My home thermostat has one temperature setting for heat and a different temperature setting for A/C. Any time the room temperature falls between those two settings, the HVAC system remains off. Why can't the same approach be used in the M3?

Well, this feature is called "Cabin Overheat Protection" so it only turns on the fan or AC when the temperature reaches greater than 105 degrees. What you are describing is effectively what the HVAC system does when you are driving the car. Set it to 72 degrees and it keeps it there.

I think the debate in this thread is whether it is worth the extra energy and wear and tear on the HVAC system to keep your car interior at 105 degrees for hours at a time when no one is in it. There are pros and cons depending on how you look at it. In the summer south Florida heat in a car built like a greenhouse my AC would run all day long and use up 20% of the battery so it is not worth it to me.

 

[Family Joules]

Well, this feature is called "Cabin Overheat Protection" so it only turns on the fan or AC when the temperature reaches greater than 105 degrees. What you are describing is effectively what the HVAC system does when you are driving the car. Set it to 72 degrees and it keeps it there.

I think the debate in this thread is whether it is worth the extra energy and wear and tear on the HVAC system to keep your car interior at 105 degrees for hours at a time when no one is in it. There are pros and cons depending on how you look at it. In the summer south Florida heat in a car built like a greenhouse my AC would run all day long and use up 20% of the battery so it is not worth it to me.

Not exactly. Cabin overheat kicks in at 105F. What I am talking about is an A/C setting that kicks in at a selected temp, such as 76F, and a heat setting that kicks in at say 68F, and any cabin temperature between those two settings uses neither heat nor A/C. If I set the HVAC to 72, it will use either heat or A/C to keep the temperature at 72, even though I only want them to turn on above 76 or below 68.

 

[raptor5244]

Not exactly. Cabin overheat kicks in at 105F. What I am talking about is an A/C setting that kicks in at a selected temp, such as 76F, and a heat setting that kicks in at say 68F, and any cabin temperature between those two settings uses neither heat nor A/C. If I set the HVAC to 72, it will use either heat or A/C to keep the temperature at 72, even though I only want them to turn on above 76 or below 68.

Are you saying you want this level of temp customization for the Cabin Overheat Protection feature? If so, that is not Cabin Overheat, that is Cabin Comfort. If you are looking to cool or heat the car before you get in it you can just do that in the app.

At any rate it sounds like you want an 8 degree temp range where the HVAC does nothing. I haven't seen anything like that since that is too large of a swing in temp and would be uncomfortable to most people. Usually, HVAC has a target temp of say 72 degrees and the compressor cycles on at 73 and off at 71, rinse repeat.

 

[ukstreets]

I have recently purchased my M3 with FSD and am extremely happy and proud of it.....but something was bugging me. When I got the car I went through all the screens and turned things on that sounded cool and I went on my way driving the kids to school or work, eaving early for the pickups just so I could enjoy the car a little more.
I found Teslafi and this brought on a new level of interest to see how much energy I was spending on my trips, awesome info but then I spot it. Every day I lose 3% battery before I go on my first drive of the day. Initially I thought ok so what but then I did the math and figured "hey thats a 90% charge" I am losing every month apart from February!

So I spent a week (because I never read a manual) trying to switch things off and seeing if it made a difference the next day. Finally I found it was the departure time preconditioning the cabin. As my trips are no more than 4 miles round trip I saw no point in spending 3% on battery/cabin preconditioning when I use only 6% in a day. This morning school was over due to the summer vacation so I had to wait an extra 30 minutes to check Teslafi to see if the battery had dropped this morning.

Success no drop in charge so now I am happy my first day when I can say I will not be wasting energy....no wait cabin temp is 120F/49C I run out and switch on the COP and my fight against the wasted energy continues.

So my question. Having read how COP may be effective without A/C and on Fan only, what really is the dangerpoint for cabin temp and the electronics.... I live in the UK after all it hardly gets hot here. Do I really need to be twitchy about protecting the electronics? What temp is a bad temp?

 

[jjrandorin]

So my question. Having read how COP may be effective without A/C and on Fan only, what really is the dangerpoint for cabin temp and the electronics.... I live in the UK after all it hardly gets hot here. Do I really need to be twitchy about protecting the electronics? What temp is a bad temp?

(Moderator note. Post moved from new thread into this thread, which is a discussion on cabin overheat protection)

 

[JCtx]

Well, I found my car the other day with 135F interior temperature, even though cabin protection (without A/C) was turned on, so guess whatever it does, it's different than turning climate control ON (without A/C) from the app (which it DOES work). I'm not going to turn A/C ON, but without it, the feature seems to only work marginally. Oh well.