Questions about the climate controls

[Transformer]

Friends, these questions are about Model 3 climate controls, specifically LR if that matters. It's usually not in Auto climate mode. I did RTFM. In fact, it has the best automobile Owners Manual I've ever seen.

Q1. How to turn on air recirculation without heating or cooling (e.g. to filter out some wildfire smoke, including in Keep Climate On mode while parked)?

Q2. How to set a goal temperature range rather than a specific goal temperature? (E.g. heat to 69ºF when driving through a mountain pass but don't keep it cool to 69ºF on the downhill side. Cool to 76ºF.)

Q3. How to see on the touch screen whether the fan is blowing hot, ambient, or cold air? The phone app shows colored airflow arrows (airrows?).

Q4. What voice commands will make the car just turn the A/C on/off, or just turn recirculation on/off, or just adjust the fan speed or temperature by 1 step -- without gratuitously changing other settings?

 

[XLR82XS]

1) Recirc function will only work when climate control is on.
2) No range only specific temperature. Just set it to AUTO with the temp you want the cabin to be. It will adjust as needed when ambient temp changes.
3) Not available at this time. Air flow direction only shows in white on the screen.
4) Not sure. Try out some different voice commands and see what happens.

 

[Transformer]

I did some experiments. Fan & recirc controls respond to some voice commands. A/C doesn't.

Working commands:

• "Turn on recirculation"
  
• "Turn off recirculation"
  
• 
  
• "Decrease fan speed by n"
• "Increase fan speed by n"
• "Set fan speed to n"
• "Fan speed to n"
  
• "Increase fan speed" => increased fan speed by 4
• "Decrease fan speed" => decreased fan speed by 4
  
• "Max fan" => "Fan speed set to 11" [cute!] and set fan speed to 10
• "Fan off" => turned off all climate controls
  
• "Fan on" => enabling climate control

These did not work as expected:

• "Recirculation on"
• "Recirculation off"
• "Shields up" => did not turn on recirculation
• 
  
• "Fan speed n" e.g. 3 => "Fan speed decreased by 3"
• "Increase fan speed n"
• "Faster fan" => decreased fan speed by 4
• "Slower fan" => decreased fan speed by 4
  
• "Turn on air conditioning" => turned on Auto mode
  
• "Turn off air conditioning" => turned off all climate controls
  
• "Turn off A C" => turned off all climate controls
• "Turn off cooling" => "Command not understood"
• 
  
• "Arm the ejector seats" => turned all seat heaters on to max heat

I still don't understand "Auto" mode.

 

[GtiMart]

Auto mode monitors the car's interior temperature and does what it takes to reach the temperature you have set. It then tries to maintain that temperature.

 

[Transformer]

Auto mode monitors the car's interior temperature and does what it takes to reach the temperature you have set. It then tries to maintain that temperature.

Doesn't it do the same without Auto mode, except that it will cool only if A/C is enabled?

 

[PianoAl]

Here are my comments about the climate system.

1. It took me while to realize that the thermostat is consistent but inaccurate. In our car, I have to set the desired temperature to 73 when I want it to be 69. Otherwise, cold air will come out.

2. The app won't let you turn on the climate control if the trunk is open. Sure, one of the back seats might be down, but there are times when we're loading up and want to climate on.

3. Recently, I had been surfing and my wife had been sitting in the sun. On the way home, we wanted heat on my side and an A/C on hers. I don't think we were successful in getting that.

4. I'd really like to just have air without heat or A/C.

 

[GtiMart]

Auto will adjust fan speed, recirculation, which outputs are used etc. If you remove auto you're setting those configurations yourself. The only thing the car still has control of is how hot or cold the air comes out of the vents to reach your target. You might never reach it...

 

[Gasaraki]

Doesn't it do the same without Auto mode, except that it will cool only if A/C is enabled?

No... I don't even know why that would be the case... Auto means automatic. If it's off, it means the controls are all manually controlled. If you set it to 72 and you manually adjust stuff like fans speed, AC, vents, etc it no longer can automatically keep the temperature at 72. It will either be cooler or warmer based on what you did.

 

[XLR82XS]

Here are my comments about the climate system.
4. I'd really like to just have air without heat or A/C.

You can. Turn off the compressor and set the fan to desired speed. You will get ambient air with recirc off.

 

[PianoAl]

You can. Turn off the compressor and set the fan to desired speed. You will get ambient air with recirc off.

Ah, excellent. Thanks. Just tried it out:

 

[diamond.g]

When the Model 3 first came out the display did show if it was heating or cooling with red or blue airflow colors. IIRC people started complaining that the vehicle was using heat "unexpectedly" and so Tesla changed the airflow color to white in the display.

 

[Twochewy]

Not exactly. You can turn off the A/C, but not the heat. When I leave in the morning my car turns on the heat, then the A/C after a short bit. Heat the car then use A/C to cool it 10 mins later? I just leave climate off until I need the A/C. I wish there was a way to turn the heat off. It's a waste in the summer.

 

[GtiMart]

If you lower the temperature enough the heat shouldn't come on. I think there's even a "MIN" setting if you go low enough. If you then turn off the AC, I believe you are essentially getting the outside air straight.

 

[Twochewy]

Yeah, you're right. But you need to turn the temp up again or it gets too cold (A/C running continuously). Not a big deal, but interesting that Tesla designed it like an ICE car where heat is "free" (i.e. engine waste heat).

 

[XLR82XS]

Not exactly. You can turn off the A/C, but not the heat. When I leave in the morning my car turns on the heat, then the A/C after a short bit. Heat the car then use A/C to cool it 10 mins later? I just leave climate off until I need the A/C. I wish there was a way to turn the heat off. It's a waste in the summer.

What temperature is it set at?

 

[Transformer]

I tested it: Non-Auto mode heats or (optionally) cools the car to the target temp within 1º (per its own sensor, however accurate that is).

If you want just airflow within a larger temp range, you have to keep counteracting it.
Auto mode takes control of the fan speed, A/C on/off, and vents, which takes away your best tool (A/C off) to get just airflow.

What's the point of Auto mode setting fan speed and vents? On what basis does it decide?

 

[GtiMart]

Ir is trying to adjust the temperature inside the whole car (not the output from the vents) to the temp you set. It needs to adjust fan speed (high first, lower once close to target), where the air goes etc. There are multiple temp sensors in the car i believe.
If what you want is manual control of airflow and temp coming out of vents then manual mode is for you.

 

[Michelle_eriw]

I tested it: Non-Auto mode heats or (optionally) cools the car to the target temp within 1º (per its own sensor, however accurate that is).

If you want just airflow within a larger temp range, you have to keep counteracting it.
Auto mode takes control of the fan speed, A/C on/off, and vents, which takes away your best tool (A/C off) to get just airflow.

What's the point of Auto mode setting fan speed and vents? On what basis does it decide?

I don't know what the point is, but I do know that in every car that I've had where I can set the temperature, auto mode adjusted fan speed, whether recirculation was on or off, which vents (dash, foot, or both) were used. 2001 Acura, 2004 Prius and 2016 and 2019 Ford Fusions after that.

 

[chuckecheeseli]

Sorry if this is too off-topic, but didn't want to start a new thread if unnecessary.

Am I correct in stating that if I turn off A/C in car touch panel, and turn my manual temperature setting down to "LO", then the car should only be circulating (or recirculating, depending on setting) cabin/outside air WITHOUT cooling OR heating? Similarly, if I maintain the same settings but increase manual temperature setting to "HI", the car should kick on the heater?

I ask because I ran a quick experiment that confused me. Climate control is in manual mode, A/C is off, temperature set to "LO", but my phone app is showing blue (cooling?) arrows in climate control section. If my statements above are accurate, shouldn't these arrows be white? See photos below...

 

[GtiMart]

Your reasoning seems good... Now, I don't know if I've ever seen the app climate arrows white... Also remember that the AC compressor might still run if the car needs it to cool the batteries for example.
If you are looking at this to save energy, you'll only save peanuts.