Winter is coming

[Dilly]

18 mile round trip with heater on but not aircon. Within 2 miles, left camera blocked or blinded.
spent 45 mins at my destination. On the return journey both cameras blocked. On getting home checked them to find a shed load of condensation.
mine still have the Goretex.
When Norwich SC opens, I’ll get it sorted although there is no real cure other than running aircon

 

[Adopado]

18 mile round trip with heater on but not aircon. Within 2 miles, left camera blocked or blinded.
spent 45 mins at my destination. On the return journey both cameras blocked. On getting home checked them to find a shed load of condensation.
mine still have the Goretex.
When Norwich SC opens, I’ll get it sorted although there is no real cure other than running aircon

Isn't modern electric driven aircon "smart"? What I mean is surely it should only consume significant energy when it's actually doing it's job. Just as a heater runs until the temperature is at the set level and then tickles along adding small amounts of heat as needed ... doesn't the aircon back off once the moisture reduces to a certain level? (If it doesn't it should!) Do we have evidence of significant consumption differences when running the aircon in cool/cold weather? (I'm just asking the question to the world in general ... or anyone who really knows the answer.)

 

[Dilly]

Isn't modern electric driven aircon "smart"? What I mean is surely it should only consume significant energy when it's actually doing it's job. Just as a heater runs until the temperature is at the set level and then tickles along adding small amounts of heat as needed ... doesn't the aircon back off once the moisture reduces to a certain level? (If it doesn't it should!) Do we have evidence of significant consumption differences when running the aircon in cool/cold weather? (I'm just asking the question to the world in general ... or anyone who really knows the answer.)

The interior wasn’t damp, so I didn’t need HVAC per se. My journey is so short (community paper round) that I doubt it would shift camera condensation before I’m home. The garage is dry and draught proof. The moisture must be there already but perhaps trapped in the goretex.

 

[AndrewGR]

In my experience it’s not air conditioning that uses the power, it’s heating. In my pre heat pump model, the heating is fantastic on a cold morning but the Wh/mile figure looks horrendous for the first mile or so. Windscreen was frozen yesterday morning. I saw 1800 Wh/mi after defrosting and driving 1/4 mile! Had dropped to about 500 after a short trip to the supermarket and back.
On a longer trip I don’t think the use of air con makes much difference to power consumption. But it does to comfort and keeping everything dry.

 

[Adopado]

In my experience it’s not air conditioning that uses the power, it’s heating. In my pre heat pump model, the heating is fantastic on a cold morning but the Wh/mile figure looks horrendous for the first mile or so. Windscreen was frozen yesterday morning. I saw 1800 Wh/mi after defrosting and driving 1/4 mile! Had dropped to about 500 after a short trip to the supermarket and back.
On a longer trip I don’t think the use of air con makes much difference to power consumption. But it does to comfort and keeping everything dry.

That certainly matches my own experience and in fact I tend to be more free in my use of a/c in the winter than in the summer for reasons of keeping the inside as dry as possible.

 

[MrBadger]

The beading that you get with a nicely washed/waxed car looks like it may even contribute to the problem! I would guess that the lumps of ice are going to be stronger than a finer frozen layer. Are filthy cars less likely to suffer this issue, I wonder! My own M3 (fairly clean) was well below freezing yesterday evening and there was a lot of ice pinging off when I opened up but fortunately nothing stuck. I've had issues in the past with cars that have frameless windows being frozen into position so I think that would be my main concern. Might try the silicone coating trick.

This topic may start raising its head in coming months, so thought that I would resurrect.

Yep, maybe, so I have put off cleaning the car to test .... well that's my excuse

 

[Jason71]

This topic may start raising its head in coming months, so thought that I would resurrect.

Yep, maybe, so I have put off cleaning the car to test .... well that's my excuse

isn't that a self fulfilling prophecy?
It is always fun though when those who collected their first EV in summer hit October and see their efficiency fall off a cliff on the cold morning commute.
Maybe I will get a winter avatar. Cold car warm cabin instead of the current warm car cold cabin.
I got mine in November so the only way to go was up in my case

 

[Avendit]

isn't that a self fulfilling prophecy?
It is always fun though when those who collected their first EV in summer hit October and see their efficiency fall off a cliff on the cold morning commute
I got mine in November so the only way to go was up.

I'm just jelous of everyone with heatpumps! 280+ practical miles in the summer, <200 in full winter .

May as well check at the same time, anyone seen any good reviews of the pilot 4s all weather tyres? I know they get an acceptable in UK style winter weather, not seen how much you lose off the summer performance tho?

 

[Jason71]

I'm just jelous of everyone with heatpumps! 280+ practical miles in the summer, <200 in full winter .

May as well check at the same time, anyone seen any good reviews of the pilot 4s all weather tyres? I know they get an acceptable in UK style winter weather, not seen how much you lose off the summer performance tho?

I have just jumped from a non heat pump M3 LR to a heat pump MY. Summer efficiency seems similar so will be interesting to see how much it diverges from what I am used to come the cold weather.

 

[Sparky750]

You've all convinced me Effe will now live in the garage I usually only put her away when charge is below 40% for a top up now she's going in every night and getting plugged in. Hopefully by winter we've had charge points fitted in work so I can preheat to my hearts desire before home time