I was wondering how many of you guys use the automatic climate control and how many of you use it manually. Me, I use the automatic with temperature setting at 71 F. I believe it is the temperature to be set of the air inside the car and not of the air blowing.

I had a big argument the other day with a 2004 TL owner who sat in my TSX on a very cold Minnesota evening and insisted that if I change the temperature to 80 F (since I guess he thought that it is the temperature of the blowing air and not the ambience) the car would heat up faster. I was of the opinion that in any case the car is not going to blow air unless the engine heats up and since about 71 +/- 1 F is the ideal human comfort temperature what is the need of 80 F???? The only thing it will do is make the passengers sweat. Was my thinking right???

 

I usually leave my auto at 70.

 

My auto is also set around 70-73. Depending on how many people are inside.

 

auto 70 in summer
auto 75-80 in winter

never turn it off

 

Yes, I think I have never gone to a manual climate control setting. The auto works great in any weather! A couple of questions though: How could you tell if the A/C was ON when the CC is on auto. Secondly, is the temperature setting the intended temperature of the volume in the car or the actual temperature of the air blowing through the vents (and then the CC working by changing just the fan speed according to the reading of the temp sensor behind the steering wheel)?

Thanks for the responses!

 

You're right that the auto temp setting is the desired temp of the cabin, but your friend is right that your car will heat up more quickly if you put it on something high like 80.

The car puts out hot/cold air based on the difference between the actual cabin temp, and the desired cabin temp. So if the difference is bigger, the car will use a greater percentage of its heating/cooling capacity (and the result is that the cabin changes temp more quickly).

Of course, none of this matters if the engine is still cold because no heat can come out of the vents anyway. But once you get some heat going, setting the temp to 80 will get you warm quicker. I do this, and then set the temp back down to something reasonable when I feel warm.

 

75-80?!?!

I leave mine set for 23 year round.

 

Nutty Canadians.

 

The temp on the HVAC display is the temp of the air blowing out and the temp that the HVAC system is trying to maintain/achieve. If it was the in-cabin temperature, it would go up/down based on you opening a window or the temp outside dropping or raising.

you set it to 70 and the car works at reaching that temperature and adjusts the heat/ac so that you stay at that temperature. if you open the window on a sub zero day while the temp is set to 70, it will obviously be 10 degrees in the car but the display will still read 70 and continue trying to get the car to be 70 degrees inside. unless its really cold, then the display reads 'fu*k this' and the hvac system will most likely turn itself off. try reading the navi help screen for more detailed instructions on resetting the system.

 

Manual recommends you run AC continuously for 10 min. once a month over the winter to keep something or the other well-lubed. If you live in the cold NE and set it and forget it @ 70 or 72, is this recommendation being fulfilled automatically, or do you have to shut off auto and run the AC in manual and freeze your *ss off to accomplish this?

 

I keep mine on manual most of the time. With the outside temps in the 60s I just set auto to 72, then hit the A/C button to turn off the A/C (don't want the compressor cycling on and off), then hit mode to set the air to come out of the panel vents, and adjust the fan speed to preference. Of course, if the temp goes up over 72 then I hit auto and keep the A/C on. Like rifleman said, I make sure to run A/C every once in a while to keep the system lubed.

 

Damn celcius. Who ever came up with idea of 0 being the freezing point...

 

Still don't understand; if it's left @ 72 on Auto all winter (when the temperature may never top 40*) is the AC cycling on and off, or not? Or do you have to shut Auto off, and run the AC in manual for ten minutes to fulfill the handbook instructions, and freeze your *ss off?

 

The AC actually comes on whenever you have the window defogger on.

 

Anders Celcius.

 

When you have the defoger on the A/C acts as a dehumidifier

 

The temperature displayed on the automatic climate control is the desired cabin temperature, or 'set point' in control-speak. It is not the current cabin temperature or temperature of the air in the vents as some in this thread have stated.

The larger the difference between the current and desired cabin temperature, the faster the fan spins; this is a cool feature of the TSX' automatic climate control. Of course, it lets you override the fan speed manually if you prefer. I would be willing to bet increasing the fan speed beyond the automatic setting actually slows down how quickly your car heats up or cools down, so you probably shouldn't mess with it. If the car is much hotter then the desired temperature, the car automatically turns on recirculation. Overall, a well-engineered system.

In a home heat pump system, increasing the set point beyond your desired temperature has no bearing on how fast the system heats up or cools down your home; the pump is either on or off, and it always runs at the most efficient point on the operating curve (until it is so cold the heat pump would be less efficient than the 'emergency' resistive heater, then it shuts down and uses the resistive heat). In an automotive HVAC system, I speculate that increasing the set point beyond what you really want probably doesn't speed up the heating process, but I'll let someone who knows definitively answer that. There is enough misinformation in this thread already.

 

Me too.

I hate it when the damn recirc turns off though. So annoying. The other thing I noticed is that even with the temp up higher, the compressor turns on?? Wish there was a button to just turn off the AC.

 

I also wish there was some way to keep it in "automatic" mode and also keep recirc on. This would come in handy, for example, if you are driving through an area where the pollen is really thick or something like that.

 

The way I remember reading in the manual, the A/C compressor will cycle on and off in AUTO mode as long as the temperature is above 32F. I don't know about you all, but I can tell when it cycles. You can just "feel" it. With the winter temps way below 32F as of late, I can tell that it is not cycling on and off.

 

I keep my temp at around 70/69 all year round. Give or take a few degs. I use 1-2 bars for fan setting...never use auto except for the AC. AC is in auto mode if you don't see it on your guage. On my non-navi, if you hit the AC button twice, you'll turn off the AC and it'll use outside air only.

 

i was just wondering what is the advantage or disadvantage of pushing the A/C button. what does it do, and when is the ideal time to use it. i always get confused whether to use the a/c button to not. it's cold here so i just use auto, but is the a/c on or off at that point. and what should i do. thanks., i know it's a noob question. but since you guys are on the subject. much mahalos

 

Where is this "Automatic Climate Control" you guys are talking about? I don't see any knobs or anything and I'm looking right at the dashboard. I usually roll the window up when it gets too cold and roll it down when it is hot; is that the automatic thing? You just press the button on the door and it goes one way or the other, I think. Also, there is this hole thingie in the roof that has a sliding panel to let sunlight in; some sort of glass or plastic lid is over it. I think that's where the delaer can fill the car with warm air when it gets serviced ... that's what my dog said.

Also, did any of you notice that when you look close into those dark grill things on the dashboard (at the ends and in the middle), there's a pair of eyes always staring back out at you? I get kinda freaked out, so I try to ignore them, but they're always staring and staring and staring. Will Buick make a A-Spec TSX?

 

I live in mostly moderate temperatures, and more often than not have either the windows or the sunroof open. All I really want most of the time is a bit of outside air on my face. So I tend to go for manual controls. A/C compressor off, fan on 1 or 2, temp setting on "low" so the heat doesn't kick in.

Actually, I find it a bit of a pain in the ass. I wish there was a simple "vent" setting, since that's what I want most of the time.

 

Set the temp to Lo or anything below the outside temp reading and disable recirculation. Then completely turn off the system. It will allow outside air to flow in naturally. Usually for those moderate days like you mention, I just hit OFF since the system is likely already in fresh air mode. If you tilt up the sunroof on the highway it will draw air into the cabin through the vents.

 

I do that all the time (usually have to have adjust the temp and then turn system off first)... and the mode button also to direct where you want to air to come out of

 

Yeah, I know. With the navi, it means working through the touch screens. Like I said, I wish I had a simple one-touch "vent" button.

 

nagidizy =

 

its auto climate control, this isnt anything new. you set it to the temp and it will turn the ac on or off or high or low to keep the cabin at the temp you want. theres not really much more to understand... if your worried about the compressor going on or off or being too high or low, then just put in in manual mode and brush your shoulders off

 

Of course 32F makes so MUCH more sense for a the freezing point...

We should all switch to Kelvin degrees!!

 

(although I think he was joking) If not Kelvin, Celsius is pretty convenient.

 

Makes a heck of a lot more sense than the Fahrenheit scale...

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a891215.html

 

i never had to use the defroser, the one time i thought i needed it was funny, i waited in the car for 10 minutes, and was thinking hey, why isn't it working, then i started wiping it with my hand, to my surprise! no water!!!! then i opened the window and touched the outside of the window! walah! windscreen wiper time =P

 

Fahrenheit is much more accurate. there are 180 degrees between boiling (212)and the freezing point (32). This allows for more precise measurements. Instead of having to say its 23.56782 degrees celcius today

 

 

"In short, 100 means nothing at all on the Fahrenheit scale, 96 used to mean something but doesn't anymore, and 0 is colder than it ever gets in Denmark. Brilliant."

How does that not seem completely logical to you?

 

i knew as soon as i read the one post mentioning temperature, that this entire post would be turned into a discussion about temp freezing/boiling points! I KNEW IT!

 

C > F

 

 

I really wish, like another poster said, that we could have recirculate on and have it in auto mode. One thing I noticed is my four year old car still has the new car smell and is also much cleaner than my friends' cars. Why? Because they always use fresh air and have the windows open. Don't get me wrong, I do both too, mostly to prevent molding and sometimes you need the car to cool down quickly. But what's the downside? Well you are breathing in the smog coming out of the tailipipes of all the cars around you on the freeway. Also, lots of dust comes in. Try going into a car with cloth interior and slam your hand down on the passenger front seat. If you tried that in my friend's Civic, you'd see clouds of dust shoot up.

The auto climate control confuses me. I get what it's for but it's hard to tell when it is using the AC compressor or not. Even when it's on AC, and you press the AC button, nothing is selected.

Question - If you have auto climate off, have AC off, and set a temperature to say 67 degrees, what does it do? Does it blow it's fan real cold and try to get to 67? I mean at some point, it would require the compressor to get that cold right? Does it know to automatically turn on AC? How can you tell when it needs the assistance of the compressor to reach the desired temperature, so you can turn it on for the system?