Whatchamacallit

I noticed that all of my previous cars allowed me to get "free" heated/chilled air by simply adjusting the temperature control, turning air circulation button off (so fresh air will flow in through the vents), and set the vehicle in motion to get warm/cool air without even turning on the AC or the heater. I wondered how I could duplicate this on my TSX with the NAV. (When climate control is off, the temperature display also goes off, meaning you can't adjust the temperature like you would with cars with manual sliding temp controls).

Now don't get me wrong, I don't want to sound cheap (maybe too late?) but my old car always had a weak battery/alternator so I did this all the time to save battery power and as a habit. I've also heard plenty of arguments on whether the air coming out was really "free". And although warmed air felt very warm, chilled air was just plain old room temperature air. So messing with TSX's climiate controls, here's what I learned.

Adjust the temperature before turning off the CC to get the right air temperature coming out of the vents when CC is off.

If I adjust the CC to a high temperature (say 80 degrees for example) and then press OFF (thus turning off the CC) the warm air will blow from the side vents while the vehicle is in the motion.

If I adjust the CC to a low temperature (say 60 degrees) and then press OFF, cold air will blow from the center vents while the vehicle is in the motion.

Also, while CC is OFF, if you press the A/C button and go to different air flow settings, it gives you a little control over where that same air comes out.

For warm air, default is side vents but pressing -vent- button will allow some warm air to flow out of the center vents as well.

For cold air, default is center vents but pressing the -vent- button doesn’t seem to change air flow much.

I did get to test the floor and split (floor/vents and floor/widshield) air flow buttons but I couldn't really tell the difference while driving.

I'm sure folks with non-navi TSX can do the same thing with their respective CC buttons.

Check it out.

Bass Mechanic

first of all when your engine is running your not using anything from the battery. many people dont understand the function of a battery in a car. a battery is there to start the engine and run accessories when the engine is not running. when your driving your car the battery is being charged it has nothing to do with what accessories your running.
now on to the climate control..
in colorado during the winter i usually drive with the a/c switched off. i find that because of the way the CC works in the TSX it would always cycle the A/C compressor on and off to keep the A/C system cold. however when its 30 degrees and below there is no need to have the A/C still comming on, that eats gas.
if you want certain vents to blow the air you have to manually select thoes vents.
im not sure why you feel you need to change anything i set the temp at 72 degrees and never mess with it unless i need defrost.

D_Nyholm

Actually, the battery makes the car run. To test it, start your car, unplug the battery and then start driving. When you get a little while down the block, the car will stall (probably the second you let off the gas and hit the brakes).

Mokos23

what setting do u put for climate control if u just want outside fresh air coming in and not using the temp indicator? is that possible to do?

Bass Mechanic

ha ha funny, i hope your kidding.
but no your totally incorrect. and your statement even says so, how could you say that a battery runs your car and if you disconnect it and drive down the road it stalls. you would have to be pretty quick at getting into the car and driving off because if what you say is true the engine would stall as soon as you unhook the battery.

the truth of the matter is that if you disconnect the battery the engine will continue to run perfectly fine because the alternator provides power for the car. in fact it provides 14.2 volts at im guessing 60-70 amps makes no difference though.

many people dont understand the function of these 2 components and how they work together to ill breifly explain.

the battery has a static voltage of 12.8 volts. in any electronic circuit you have to have a difference in voltage potential to make electrcity move. voltage is more or less the pressure that makes electrons move. much like pressure in a hose that is required to make water shoot out of the end of the hose.
to charge a battery you must present the battery with more than it's static or rest voltage. this is the voltage present when nothing is connected to it.
the alternator provides 14.2 volts which is exactly 2 volts more than the battery itself has. this causes electrons to flow into the battery.

let me get a little more technical for a second, just so you know electricity or electrons actually travel from the negitive post of the battery to the positive side. this is because electrons are negitivly charged and like charges repel where opposite charges attract. just like magnets.
when a battery drains your actually causing electrons to flow from the negitive plate to the positive plate. the battery is dead when the same number of electrons are present on both the positive side and negitive side of the battery. keep in mind that with elecricity you never loose electrons anywhere in a circut exactly the same number of electrons that leave one side of the battery will eventually find their way to the other. they will travel through whatever component is connected to the battery.
to charge a battery you need to present the battery with a power source of higher voltage potential than the battery itself.
charging a battery actually sucks electrons from the positive side and forces them onto the negetive side of a battery. the more electrons you pack onto the negitive plate and suck from the positive plate will increase the storage capacity of a battery.
a battery with more plates or more storage area has more cold cranking amps along with its internal resistance will dictate how many amps can be drawn from the battery at any givin time before the voltage drops.

now back to the alternator and battery discussion. removing a battery from the car has 0 effect on the electrical system because as far as its concerned with the engine running all the power required by the car in fact comes from the alternator.
the battery at this point is nothing more than an accessory that draws power from the alternator just like any other accessory. if you remove it, it would look to the car like you took out a light bulb or turned off a fan. its simply another load to the electrical system because it is being charged. it consumes electricity just like anything else in the car.

now ill follow up by saying that if you had an experience in the past where a car died while driving and the battery was dead this is what happend...
your had a bad or weak alternator, because the alternator was not charging the battery the electrical system began taking power from the battery untill it went dead. the battery went dead because without an alternator providing more than 12.8 volts to the battery electricity will flow out of the battery and not into it like it's supposed to.

so to recap, a battery in a car is used for 1 purpose, TO START THE ENGINE. if you have a bumping system and want an upgraded electrical system you need an alternator not a battery.
people who add batteries to their car or swap it out do that because they listen to it in a parking lot with the engine off.

now that is cleared up i charge 35 an hour for electronic lessons, this one is free

vwong

I don't think so. I've driven from and to work (approx. 25 miles each way) with a completely dead battery. The battery from my Integra had been dead since the car was totaled. One day, I wanted to see if I could re-charge it by just putting it in my Prelude. Anyway, I installed the dead battery in my Prelude the night before, the car wouldn't start. So the next morning, I jump-started the car with the good battery. Then I put the good battery in the trunk in case the dead battery wouldn't charge when I got to work. As expected, the dead battery didn't get charged, but I was able to drive my car all the way to work.

Anyway, I just wanted to prove that it's NOT the battery that makes the car run. It's the alternator that supplies the electricity to the car. However, if you have a high power aftermarket stereo system in the car, then you will use the battery while the engine is running.

Lung Fu Mo Shi

1) Put TEMP to "Lo"
2) Set vent openings
3) Turn Off.

Whatchamacallit

Yes, LO gets you true (AKA unheated) fresh outside air.
Every degree you set above LO before turning off the CC will get you gradually warmer (AKA heated) air.

D_Nyholm

hmm, then riddle me this. How come in my old Mustang with an 80 amp alternator, I unhooked the battery and took it for a drive. I got down to the end of the block and it stalled. I then drove another car down to restart it (it didn't have the battery in it), and returned the car and then walked to the mustang that I thought was running. When I got there, it was stalled once again and that thing never stalled on me before. Once I put the battery back in, it ran like a champ and I no longer had a problem getting it home. And don't come back with a "it is a ford thing" because I have had more trouble with some of my imports than I ever did wit hthat car!!!

freeride149

sorry, D-Nyholm, but it HAS to be a ford thing.

Bass Mechanic

probly because the older cars like that had external mechanical voltage regulators and they require a reference voltage from the battery to regulate the voltage.
or if you took the battery out and the positive cable touched somthing metal it would have shorted the alternator and therefore the whole electrical system would have gone from 14.2 to 0 volts when it shorted. it would have essentially cut the power to the car.