Climate Control...how does full auto work on your car?

[mikebore]

I have only had my GE 1.4 for a few months, but when using the "Auto" setting the airflow direction is always to footwell only.

I have just taken the car in for service and told the service manager this, and he said "what even first thing in the morning?" he says it should alter the direction according to situation (which would be visible) and  put aircon on and off (which would not). They are investigating, and it will have new pollen filter as part of service.

What does your car do on "Auto" ?

[chrisc]

The airflow varies according to the direction arrows on the knob.  I like the cool air in summer, since it keeps the feet cool and the dog sitting in the back likes it.  But in winter you want it to blow to the windscreen to hasten clearing of the window, along with the heater.

I very seldom, if ever, use Auto mode though

[mikebore]

In previous cars I have also rarely used full auto, but I find the Jazz very inclined to steam up in damp conditions.

I find myself constantly switching the direction of the airflow, and the aircon on or off as well as tweaking the fan speed to combat this. Hence my greater interest in the auto  mode.

I have just picked the car up from the Honda Dealer after its 24 month service (which includes pollen filter). They also did a full check on the heating/ventilation system and found no fault codes, and correct operation.

When I first started the car after collecting it, I put it on auto and it selected screen for the first time in my experience. It soon switched to floor. Then I discovered that if I lowered the selected temperature (simulating summer, because now I was asking it to cool me rather than heat me) it switched to face and floor. I have never seen this before so perhaps the pollen filter change did something.

[guest806]

i have noticed mine always goes to the footwell as well.

[culzean]

I have a Civic and with the auto climate control on it seems to blow wherever it pleases, when it is trying to heat or cool the car fast on start-up it blows like mad out out of centre vents and when it is nearer to set temperature it switches to other vents (which ones they are I don't really know).

I don't know if Jazz setup is same as the Civic but all the vents chosen in manual mode disappear off the display when auto is selected and the only thing you can do is control the set temperature and are able to select 'quick-clear' mode for windscreen which turns on aircon and blows warm dry air up the screen. 

I don't often use auto as the aircon seems to switch on and off at random even on cold days (when there is no way that the car needs to be cooled) - and I have found that on long journeys the air in the car gets really dry and makes my sinuses very uncomfortable.

I preferred the manual control on my previous Jazz where you knew exactly where the air was being sent to, and you could set a temperature that didn't keep going hotter and colder  - if you use manual control on the Civic it doesn't seem stable and keeps changing temperature but If you use Auto the temperature is more stable but as I said before the air is way too dry for my liking.

[mikebore]

Thanks for the inputs.

Sounds like the Jazz is different from the Civic. On the Jazz after selecting auto, the direction is still shown on the display, and in fact (as in the manual and by test) you can then chose the direction, and it goes into a semi-auto mode, where it uses the direction you have selected, but adjusts fan speed and aircon on/off according to need. I think I will find this quite useful.

I find I still need aircon even in cold weather, if it is rainy/snowy, just to stop misting up. Maybe my new pollen filter will change this.

[chrisc]

My frugal (Dutch) friend just wrapped a piece of mutton cloth around the pollen filter instead of replacing it (after removing the paper).  For the size of the device, it is relatively expensive

[culzean]

did a bit of research today with the Civic full auto - the direction arrows disappear from the display as soon as full auto is selected (in fact everything but the selected temperature figure disappears) but in full auto you can still press 'mode' button and get the direction arrows to appear (it took me over 5 months to find that out because I never used full auto after the first week)

[guest3250]

I have, so far, tended not to bother with the Auto feature - seems that it is not completely necessary - unless you don't want to do anything yourself - I set the temp to where I want in the winter - and it achieves that nicely -
I decide how much blow I want and initially use the screen button (which uses A/C ) to clear the screen.
If the car steams up (and it's not the only car to do this - its a physics thing!) then I just tap the A/C button - unless it steams up rapidly in which case it's the screen button - simples.
In the summer you can turn the A/C on if you want and direct the cool air as you desire - set the temp
and leave it to do it's stuff.
Remember - the temp setting in both cases is a set point.
With cooling if you set it to (say) 18°C then when it gets below that temp it will back off cooling.
(it wont try to cool below that point by much)
With heating the inverse is the same - if you set to heat to (say) 22°C then once that temp is reached - the heat will be backed off and may seem to become cool (again it won't try to heat above that temp much)
In full Auto it will heat and cool according to what is required to achieve the set point temperature.
I like to direct the air manually to where I most need it.

[guest3418]

Remember that the A/C doesn't work below 4 or 5°C. Although the light stays on, the compressor will not engage. This has to do with the fact that at these Lee temperatures the liquid phase of the cooling medium can not turn into a gas anymore.

Verstuurd van mijn GT-N7100 met Tapatalk

[mikebore]

Interesting inputs thanks. I realise that many people prefer manual control for the reasons explained, as I have done in previous cars. I am interested in the auto mode because in my three months of ownership, I have found myself needing to make adjustments to the settings more frequently than I have in previous cars. (which may or not be improved by a new pollen filter last week....I had a Mondeo once which became undriveable when the pollen filter blocked up).

After doing some more testing and talking to my local Honda Service manager at the service, the auto mode is a bit cleverer than I realised.

On full auto, the required temperature is the only input, and all three parameters:-

1. Air Direction
2. Fan speed
3. Aircon on or off

are controlled automatically. If any one (or two) of the three parameters above is set manually the other two (or one) are still controlled automatically in the semi auto mode mentioned in the manual.

The air direction seems to be controlled by the temperature in different parts of the car..... feet, screen, face etc in relation to the main set temperature. This implies sensors in different parts of the car. The fact that it seems to go to feet a lot (at least at this time of year) implies that the algorithm assumes the required foot temp is relatively high for a given main set temp.

[guest3196]

I just leave my hybrid on auto all the time.

In winter from cold it directs air to the screen, with the fan speed increasing as the engine warms up. Then it directs the heat to the floor practically all the time.

In warmer weather, cool air is directed mostly to the face vents, with the system using recirculation for a while to bring the interior temperature down.

I don't seem to have the condensation issues that I had with previous Jazzes.

Turning off the aircon makes little difference to economy, so my recommendation is:

1. Set aircon to full auto
2. Set temperature
3. Forget about it

Much like the CVT manages the gear ratios perfectly well by itself, the aircon seems to to it's job without any input from me.

[guest806]

noticed today with the temp set to high, the down arrow was displayed.  I turned the temp down to 22 at the flow changed to feet and screen.  Later on it changed to just screen, so it does work!

[Rory]

did a bit of research today with the Civic full auto - the direction arrows disappear from the display as soon as full auto is selected (in fact everything but the selected temperature figure disappears) but in full auto you can still press 'mode' button and get the direction arrows to appear (it took me over 5 months to find that out because I never used full auto after the first week)

That's the same as our 2009 Jazz EX.

We never use Auto though - have it the 'mode' set to screen & floor and the fan speed set to a mid-speed.  Also usually have the a/c off.  The only thing the climate control does for us is to regulate the temp.

Just the same in my Merc too - I use that mainly for long motorway journeys and find if it's in auto then once the car is up to temp it slows the fan down too much so the car gets stuffy.

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