Manual control of car interior heating

[PaulC]

It's winter in New Zealand and we are now using the heating functions in our Jazz 2021 hybrid car.
The heated seats function is easy to understand and use.
The automatic climate control / air conditioning functionality is confusing to us, and the Owner's Manual does little to clarify this confustion.
(Aside: my wife was puzzled that pressing the Auto button turned automatic climate control on, but that then pressing it again did not turn the automatic climate control on).
So my questions are:
1. If I don't have the automatic climate control turned on, does the temperature control knob still set the temperature of the air flowing into the car interior?
2. Is the air conditioning function only for keeping the car interior cool in summer?
3. When I have the air conditioning function turned on, does the temperature control knob sets the coldness of the air flowing into the car in summer?
Thanks

[IanG]

My understanding is as below. Please correct me if wrong.
With A/C on and with auto selected, the car decides the airflow direction and fan speed, whilst maintaining the temperature at the selected setting. If the temperature of outside air is colder than the internal temperature, engine heat is used to warm the interior to the desired temperature and if the outside is warmer than the internal temperature, the A/C unit chills the outside air to the desired temperature.
It A/C is switched off in auto mode, the same applies but the A/C isn’t used, so if the internal temperature is more than the external temperature, the car can only allow the external air to be drawn into the car unheated, at whatever temperature it may be.
Eco mode allows the tolerances of the selected temperature to be exceeded, reducing the energy required to maintain an exact temperature  level and recirculation recirculates the internal air, reducing the need to heat/chill ‘fresh’ air from outside the vehicle. Unsure if any external air is mixed with the internal air in recirculating mode or whether external air is completely blocked, with only internal air being recirculated. In auto mode during hot weather, the recirculation function can switch on automatically for extended periods, to aid cooking through the reuse of already chilled internal air. Switching off auto mode allows manual control of fan and air flow direction. Off switches the system off, so no fan running. Unsure if any air is allowed to enter the car without fan boosting within off mode, with air being directly at the last used  auto/manual direction.

[Kremmen]

Agree

If unsure just press auto

It's well known that the compressor seals can deteriorate quicker with AC turned off for extended periods. AC still has a winter job of drying the air to help reduce misting.

[PaulC]

IanG, thanks for the detailed reply.
However I would have thought that with A/C=Off and Auto=On the Jazz would still try to heat the interior to the temperature as set on the temperature control. I will go and experiment and report back what happens.

[d2d4j]

Hi

On our old jazz si if you make any changes apart from temperature changes, auto is turned off

If you turn auto on, it changes any settings you have made apart from the temperature setting

Many thanks

John

[Kremmen]

Yes Auto overrides everything and any manual change turns Auto off.

[Jazzik]

...and any manual change turns Auto off.

That's not correct. See the manual, page 233 https://www.honda.co.uk/cars/owners/manuals-and-guides/honda-owners-manuals/_jcr_content/par1/textcolumnwithimagem_1653971839/textColumn/richtextdownload_90f/file.res/2021%20Jazz%20Owner%60s%20Manual.pdf

"Using Automatic Climate Control
If any buttons are pressed while using the climate
control system in auto, the function of the button
that was pressed will take priority.

The AUTO indicator will go off, but functions
unrelated to the button that were pressed will be
controlled automatically."

Which means that you can for example (this is what my wife always does... ) change the fan speed and AUTO still remains active.

.

[Bristol_Crosstar]

...and any manual change turns Auto off.

That's not correct. See the manual, page 233 https://www.honda.co.uk/cars/owners/manuals-and-guides/honda-owners-manuals/_jcr_content/par1/textcolumnwithimagem_1653971839/textColumn/richtextdownload_90f/file.res/2021%20Jazz%20Owner%60s%20Manual.pdf

"Using Automatic Climate Control
If any buttons are pressed while using the climate
control system in auto, the function of the button
that was pressed will take priority.

The AUTO indicator will go off, but functions
unrelated to the button that were pressed will be
controlled automatically."

Which means that you can for example (this is what my wife always does... ) change the fan speed and AUTO still remains active.

.

That's correct, we've just returned from holiday and had auto on but switched recirculation off manually, the fan was still varying in speed automatically which is different to how it worked on my Mk 2.

[Kremmen]

That's interesting, thanks for the correction.

My Civics have always been one or the other, press any button and Auto went off as you'd manually changed it.

Therefore I assumed .........

[sportse]

That's interesting, thanks for the correction.

My Civics have always been one or the other, press any button and Auto went off as you'd manually changed it.

Therefore I assumed .........

Maybe there are some different software versions for the climate control.

On mine, 2021 EX, if you press recirculate you lose the auto and have to press auto again to switch it back on.

I’ve had to do it a few times recently being behind smelly classic cars.

Other cars I’ve had, recirculate was a separate on off button that didn’t affect auto. You just pressed it to switch.

[Jazzik]

Maybe there are some different software versions for the climate control.

On mine, 2021 EX, if you press recirculate you lose the auto and have to press auto again to switch it back on.

Are you absolutely sure about that? What does happen when I press recirculate is that the indicator goes off but....:

"functions unrelated to the button that were pressed will be
controlled automatically."

Other cars I’ve had, recirculate was a separate on off button that didn’t affect auto. You just pressed it to switch.

And guess what, just like the other cars in the Jazz it's a separate button and it only affects the Auto indicator. Just to indicate that you have made (a) change(s) to the automatic climate control system.
When we drive off with "Auto" turned on and the fan starts at max, my wife immediately turns it down. "Auto" continues to work without indicator. If after half an hour "Auto" thinks it still needs to recirculate, I turn off "recirc". "Auto" still continues to work, still without indicator..

Check the manual, page 233.

[Kremmen]

So what you're saying is that altering any setting just turns off the Auto light ?

In your case, Auto initially sets up the climate control, your wife manually turns down the fan speed and the Auto light is turned off.

That is exactly how I understood it in my original post, and my Civics, in that altering any setting and you are not under 'full Auto' as you have taken manual control of one or more settings.

[sportse]

Check the manual, page 233.

I think it's probably just a bad translation from the Japanese.

Auto means automatic control of all functions, if you turn it off it doesn't do that.

If you set the fan speed to minimum the car won't be able to control the temperature due to lack of airflow.

Or if you change the air direction to feet, it won't be able to demist the windscreen with air when the humidity rises.

All it might do 'automatically' is try to send out air in line with what the cabin and dial is set to, but it won't be able to do that if you have overriden other settings to take priority.

I also noticed that we seem to have a very simple recirculation function.

On many cars I've owned, the car will disable recirculation automatically after 20/30 minutes but the Jazz doesn't seem to do that.

[IanG]

IanG, thanks for the detailed reply.
However I would have thought that with A/C=Off and Auto=On the Jazz would still try to heat the interior to the temperature as set on the temperature control. I will go and experiment and report back what happens.

Correct, with AC off and Auto on, the climate control heater will operate to set the selected temperature if the interior temp is colder than the exterior temp but if the interior temp is warmer than the exterior temp, it can only pass unheated air into the interior at the external air temp, without any A/C cooling.

[Bristol_Crosstar]

So what you're saying is that altering any setting just turns off the Auto light ?

In your case, Auto initially sets up the climate control, your wife manually turns down the fan speed and the Auto light is turned off.

That is exactly how I understood it in my original post, and my Civics, in that altering any setting and you are not under 'full Auto' as you have taken manual control of one or more settings.

On my old Mk 2 Jazz climate system if it was on Auto and anything was changed manually then nothing was on auto, everything had to be done manually, the Mk 4 system is different that was my point