Automatic Climate Control

[sduford]

I'm curious about this. There's been a lot of debate regarding the ACC (aka HAL). Some hate it, others are fine with it.

 

What do you think of your ACC system?

[PGT]

Let me revisit my morning today:

 

Walk out to car. 15 degrees. Brrrrr. Unlock. Get in car. Start car. Turn seat heaters to 'Hi' setting. Click 'auto' button on ACC. Set to 71 degrees. Wait. Seat starts to warm up. Engine still warming up. No noise from ACC.....auto mode has fan set to low speed. Seat keeps me from freezing - I love the seat heater on this car. Engine temps begins to move off 'C'. ACC still asleep. Finally my patience breaks and I turn fan to 'Hi' which turns off auto mode. Switch to defrost and air low mode.......frozen toes begin to thaw out. Drive away. Switch to hi/lo and warm air is finally warming my hands up. I think to myself, why didn't the ACC do ANYTHING?

[panamajack]

Yeah the ACC is not perfect, but it would have to read my mind to be so.

[BoxerGT2.5]

I'm happy with it.

[frontrangeSubie]

It has a mind of it's own...but my wife thinks its good...thats all that matters to me

[boris]

I think it is great in the cold weather... starts in defrost so as not to blow cold air on you, then floor heat, then turns up the fan as the car warms up... works perfect on mine. In warmer weather I didn't like the tendency to turn on the A/C all the time, so I would turn the A/C off manually. To be fair though, I can hardly tell when the A/C is on unlike my WRX which had a noticable drop in performance.

[fan42025]

Don't have real cold weather here. I'm very happy with it on hot days.

[RoundBoy]

the car will not blow on 'high' until the needle moves off the 'cold' setting for engine temp.. once it does.. that fan kicks WAY up.

 

I have noticed that if you start out in the 'one-click defrost' mode, and then switch to auto, the car will continue to set the air on defrost for a bit.

 

VERY happy w/ the ACC .. Although lately it seems that it tries to make my normally ok inside temp of 67 a little to hot when its 15 degrees outside.

 

I find myself wanting to lower the fan before the car does.

 

I SWEAR there is some sort of tie in between the seat heaters and acc... i lower the seat heat (hot but) and the car within a min lowers the fan speed, and adjust the fan output to a cooler temp. Weird.

[Hooked4Life]

So far the ACC has worked well. It was 7 degrees Mondya morning. I let the car warm up for a few minutes. I drove for about 5 mins and the car was warming up and the fan kicked on. Then a few minutes later the fan went on high since the car was warmed up.

 

The only thing that I notice is sometimes the A/C appears to be on, and I dont know why.

[Guest *Jedimaster*]

It has a mind of it's own...but my wife thinks its good...thats all that matters to me

*WOOOOOTISSSH!*

[kanoswrx]

Its got a mind of its own, just using the regular blower set at 70 NOT using Auto mode in the cold mornings (like 20 degrees out) until it warms up. Then I usually it to 66, but sometimes thats still to hot so I switch to 65. Sometimes randomly it will switch to recirculate and turn on the A/C, when its 20 degrees outside !!!! why does it need to turn on the A/C when using just the reglar vents (I know when you use defroster it uses it). But the HVAC system in this car is probably the worst aspect of the car. Its no deal breaker I still love the car. Just wish they could have made this system work better. I also hate how the difference between 65 and 66 is just the difference between off and warm, 66 degrees never comes out 66 degrees. And in the summer 65 is never like 65 its more like 80. Should have just labeled them, Warm, Hot, and Very hot.

[ih8vtec13]

*WOOOOOTISSSH!*

Just what I was thinking

[BoxerGT2.5]

It has a mind of it's own...but my wife thinks its good...thats all that matters to me

 

 

You actually let her drive it....

[RoundBoy]

Its got a mind of its own, just using the regular blower set at 70 NOT using Auto mode in the cold mornings (like 20 degrees out) until it warms up. Then I usually it to 66, but sometimes thats still to hot so I switch to 65. Sometimes randomly it will switch to recirculate and turn on the A/C, when its 20 degrees outside !!!! why does it need to turn on the A/C when using just the reglar vents (I know when you use defroster it uses it). But the HVAC system in this car is probably the worst aspect of the car. Its no deal breaker I still love the car. Just wish they could have made this system work better. I also hate how the difference between 65 and 66 is just the difference between off and warm, 66 degrees never comes out 66 degrees. And in the summer 65 is never like 65 its more like 80. Should have just labeled them, Warm, Hot, and Very hot.

*sigh*

 

As much as i hate these threads.. I can't stop chiming in..

 

Please follow close:

 

on the hvac system in AUTO mode:

 

65 = cold air no matter what (like max ac mode in manual hvac cars)

85 = hot air no matter what (like temp control turned to max heat)

 

66-84 = set the car to be this temp inside exactly. Do this by (in this case) heating, and when temp gets close, pull in some colder air to even the temp out.

 

the AC light comes on to reduce humidity in the car and circulate the oil in the compressor year round (longer life)

 

in MANUAL MODE:

 

the temperature set will be the temp of the air coming out. think of the old manual temp dial .. 65 is cold air... 85 is hot air... 75 would be the equivilent of the temp dial being straight 'up' midway hot /cold air.

 

 

ALL of this info was gleaned from the manual, or from observation, or from common sense!

 

READ THE MANUAL PEOPLE!!!!!!

[gtguy]

Luv it. I don't turn it on until about 5 minutes after I start the car, though the heated seats go on immediately. I keep mine set to 70, and let the car deal with it. Works great. When it needs to blow warm, it does. When it needs to blow cool, it does. Either way, it keeps the car at 70, so no worries.

 

Kevin

[Ken S]

I have no issues with it as it's still a lot less involved than a full manual system. I leave it on all the time and simply turn the temp dial up and down a few degrees as needed. I personally don't expect any climate control system with a few sensors to accurately predict what a live person "perceives".

 

The only thing I wish Subaru did was to be able to control both driver and passenger side temperature as a default. My OCD side just doesn't like having a different passenger setting when I'm the only one in the car.

 

Ken

[RoundBoy]

yes... THAT is my only complaint.

 

I would rather have the temps BOTH turn if the driver side turns... but if the pass turns... then they remain seperate knobs unless 'auto' is pushed again, etc.

 

I wonder if this can be changed via a reflash of the ecu or some firmware ?

[bebopper]

It is nowhere near as refined in it's operation as the Climatronic was in may last car, a 2000 Passat. It does not maintain the temperature as consistently as the Passat though the fan is quieter at all speeds. Getting heat is not as much of a problem as getting cool air. In summer the AC didn't always blow cold air and in the winter I have to dial it to 65 to get cool air, even when the interior of the car is warm.

[Euclid]

This is the first car I've owned with an auto climate control. So I don't really have anything to compare it to. But I have no complaints. It seems to do it's job.

[Guest JessterCPA]

Its a system that just bugs you to over-ride it. My other car has a truly seemless climate control. You set it & forget it. This is kinda like our old Volvo s40. You just seem to get better results using it manually.

[sduford]

Its a system that just bugs you to over-ride it. My other car has a truly seemless climate control. You set it & forget it. This is kinda like our old Volvo s40. You just seem to get better results using it manually.

My thoughts exactly.

 

This ACC works, kind of, but requires way to much fiddling, pretty weak design.

 

Although I am finding now that it works fairly well in very cold temperatures. The temperature overshoot was at its worst when the outside temps were around the freezing mark.

[sduford]

*sigh*

 

the AC light comes on to reduce humidity in the car and circulate the oil in the compressor year round (longer life)

But this doesn't make sense when it is -20 out. Some people say the A/C doesn't really come on even though the light does. So why does the light come on then? I for one, would like to know when the A/C is and isn't on.

 

Also, every time you hit defrost, the A/C DOES actually come, which again makes no sense when it is -20

 

READ THE MANUAL PEOPLE!!!!!!

I did, and it says nothing about how to fix the crappy temp sensor that causes the system to grossly overshoot the set temperature in certain conditions. It also says there is only one temp sensor, on the driver's side, making it physically impossible to properly control the air temperature on the passenger's side when the sun is shining on only one side of the car.

[PGT]

Also, every time you hit defrost, the A/C DOES actually come, which again makes no sense when it is -20

 

Actually it does. Air that is run through the A/C is drier than ambient, so blowing hot, dry air is the quickest way to defrost. Most vehicles I have owned have shown the deforst symbol with A/C logo for that reason.

[sduford]

Actually it does. Air that is run through the A/C is drier than ambient, so blowing hot, dry air is the quickest way to defrost. Most vehicles I have owned have shown the deforst symbol with A/C logo for that reason.

You obviously don't live in a cold climate. When it's -20 outside, the air is already very dry and doesn't need any further drying. What you need to remove the ice off your windows is HEAT, and heat comes a lot slower if you pre-cool the air.

 

Using the A/C made a lot of sense when I lived in Seattle and I was constantly fighting humidity and foggy windows. But is' the last thing we need up here in Eastern Canada during the winter.

[PGT]

You obviously don't live in a cold climate. When it's -20 outside, the air is already very dry and doesn't need any further drying. What you need to remove the ice off your windows is HEAT, and heat comes a lot slower if you pre-cool the air.

 

Using the A/C made a lot of sense when I lived in Seattle and I was constantly fighting humidity and foggy windows. But is' the last thing we need up here in Eastern Canada during the winter.

 

You make a good point about the colder air being dry.

 

Actually, our winters here are normally about -5 to 15 F. So, we are used to the cold. Two winters ago, temps were down to 15-25 below zero and we got 24 inches of snow in one storm on top of a 15 inch storm and an 18 inch storm....all in a few weeks time.

 

For our climate, the A/C helps keep the glass clear - the fog of your breath is enough to cloud vision....a serious problem when the glass is cold from the air outside. Having owned a commuter car without A/C, I know how difficult it is to defog in all seasons without.