How to best use climate control to keep windows clear

[ksnogas2112]

If this is a redundant post please don't hesitate to beat me down.

Previous posts regarding the a/c indicate that for best battery performance to turn the a/c as low as the temperature setting allows and then use the fan on low.

I garage my Leaf and the garage temp this week was about 60*F. However, the outside temp was 30-40*F in the mornings when I'm taking the kids to school and the windows would fog up.

The internal temperature of the cabin was comfortable. When I kicked on the defrost with the a/c it got really cold but cleared the windows for a couple minutes.

When I turned on the heated defrost at both 60*F and 75*F then the windows cleared and the expected energy use skyrocketed.

Preheating the cabin is the obvious scenario for deep winter when the garage temp is 40*. I assume that preheating is cranking up the heat temp and fan, setting to defrost and then powering off followed by remote climate start in the morning.

What is the best use of the climate control in cold weather when you need to clear the windows? All the way up to 90* and fan on fast? Keep at 60*? SCUBA tanks?? Anybody got best practices on this?

Thanks in advance.

Tom

 

[camasleaf]

Kiss your 5.0 m/kwh average goodbye.

I found that for me it worked best to keep the CC of on recirculation so no cold air comes in. And intermitently just push the defog button with the temp set to 60, it will clear up the windows fast enough.

 

[palmermd]

I've been using A/C instead of the heater to defrost the windshield. It takes a bit longer, but putting on the AC and directing the vents to the windshield at a high fan speed to clear it, and then keep it on a very low fan speed to keep it clear while driving. It uses far less energy than the heater. However a few times it was too cold/wet and I had to resort to the heater. But I think it was only twice last winter.

 

[GetOffYourGas]

I've been using A/C instead of the heater to defrost the windshield. It takes a bit longer, but putting on the AC and directing the vents to the windshield at a high fan speed to clear it, and then keep it on a very low fan speed to keep it clear while driving. It uses far less energy than the heater. However a few times it was too cold/wet and I had to resort to the heater. But I think it was only twice last winter.

There is no way to disable the heater when it gets really cold out.

The Leaf has not been available for a real winter yet. The cold weather states had to wait, and this past winter was more of an extended fall. It will be very interesting to see what happens in the next couple of months. I, for one, am looking forward to it!

 

[palmermd]

I've been using A/C instead of the heater to defrost the windshield. It takes a bit longer, but putting on the AC and directing the vents to the windshield at a high fan speed to clear it, and then keep it on a very low fan speed to keep it clear while driving. It uses far less energy than the heater. However a few times it was too cold/wet and I had to resort to the heater. But I think it was only twice last winter.

There is no way to disable the heater when it gets really cold out.

The Leaf has not been available for a real winter yet. The cold weather states had to wait, and this past winter was more of an extended fall. It will be very interesting to see what happens in the next couple of months. I, for one, am looking forward to it!

Check out EVSEupgrade to disable your heater.

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?style=3&f=37&t=6751" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[Deleted member 3147]

Preheating the cabin is the obvious scenario for deep winter when the garage temp is 40*. I assume that preheating is cranking up the heat temp and fan, setting to defrost and then powering off followed by remote climate start in the morning.

It doesn't matter how you have the CC set before you power off. Remote CC is at fixed settings (heat to 75F? I don't recall exactly).

 

[eclecticflower]

Yep, your climate control takes over and uses its built-in default temp; it doesn't matter how you left your settings when you last turned off your vehicle. I discovered that a couple of days ago when I first tried to use the climate control to pre-heat my car. Had to check the manual to further confuse myself (A/C has always meant cold to me)! :lol: Now I understand what all the carping is about in other threads (we want control!!!).

The one nice thing I noticed, though, was that the seats and steering wheel heated up, since I'd left those on before last powering off the car. So, it appears the power required to engage climate control also powers up your accessories, but you can't manually override the climate control default settings.

This thread is the first I've heard of a climate control upgrade, though...interesting!

 

[GetOffYourGas]

I've been using A/C instead of the heater to defrost the windshield. It takes a bit longer, but putting on the AC and directing the vents to the windshield at a high fan speed to clear it, and then keep it on a very low fan speed to keep it clear while driving. It uses far less energy than the heater. However a few times it was too cold/wet and I had to resort to the heater. But I think it was only twice last winter.

There is no way to disable the heater when it gets really cold out.

The Leaf has not been available for a real winter yet. The cold weather states had to wait, and this past winter was more of an extended fall. It will be very interesting to see what happens in the next couple of months. I, for one, am looking forward to it!

Check out EVSEupgrade to disable your heater.

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?style=3&f=37&t=6751" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Very interesting, but this shouldn't be a $138 third-party upgrade. This is something Nissan should fix themselves with a firmware upgrade. It's frustrating as anything that they haven't yet!

Then again, I'm used to it. I also have a 2010 Honda Insight with some obvious shortcomings that can be fixed by a firmware update. But car companies aren't used to operating like software companies. Maybe we'll get there. Some day.