Does your AC blow cold or just cool?

Yeah it's not that cold in my opinion

Is it set to recirculate?

goldenbyte said:

I'm trying to decide if I should really go by the service center or if my expectations are just too high. My new 85D definitely does not blow COLD air like my BMW did, it's cool enough I guess but in 88+ degree weather it's having to run non-stop to keep the car at 72 degrees. Seems pretty weak... In my old BMW my hand would get numb if it was too close to the vent, that's definitely not the case here. I am not in ECO or Range mode.

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How is it when you set temp to LO and manually crank up the fan to 8 (range mode) or 11 (regular mode)?

How's your AC? - Page 10

climate control tips and tricks | Forums | Tesla Motors

I find that it works just fine, but it is not as cold as my old BMW was. However the beemer could give you frostbite easily.

Mine blows cold, but because it's a variable speed scroll compressor it works differently than a piston compressor which is either on or off. It will runs slower if there's not a lot of cooling required.

Is the AC set to Auto or On? Climate control will decide when to turn the compressor on/off in Auto mode and in my opinion it is tuned a bit too much for efficiency and does not do enough to maintain the humidity level, a problem if you live in an area with high humidity, but On I thought was the opposite...constant cold air from the vents that you can't close down (!). I would like to see it be a bit more aggressive normally and use the more efficient map for range mode. For whatever reason humidity sensors seem to be the automotive equivalent of a unicorn. But for now I just toggle the temp down a few degrees for the compressor to kick in, then roll it back up once it gets the humidity out. Luckily in PA the humidity is only a problem a few days a week or maybe a few weeks during the summer.

Mine gets pretty cold...it can give me chills even on 100 degree days. However:

1) Of course it needs a few minutes to get to its coldest temperature.
2) Using recirculate will get the air colder because it's starting with already cooled, dehumidified air vs. taking fresh hot humid air from the outside.
3) You may need to lower the thermostat lower than you would expect. 65-67 degrees as the setting is not completely unheard of.

A few weeks ago we hit 103 degF air temp and about 110 heat index. After the car cooled off for a few minutes, 65 deg F was too cold for me.

Both. On LO it blows cold. On numbered settings, it blows cool.

Overall, it works fine. This weekend, I was at a picnic on a 90 F, sunny day. About 30 minutes before I was ready to leave, I opened the Android app and saw it was 120 F in the car. I vented the roof and turned on the AC remotely. It was nice and cool inside when I opened the door (but the door handle was almost too hot to touch).

Mine's so cold that even on very hot days (90s) I turn it on LO for a bit and then have to turn up the temp.

I keep mine on 67. When I need it to get cold I set it to LO. On LO it gets very cold.

Mine blows quite cold, but the behavior in AUTO is very dependent on the temperature differential between interior and exterior. It's over 109 here in Phoenix, and I'm frigid in the car at any setting under 72 - and that's with Range Mode/Eco mode ON.

I keep mine set on 65F, you realise how poor it is when you sit in another car. I have a volt and Tesla. The volt has really good A/C I wouldn't like to go into 100F+ with it.

Yep, I also believe it is milder than other cars (ICEs is what I am comparing to).

Does it make a difference if you set AUTO on the A/C compressor, or manually ON? Because I have a feeling that, when left on AUTO, it sometimes stops the A/C compressor to save energy. And when it's a hot and humid day, even 30 secs without the A/C become very noticeable and painful...

slcuervo said:

Yep, I also believe it is milder than other cars (ICEs is what I am comparing to).

Does it make a difference if you set AUTO on the A/C compressor, or manually ON? Because I have a feeling that, when left on AUTO, it sometimes stops the A/C compressor to save energy. And when it's a hot and humid day, even 30 secs without the A/C become very noticeable and painful...

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That's because ICE A/Cs are either on or off. Electric A/Cs are variable speed scroll compressors that only run as hard as they need to. I've found mine to be very good during the past 2+ years. No problems keeping cool when it's over 45C and humid. It rarely needs to run with more than two fan blades showing on the screen.

Yes, what I've found is that with most cars, the thermostat controls the volume of air (fan speed), whereas in the Model S it really does control mostly the temperature of the air. So if it's not cold enough, lower the setting--all the way down to LO if you need to (though you shouldn't).

On LO, it's easily just as cold as any automotive A/C system I've ever experienced.

Extremely cold when set to low and range mode off and recirc set to manual on. As cold as the coldest cars I've owned.

In range mode, not so much. Weakest of any car I've owned.

The AC is hella weak. I started the automatic climate thingie 30 mins ago. It started at 98F. 30 mins later its at 83F. I'll probably survive the AC, but I'm not sure I'll survive the bitching I'll hear from the passenger seat :love:! :cursing:

kuttakamina said:

The AC is hella weak. I started the automatic climate thingie 30 mins ago. It started at 98F. 30 mins later its at 83F. I'll probably survive the AC, but I'm not sure I'll survive the bitching I'll hear from the passenger seat :love:! :cursing:

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Based on my testing the AC is really strong, but the control logic is completely awful.

If I set a normal target setpoint in summer, the car NEVER gets to it (i.e. it always underestimates the amount of cooling required).

But if I set the car to LO, it's arctic.

Yesterday the wife & kids were out in the car and had left it parked in direct sunshine all afternoon.

Shortly before I knew they'd be setting off I opened the app out of curiosity and and turned on the remote climate control.

This told me that it was 79 ambient but 107 inside the car, so I dialed the remote temperature down to "LO".

30 minutes later it was 54 degrees inside the car!! I was so astonished I even took a screenshot of the app.