Question about S80 climate controls

robocam · Post by **robocam** » 12 Apr 2009, 17:21

In the manual of my 2005 S80 2.5T it says that adjusting the temperature lower or higher than necessary will not make heating or cooling any faster.

I've confirmed this to be true.

Here's why I'm bringing this up. In all my previous cars, I've used the temperature control to mix the hot and cold air to a perfect temperature depending on how I feel at the time. With the S80's controls, the air coming out of the air vents is either hot or cold. I can't use the temperature knob to make the air coming out of the vents warmer or cooler.

Has anyone had an issue with the way it's done? I just got my S80 so I'm hoping that I'll just get used to it.

So is it really true that I can no longer make the air coming out of the vents, the exact temperature that I like?

And if I have the A/C on with the temperature up really high, will it still run the compressor and dehumidify the air? (as long as the outside temp isn't too low)

If I have just the lower button (of the three air direction controls) activated, I can still feel air coming out of the middle/main air vents. Is this normal?

thanks

robocam · Post by **robocam** » 13 Apr 2009, 22:47

Today I decided to press the AUTO button to try it out and I think I really like it. It runs the A/C compressor (cycles it on and off based on demand I think) to dehumidify the air and warm air comes out of the floor vents while cool air comes out of the main vents. It's exactly the way I'd want it! I just set the two temperature controls at 70 and it controls everything else. Now I wish there was a mode where the passenger temperature control was disabled. In the Infiniti G35, you can have the driver and passenger temperatures linked so they both go up and down together when you adjust the temperature.

So instead of wondering if I could get used to the Volvo system, I'm wondering now if I can do with out it =) I wonder if other cars do it this way.

Post by **vegasjetskier** » 17 Apr 2009, 22:43

robocam wrote:In the manual of my 2005 S80 2.5T it says that adjusting the temperature lower or higher than necessary will not make heating or cooling any faster.

What they are talking about here is the fact that a certain mass of air takes a certain amount of time to change temperature. The AC or heater can only move so many BTUs of heat and so it will take a certain amount of time to reach any particular temperature setting. The thermostat controls only what the final temperature is, not the rate at which that temperature is achieved. The same is true of home ACs - it does no good to set the thermostat higher or lower to try to get to the desired temperature faster - the unit is either on and moving BTUs as fast as it can, or off.

And if I have the A/C on with the temperature up really high, will it still run the compressor and dehumidify the air? (as long as the outside temp isn't too low)

On my car, if I manually turn the AC on (so that the green AC LED is lit), it will run the compressor all the time to dehumidify the air, regardless of what the air temperature is.

If I have just the lower button (of the three air direction controls) activated, I can still feel air coming out of the middle/main air vents. Is this normal?

I checked this on my car today and it did the same thing. Most of the air comes out at the floor, but some still comes out of the dash vents.