On Mon, 3 Nov 2003 13:23:36 -0500, "John Smith" <some1@microsoft.com>
wrote:

>Hello, this posting is applicable to 2003 EX model with climate control
>but without NAVI.
>
>I just listed number of items from my disappointment list related to climate
>control /AC system.
>
>1. Fan power control buttons.
>These buttons located diagonally one above the other. They have down arrow
>(decrease power) on the upper button and up arrow (increase power) on the
>down button. I would assume that this should be the other way around.
>

I guess... I didn't even notice it until you mentioned it. I think
this mimics how other similar controls (volume on a stereo) are
usually set... press left to decrease, right to increase. They don't
take the upper/lower button thing into consideration... they just
engineered the controls as if they were in a straight line.

>2. Internal circulation with Auto ON.
>
>I have noticed that in hot day internal circ light stays for quite long (can
>be an hour) if I get in the car when it hot from outside sun and Auto is
>ON. Then I found a way to get rid of the circ but keeping AUTO. I increase
>room temp above normal, at certain point of temperature circ light goes off,
>and then I decrease temp back to normal and circ light does not come up. I
>see here either a flaw in the logic or defect in the temp sensor. Otherwise
>I would expect circ coming up back again when I decrease below threshold
>temp. And still, internal circulation longer than 10 minutes seems to be
>abnormal.
>

Agreed... it does stay on longer than my 2000 EX (also with automatic
climate control). But I just let it work automatically and it doesn't
seem to be an issue.

>3. In A/C ON or OFF mode, I assume that I have full control over the
>individual controls of the system. But when I increase/decrease temperature
>level I notice that fan speed changes too even if I didn't change fan
>settings. My assumption that temp and fan should be totally independent in
>this scenario.
>
>4. General lack of information in the display and therefore lack of
>control.
>
>When AUTO is on, it's ok to have only temperature levels displayed, because
>I realize that fan speed, temperature and modes are dynamically changed
>depending on outside conditions and temp settings. But as I turn off AUTO, I
>assume that these dynamic values are become fixed, but I have no idea what
>they are. No fan or mode display at the moment as well as AC ON or OF
>indication.
>

In answer to 3 and 4, I believe that the system retains automatic
control over all functions until you override them with specific
manual controls. So in 3, for example, if you haven't manually set a
fan speed, the system still controls it automatically.

The advantage of this approach is that the system continues to control
functions that you haven't "overridden". Last weekend, we had a lot
of rain in my area, so I needed to use defog. When I manually set the
mode, the system still controlled the temperature and fan speed, with
the result being comfortably controlled temperature and clear windows.

So that's why the system doesn't immediately display all settings when
you turn off auto. Each automatically controlled function reverts to
manual only when you explicitly take control of it by setting it. I'm
pretty sure this is how it works, but I'm no expert, so I may be
wrong.

>There is an indirect way to find it out though. As I change any of
>mentioned settings, it brings these settings to the display and only after
>that they stay. I assume these settings should be on display at any time
>when AUTO is off. And this indirect way has another drawback. As you bring
>value to the display you change it even if you want only to check it.
>
>I would be interested in listening opinions and experience of others,
>JS
>
>P.S. I wonder , if there is such a thing as firmware upgrade for car
>computer similar to let say cell phone?
>
>