Auto Climate Confusion

[Bash D Bishop]

All my previous vehicles have had simple, but effective, auto climate control i.e. press a button and temperature would be set/maintained while the fan would run at the required level to warm/cool the vehicle.

Yesterday afternoon I got in to my V90 CC. The outside temp gauge showed 26c but as the car is black and was in direct sunlight, the interior was hotter than a sauna.

The temperature was set at 20c as normal and I expected the fan to kick-in and ramp up to full blast. But it didn't. I then put the temperature to 'Lo' but still the fan failed to kick-in. At this point my son had had enough and started playing around with the air vent settings and ramped the fan up to maximum. The car quickly cooled and I set everything back to Auto and 20c.

It was while resetting the fan that I noticed text coming up and displaying something like "Auto Fan 1", "Auto Fan 2", etc. I couldn't quite figure out what this meant but as I was driving I left it until I came home.

Looking at the manual I can't find any reference to Auto Fan settings. I did try putting the fan at various levels but all it seemed to do was run faster the higher the level I selected.

This all seems a bit of complexity for complexities sake. What am I doing wrong?

[Sphinx2000]

I know what you mean. I was thinking the same. I found this in my manual :

Activating auto climate control With auto climate control activated, multiple climate functions are controlled automatically. Auto-regulation button in the climate view. 1. Open the climate view in the centre display. 3 For cars with 4-zone climate*. 212 2. Give a short or long press on AUTO. • Short press - air recirculation, air conditioning and air distribution are controlled automatically. • Long press - air recirculation, air conditioning and air distribution are controlled automatically, temperature and fan speed are changed to standard settings: 22 °C (72 °F) and level 3 (level 2 in the rear seat3). > Auto-regulation of the climate is activated and the button illuminates. NOTE Temperature and fan speed can be changed without deactivating the automatically-regulated climate control system. The automaticallyregulated climate control system is deactivated when the air distribution is changed manually or when maximum defroster is activated.

Hope that helps.

[Bash D Bishop]

Thanks Sphinx2000. I saw that too but it was this part that I thought was contradictory. How can the temp and fan speed be changed without deactivating the climate control system? I get the temp part but IMHO, the fan is part of the auto climate and if you change it then it isn't auto!

Originally Posted by Sphinx2000

NOTE Temperature and fan speed can be changed without deactivating the automatically-regulated climate control system. The automatically regulated climate control system is deactivated when the air distribution is changed manually or when maximum defroster is activated.

[scw]

As I understand it, the selected fan level sets the maximum at which the auto-climate will run the fan(s). As per a sidebar note in my manual:

The climate control system automatically adjusts the air flow within the selected fan level based on requirements. This means that the fan speed may change even though the fan level is the same.

(Emphasis mine).

The defaults (3 front, 2 rear) have been fine for me so far. YMMV.

Steve

[gaby]

That's how I understand it as well: auto-climate with selectable maximum fan speed.

[jamei305]

A great idea, I don't use auto-climate in most cars as you never know when it will decide to whack the fan on full blast, which can be distracting.

[nu11eaf]

For most conditions just set the fan to level 3 or 4 and climate to auto and it leave set like that, the system will operate automatically within the fan speed set range. The fan will adjust automatically between 1 and set high range, I have mine on level 3.
If you had the fan set on low which it sounds like yours was you will not get rapid cooling.

If you have the fan speed set low it will not be effective as it you will have set the fan auto limit to low.

if you require extra rapid cooling you can adjust the fan to a higher level or drop the temperature setting, but normally if set as above it will work efficiently.

If my car has been sat in the hot sun I sometimes remote start it via my phone VOC app as I get near it and it will cool the inside before I get in.

One more thing you may notice with the climate control is windows misting up when driving in eco mode in certain conditions, this is just because the climate control is reduced for economy, you may have to adjust the fan or slip into another mode for a short while until windows are clear, its is normal and not a fault.

[VOLVOL0VER]

Originally Posted by Bash D Bishop

All my previous vehicles have had simple, but effective, auto climate control i.e. press a button and temperature would be set/maintained while the fan would run at the required level to warm/cool the vehicle.

Yesterday afternoon I got in to my V90 CC. The outside temp gauge showed 26c but as the car is black and was in direct sunlight, the interior was hotter than a sauna.

The temperature was set at 20c as normal and I expected the fan to kick-in and ramp up to full blast. But it didn't. I then put the temperature to 'Lo' but still the fan failed to kick-in. At this point my son had had enough and started playing around with the air vent settings and ramped the fan up to maximum. The car quickly cooled and I set everything back to Auto and 20c.

It was while resetting the fan that I noticed text coming up and displaying something like "Auto Fan 1", "Auto Fan 2", etc. I couldn't quite figure out what this meant but as I was driving I left it until I came home.

Looking at the manual I can't find any reference to Auto Fan settings. I did try putting the fan at various levels but all it seemed to do was run faster the higher the level I selected.

This all seems a bit of complexity for complexities sake. What am I doing wrong?

Yeah... Volvo likes to complicate. I have had AUDI BMW and VW and even french cars such like Citroen and Renault and in a lot of things i get surprised by Volvo. Sometimes it even irritates me... i know my nickname is VOLVOL0VER and i do like Volvo cars (if not i wouldn't have buy my current car) but some things are just weird and out of common sense and logic.

[VOLVOL0VER]

Originally Posted by Bash D Bishop

Thanks Sphinx2000. I saw that too but it was this part that I thought was contradictory. How can the temp and fan speed be changed without deactivating the climate control system? I get the temp part but IMHO, the fan is part of the auto climate and if you change it then it isn't auto!

there you go... makes no sense.

[gaby]

The auto-climate isn't a complication, it's an addition to (most) other systems.