Pressing max or eco will turn on HVAC (and the little light will go on). Press it again to turn it off (the display will say fan only).

 

Thanks!!! That will prove most helpful!

 

Just my $0.02...

Don't over-think it. Just let the car do what it needs to do. What's the big deal if you "waste" 10 cents of electric? Is it worth putting yourself through all this agony and aggravation?

 

It isn't just the cost, it is comfort. If my car gets hot in the sun on a winter day, I don't want A/C blasting in my face.

Sent from my SM-G930U using Tapatalk

 

The climate controls are by far the worst aspect of the car. I have said it since day 1. Finally adding the dedicated buttons to the Gen II was a big step up, but still not great.
In my Gen I, it can be 50F outside, and 75 in the car due to sun, and the car thinks it needs to turn the A/C on to drop the temp to 72 degrees... Also the heat doesn't seam to come on until I bump it up to 74 in the car.

 

Agree 100%, the worst aspect of the car! I hate that!

 

Actually I love the gen 1 climate controls. I admit there is no heat/cool separation feature, but the a/c uses so little battery range that it's a non-issue. After trying to out-think the car for a year, I did what the manual said to do, set it to 74°, push the auto button, and ignore it from then on. Car is a comfortable 74° year-round. Just like the auto-changeover t-stat in my house, only better, because I get dehumidification with heating. BTW, I've found the car almost never overrides the heat with excessive A/C unless the interior has gotten quite warm, and then it needs it. I leave auto-defog off. The car still senses humidity and keeps the windows clear. Auto defog will run heat and a/c even in "fan only" mode.

 

Speaking of the control panel, I also think it's odd that the largest button is the button that directs airflow to the dash vents. Why is that so large? I almost never press it!

 

That's because you're in LA and have never heard of humidity
I use it quite frequently when it rains, or even last night when I got in the car and was sweaty. The windshield immediately fogs up if you're wet when you get in.

 

If they wanted to get fancy (which it seems like they do from the fancy controls), it should operate like a fancy home thermostat with "auto" mode:
1. Have settings for upper and lower temperature limits, instead of having one setting that it tries to keep +/- 2 degrees of. You set the lower limit to 68 and if it goes below 68, heat kicks on. You set the upper limit to 74, and if it's hotter than 74, A/C kicks on.
2. Optionally, for efficiency, utilize the existing external temperature sensor such that if the outside air is more desirable, simply vent that in instead of using A/C or heaters.

They could do this as a software update using the existing hardware. The temperature knob can serve as a convenient shortcut to changing the most logical control limit (lower limit when it's cold outside, upper limit when it's hot outside).

 

"Is there a way to control whether the car is heating or cooling? "

Yes. Set it to 'auto' + 'max' (or comfort in ELR) + 74F. I hardly ever change my temp setting unless I get an unruly passenger that want's something other than 74F. In ELR, I just instruct them to use "their" controls.

Life is too short to fiddle with something that has automation settings.

 

Says the guy from a place where people have to cool their swimming pools. I'm sure the frustration of AC cooling a warm cabin on a cool but sunny day is a somewhat more rare occurrence there than in Minnesota.

 

Well, with an auto-changeover home t-stat you create a "dead zone" between heat and cool settings where the system does not run. This would be undesirable in a car where windows can fog up instantly. Ice cars can use up to 10hp to run a/c, so manufacturers offer the ability to turn it off. With the Volt's electric a/c compressor, there is no loss of propulsion power, and its energy consumption is minimal, as it is a variable speed/output computer controlled pump.

 

I've just resigned to the idea that ECO = low and MAX = high. If I want lots of air, MAX. If want a light draft, ECO. My fan knob rarely gets touched.

 

Follow-up on this: I tried the above suggestion to turn off the climate control by hitting the "ECO" or "MAX" button a second time. This worked (kind of)! It disables A/C, but the heated seats still kick on if it gets too cold. That does satisfy my main concern that I'll park in the sun on a winter day, and A/C will turn on when I get into my nice, cozy, 80-degree car.

 

I definitely miss the full manual control of my previous car. No auto option at all. I always got exactly what I wanted with a few simple, quick, intuitive controls. And somehow there was never even a problem of it overshooting. Once the cabin got comfortable, dialing down the fan a bit or twisting the temp knob kept it that way. Not much fiddling at all.

It is funny how making it automatic to "improve" on that design makes the system harder to use and it is sometimes impossible to get the result you want.

 

See that's the lovely thing about perspective: What you're describing DOES sound like endless fiddling to me. 72 is fine, for me. I leave it there pretty much all the time. ECO, Auto, auto-defrost on. It just does the right thing and I'm happy.

 

I'm not a crotchety old man who despises technology (I'm in my 30s), but I miss the manual control, too. Our '07 grand caravan has two manual sliders, one for driver and passenger, with the traditional blue to red transition. Works perfectly to manage the temps.

 

So, here's what I do for 2 typical scenarios on my drive.

A. I don't feel cold, but I want to defrost my windshield cause it's 45F to 53F outside.
a1. Fan at lowest.
a2. Recirc ON.
a3. Target temp set no more than 15F above outside temp as reported by Volt at standstill (haven't driven yet).
a4. Drive for an hour with no issues.
a5. If getting cold, heated seats and steering wheel.
a6. Averaging 50miles on full charge, at stop lights I see my kW sometimes jumps to 3 kW instantaneous power usage, but does drop to 0.5 kW usage. Probably the heating element is cycling off/on to maintain the 15F temp delta.

B. I feel cold, and want heat without too much range hit. It's 48F-53F outside per my Volt.
b1. Fan on 1/3 power
b2. Recirc on
b3. Set target temp to at least 20F above outside ambient.
b4. Drive for an hour no issues.
b5. Averaging 47 miles range from full charge. At stoplights, my Volt is consuming 3 kW more often and sparingly drops to 0.5 kW.

I see no MPG difference when finally switching to the ICE in either of above scenarios (42mpg).

I miss manual controls, however. I don't think I fiddle too much with the controls since after a while, you get used to it and can immediately dial in your desired settings without even looking at the controls. On the Volt, if want warmer or cooler, I have to take my eyes off the road to glance at the center display to see what I have things set at.