Don't feel bad.
It's a bad design.

Yes, many HCH2 drivers ARE driving around with their AC on and don't know it (especially if the temp is not set very low to tip you off) , because people think the AC only comes on when you turn it on.

In fact i suspect this explains why the database shows the same MPG average for the HCH2 and the HCH1.
The HCH1 didn't do this and was rated 2 MPG lower.

 

OK, so reading this I'm a bit confused, particularly after something I noticed this morning on my drive to work.

I've been driving around thinking the climate control/AC should be doing nothing, because I've always pushed 'OFF' and the display is completely blank and off and not even lit on the Climate Control/AC display.

I do, however, leave the fresh air button pushed. The one time I have used the AC since having the car - about a week and a half now - I had the temp set to like 75.

This morning I got up, got in the car, rolled down the windows and proceeded on my way. The climate control/AC display was off, having pushed the off button, but I noticed after a while that the air coming out of the vents was very warm, much warmer than the air coming in the windows.

I realized I had had the climate control set to 75, which was warmer than the morning temperature of 67 or so and it was heating the air coming from the outside through the vents - even though I expected the climate control to be off completely. I had to turn it on, adjust the temperature to be below or just at the actual outdoor temperatue to keep it from heating the air.

After reading this topic I'm guessint the AC was actually on in this instance, after I adjusted the temperature to keep it from cooling the air, rather than me just getting the air from outside? So to actually make sure it's actually off I have to actually be able to see 'AC Off' in the display? Seems like a bad design choice, if the display isn't even on and I hit 'OFF' for climate control you'd think everything would be off?

 

Did you turn on the fan?

 

No, as far as I know the fan wasn't on. I pushed the 'OFF' button on the button left of the controls and the digital display was competely off. The only light that was on was the light on the 'Fresh Air' button.

That the AC may cycle on and off when you're in pure auto mode doesn't seem surprising to me, but that it might be running the compressor based on a climate control temperature setting when I have just the 'Fresh Air' button pushed and climate control off seems pretty weird. Of course, it was relatively cool (relative to temps here lately anyway) so I'm not sure it actually was running the compressor when it cooled the air down, but it was obviously heating it up before.

 

I'm starting to think the "Auto" mode really has two modes.

1. The obvious one - when you push the Auto button.

2. The stealth one - any time the fan is on - it tries reach the temp of the temp setting using either the heater or the AC, even though the screen remains blank.

The plot thickens.
How freaky.

 

I'm leaving work in a few minutes, now that it's much warmer (though I park in the shade), I'll see if I notice how it works between my up until now usual settings and what happens when I explicitly turn the AC off.

 

What happens when you push Off and then *don't* push any other buttons, including the fresh air button? I'm guessing pushing that fresh-air button turns the system back on. . . . --?

--doug

 

I think the key is the fan ****.

Turn the fan on and and the AC comes on if the temp setting is lower than the ambient temp. - Plus the screen remains blank even though the AC is on.
To turn the AC off you have to press the AC button, then the screen will say AC OFF.

 

If it does, it gives no indication of that, as the display remains blank. I tried it on my way home from work today. Made sure the AC was actually set to off and the fan was on low. I did get a higher average MPG reading during the return trip then usual, but that was the first time I'd done an individual return trip reading rather than a roundtrip average for my commute, so I'll try the other way tomorrow.

I don't think this is it, as when I set it up for my commute home today the air out of the vents was noticeably more forceful since I actually had the fan turned on and at its lowest setting (since it's required to set a speed when you have the A/C 'on' or 'off' explicitly selected). With the 'off' button pushed and the display blank it's pretty obvious it's not actively blowing the fan and just letting the movement of the car bring air in through the vent system (or else the fan is EXTREMELY lower than even when the fan is set to its lowest setting when it's explicitly turned on).

I did notice that it didn't seem to actually be cooling the air this afternoon when the display was off, even though my climate control (before turning it off) was set to 70 and it was just below 90 outside, even though this morning it was obvious it was actively heating the air when it was 'off'.

This **** thing is so confusing.

 

Care to elaborate?