Air conditioner really kills mileage

[Laurentiu]

Originally Posted by JellyBeanDriver

More like coatings to reflect infrared energy instead of letting it in to bake the interior.

well...both actually low conductivity and low emissivity (keep the cool air in when the AC is on and keep the heat out)

[skyl4rk]

What is this ac of which you speak?

[Laurentiu]

well...i know I'm talking nonsense because my car "don't have no AC" and even if it did I would probably keep it off

[MadisonMPG]

95+ degrees...85%+ humidity.... no A/C I sweat all the time

[RobertSmalls]

Originally Posted by Daox

Your IMA battery thanks you for AC though. I was just talking with the owner of hybridbatteryrepair.com this weekend and he says heat is the number one killer of packs.

Ron is correct that heat kills IMA batteries, and if your battery overheats, a blast of AC can bring its temperature down faster. Though AC use is from mandatory for the Insight. The battery fan comes on around 140F, and you can keep the cabin under 100F with a sun shade when parked, and lowering one window while driving. Add an assist/regen disable switch, and the battery will hardly ever heat up unless you're in hills too steep to EOC down. Add a MIMA or other custom fan controller and the fan will come on at a lower temperature.

[RobertSmalls]

Originally Posted by MadisonMPG

95+ degrees...85%+ humidity.... no A/C I sweat all the time

I really can't fathom that combination of heat and humidity. I was really suffering on a 90F, 60% RH day.

By the way, Daox, did you check out the window tint on Ron's Insight? It's 30% VLT, IIRC, and he says it keeps things much cooler inside.

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by Laurentiu

L.E. it is appalling to think that the few cubic feet of cabin space in a passenger car which are 10's of times less than the size of 1 room require such vast amounts of Watts to keep it cool..

If that room was a greenhouse...

[Laurentiu]

Originally Posted by Piwoslaw

If that room was a greenhouse...

yes, i agree it's a greenhouse, but is it absolutely necessary to be like that ?

[user removed]

In Parris Island at basic training my brother saw a midnight temp and humidity of 99 each.

Best time for max AC is DFCO since its basically free. With 46 lights in 40 miles, it's inevitable that you will catch a couple of them. The VX's 5th gear is so tall you can get 10-30 seconds of DFCO-AC operation before engine speed drops down to low to maintain DFCO.

Just use the AC compressor, max fan, and recirculate, min temp and downshift as you slow to maintain DFCO RPM which in the VX is about 1200 RPM.

The threshold for me now is in the lower 90s temp wise and humidity here is rarely below 75%.

regards
Mech

[mrk]

I sometimes think about using evaporative cooling in a a car, if humidity is low it can be a good alternative, where I live it's only about 20%...
Has anybody tried to use a "swamp filter" somewhere in the ventilation system?
For short distances it might not be necesary to keep that filter swamp, just wet it at the start. The easiest I thougt is like a "straw filter" between two wire mesh to keep everything in place. Just place it in the intake of the ventilation, pour a bottle of water on, and let's go. For a longer effect you need to keep it humid, of course... not difficult though.
I also have seen this

Product Profile
but something like this will hurt aero too much...

Of course this is not valid for folks enjoying +75%

M