Air Conditioning in Arizona Heat

SageBrush said:

That is why you want to use a sun shield!

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Sun shields help, but not as much as light colored cloth interior. I wish I could have purchased a 2015 with all SL features and light colored cloth (recycled plastic) interior like the 2011 SL had. Fortunately, the powerful heat pump removes the excess heat fairly quickly once vehicle speed gets above 18 mi/hr.

cwerdna said:

DaveinOlyWA said:

60 is the lowest. the key thing is face only air flow and recirculate. I find the front gets plenty cool, the back only so-so so aiming the vents becomes critical for that.

FYI; even with thermostat set to 80, it still max'es out until it reaches its set point. If it was that uncomfortable, guessing you were well beyond that.

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You live in an area that gets nowhere near as hot as Phoenix. Some crazy temps I've posted earlier: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=307296#p307296. You probably know the guy I'm talking about. He's well-known on Priuschat.

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this is true but I also have lived in hot areas and we all become acclimated to our surroundings to a degree. Although 85º would never fly here, it is what most people set their AC to... in South Texas when I was there. It is still 20+º below ambient so very comfortable.

But we are in probably the hottest overall Summer I have ever seen in Western WA and I have my A/C set to 80 and most days, the compressor says on (albeit a very low levels sometimes) due to the solar loading on the sensor. Either way, it becomes somewhat too cold in front, somewhat less than adequate in the back.

rear vents is probably my #2 want (over steering wheel heater which I have become addicted to ... )

GerryAZ said:

Edited to add: The A/C compressor reaches full output once vehicle is moving above 18 mi/hr, but it starts ramping up above about 12 mi/hr. According to the energy use display on the navigation screen, it draws a maximum of 1.5 kW while stopped and it can approach 4.5 kW on an extremely hot day after being parked in the sun when moving above 18 mi/hr until it cools down the interior (power fluctuates to match cooling needs).

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Well i went ahead and got one
A 2017 'S', Silver with black interior. Only black interiors available, of course! oh well.

The data you mention; is there a way to see that on a model S? (is it available in leafspy pro? i just got that going)

How, more generally, does the AC work? e.g. is the compressor variable speed? Curious.

ebeighe said:

Well i went ahead and got one
A 2017 'S', Silver with black interior. Only black interiors available, of course! oh well.

The data you mention; is there a way to see that on a Model S? (is it available in leafspy pro? i just got that going)

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Correct. S only comes in black cloth. SL only comes in black leather. If you want the light interior, that's available as a choice on the SV.

Yes. You can see AC power consumption in Leaf Spy. The app has built in help. On Android, I access it via the 3 dots menu > About & Help > Application Help.

The A/C (and heat pump) compressors are variable speed. 2013 and later SV and SL models have heat pumps (with resistance heaters for extreme cold temperatures) while earlier models and all S models have resistance heaters only. 2011 and 2012 models have small water tank heaters while later models have dry heating elements.