A few questions regarding the aircondition and protection of mirrors/cameras

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Stavut
Posts: 27
Joined: Sat Jun 15, 2019 11:46 am

Post by Stavut »

Hi all,

I've had my XC40 for near 4 months now, and the car is always a pleasure to drive. However, the blind spots and the techs weather vulnerability can be a tad annoying.

I have a few questions, which I hope some of you may be able to answer.

1) Regarding the aircondition. I have noticed that the air on body disables once one chooses air on feet. I.e. air on body and air on feet combo is not possible. It just overrides and switches to only air on feet, although the display shows on body as well, but no air comes out. Air on top and on body works however. I'm coming from a Hyundai i10, and the aircondition on that tiny car seemed much better than what I've experienced on the XC40 so far.

2) Regarding the side mirrors. Comparing again to the tiny hyundai, they seem to be extremely vulnerable to rain/dirt. Given the massive blind spots and not being able to use the mirrors for a good amount of the time, I wanted to hear how others tackle that. The weather in Denmark these days is such, that there is a higher likelihood of rain than none.

3) Luckily I have the 360 cam and have been very happy for it, as given the massive blind spots I don't think I'd be able to drive the car safely without. However, the cameras seem to be very weather vulnerable. I.e. I have to clean them on a regular basis, as they would otherwise not show so much. Do others experience that as well? and how do you tackle it?

4) the VOC app works fine but there is a lag (i.e. 30 secs to 1½ minute before the car for example is turned on remotely. do others experience that lag as well?)
So some knowledge sharing on this would be appreciated, otherwise I wish you all a nice day.

Gears
Posts: 26
Joined: Tue Dec 17, 2019 11:26 am

Post by Gears »

1) I always leave the air conditioning completely on auto, and air comes out everywhere as expected. Either you have a faulty system, or you're noticing the fact that if you turn 1 of the vents off (e.g. footwell vents) that the other vents start blowing more air, as it is only split 2 ways not 3.

2) Never get any dirt on the mirrors myself but then again I don't live in Denmark. They are heated so any ice/water clears from them quickly for me.

3) I find the 360 camera useless so I did not option it - I am surprised you are so dependent on it. Yes, any camera will need cleaning, this is perfectly normal and nothing you can do about it. Most cameras generate a little heat so condensation on the lens should clear after 10-20 minutes. Anything more like dirt you will have to do yourself.

4) Yes, this lag is completely expected. Remember, your command has to go from your phone to a server hosted in either AWS/Google/Azure cloud, be validated and processed, then the car needs to be woken up via SMS (this is what takes the longest time), the car then has to establish a 4G/LTE connection to the internet, check the cloud server for any commands, and only then can it perform the command. All of these steps take time, and especially when cellular data strength is poor, it takes a long time. From my experience 30 to 60 seconds is actually pretty rapid. Just press the button and close the app and get on your way - no need to wait to see if it was successful, you will get a notification if it wasn't.
Temp Login
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2020 11:58 pm

Post by Temp Login »

Stavut wrote: Thu Jan 09, 2020 9:55 am Hi all,

I've had my XC40 for near 4 months now, and the car is always a pleasure to drive. However, the blind spots and the techs weather vulnerability can be a tad annoying.

I have a few questions, which I hope some of you may be able to answer.

1) Regarding the aircondition. I have noticed that the air on body disables once one chooses air on feet. I.e. air on body and air on feet combo is not possible. It just overrides and switches to only air on feet, although the display shows on body as well, but no air comes out. Air on top and on body works however. I'm coming from a Hyundai i10, and the aircondition on that tiny car seemed much better than what I've experienced on the XC40 so far.

2) Regarding the side mirrors. Comparing again to the tiny hyundai, they seem to be extremely vulnerable to rain/dirt. Given the massive blind spots and not being able to use the mirrors for a good amount of the time, I wanted to hear how others tackle that. The weather in Denmark these days is such, that there is a higher likelihood of rain than none.

3) Luckily I have the 360 cam and have been very happy for it, as given the massive blind spots I don't think I'd be able to drive the car safely without. However, the cameras seem to be very weather vulnerable. I.e. I have to clean them on a regular basis, as they would otherwise not show so much. Do others experience that as well? and how do you tackle it?

4) the VOC app works fine but there is a lag (i.e. 30 secs to 1½ minute before the car for example is turned on remotely. do others experience that lag as well?)
So some knowledge sharing on this would be appreciated, otherwise I wish you all a nice day.
1) I've never needed to touch any aspect of the climate control, I just leave it on Auto with temp set to 21 degrees. Only had the car in the Autumn/Winter months.
Occasionally have had to press the Max defrost button for a few minutes on some harsh mornings.

2) I've always made it a habit, with any car I have, to wipe the external mirrors each time I get into the car, if there's condensation on them.

Can't say I've noticed excessive blind spots, just need to raise myself up and turn my head if reversing and manoeuvring, same as any car. You can't drive a car like a computer game, you have to move around in the real world.

3) Haven't got 360, just rear camera. Things get dirty, I don't think it's a Volvo thing. Same as mirrors I wipe the cameras occasionally.

4) Lag is expected, it's not direct phone to car, the signal is travelling a fair bit between the two.
morganj
Posts: 158
Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2020 7:50 am

Post by morganj »

Not specifically related to your exact points.

But here in Finland I made a habit of coating my mirrors and cameras on my previous car in a water repellent like Rain X or something.

It helps a lot
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Stavut
Posts: 27
Joined: Sat Jun 15, 2019 11:46 am

Post by Stavut »

Hi again,

Thanks a lot for the replies so far it's much appreciated.

Regarding feedback:

1) In my experience it works well on auto, but my issue is when it's on auto there's nothing coming out of the vents, only on near the window and the feet, so when it's really cold sometimes it's nice to get some air out of the vents but nothing comes out unless I force it to choose air on body, and when that's done choosing air on body + feet cancels out the vents. I'll try reach out to the dealer this weekend, it would be good to get it checked.

2) Thanks for the input there and indeed it just takes a bit of more daily maintenance and that shouldn't be a problem. Thanks also for the heads up on rain-x, according to the dealer it should have had some repellant but it doesn't look like they did it, so I'll try with it and to wipe the mirrors when there's condensation. We have many bikes in Copenhagen, so not having full/semi full visibility from the mirror when it rains is a big thing but some more daily maintenance and perhaps some rain x might be a good solution. Never had to do much on the old Hyundai, as it seemed that the rain wouldn't stick on the side mirrors to the extent I'm experiencing now.

The large rear pillars and 2 child seats in the back make it so I'm unable to recline the headrest most of the time and although I do twist and turn visibility is less than what I'm used to, but yes it's probably just something that needs to be accustomed to.

3) I love the 360 cam, especially when parking or maneouvering in tight spaces, as coming from a micro car to a somewhat bigger car it's different dimensions, but yeah also here just some more maintenance before the drive would probably do the trick.

4) That makes good sense. Thanks for the confirmation and clarification on that point.

Aside from all this, the car is a beauty to drive, but in very cold mornings when the air condition is on full (and the vent is opened) and nothing comes out of the body vents it probably made me a bit more annoyed than I should have been.

Have a nice evening and thanks again for the input and recommendations.
Gray1969
Posts: 68
Joined: Tue Oct 01, 2019 8:04 am

Post by Gray1969 »

Stavut wrote: Thu Jan 09, 2020 9:55 am Hi all,

I've had my XC40 for near 4 months now, and the car is always a pleasure to drive. However, the blind spots and the techs weather vulnerability can be a tad annoying.

I have a few questions, which I hope some of you may be able to answer.

1) Regarding the aircondition. I have noticed that the air on body disables once one chooses air on feet. I.e. air on body and air on feet combo is not possible. It just overrides and switches to only air on feet, although the display shows on body as well, but no air comes out. Air on top and on body works however. I'm coming from a Hyundai i10, and the aircondition on that tiny car seemed much better than what I've experienced on the XC40 so far.

2) Regarding the side mirrors. Comparing again to the tiny hyundai, they seem to be extremely vulnerable to rain/dirt. Given the massive blind spots and not being able to use the mirrors for a good amount of the time, I wanted to hear how others tackle that. The weather in Denmark these days is such, that there is a higher likelihood of rain than none.

3) Luckily I have the 360 cam and have been very happy for it, as given the massive blind spots I don't think I'd be able to drive the car safely without. However, the cameras seem to be very weather vulnerable. I.e. I have to clean them on a regular basis, as they would otherwise not show so much. Do others experience that as well? and how do you tackle it?

4) the VOC app works fine but there is a lag (i.e. 30 secs to 1½ minute before the car for example is turned on remotely. do others experience that lag as well?)
So some knowledge sharing on this would be appreciated, otherwise I wish you all a nice day.
That seems a very long time?
The longest I have ever had to wait is maybe 10 seconds at a push, I start my car which is parked on the drive, from the kitchen whilst having breakfast, it takes about 3 seconds usually?
T4 Auto R design in Onyx black, 19" alloys, winter pack and convenience pack, front parking sensors.
Makrianos
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2019 7:37 pm

Post by Makrianos »

1) Regarding the air condition on auto mode. I notice that on first around 5 min depends of the cold it send the air on windscreen only... then it starts distributing it all over the car vents.. maybe it gives priority of de frosting and remove fog or moistures from windscreen. For better and faster results try to start your car remotely 10 minutes before you enter via the app or even start also the air condition before enter as it needs a bit time to adjust.. at least that works fine for me..

2) Regarding the side mirrors I had the same problem until I discover that they are heated:) and they are activated together with the rear windscreen when you press of course the button.. after that every time I activated whatever is the dirt, rain, moistures or fog disappear within few minutes(1or2).

3) I don’t have 360 cameras I wish I had but rear camera and parking sensors aren’t bad too.. I had some difficulties my first month but once I used to it it’s easy to park but I guess more easy with 360 cameras :) indeed it gets dirty and needs regular cleaning but that’s normal I think..

4) the lag you experience it’s also normal and what Gears says it’s totally correct.. I have seen some other brands apps with more delay and some others with less delay.. on my car some times responds fast and some other times has more delay but it always works.
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