Electric heating - really not very good!

[maby]

Ha, we're going round in circles! Maby was asking if the preheat could be activated without app and without timer. I still think it's a "no".....

Okay, maybe (no pun intended!) I misinterpreted, but the question was:

Ah, OK. Can you set an ad-hoc preheat, or does it have to be scheduled on a timer? Some of us who are lucky enough to work from home do not have the predictable life style that fits in with a timer!

Rightly or wrongly I focused on the issue of ''does it have to be scheduled on a timer?", to which of course, the answer is no. Hopefully, in the round we've now answered his question, whatever the question actually was! :lol:

At the risk of perpetuating a rat-hole, I was responding to a response to my post which read:

"I must say that I'm not aware of any way to engage pre-heat from the controls in the car - if you don't have a smartphone or tablet, you may be in trouble!"

 

[maddogsetc]

Fair enough, my bad!!!!

 

[greendwarf]

I'd agree with others that the cabin heating is quite effective once on the move (although not so good for rear seat passengers), but only if you are willing to burn a bit of petrol. In fact it seems to me that owners who use the car for very short journeys only (like the chap, can't recall username, who was able to make one charge last a week) are actually going to be stuck with either a cold car or a very inefficient one over the cold months because the car consistently burns petrol every morning for the first few miles or so.

If you mean me then, yes, that is the choice but frankly the short daily journeys - me to the station & wife to the shops afterwards and back home, etc. - wouldn't heat an ordinary car or even the PHEV on the ICE anyway. So with the Gxh3 I miss out on the "extra" benefit of pre-heating but I don't pay for it either and the car cost less, so I'm not unhappy with the compromise

 

[Paule23]

I've only got a lowly GX3h, do I have anyway of preheating the car without putting the key in the ignition and starting it (potentially kicking in the ICE)?

I've done this with previous unloved ICE cars where I wasn't too concerned about some oic jumping in a driving off, but wold rather not take the risk with my PHEV.

Can I manually press the climate control button/demise etc. whilst it is still plugged in and expect it to work say 10 mins before my journey?

 

[maby]

I've only got a lowly GX3h, do I have anyway of preheating the car without putting the key in the ignition and starting it (potentially kicking in the ICE)?

I've done this with previous unloved ICE cars where I wasn't too concerned about some oic jumping in a driving off, but wold rather not take the risk with my PHEV.

Can I manually press the climate control button/demise etc. whilst it is still plugged in and expect it to work say 10 mins before my journey?

Sorry, no - that is a GX4 feature.

 

[Ozukus]

You could try one of these and add a timer in between the the heater and the lighter socket.

They get mixed reviews however this one had the most positive reviews out of all, am considering this myself as a GX3h owner.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Carpoint-Powerful-Heater-Demister-Defroster/dp/B000WNB0L8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1418199819&sr=8-2&keywords=12v+car+demister

Alternatively there is this, rather expensive and limited reviews however it does have an inbuilt timer.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/APA-16503-Windscreen-De-Icing-Ice-Free/dp/B0048LJW56/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1418199781&sr=8-2-fkmr0&keywords=12v+car+demister+with+timer

The above is based on the assumption that the 12 volt socket is active when the car is turned off, I've had other cars that disable them, some that don't, haven't checked the PHEV yet.

 

[maby]

I don't think that the 12v socket is enabled with the engine off. Also, you have to bear in mind that the 12v battery on the Outlander is quite low capacity - it's only there to boot up the computers - it will not run a heater for very long and repeated use of it to source high currents with the engine off could shorten its life expectancy.

 

[greendwarf]

I've only got a lowly GX3h, do I have anyway of preheating the car without putting the key in the ignition and starting it (potentially kicking in the ICE)?

I've done this with previous unloved ICE cars where I wasn't too concerned about some oic jumping in a driving off, but wold rather not take the risk with my PHEV.

Can I manually press the climate control button/demise etc. whilst it is still plugged in and expect it to work say 10 mins before my journey?

At the risk of being tedious, the quickest way to heat up a car with an ICE is to drive it. This makes the engine work harder that just on tick over, so heats up the water faster and the forward movement will circulate the heat inside quicker as well - push the cold air out rather than taking it into the heater coil. :idea:

 

[Casper]

At the risk of perpetuating a rat-hole, I was responding to a response to my post which read:

"I must say that I'm not aware of any way to engage pre-heat from the controls in the car - if you don't have a smartphone or tablet, you may be in trouble!"

Can I return to this issue - I want to preheat the car to avoid the engine cutting in when I pull away in cold weather. I'm used to just switching on heating in LEAF remotely by smartphone/tablet and I understood the Outlander had this facility albeit in reduced form.
So I've just tried installing the Mitsubishi Remote Control App. So I've switched on power with drivers side door closed and pressed lock/unlock 10 times and think I heard two beeps. However in the wifi sections of my android smartphone and IPad there is no sign of REMOTExxxxxx in the extensive WIFI lists. Is this app a bit flaky and worth the effort.
Can I alternatively turn preheating on manually with the car on charge but locked up.

 

[maddogsetc]

At the risk of perpetuating a rat-hole, I was responding to a response to my post which read:

"I must say that I'm not aware of any way to engage pre-heat from the controls in the car - if you don't have a smartphone or tablet, you may be in trouble!"

Can I return to this issue - I want to preheat the car to avoid the engine cutting in when I pull away in cold weather. I'm used to just switching on heating in LEAF remotely by smartphone/tablet and I understood the Outlander had this facility albeit in reduced form.
So I've just tried installing the Mitsubishi Remote Control App. So I've switched on power with drivers side door closed and pressed lock/unlock 10 times and think I heard two beeps. However in the wifi sections of my android smartphone and IPad there is no sign of REMOTExxxxxx in the extensive WIFI lists. Is this app a bit flaky and worth the effort.
Can I alternatively turn preheating on manually with the car on charge but locked up.

Depends if you want it set up to run regularly at fixed times or just to start an ad-hoc preheat session? You can do the former through the MMCS but the latter requires the App.

 

[WattCar]

However in the wifi sections of my android smartphone and IPad there is no sign of REMOTExxxxxx in the extensive WIFI lists

The wifi does seem to be quite flaky. I found it works better with my iphone if it can 'see' the passenger door as the aerial is on that side.