Impressive HVAC controls

2686 Views 3 Replies 4 Participants Last post by ryzvy, Apr 2, 2019

Timbo

Discussion Starter · Mar 28, 2019

I know that many people (myself included) were a little underwhelmed by the perceived quality of the rotating knobs for the HVAC system. Many people expressed that they felt cheap or flimsy. I have made an interesting discovery which makes me appreciate them a little more.

When the power is off to the car, the knobs more or less freewheel with little to no resistance. As most of you already know, once the vehicle is powered up, the knobs take on the function of either the seats with a press, the fan with a pull, or default to the temperature. What is impressive is that the ‘clicks’ that you feel when you rotate them aren’t actually physically there but rather are simulated with haptic feedback or some variation of the theme. While in temperature mode, each rotation of the dial yields finely spaced ‘detants’ for half degree control, while when in seat heater mode or fan mode, the detants are spaced farther apart. This allows one control to be programmed to have a different feel depending on it’s intended use. This is some pretty cool technology that I don’t recall seeing on any other vehicle. Maybe there is a technical term for this that others can share.

I am looking at those dials now in a new light.

Tim

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epirali

· #2 · Mar 29, 2019

That is very cool, I'll have to check it out. I never though those knobs looked for felt "cheap" I actually like them a lot. I just wish they didn't have the visual lag of the rest of the infotainment. If they reacted instantly when you did things they would be amazing.

Its only the rotating knob on the left of the wheel that feels and acts cheap imho.

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sgtpeper

· #3 · Mar 29, 2019

If you check out a Velar you'll see what our knobs should feel like. I can't fathom why they didn't use the better looking, higher end, setup of the Velar - again, a car that costs less...

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ryzvy

· #4 · Apr 2, 2019

Very cool indeed. However, to provide adequate horsepower for all these cool features I really wish JLR had invested in a better processor. I was stuck in a hellish traffic jam last week for three hours so had a chance to look at the behavior of the infotainment system more closely. I had experienced music from Pandora cutting in and out before but had chalked that up to cellular coverage issues inside the car, but last week I experienced the same problem with music that I was playing locally from the phone storage via Android Auto. I noticed that every time the screen from Waze zoomed in and out the music would stutter. At one point the Waze screen on the car completely froze while the phone showed that Waze was working fine. I switched to Google Maps on AA and noticed the same behavior. So it appears that the infotainment processor doesn't even have sufficient horsepower to render screens from AA navigation apps while simultaneously doing other basic tasks like playing music. For comparison I drove a rental VW Jetta this past weekend (basic no-frills version) and the infotainment system was snappy and worked flawlessly with AA (granted the screen was half the size). In an older car I could have simply replaced the head unit of the infotainment system with a better one and moved on, but the ones with new cars are so integrated with every aspect of the vehicles that it is no longer an option. I know this probably is a pipe dream but I really hope that JLR replaces the processor/control unit in the newer models and allows existing I-Pace owners to switch theirs out. I will be willing to pay for this.

OK, end of rant. I will go back now to enjoying the fabulous driving experience of my Blue Beauty :grin2:

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