From: nospam@needed.com   
      
   Alan wrote:   
   > "Alan"  wrote in message   
   > news:P6Sdnd-2oMaa4gjNnZ2dnUVZ_rqdnZ2d@supernews.com...   
   >> Does anyone have any info on climatic   
   >> controls in a car? Today it was partially sunny and when the sun   
   >> broke through we I had to turn down the heater and open the   
   >> window a little but as other times we had to close the windows   
   >> and turn up the heat!   
   >>   
   >> Surely a computer sampling temperatures in and outside the   
   >> vehicle (and monitoring sunlight or lack of it) through a system of   
   >> sensors inside and outside the car would do the trick?   
   >> If this sort of system is not available to the masses, someone   
   >> should invent it - and make millions (grin).   
   >   
   > You guys in can.internet.highspeed except Tony (grin) seem to be   
   > intelligent. I know it's off topic, for which I apologise, but I   
   > haven't as yet been able to find a newsgroup where posting it   
   > was acceptable, or where subscribers were discussing how man   
   > reacts to day-to-day problems.   
      
   Thermostatic control systems, typically sense just the environmental   
   temperature (air temp in car), and adjust heating or cooling sources   
   to achieve the temperature objective. If the LeSabre has a control   
   that you set to 72F, then the computer should turn on the air conditioning   
   on a hot summer day, or turn on the heat on a cold winter day, to   
   achieve that temp.   
      
   If the sensor is dirty or covered in cat hair, that degrades the   
   situation, and the car temp could end up being just about anything.   
      
   When sunlight streams through an untinted windscreen, the air temperature   
   may not rise instantly, but the user could feel uncomfortable. The   
   car may not be set up for that level of "perception". And as a user,   
   you compensate, by changing the set point of the thermostatic   
   control, to something like 68F, so that the AC is forced on.   
      
   If a car doesn't have thermostatic control (like mine doesn't), you   
   just switch on the heat or switch on the AC, as you desire. When the   
   AC on my car worked, I used it to defrost the windows in high-humidity   
   situations. The car could probably work all of that out for itself   
   (work out the dew point), but it would be pretty tricky and perhaps,   
   not very reliable.   
      
   I wouldn't want thermostatic control in all situations. For example, I   
   was driving on the Transcanada in winter, and it was severely freezing   
   rain outside. I had the heat (defrost) cranked as high as it would go. The   
   side window was opened a crack, to provide even more room for airflow.   
   When I got to my next stop, the windshield still had a "clear hole" I   
   could see out of, but the front end of the car had around 2"   
   of ice buildup. I wouldn't want to be driving your LeSabre and   
   adjust the controls to battle that situation. I want manual   
   controls for that.   
      
       Paul   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)