# Auto HVAC remote start options.



## firehawk618 (Feb 24, 2013)

Can someone with the automatic climate control verify whether or not in vehicle settings you can tell it to automatically heat or cool the car depending on temperature?

The 2nd gen Volt had this in the settings and it was quite nice.

I have manual controls and if the option to automatically heat / cool the car on a remote start is in the settings then I will take a hard look into retrofitting the automatic system into my car.

Thanks!


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## Blasirl (Mar 31, 2015)

I'd like that on my Gen I - do figure it out please!


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

firehawk618 said:


> Can someone with the automatic climate control verify whether or not in vehicle settings you can tell it to automatically heat or cool the car depending on temperature?
> 
> The 2nd gen Volt had this in the settings and it was quite nice.
> 
> ...


No, don't have that option. 

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk


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## Cruzen18 (Jan 28, 2018)

Unless the Premier model will do so, I believe the only way to do it is to set the controls for whatever you want it to be next before shutting off the vehicle.


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## firehawk618 (Feb 24, 2013)

Blasirl said:


> I'd like that on my Gen I - do figure it out please!


Sorry I have a 2nd gen.



**** that's terrible news. For what it's worth from all appearances the 2nd gen volt has virtually the same HVAC yet will heat or cool the car on remote starts.

Shame they didn't add the tiny amount of programming to enable this feature.


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## Blasirl (Mar 31, 2015)

firehawk618 said:


> Sorry I have a 2nd gen.


I know, but if you can figure it out for your car, it might be possible to cross over depending on what is required.


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## spaycace (Feb 9, 2012)

I believe most cars these days with "automatic" climate control settings on their heating/cooling systems will perform to whatever the last setting was when the car was shut off ... even my 2005 GMC will do this. So if I had my HVAC set at 72 degrees when I shut it off, when I remote start it, it will cool/heat the vehicle cabin to that temperature. The Volt (I have a Gen1 and a Gen2) is a different beast with it's available HVAC settings, and yes, it's a very nice feature! It most likely has to do with the fact that the Volt uses an electric heating (unless engine assisted heating is turned on) and cooling system, and also keeps the engine compartment at an "ideal" operating temperature. I have a feeling that in the near future, we'll see more electric A/C on cars, as manufacturers do everything they can to squeeze out more efficiency to meet CAFE standards. Even in my Camaro, as powerful as it is, I can tell when the belt-driven A/C is running, so I can only imagine the greater impact it has on a smaller engine with less power. I would guess there's not much difference in the amount of actual resistance caused by the compressor running in a Cruze or a Suburban; however, that result impacts the Cruze's mpg more so than the Suburban's. I would guess that with manual controls, it will cool/heat the car on remotely started vehicles to whatever the last fan speed and temperature setting were, only difference is that you won't have an actual temperature setting if my memory serves me correctly and the fan speed won't change either ... but I am getting old, so I could be wrong.


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## firehawk618 (Feb 24, 2013)

spaycace said:


> I believe most cars these days with "automatic" climate control settings on their heating/cooling systems will perform to whatever the last setting was when the car was shut off ... even my 2005 GMC will do this. So if I had my HVAC set at 72 degrees when I shut it off, when I remote start it, it will cool/heat the vehicle cabin to that temperature. The Volt (I have a Gen1 and a Gen2) is a different beast with it's available HVAC settings, and yes, it's a very nice feature! It most likely has to do with the fact that the Volt uses an electric heating (unless engine assisted heating is turned on) and cooling system, and also keeps the engine compartment at an "ideal" operating temperature. I have a feeling that in the near future, we'll see more electric A/C on cars, as manufacturers do everything they can to squeeze out more efficiency to meet CAFE standards. Even in my Camaro, as powerful as it is, I can tell when the belt-driven A/C is running, so I can only imagine the greater impact it has on a smaller engine with less power. I would guess there's not much difference in the amount of actual resistance caused by the compressor running in a Cruze or a Suburban; however, that result impacts the Cruze's mpg more so than the Suburban's. I would guess that with manual controls, it will cool/heat the car on remotely started vehicles to whatever the last fan speed and temperature setting were, only difference is that you won't have an actual temperature setting if my memory serves me correctly and the fan speed won't change either ... but I am getting old, so I could be wrong.



You're correct. The cars generally will run on whatever HVAC setting you had it set to last. In the 2017 Volt I had you could tell it to auto heat / auto cool the car depending on cabin temp and the sunlight sensor. Very easy to do via software if the car already has auto climate controls and why they didn't do this on the Cruze is beyond me. Perhaps saving it for a future model year to add more "goodies" and make it appealing after the 2nd gen isn't new anymore? I don't know their logic.

Heck, even my 2010 CTSV had the auto cool / auto heat option.......


I'm surprised you can feel the a/c compressor on your Camaro. Most cars these days don't use the "on / off" clutch style they used to all use where you'd feel the clutch kick in and out but rather use a variable orafice to control the a/c. The compressor on these cars is constantly engaged and the car can add in as much a/c load as it deems necessary vs the all on or off of old cars.

I have done more digging into the retrofit on my car and it looks like NO coding is required as long as I get a used part assuming the part isn't vin locked, which I feel is not very likely.

From what I have found so far the BCM coding is the same whether the car had auto hvac or manual. This is a huge plus for retrofitting. The only variance I can find is in the actual coding for the HVAC controller which appears to be built into the controls themselves.


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## firehawk618 (Feb 24, 2013)

After more digging into differences I am not going to attempt this retrofit. Simply too many sensors to add for little return.

Here's a list of missing sensors and I presume missing wiring:

Ambient light / sunload sensor
Windshield temp / inside humidity sensor
Left upper duct air temp sensor
Left lower duct temp sensor
A/C Evaporator temp sensor.

Just not worth it.


Check out this diagram of the HVAC control unit. Do you see anything odd here? This is for a 2017 Cruze.........


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