Scheduled depart and climate questions.

[Miyanc]

First how does the system (car, app or cloud) know what to activate climate to? So for example I set the system to get ready for me to leave tomorrow morning at 650, what ac settings does it use? Anyway to change that? Maybe add seats to the warm up?

If you set it for 6:50, when does it start or stop? Also when does the system start prepping the battery? I only have the 110 plug for now so am I loosing battery to precondition, set climate and charge?

 

[mojo]

One of things that you need to be aware of is that the answer to a question like this might depend on how old your car is, and what part of the world it was designed for. The Owners Manual (and the Driver's Guide app) are both customised to reflect the year (so you tell the app what your car is and the appropriate bits get shown in the app).

So for example, if I search the Driver's Guide app for information on the Range Extender, it shows me nothing - because it knows that my car doesn't have one. Similarly the printed Owner's Guide only tends to show you features that are relevant to your model year (in rough terms).

If, for example, you search for "stationary air conditioning" it will give you all the info you need about the cabin temp pre-conditioning.

Battery pre-conditioning is treated slightly differently. I think BMW's thinking was that most customers simply won't need to consider it in any detail. The timing happens automatically if you set the option, and it needs 3 hours prior to your scheduled departure time. Personally I don't think it's at all well explained to the customer, and that this is intentional. They just want you to leave it alone most of the time, and I suspect there is some sensitivity within BMW to the fact that battery pre-conditioning can take a ~lot~ of power...

And... unfortunately BMW linked pre-conditioning inextricably to Departure Time. This can be a major issue if you want to use a timed charging service so that the electricity provider has control over when your car charges. In the UK, for example, that can make the cost of charging very cheap indeed - but kills off any possibility of pre-conditioning.

 

[EvanstonI3]

If you set it for 6:50am, it will begin at 3:50am.

The system uses the temperature of the BATTERY PACK to determine how long to "pre-condition" the HV Battery Pack. From cold, it will heat the pack until it reaches 50F/10C then it shuts off. The system STARTS to prep the Battery Pack EXACTLY 3hrs prior to the Departure Time you set no matter what the Temperature. I don't know what it does for a really hot battery pack.

Then everything shuts off until 30 minutes prior to Departure Time. At that point the Cabin heating/cooling begins and continues until about 10 minutes after your Departure Time. You cannot "add" seats to this setup. You can only turn the seats on if you are in the car. I think the car is set to precondition the cabin to 72F regardless of what you had the A/C controls set at but I don't really know.

The pre-conditioning of the cabin can draw much more power than preconditioning of the HV Battery Pack. If you only have 110v for now, your battery will not be at 100% at 6:50am. You can get around this by putting in a Departure Time that is maybe 30-45 minutes AFTER you plan to leave (like 7:30am) and then just skip the Cabin pre-conditioning by getting in the car and driving off.

 

[robthebold]

The pre-conditioning of the cabin can draw much more power than preconditioning of the HV Battery Pack. If you only have 110v for now, your battery will not be at 100% at 6:50am. You can get around this by putting in a Departure Time that is maybe 30-45 minutes AFTER you plan to leave (like 7:30am) and then just skip the Cabin pre-conditioning by getting in the car and driving off.

IMO, I'd rather have a comfy car than the extra few % on the battery. But again, that's just MHO.
OTOH, what's not my opinion is that if one misses a scheduled (repeating) departure time by long enough for several days in a row, that repeating scheduled departure time will be deactivated.

 

[Miyanc]

Ty both. I too would prefer comfy car, actually my client is very particular at this point about her climate in the morning( my 13 yo daughter I drive to school) and gives me an attitude if it's not warmed up.
The reason for asking was to try and trick the system into being comfy and 100 when I leave. Neither is a deal breaker. I have noticed on a few days the battery was 97 or 98 when I get in. I also couldn't figure what temp it was set to because when I get in it had shown different things. In NC where I live its common to need heat and ac in the same day. I don't often uee the seat heaters, but my client does.
I don't mind the deactivating if unused, but it has surprised me a few times when I break routine and instead of being home and plugged in, in the afternoon when I have to go get the client, I will get out of a store and go to get into the car and even tho it's not plugged in and charging it still thinks I need climate at that time.

 

[McDuff]

The seats warm up very quickly. I turn mine off after about one minute from button press – but the temperature in southern England is not very low.