Winter in USA

Boki Ar · Jan 6, 2018

Dear friends,

TV stations in my country report about very cold weather, with too much snow in USA. How is really? Few words, pictures if you can, please. :cool:

golfi_vend · Jan 6, 2018

Too much for USA, too less for Europe.
Give us our snow back.

Eric · Jan 6, 2018

vreihen · Jan 6, 2018

Fargin' ice hole bastages cold! Enough said.

Jack just came by and plowed our driveway (thank you!), since our snowblower wouldn't start and my cardiologist would kill me if picking up a snow shovel didn't do it first:

Tonight's low is forecast to be -21C with 25 KPH winds, after which we will be above zero (C) again by Tuesday. Our averages are +1C / -6C for today's date.....

Uwe · Jan 6, 2018

Jack@European_Parts · Jan 6, 2018

Somebody please shoot that buck with antler's up /\

NEtech · Jan 7, 2018

@Uwe, and do you have a picture 5 minutes before Andy is driving home, I would guess all windows are clear.

Boki Ar · Jan 7, 2018

The cable is for charging or heating? Something third? Just curious

vreihen · Jan 7, 2018

Depending on the length/gauge of the wire over by the bushes, it may also be the ignition source of a brush fire one of these days.....

vreihen · Jan 7, 2018

Andy · Jan 7, 2018

The e-tron is plugged in to recharge the 8.8kW battery to allow 16 miles (per EPA) of EV range.

That's a 12 gauge extension cord that seems to be able to handle the ~1100 watts just fine. Unfortunately, even after running two 20 minute remote HVAC sessions, I still needed to do a bit of scraping:

The main benefit to remote activation of the HVAC (via phone app) is to warm up the coolant with the Z115 PTC heater so that as soon as I actually get in the car to drive away, warm air comes out of the vents immediately. The eGolf goes one step further by having a heated windshield which the e-tron lacks. BTW, the charge rate through the "stenchin' cord" can't quite keep up with the power consumption of the Z115 so it does diminish range a bit. Still worth it.

vreihen · Jan 7, 2018

You need to install my "plug-in hybrid" heater into that thing.....

Andy · Jan 7, 2018

Is yours this one?

https://www.harborfreight.com/12v-auto-heater-defroster-with-light-60525.html

The e-tron will turn on the HVAC in a binary fashion, it has whatever settings you last had before shutting off the ignition, so I need to get into the habit of having say, temp and fan on high with vents directed to the windshield. In the summertime, the opposite would apply, choose Max A/C before shutting down.

Uwe · Jan 7, 2018

Andy said:
The e-tron will turn on the HVAC in a binary fashion, it has whatever settings you last had before shutting off the ignition, so I need to get into the habit of having say, temp and fan on high with vents directed to the windshield. In the summertime, the opposite would apply, choose Max A/C before shutting down.

It strikes me as silly that they have a smart-phone app that lets you turn the HVAC on or off, but not adjust the settings. :rolleyes:

-Uwe-

vreihen · Jan 7, 2018

Andy said:
Is yours this one?

https://www.harborfreight.com/12v-auto-heater-defroster-with-light-60525.html

I don't know about you, but I would NEVER leave anything purchased at HF plugged in unattended!

https://www.caframolifestylesolutions.com/product/comfort-solutions/true-north/

Made in Canada, eh, where they know a thing or two about cold weather.....

Uwe · Jan 7, 2018

vreihen said:
https://www.caframolifestylesolutions.com/product/comfort-solutions/true-north/

Made in Canada, eh, where they know a thing or two about cold weather.....

I guess if you have an extension cord going to the car anyway....

vreihen · Jan 7, 2018

Uwe said:
I guess if you have an extension cord going to the car anyway....

Sadly, I can't run the block heater and cab heater on the same long 12/3 cord. When set above stun, the heater above draws 1500 watts by itself. Add another 600 watts or so for the factory block heater, and it's game over even for a 20 amp outlet.

I gave some serious thought to mounting a marine 30 amp shore power inlet through the front bumper, and then mounting two smart outlets in a two-gang box under the hood so that my home automation system could turn on the block/cab heaters individually as needed. (I only use the block heater at -15 C and colder, and the engine doesn't hesitate to start even at -20 C without the block heater.) I also thought about installing a self-retracting reel behind the bumper so that I could simply pull the cord out and plug it into a house outlet when I arrive home, but the Arctic Leash brand is way over-priced and no way am I going to use an HF retractable reel for that kind of current.....

Andy · Jan 7, 2018

How about electrifying a winch? Very Alton Brown that way.

PetrolDave · Jan 8, 2018

Uwe said:
It strikes me as silly that they have a smart-phone app that lets you turn the HVAC on or off, but not a dust the settings.

Sadly several of the apps I use have similar gotchas of a really useful missing feature/option, you have to wonder whether some app developers actually try to use the app in real life?

vreihen · Jan 8, 2018

I recently purchased a smart watch band EKG device. The included app did not have a way to save or exit the preferences screen! :facepalm:

You don't need Captain Coredump (my alter-ego that embarrasses programmers and their silly mistakes for a living) to spot this one *long* before letting the app ship.....

Winter in USA

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