Active Grille system

[Michael Holt]

I have noticed that after the vast majority of my drives in the MG4 Trophy no matter what distance, the active grille has activated. Even on cold days when I wouldn't expect it to do so it has come on. I generally drive it carefully so it's not due to thrashing it. Anyone else noticed it come on more than expected on theirs?

Cheers Michael

 

[morf]

Out of interest how do you know the active grill has activated?

 

[Michael Holt]

Out of interest how do you know the active grill has activated?

So when I exit the car and before I lock it, there is a noise a bit like a fan and also the grille is visibly open at the front. Once locked it shuts and goes quiet.

 

[Diggsy]

The fan noise may be your AC compressor

 

[Surfdog]

I would have thought there might be some.sort of symbol appearing on one of the displays when it opens up. I take it there isn't one? I didn't expect it ro open up until ambient temp is about 20 degrees which is almost never in Scotland.

 

[Michael Holt]

I would have thought there might be some.sort of symbol appearing on one of the displays when it opens up. I take it there isn't one? I didn't expect it ro open up until ambient temp is about 20 degrees which is almost never in Scotland.

I haven't seen any symbols. I will probably give the garage a call as it seems daft cooling an already cold battery.

The fan noise may be your AC compressor

Not sure but it could be that.

 

[Diggsy]

Not sure but it could be that.

Easy way to rule that out is to switch the AC off and see if the noise disappears. The button farthest left does it.

 

[tsedge]

I don't think there is any symbol or other indicator. I never notice on mine because I back onto my drive so I can't see the front of the car when I park.

 

[Michael Holt]

Easy way to rule that out is to switch the AC off and see if the noise disappears. The button farthest left does it.

Ah yes of course. I will check that out next time as it will be interesting to know if it is the AC.

 

[Lucky5]

Mine opens each time as AC is always on, turned HVAC off whilst cleaning today and grille remained shut

 

[Michael Holt]

Mine opens each time as AC is always on, turned HVAC off whilst cleaning today and grille remained shut

I've tried mine in the last hour and it does seem that if the AC is on then the active grille kicks in. I always have the hvac set to auto and therefore the AC is on. I'm glad I now know the reason so I will now only have it turned on when it's really necessary and avoid having cold air blowing over an already cold battery. The range should improve as a result too I assume.

 

[Surfdog]

Shouldn't be a problem for me. When it's been cold I have just told the wife to wear a hat gloves and scarf and when it warms up she will just have to open a window. Need to maximise m/kwh.

 

[AndyL61]

I've tried mine in the last hour and it does seem that if the AC is on then the active grille kicks in. I always have the hvac set to auto and therefore the AC is on. I'm glad I now know the reason so I will now only have it turned on when it's really necessary and avoid having cold air blowing over an already cold battery. The range should improve as a result too I assume.

That sounds like the active grille is switched on with the AC. So as if to say if it's warm enough for AC then you need the grille open. Crap way of controlling the active grille. Lots of people use AC all year round. It can't operate like that can it ? Surely not.

 

[mg4mc]

The AC radiator condenser will need airflow through it to operate properly, so I assume the grill opens to allow this.

 

[AndyL61]

The AC radiator condenser will need airflow through it to operate properly, so I assume the grill opens to allow this.

The active grille is advertised as an aid in cooling the HV battery. Shouldn't have any affect on the AC .

 

[Macadoodle]

The battery gets cooled via a little heat exchanger in the AC circuit so effectively shares the condenser mounted at the front of the car.
If you're stuffing 130kw into it during DC charging I would guess the grill should open and AC be active to protect the battery.
If it also opens when you're just running the HVAC you've got to wonder what the hell is the point of it though (the active vent) as it's hardly ever going to be closed for most folks.

FWIW, I've been running my SE standard with the lower air intake TOTALLY blocked off since Dec last year in a bid to boost aero efficiency.
Difficult to say how much it helps but there's been no complaints from the car. I don't DC charge so the battery coolant temp remains ambient, pump never runs.
Coolant flows in the other circuit when hammering it and using the onboard charger but I've never seen it climb higher than 50 degrees, the rad fan has yet to run so it's obviously happy with the passive cooling so far.

If the fan starts to spool up as the summer months arrive I'll take that as a hint that the system wants more airflow and at least partially uncover the vent slots again, but I wouldn't be surprised if I just don't need to up here in the chilly north.

 

[mg4mc]

I looked at this on my drive today. If the heating system is on and AC is enabled, then the grill opens. Disable AC with the heating still on and the grill closes. It does not matter if you are making any demand of the AC or not.

Poor programming from MG, the grill should only open when AC is enabled AND there is demand for AC cooling. (ignoring other cooling demands that is!)

 

[Lucky5]

I think the AC will be in action even if heating is being demanded. I can hear the cooling fan spool up every now and then. It is not solely for cooling but also dehumidifying the incoming air

 

[mg4mc]

Ah, fair enough. I'll just make sure that AC is disabled most of the time then.

 

[tsedge]

I think the AC will be in action even if heating is being demanded. I can hear the cooling fan spool up every now and then. It is not solely for cooling but also dehumidifying the incoming air

Agreed. AC can be used with heating or cooling and it is great in the winter to defog the screen.