Remote defrosting via iSMART app

[Rolfe]

Today I decided to try the remote car heating from the app. Outside temperature was reading 7C and the temperature inside the car was 15C. As my intention was to sit in the stationary car fiddling with the screens and the steering wheel buttons I thought I'd warm it up before I got into it.

I asked it to do its ten minutes warm-up thing from the app. After the ten minutes had passed, the interior temperature of the car was still 15C. Absolutely no effect whatsoever. I went out to the car and switched on the heating and it heated up quite normally.

Is this something else that doesn't work on the SE and is only given to the privileged Trophy owners? Or does it just think that 15C is quite warm enough and decide it doesn't need heating? Or am I doing something else stupid?

 

[siteguru]

You won't ... I've had my SE SR since the end of November 22 and have driven it through the past winter. Remote preheating plus cloth seats = nice and toasty.

 

[Rolfe]

Thanks so much everyone. I tried it this morning, even though it wasn't exactly freezing. Result, toasty warm car - if anything too warm, I might have been a bit over-enthusiastic with the temperature setting.

Ten minutes is just right for getting ready to go out, get bits and bobs together, put on coat and shoes and so on, and there's the car all warm and ready.

 

[Diggsy]

Thanks so much everyone. I tried it this morning, even though it wasn't exactly freezing. Result, toasty warm car - if anything too warm, I might have been a bit over-enthusiastic with the temperature setting.

Ten minutes is just right for getting ready to go out, get bits and bobs together, put on coat and shoes and so on, and there's the car all warm and ready.

Glad to hear it worked well for you. That’ll be really handy when it’s a nasty cold morning out there!

 

[Rolfe]

I feel a bit silly, but the way the app works isn't particularly intuitive, and I'm not sure I would have got it from the manual description either, even if I had realised that section was there. Thanks again everyone.

 

[Diggsy]

Nothing to feel silly about, it really isn’t obvious on the app. It should take you straight to the temperature control screen once you activate the HVAC.

 

[Les burrows]

Thanks so much everyone. I tried it this morning, even though it wasn't exactly freezing. Result, toasty warm car - if anything too warm, I might have been a bit over-enthusiastic with the temperature setting.

Ten minutes is just right for getting ready to go out, get bits and bobs together, put on coat and shoes and so on, and there's the car all warm and ready.

Now one thing to bear in mind as in the MG4 range thread you are a little concerned about how far you can get in the car which you needn’t be but in this thread about heating the car the thing to bear in mind is while you heating the car via the App your using your battery and that can reduce your range not by much it as to be said but the HVAC on full belt for 10 minutes can use around 1/2 % probably 2/4 miles I’m just trying to cover all your queries and question and of course be helpful
Les
Ps don’t feel silly and don’t be afraid to ask any questions you need answers to after all that’s why we are all here
Led

 

[tsedge]

No need to feel silly, the app - like the car - is not that intuitive, though at least we have one and once mastered it is a nice feature.

 

[Rolfe]

Thanks again. I'm not really concerned about how far I can get the car, it's more that I'm thinking about the issues. Nearly all of the time, if I'm intending to do more than pop up to the next village, I'll be leaving home with a full charge and not doing more than a 100-110 mile round trip. I'm not expecting it to be an actual problem, but I want to understand the limitations so I'm not taken by surprise.

Is it not possible to heat the car while it's still connected to the charger and replace the used charge that way? I thought I read something about that. Most of the time though, I expect to have plenty charge to do what I want to do.

I'm really happy with my choice of the SR, actually. No cobalt in the battery, a battery that's happy to be charged to 100% and sit there like that, and a battery that (reputedly) has a very long life. There won't be many occasions I'll even need to charge away from home, but having been used to ICE cars for the past 50 years, I want to make sure I'm aware of all the wrinkles with EVs that will no doubt become second nature after driving one for a bit.

And as someone else said on another thread, it drives like butter.

 

[Diggsy]

Yes you can heat whilst plugged in and charging. The car just doesn’t like to heat when it’s plugged in but not actually charging on most, but not all charge points.

 

[tsedge]

I am enjoying your contribution Rolfe, I think you are asking the questions many people have when they are new to EVs/MG4s and that is useful to future readers.

I thought to myself "Rolfe should write a book about her experiences", then I thought "Oh, she already has!".

This is meant in well-meaning jest, please don't take it the wrong way and please keep posting.

 

[Rolfe]

Hah. Did you just misgender me? (I should have included "check makeup" in that list of things to do in the ten minutes while the car heats.)

I have already published three books (non-fiction) and I'm working on another one now. This is just displacement activity.

Last time I had a new car was 2009 and I had a ball on a VW GTi Mk6 forum. Lots of useful information, especially as the Mk6 was brand new at the time. But it was an ICE car and in many respects just the same as the ICE cars I'd had before it. This time there is a lot more to learn because I'd never even looked into the question of EVs before getting the MG4 rather suddenly ten days ago. I knew my next car would be an EV but I had thought I would have rather longer to find out about them before taking the plunge! Hence the rather naive questions.

I'm still trying to get to grips with how public charge-points work, because I had no idea about all these different connectors and charging speeds and so on. Or that the time allowed on a public charger was so variable - I had the vague idea that the 45 minute limit on our village charger was typical, but I don't think it is. The MG4 can obviously take either type 2 or CSS, but I'm still unsure of the difference.

I'm thinking someone has probably written an introductory guide for the absolute newbie, but I haven't come across it. Something like that might have helped that guy who came on here fulminating that his new Trophy was showing significantly less than a 280-mile range, not understanding how the damn thing works. (I got anything from about 375 miles to 450 miles from a tank of petrol in my Golf, but I wasn't screaming about how it was a shit car on the days I only got 375. Not was I expecting to get the official MPG in real life either!)

 

[tsedge]

Hah. Did you just misgender me? (I should have included "check makeup" in that list of things to do in the ten minutes while the car heats.)

Apologies, corrected.

I have already published three books (non-fiction) and I'm working on another one now. This is just displacement activity.

Excellent!

I'm thinking someone has probably written an introductory guide for the absolute newbie, but I haven't come across it. Something like that might have helped that guy who came on here fulminating that his new Trophy was showing significantly less than a 280-mile range, not understanding how the damn thing works. (I got anything from about 375 miles to 450 miles from a tank of petrol in my Golf, but I wasn't screaming about how it was a sh*t car on the days I only got 375. Not was I expecting to get the official MPG in real life either!)

I've not seen an introductory guide, would certainly help.

 

[KH11]

Hah. Did you just misgender me? (I should have included "check makeup" in that list of things to do in the ten minutes while the car heats.)

I have already published three books (non-fiction) and I'm working on another one now. This is just displacement activity.

Last time I had a new car was 2009 and I had a ball on a VW GTi Mk6 forum. Lots of useful information, especially as the Mk6 was brand new at the time. But it was an ICE car and in many respects just the same as the ICE cars I'd had before it. This time there is a lot more to learn because I'd never even looked into the question of EVs before getting the MG4 rather suddenly ten days ago. I knew my next car would be an EV but I had thought I would have rather longer to find out about them before taking the plunge! Hence the rather naive questions.

I'm still trying to get to grips with how public charge-points work, because I had no idea about all these different connectors and charging speeds and so on. Or that the time allowed on a public charger was so variable - I had the vague idea that the 45 minute limit on our village charger was typical, but I don't think it is. The MG4 can obviously take either type 2 or CSS, but I'm still unsure of the difference.

I'm thinking someone has probably written an introductory guide for the absolute newbie, but I haven't come across it. Something like that might have helped that guy who came on here fulminating that his new Trophy was showing significantly less than a 280-mile range, not understanding how the damn thing works. (I got anything from about 375 miles to 450 miles from a tank of petrol in my Golf, but I wasn't screaming about how it was a sh*t car on the days I only got 375. Not was I expecting to get the official MPG in real life either!)

There are lots of good videos on YouTube regarding the different types of connectors and how various charger’s work whilst away from home.

 

[Rolfe]

Great! Do you have any good links you'd recomend? I watched several videos about living with the MG4 but they tended to assume you already knew what they were talking about.

 

[KH11]

I don’t have any to hand as I am not that good at attaching links but I put a search in on you tube and did a lot of scrolling till I found them.

Great! Do you have any good links you'd recomend? I watched several videos about living with the MG4 but they tended to assume you already knew what they were talking about.

Stuart Thomas has some on the MG4 as well as charging

Great! Do you have any good links you'd recomend? I watched several videos about living with the MG4 but they tended to assume you already knew what they were talking about.

Electrifying.com as well cover some so if you put them into the search bar like I did and I have subscribed to them so I can go back to them too.

 

[Ian Key]

Great! Do you have any good links you'd recomend? I watched several videos about living with the MG4 but they tended to assume you already knew what they were talking about.

This one might be of some use

 

[IanMK]

Going back to the original topic of this thread, by experimentation it seems that the app is only able to either unlock OR preheat the car. It can't do both at the same time. Is it the same for everyone? Can anyone think of a logical reason why this should be the case?

Also, does anyone know if the air is directed at the windscreen or the whole car interior on preheat ? I can't open the door to find out

 

[KH11]

This one might be of some use

Thanks Ian for doing that that’s one of the videos I have watched and was referring to. I haven’t got to grips with the forum and how to attach things yet.

 

[Rolfe]

Going back to the original topic of this thread, by experimentation it seems that the app is only able to either unlock OR preheat the car. It can't do both at the same time. Is it the same for everyone? Can anyone think of a logical reason why this should be the case?

Also, does anyone know if the air is directed at the windscreen or the whole car interior on preheat ? I can't open the door to find out

Honestly, I don't know. All I know is that when I went out to the car it was toasty. The entire car was warm, not just the windscreen.

I just walked up to the car with the key in my pocket and unlocked it with the door knob as usual. How do you mean you can't open the door?

Thank you all for these video suggestions. I see now what the menu for this week's exercise videos will be.

 

[JeffMcC75]

Burl Solomons has a great collection of videos on how to operate the features of the MG4 including defrosting from the iSmart app.



He keeps adding to it every week with something new. Here's the playlist of all 42 videos...