[arizona charlie]

No it will not.

It was 93 degrees today. Wife had to driven to the Mall. She went in, I left the car on and the AC on high. Battery went to two bars and the gas motor went on--battery went to three bars. I sat in the car for over forty five minutes with the battery going up and down between two and three bars.

The battery did not discharge even though the AC was on high or Max cold all the time.

Love this car.

Arizona Charlie

 

[d3z]

Re: AC discharging the battery.

Which year? Up until 2003, the AC runs off of the ICE. It doesn't discharge the battery, but does consume fuel, especially on Max.

With the 2004, the AC is powered by an electric motor. It can run without the ICE running. But, it does drain the battery (much slower than driving, though), and eventually the ICE will have to start to charge the battery.

 

[LeVautRien]

A 2004, it seems, since he said the ICE went on: "Battery went to two bars and the gas motor went on"

 

[johnson487682]

A 2004, it seems, since he said the ICE went on: "Battery went to two bars and the gas motor went on"

That's not a good indicator. When running the AC in an NHW11, the ICE ("gas motor" is an oxymoron in this context! ) only turns on when the AC compressor needs to be pumped down to operating pressure. Then the ICE turns off, but cold air continues to blow out of the vents. The blowing air slowly becomes warmer as the coolant returns to atmospheric pressure. Eventually the blowing air isn't cool enough to maintain the set temperature, so the ICE starts up in order to re-pressurize the coolant.

So, this cycling on-off-on-off of the ICE happens in both the NHW11 and NHW20 when running the AC. The difference is the NHW11 turns on everytime it needs the coolant to be cooler. The NHW20 turns on when the it needs to recharge the battery to counter the drain of the electric AC compressor.

Douglas (2002 Silver, Wisconsin)

 

[ehurtley]

hehe.. 'ICE' is a good name for it in this context, eh?

P.S., AZChar: Only 93? Dang. I left Arizona because I was sick of 90 degree days, and it was warmer than that here in Portland! (And it looks like it may hit 100 today. And it's humid up here! Can you send your 'cool and dry' Arizona weather our way?