"Free" heat in cabin

[trevmar]

Apologies if this has been covered before, but is it true there is a way to bleed off the small amount of heat from the battery/electronics into the cabin without using the resistive heater? Is it enough to keep the screen free of condensation on the inside when it's about 40-50F ambient?

[gpsman]

I wish it could do that but is doesn’t.

The first week I had mine I was fooled into thinking it could. I thought the car only had an electric heater like a plug in space heater for your home.

I used heat for my first trip then turned it off and parked for half an hour. Drove on my second trip and had subtle, gentle heat in the cabin. I was so happy becuase I thought waste heat from the electronics was heating the cabin. It wasn’t. I was fooled.

The car heats a tank of water, and then the hot water heats the air exchanger going to the cabin. While parked, that hot water will retain heat for quite a while.

TIP: Turn off the “heat/cool” button 5 or 6 minutes before reaching your desrination to save energy. You might as well use up that “stored” hot water, and no use parking with a hot water tank, unless you will be parked for only a few minutes.

[GetOffYourGas]

TIP: Turn off the “heat/cool” button 5 or 6 minutes before reaching your desrination to save energy. You might as well use up that “stored” hot water, and no use parking with a hot water tank, unless you will be parked for only a few minutes.

Yes! I do this too. It's probably a minor savings, but it has no impact to your comfort level.