Lexus A/C, The Coldest I have Ever Seen/Felt!!
#31
Super Moderator
It's the button on the right, and yes, when recirculate mode is off you are bringing in outside air.
#32
Old Oiler, for the sake of argument, can you do your test again. After you get the 17 degree reading{which I assume is with the A/C on full blast}, lower the fan speed to the lowest setting and take a reading. The air temp should be the same at the lower speed. If the temp is different, maybe you are getting a "wind chill effect" at the higher fan speed. Just curious.
I would say the best way to test this is just get a regular old mercury thermometer or electronic one and stick it in the air vent for a while. Something that measures the actual temperature of the air and not the net long wave radiation of who knows what.
#33
Pole Position
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I've checked the vents now more than I ever cared to do as I had no intentions of this topic getting into a debate. I've checked against various other substances/devices both with analog and without. I'm not going to even divulge the last temp reading with a conventional thermometer so as to not perpetuate this topic.
Lets just say that there must be something wrong with THIS IS, not yours, but mine and leave it at that and let this thread die. I will even go so far as to request the moderator to terminate it.
Geez man, if I were someone who was trying to raise your dander or start debates on unbelievable things I would have started that a long time ago and you would have quickly labeled me for nothing more than a "troll" and kicked me out from day one.
If the moderator does not terminate this thread, you guys debate away.
I'm....
Over and out,
Old Oiler
#34
Pole Position
I agree, something is amiss. The a/c in my IS will freeze you out of the car yet at its coldest the air temp at the center vent is 39 and outer vents is 44. Thermometers cannot pick up wind chill factors. Also, infrared or laser thermometers are notorious for being extremely unreliable.
#35
Next time I'm out and think about it, I'll spot one of the holes after the car has cooled down and take a reading.
It's very precise.
It's been worth every penny. I bought my dad one and it saved him $360.00 from a repair bill on an ice machine. The repair man kept telling my dad that the machine was working properly and freezing. My dad has had the machine for 15 years and kept telling the guy, "It's not freezing." The guy kept telling him, "It's working properly, sir."
My dad went and got the laser thermometer and told the guy, "Do you want to spot it or do you want me to?" The guy took the thermometer and took a reading (the readings are instantaneous), he proceeded to tear up the repair bill and told my dad he'd have someone else contact him and walked out the door.
Old Oiler
It's very precise.
It's been worth every penny. I bought my dad one and it saved him $360.00 from a repair bill on an ice machine. The repair man kept telling my dad that the machine was working properly and freezing. My dad has had the machine for 15 years and kept telling the guy, "It's not freezing." The guy kept telling him, "It's working properly, sir."
My dad went and got the laser thermometer and told the guy, "Do you want to spot it or do you want me to?" The guy took the thermometer and took a reading (the readings are instantaneous), he proceeded to tear up the repair bill and told my dad he'd have someone else contact him and walked out the door.
Old Oiler
I think im gona have to get one of thoes toys!!
#36
I agree, something is amiss. The a/c in my IS will freeze you out of the car yet at its coldest the air temp at the center vent is 39 and outer vents is 44. Thermometers cannot pick up wind chill factors. Also, infrared or laser thermometers are notorious for being extremely unreliable.
HVAC guys use the IR thermometers as a way to measure if the air coming out of a vent in the ceiling is relatively cold rather than get a ladder, climb up, put a thermometer in there when they don't really care about the actual temperature, just whether it's cold or not.
#37
Lexus Champion
Huh.... well this ended up being a useless thread... Doesnt anyone else have an IR thermometer that they can use to double check this? Man you can ge them for like 40 - 50 bucks on ebay!
#38
I don't mean to bring a dead issue back again. I have an IR thermometer and wanted to test it. To start off, my mouth read about 95 degrees F and my armpit read 81. The ambient temperature this morning was 79 on my way to work. As I drove, I put the AC on max, recirc, and only from the vents (no floor). I was surprised that within a minute, it was already down to 40 degrees... 30... 20... 17. Then it kept on going lower and lower down to NEGATIVE 2!!!!!! Then, it started to slowly rise and rise and rise until it seemed to settle around low 30's. It hit the peak low temp in only about 3-4 minutes after startup. Out of curiosity, I left it on full blast. It takes me 18 minutes to get to work. I could see my breath just like a cold fall day!!!
So, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw -2 degrees F - the condenser must've started to freeze or something so that it couldn't maintain that low a temp for long.
So, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw -2 degrees F - the condenser must've started to freeze or something so that it couldn't maintain that low a temp for long.
#39
Tech Info Resource
iTrader: (2)
The readings are anomalous. I put a standard digital thermometer in the vent (normal tech's test procedure) this morning and set the controls for maximum a/c. The lowest temperature I saw was 39.0 degrees.
Ambient temperature
One minute
Settings
Two minutes
Three minutes
Four minutes
Settings (going for broke)
Five minutes
Driving around the block - lowest temp I could photograph and drive
I hate cold. I refused to move anywhere in the snow belt and thankfully my wife is Caribbean, so she was fine with heat and humidity over snow. Just for you guys, I froze my butt off to show the truth. IR is anomalous technology for accurate air temperatures under dynamic conditions.
Ambient temperature
One minute
Settings
Two minutes
Three minutes
Four minutes
Settings (going for broke)
Five minutes
Driving around the block - lowest temp I could photograph and drive
I hate cold. I refused to move anywhere in the snow belt and thankfully my wife is Caribbean, so she was fine with heat and humidity over snow. Just for you guys, I froze my butt off to show the truth. IR is anomalous technology for accurate air temperatures under dynamic conditions.
#40
Racer
iTrader: (3)
FWIW, the AC in the IS is weak compared to the AC in my RX330.
I actually had my service guy take a look at it when I had the 5K mile service done. He said that it was running at 38 degree, which was within spec.
The RX feels cooler and gets cold very quickly, usually within a minute or two. It takes at least 5-10 minutes for the IS to start blowing adequately cold air.
Agree about Acuras. My g/f's TSX performs as well as the RX and much better than the IS.
I actually had my service guy take a look at it when I had the 5K mile service done. He said that it was running at 38 degree, which was within spec.
The RX feels cooler and gets cold very quickly, usually within a minute or two. It takes at least 5-10 minutes for the IS to start blowing adequately cold air.
Agree about Acuras. My g/f's TSX performs as well as the RX and much better than the IS.
I'm set on 74F at all times, left on auto, w/ 15k miles on the odo (just replaced filters).
#41
Pole Position
I thought infrared thermometers could not measure air temperature, only surface temperature. Correct me if I'm wrong. That's why you must use a a/c thermometer like Lobux did.
#42
Super Moderator
The method that Lobux used is the one I've seen MVAC techs and auto mechanics employ, and the results he obtained seem much more reasonable, given the amount of condensate I see pouring out of my car.
#43
Lexus Test Driver
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#44
I used one of those IR thermometers today for the first time. I had a hell of a lot of them with them. Looks like a checkout scanner but smaller. You aim, press trigger and hold until the temp readout across the LCD display. Wow, I went nuts measuring asphalt temps, awning temps, body temp, floor temp, car temp, etc. It picks up everything with HIGH accuracy.
Oh with my AC, so-so. Not arctic cold like some of you mentioned. It does feel cool, but I have to blast the fan on super high to feel it. I always have it on LO, no need to get in between because it NEVER get that cold really.
Oh with my AC, so-so. Not arctic cold like some of you mentioned. It does feel cool, but I have to blast the fan on super high to feel it. I always have it on LO, no need to get in between because it NEVER get that cold really.
#45
I remember reading through this thread before my car arrived and decided to test it out after I got my car, here is a pic I took while driving around town, you can see from my Nav screen the outside temp was 93 and inside it got down to about 30. I was impressed. Thought I'd share my pic in this thread.