My seat heaters were on after preconditioning one morning, but I think they come on depending on cabin temp. Because I set them to Hi before I turn the car off in the evening, and they usually won’t turn on in the am with preconditioning. Haven’t been able to figure out the constant yet. But I have seen them on when entering the car after preconditioning. And this is with the Honda L1 charger. (!) -Skip Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Skip, Hope you figure out the variables. Maybe it wasn't cold enough in my garage (50F). I also had my seat heater on high. Sent from my SM-G955U using Inside EVs mobile app
See the diagram @KentuckyKen provided earlier in this thread (post #8) to understand when preconditioning will activate either the heater or the air-conditioner. I don't see anything about the seat heater being part of preconditioning. In cold weather, if your Clarity is set to ECON Mode, the driver's seat heater will come on at its lowest setting when you get in and start the car (after the getting-in turns off preconditioning).
I did see KK's post when he posted it. Since the document didn't say anything about L1 (which would make you assume that pre-C wasn't possible with L1) charging and knowing that I could pre-C with my L1, I thought maybe they just didn't mention the seat heater as well. Also note above that one of the posters said that he was sure his seat heater was on one morning during pre-C. Sent from my SM-G955U using Inside EVs mobile app
Its crazy this is a big mystery... why don't they just let us control some of the variables? I've noticed that my seat is set to 1 bar of heat sometimes, I usually just crank it to 3 every time I drive so I notice it being on sometimes when starting the car in the morning, but other times not... Also being able to defrost is a huge reason I wanted pre conditioning. Its not super cold but humid so the windows are always fogged up They should have just let us choose what options we wanted turned on, or auto sense them properly or w/e... maybe in a few years model
I just used Honda Link to start preconditioning on our Clarity, which had just finished L2 charging after we returned from seeing Bohemian Rhapsody (which we enjoyed very much). About 5 minutes later I went out to the car and I could hear the climate control fan running. I entered the car via the left rear door to avoid canceling preconditioning by opening the driver's door. Warm air was coming from the vents, but seat heater wasn't running. My experience is that the seat-heater comes on automatically (at the lowest setting) only after starting our Clarity when it was previously set to ECON Mode. To minimize the amount of battery power used to warm the interior it wouldn't make sense to run the resistance heater and seat heater at the same time. The seat heater would not contribute much to warming the interior while exacting its additional toll on the battery.
since I started scheduling climate last week, I am all of a sudden the best dad in the world for my two girls (my older one drives themselves to HS in the morning) I've tried both plugged in and unplugged. climate had faithfully turned on everyday at 7. no issues so far. I hope it keeps that way
I've gathered from several posts that driving with your seat heat on is more economical on the battery than using more heat....is that correct?
That seems to be the general consensus, but it’s very difficult to empirically measure in a real world test since there are so many variables to factor in. Another question would be in very cold weather, would it be better (rangewise/moneywise) to briefly run the engine to get some heat. It sure would be nice if Honda’s software developers had given us more information screens. Such as one that showed rate of discharge. Then you could sit in your garage and figure out each non-motive battery drain individually. That would be very helpful for those trying to squeeze the last electron of range out of the car. Sigh, if only...
When set to ECON Mode, the Clarity starts the driver's seat heater instead of the electrical resistance heater (which is how the Climate Control system makes heat when the engine is not running). That indicates to me that Honda believes the seat heater is more ECONomical.
Although, as I tend to wear weather-appropriate clothing and rarely drive in the nude, I'd prefer a heated steering wheel to a heated seat...
I like heated steering wheel, but I have to settle for mittens (unless someone knows how to retrofit heated steering to a base model)