You can't precondition on L1. Except that you can. (Sort of).

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AaD

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Honda's documentation for the Clarity says that preconditioning does not function when plugged in to a level 1 EVSE. We have a level 2 where we live in the winter, so I wasn't that concerned about it, but I decided to try it out here in our summer locale where we only have the provided level 1 unit. Sure enough, try to precondition over hondalink and you get a pop up saying you cannot. However - if you use the app to stop charging, preconditioning becomes available again, and the app shows the car as charging again when you activate it. In my test, the charge did still decline a little while preconditioning, but it does appear that it is drawing power - at least through the info on the app and the indicator light on the car (don't have a kill a watt, etc to check.)

So for those of you on Level 1 looking to warm up your car this winter, you can - just tell it to stop charging first. Screenshot_20180817-154650_HondaLink.webp
 
Thanks for sharing another data point in the Clarity that should have been in the manual. Guess Honda thought a 1,000 pager was too much.

Anyone tried this last winter with the much higher draw of heater, defroster, and/or seat heater vs lower draw ac??
 
Another question I have: can you plug into an L1 charger, charge to 100%, and then later turn on preconditioning without having to turn charging off (or unplug the car)? I'm hoping that over the winter I'll be able to charge my car with an L1 charger while I'm at work and then easily turn on preconditioning as I head back to the car on cold days!
 
Numbernine said:
Another question I have: can you plug into an L1 charger, charge to 100%, and then later turn on preconditioning without having to turn charging off (or unplug the car)? I'm hoping that over the winter I'll be able to charge my car with an L1 charger while I'm at work and then easily turn on preconditioning as I head back to the car on cold days!
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Yes, you can. But even if you don't make it all the way to 100%, all you have to do is press stop charging and you can fire it up.
 
AaD said:
Yes, you can. But even if you don't make it all the way to 100%, all you have to do is press stop charging and you can fire it up.
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Mine is kind of weird. I can do the same stop charging trick when charging. But that doesn't work once battery is full.
If start pre-condition from the app, it reports success, but climate is off on refresh.
Verified by placing a sheet of paper at the vent. Seems AC is on for one second, then off.
 
What is your inside air temp and the outside air temp? Remember the Clarity has a 'comfort zone' that determines if pre-con will start or not
 
Never understood why they would allow precondition with no charger but level 1 you can't. Doesn't make sense if it times out after 10 min anyways
 
One possibility; the customer expects to come back from L1 charging with more range and the pre-condition has actually reduced the range in spite of L1 connection.
Heat will consume power at a tremendous rate.
It probably matches L2 input.
Honda may have wanted to simplify the process to reduce complaints.
Our Fit EV had the same issue/design.

Off topic, but does anyone know how may pre-condition cycles we are limited to (and if it matters whether using FOB or app)?
Example; Charging at a public station in 100 degree weather and I have to wait for it.
Are we limited to one, two, three 30 minute cycles?
 
Atkinson said:
Off topic, but does anyone know how may pre-condition cycles we are limited to (and if it matters whether using FOB or app)?
Example; Charging at a public station in 100 degree weather and I have to wait for it.
Are we limited to one, two, three 30 minute cycles?
Click to expand...

I don't know that there is any kind of limit- I've initiated multiple cycles while using a public charger to keep the car cool for my dog this summer without issue. Well, except for getting my car keyed that is - now I leave a note saying that the car is climate controlled and remotely monitored, but thanks for your concern...
 
JCEV said:
Never understood why they would allow precondition with no charger but level 1 you can't. Doesn't make sense if it times out after 10 min anyways
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It's bad for the battery if the charge/discharge rate is about the same and cause it to overheat too... Just like any other battery they always tell you do not charge the battery and plug in device to the battery to get charged at the same time
 
That would be true if they didn't allow it on level 2 chargers which in theory should charge hotter but it allows it
 
Numbernine said:
Another question I have: can you plug into an L1 charger, charge to 100%, and then later turn on preconditioning without having to turn charging off (or unplug the car)? I'm hoping that over the winter I'll be able to charge my car with an L1 charger while I'm at work and then easily turn on preconditioning as I head back to the car on cold days!
Click to expand...

Yes



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