[JasH]

On my i3, when I set it remotely (via iPhone) to precondition, it works. I get in and the heater or air con is running, and the car is a comfortable temperature.

On my i8, the settings are transmitted, but I've never noticed it actually heat or cool itself. I set it the same way, and it is connected to power. It is 100% charged up.

Is there some car setting I have overlooked?

[Epirali]

Originally Posted by JasH

On my i3, when I set it remotely (via iPhone) to precondition, it works. I get in and the heater or air con is running, and the car is a comfortable temperature.

On my i8, the settings are transmitted, but I've never noticed it actually heat or cool itself. I set it the same way, and it is connected to power. It is 100% charged up.

Is there some car setting I have overlooked?

I didn't touch any internal setting and it works by app, whether I say do it now or by time. Which one do you use, timer or immediate?

[Big Fred]

I've only done it once by app and, now that you mention it, I'm not convinced it worked. The ambient temperature that day was not so cold that it obviously worked -- it certainly wasn't toasty and I remember thinking, "Hmmmm. Not too impressive!" In other words, maybe it was mid-40's and the car wasn't freezing, so I really don't know if it worked or not.

[Epirali]

Originally Posted by Big Fred

I've only done it once by app and, now that you mention it, I'm not convinced it worked. The ambient temperature that day was not so cold that it obviously worked -- it certainly wasn't toasty and I remember thinking, "Hmmmm. Not too impressive!" In other words, maybe it was mid-40's and the car wasn't freezing, so I really don't know if it worked or not.

Was the car plugged in at the time? If not I believe it only runs for 15 minutes and shuts off.

[JasH]

Epirali, I used the timer. I use that most of the time on the i3 too, but it works either way on that car. Yes the car was plugged in, and I did reach the car within 5 minutes of my stated departure time.

Big Fred, yes, my thoughts too. And the fan was not running - unlike in my i3 every time I set that car.

[Epirali]

Sorry if this is obvious but If you used app on timer did you enable precondition for that timer?

I think I have only used the "do it now" version, I'll try the timer tomorrow.

[Big Fred]

Originally Posted by Epirali

Was the car plugged in at the time? If not I believe it only runs for 15 minutes and shuts off.

I was plugged in to a Level 2 charger in my garage.

[JasH]

Originally Posted by Epirali

Sorry if this is obvious but If you used app on timer did you enable precondition for that timer?

I think I have only used the "do it now" version, I'll try the timer tomorrow.

Yes, I always do check the "enable precondition" slider when setting it in the app.

[JasH]

I tried it today, with the i8 not plugged in and sent an instruction to "precondition now". It worked fine. The fans were running and car was cooling as I got in.

Will test the timed method again later.

[Epirali]

Originally Posted by JasH

I tried it today, with the i8 not plugged in and sent an instruction to "precondition now". It worked fine. The fans were running and car was cooling as I got in.

Will test the timed method again later.

I have tested the precondition now, with or without L2 charger, will test with precondition.

[Epirali]

Ok tested today with the car: a) NOT plugged into anything, and b) with the app setting departure time. By the time I got in the car it was perfectly preconditioned and fan was running.

One thought I have (and am not sure yet): I am wondering IF the preconditioning just enables the LAST setting for AC/heat. Because I believe I had turned it down to 64 F one time and the call was "cold" when I got in. Today I have left it on 70 before I shut down and it was much warmer.

I know on the Leaf there is an explicit setting to use for preconditioning, but the i8 doesn't have one. So how does it decide what to precondition to?

Oh and one more thing I wish it did: the Leaf will enable the seat heat (and wheel heat) to you last setting, which is nice in winter....

[Big Fred]

Originally Posted by Epirali

Ok tested today with the car: a) NOT plugged into anything, and b) with the app setting departure time. By the time I got in the car it was perfectly preconditioned and fan was running.

One thought I have (and am not sure yet): I am wondering IF the preconditioning just enables the LAST setting for AC/heat. Because I believe I had turned it down to 64 F one time and the call was "cold" when I got in. Today I have left it on 70 before I shut down and it was much warmer.

I know on the Leaf there is an explicit setting to use for preconditioning, but the i8 doesn't have one. So how does it decide what to precondition to?

Oh and one more thing I wish it did: the Leaf will enable the seat heat (and wheel heat) to you last setting, which is nice in winter....

Very interesting. I don't have the patience for lots of testing , but it would be very cool if you or others were able to test your "last setting" hypothesis. I DID notice that during the course of pre-conditioning there is no step to set the desired temp.

[JasH]

Epirali, I am 95% certain that it is indeed the last set temperature (perhaps for the key/profile) used, that the precondition sets the car to.

It might also explain why mine did not seem to work last week.

And I agree that it would be nice to be able to set a few more things: pick a temperature, and things like seat heating.

All of this is software controlled, so BMW could add it if there was enough customer pressure.

[Epirali]

Quick test update: left the car set to 60 degrees before turning off, and when I pre-conditioned the car was nice and cold. So it seems to definitely use whatever the last setting for temperature control was.

Plan accordingly I guess.

[JasH]

Seems you have solved it Epirali Thanks for the testing.

My own results confirm now that it is working for me too.