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Normal Operating Sounds

tesla.com

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Re: Normal Operating Sounds

#91
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sound of a teenager driving dad’s midlife crisis just moments before smashing into the side of a building

I didn’t hear a corvette?

So the sound of the impact is how you distinguish the sound of an old corvette with an automatic transmission and the sound of a GM powered boat as both their engines are from the same family?

Re: Normal Operating Sounds

#92
post #28
post #7

This one is pretty cool and definitely surprised me. > Motor Humming or Whirring when Navigating to a Supercharger … > In some circumstances (such as cold weather), it is normal for the motor(s) and components to make noise, such as humming or whirring as it generates heat to warm the Battery. Super cool that the motors can be used for things other than moving the vehicle. It reminds me of how ESCs for RC vehicles us…

My understanding is that high-end residential heat pumps (e.g. Mitsubishi HyperHeat) will do this at lower temperatures as well. If the temp drops into the zone where the heat pump starts losing effectiveness (which on such systems is still pretty low, supposedly mine provides the full heat rating down to around 0F), they can run the blower motor in a less efficient regime to supplement the heat pump with a bit of re…

Interesting, that does not sound efficient? How much more efficient than using electrical heating directly instead?

0F ? That can't be right?

My Mitsubishi gives heat to around -31F (MSZ-RW Sumo)

Re: Normal Operating Sounds

#93
post #45
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Text would take a lot longer to convey information than a short chime. You would also have to localize all the sounds.

"TERRAIN, TERRAIN! whoop whoop PULL UP!" -- the makers of the Terrain Avoidance and Warning System (TAWS) thought that this extra information was useful. Maybe the timing is different or maybe it's just cultural.

Yeah, it's both an earlier development, and it also doesn't really apply fully. In almost all modern aircraft, aural alerts are only used for very dangerous situations that require immediate pilot action. However, there are still a lot of "abstract" sounds used, either where it occurs often (like autopilot disconnect) or where spelling it out isn't needed (like a generic warning or caution tone to bring attention to the display that describes the error)

Re: Normal Operating Sounds

#95

Today I learned. The Tesla owner's manual has alt descriptions for its images. They're not good alt descriptions, but they are there. In fact, it is one of the most screen reader accessible manuals for any device I've ever seen, most are some weird PDF abominations where all the button names are replaced by their unlabeled icons. Even devices made specifically for the blind have these issues sometimes. This? This is…

I don't think that there are any cars that are accessible in the way you've mentioned. It seems like too niche of a use case in exchange for more complexity and time to develop. These systems are usually built for drivers first and foremost, so them being able to see is an assumption that most can make.

Re: Normal Operating Sounds

#96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Some diesels got so efficient though that they needed an extra in-line heater to have enough heat for the cabin in specific operating domains I live on the top of a hill, so the first seven minutes or so of me driving anywhere is coasting at minimum engine power. Once air temp gets below 10C it's a long, slow painful wait for the vents to start blowing warm air. Especially unfortunate when you're waiting for the def…

Such a slow warmup is probably also bad for your engine (the oil will be super hard to pump around so you'll have very little lubrication and very high oil pressure until it warms up a bit) so that block heater may well be useful in more ways than one. You may want to look into oil that flows better at low temps in winter based on what temperature your engine eventually reaches when it is fully warmed up. There is a…

It's supposed to run 5W-30 but for the cold months I do 5W-20. After watching the Project Farm metal on metal wear tests of 0W oils, and the fact I'm not running the engine at -20C, I'm not eager to go any lighter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtSwaF2evTU

Re: Normal Operating Sounds

#97
post #33

It's astounding just how quiet EV's are; they can make you hyperaware of other noises (hence why this page exists).

Is this universal? I've driven the Rav4 Prime and Ioniq 5 extensively and neither made weird sounds.

The fact that this page exists feel like they're having a lot of creaking/rattling complaints. Why else have it.

Re: Normal Operating Sounds

#98

What's the UX reason to use a chime rather than an (customisable) announcement? I suppose I'd get used to the alarms if I used the car but all of them on a page is confusing.

Confirmation tones are used to convey that the car registered a deliberate user action (e.g. a button press). For example whenever you press the unlock button on your key fob, it would quickly become annoying if the car announced "The car is now locked". In the case of confirmation, you know what the tone is signaling, because you just performed the action to create the tone (and don't need a lecture about it). Mildl…

This does not account for inattentional deafness, which is why there ought to be sense-redundant alerts, at least for alerts requiring immediate action.

Re: Normal Operating Sounds

#99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a relatively analogue car (Subaru BRZ) and there are times when you shut it off on a warm day and then randomly about ten mins later a radiator fan kicks on. I guess it's to help cool down but I don't remember exactly what the manual says. Basically it's cool how cars do things largely on their own sometimes to stay within certain parameters.

The fan is triggered by a relay, triggered by the ECU, which uses coolant sensors (the thermostat sensor that is iirc not always the mechanical thermostat) to adjust when to cool the radiator. That temp is much higher than the ambient air will ever get, so if the fan comes on after the car is turned off then either it was just about at the temp that would have turned on the fan, or something could be slowly going wro…

I don’t think this is true - this is completely normal behaviour. The cooling fan is coming on due to a phenomenon called heat soak which is where the engine temperature increases above normal for a time after it has been switched off due to the lack of coolant flow. The fan is coming on to aid cooling the engine/engine bay to reduce the effect of heat soak.

With carburettor fed engines it is sometimes advised by the manufacturer to allow the engine to idle for some time after running it at high RPM. This is because the effect of heat soak can be significant enough to boil all the fuel off in the carb, making the engine hard to restart when hot.

Re: Normal Operating Sounds

#100
post #7

This one is pretty cool and definitely surprised me. > Motor Humming or Whirring when Navigating to a Supercharger … > In some circumstances (such as cold weather), it is normal for the motor(s) and components to make noise, such as humming or whirring as it generates heat to warm the Battery. Super cool that the motors can be used for things other than moving the vehicle. It reminds me of how ESCs for RC vehicles us…

I have a relatively analogue car (Subaru BRZ) and there are times when you shut it off on a warm day and then randomly about ten mins later a radiator fan kicks on. I guess it's to help cool down but I don't remember exactly what the manual says. Basically it's cool how cars do things largely on their own sometimes to stay within certain parameters.

This is due to a phenomenon called heat soak which is where the engine temperature increases above normal for a time after it has been switched off due to the lack of coolant flow. The fan is coming on to aid cooling the engine/engine bay to reduce the effect of heat soak. With carburettor fed engines it is sometimes advised by the manufacturer to allow the engine to idle for some time after running it at high RPM. This is because the effect of heat soak can be significant enough to boil all the fuel off in the carb, making the engine hard to restart when hot.
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