I have used Remote Start, and Remote Climate frequently through my four years of ownership of my 2022 Defender 110 X Dynamic-SE with no problems. During the recent cold snap I attempted to warm my vehicle using the Remote App. When I entered the vehicle I discovered that the engine had started but the climate system was not running. As I had been getting the ‘Low Battery - Start Engine’ message, and I’m aware that any low voltage condition is immediately suspect when certain features get wonky, I replaced the battery today. (third battery in just over four years of ownership, but that’s another rant with JLR). The Remote Start is fine, but again the climate system failed to activate. Since I eliminated one factor in the equation, the battery, now I’m looking backward to the last change, the PIVI 4.4. Has anyone that regularly utilizes the Remote Start/Remote Climate feature experienced a similar issue such as this? And if so, has this happened after the latest update?

 

I'm no expert but could it be related to the expiration of any JLR subscription period? I'm assuming you're referring to remote start / climate done via iPhone.

 

Hmm. What you’re saying is that the vehicle starts and runs, but climate is not doing what it needs to do to heat the cabin?

After I updated to 4.4.0 it failed on the next remote start, (the little spinny wheel just said “failed” in the app) -- but has been perfectly fine since. In fact I just used my remote start at 330am this morning. Heater was on. It’s working for me.

You’re putting it on “HIGH” right? (I never seem to get much cabin heating in winter unless I have the app set to HIGH... in the summer, by contrast, whatever AC temp I set it to seems to work brilliantly immediately). I trust you’re tuned into that.

I will say that battery is HIGHLY suspect for the climate not kicking in. Reason why -- and Simon’s latest video about the DC-DC converter explains this, the electric heater that kicks in before engine coolant is warm uses an insane amount of electricity. When batt voltage is lower, or sketchy, the car does implement a strategy of slowly saying “nah, we’re not going to turn that function on now”.

So my question is -- did you reset the battery using Gap or a dealer to tell the car it has a new battery? (Registration, or whatever it is called) If you did not, your car probably thinks it still has the old, dying battery. And this could very easily be causing this odd downstream symptom. Your car will still work normally most of the ways it should, charge and drive but -- in theory during cold starts it could still limit electrics to systems (?)

BTW there is a function in the gap tool that shows the # of global battery resets since new on the car. I was pleased to see only 1 on my car (which means, I was on my original battery and I reset it once, so it tracks). Would be interesting to see your #. Since you’re on battery 3. It’s somewhere in the live data in Gaptool. I stumbled onto it.

 

I let the Online Pack w/Data plan and the Connected Navigation Pro subscriptions expire, but I did renew and pay for the Remote app access, and it had been working all along. This is a new issue that just popped up a couple of weeks ago.

 

I did not reset the battery, as I do not own the Gap tool, so that is something that could be affecting it. IIRC, in the past my Remote Climate has activated and worked properly even when the climate system has been shut off completely. So if I understand you, by leaving the climate system on with the fan on, starting it remotely will resume the last setting? I am old school and always shut the climate system down before turning off the ignition, being taught that starting a vehicle with the extra load of the A/C compressor kicked in is not the best practice. But those previous times using the Remote Climate I was always setting the climate for cooling, being in Southern Florida. However, with record setting temperatures in the 20’s here, this is the first time I’ve attempted to HEAT my Defender, so your suggestion about the DC to DC converter and the electric heating coil employed in that sequence may be in play here. I did watch Simon’s video on that failure of the converter and the ensuing parts shortage of it.
Although I don’t have the GAP tool, I did just purchase the Foxwell NT710 diagnostic scanner for my Boxster. Now I need to see if I purchase the software add-on for the Land Rover will it be able to reset the battery. Anyone out there with knowledge of the Foxwell’s capabilities for our Defenders?

 

Remote start doesn't remember last settings when the car was last on. Instead in the app on the remote - climate tab there is an up and down arrow at the bottom to set 'target temperature'. Is that set to a good level eg 70F. If it's on 'low' then it might not come on.

Hard to believe it's the battery as when the engine is running the alternator kicks out lots of power

 

Yup, been using it in that manner for over four years now with no problems. Now that the battery is new, I can rule out low battery. Have to look into Nashvegas suggestion about the battery needed to be reset to the vehicle. Or the latest update has affected it in some. I’ll be trying some things out this weekend,

 

Does your auto start/stop kick in? Because if not, or if its reluctant to (it should do it almost every stop sign / light on a new battery) that’s a dead indicator your BMS has drifted and is still adapted to the old battery

 

Yes, the Auto Start/Stop is still working. I reached out to Foxwell to see if my NT710 is capable of doing a battery reset. I will experiment to see if it maybe has any connection to the DC to DC issue and the electric pre-heater associated with that by attempting to do a climate control order for cooling instead of heating.