A feature and a quirk – AUTO HOLD and CLOCK

[STL_Genesis]

A couple interesting items...

FEATURE - I don’t use it a ton, but I do like the AUTO HOLD feature. I have noticed that if I turn on the auto hold feature, once I reach my final destination and turn the car off, the car will automatically set the parking break. I find this helpful.

QUIRK - After work last week, I went out to my car to head home. Nothing special, I backed out of my spot and I started on my way. A few seconds into my trip I glanced down and noticed the clock spinning away. The clock stopped spinning when it reached the correct time. Not sure how it lost track of time. I was in the car over the lunch hour so it had only been sitting for a pretty short time. Seemed odd but the clock was correcting itself.

 

[Mr. Incredible]

1: yes great feature, I used it every drive, due to a replacement hip and knee from a motorcycle accident it is highly helpful in relieving the pain and stress of holding the brake at intersections with long lights.

2: GPS lost its signal. happens in dead zones. sometimes the GPS system will lose connection to the satellites, when it reconnects the clock resets as the time is set and maintained from the GPS system in the car. I've had this happen several times, usually after having been parked in a parking garage where there is no signal for any connected service, from phone, sat radio, or GPS.

 

[STL_Genesis]

2: GPS lost its signal. happens in dead zones. sometimes the GPS system will lose connection to the satellites, when it reconnects the clock resets as the time is set and maintained from the GPS system in the car. I've had this happen several times, usually after having been parked in a parking garage where there is no signal for any connected service, from phone, sat radio, or GPS.

I do park in a garage at work ... never noticed this happneing before but I guess it must happen often.

 

[Mr. Incredible]

I do park in a garage at work ... never noticed this happening before but I guess it must happen often.

I wouldn't say often, but one has to remember that a good majority of the GPS satellites date back as far as 1978 and are decommissioned Block I Military satellites. While there are new ones in orbit, having been launched pretty steady several per year since 1997 the last block going up in 2016, there are currently 24 in orbit with over half of them being over 30 years old.

They all make 2 full orbits every 24 hours and occasionally loose sync to earth based devices, it requires 3 to triangulate your position if you drop one for a prolonged period of time (about 15 minutes) it can take a bit to resync, the cars GPS system will use your last known position and estimate your location until everything resyncs, there is a screen within the G80 unit that will show you how many you are connected to and how strong the signals are.


SpaceX is slated to push 12 new GPS satellites into orbit between 2018 and 2025 to replace the oldest and enhance the system, so it will get better. they have already launched 2 of the new Block IIIA series, there are 10 left; then Block IIIF will start in 2025 - 2034 and launch 22 more.

the expected life of most of the units is like 12-15 years and they have been operating for 30+

and the only reason I know any of this is because my kid just did a 65 page term paper on the GPS system and it's history for her astronomy class.

 

[EdP]

SpaceX is slated to push 12 new GPS satellites into orbit between 2018 and 2025 to replace the oldest and enhance the system, so it will get better. they have already launched 2 of the new Block IIIA series, there are 10 left; then Block IIIF will start in 2025 - 2034 and launch 22 more.

the expected life of most of the units is like 12-15 years and they have been operating for 30+

and the only reason I know any of this is because my kid just did a 65 page term paper on the GPS system and it's history for her astronomy class.

Tell her thanks; I found it interesting. . I hope she got a good mark

 

[Speeder]

I wouldn't say often, but one has to remember that a good majority of the GPS satellites date back as far as 1978 and are decommissioned Block I Military satellites. While there are new ones in orbit, having been launched pretty steady several per year since 1997 the last block going up in 2016, there are currently 24 in orbit with over half of them being over 30 years old.

They all make 2 full orbits every 24 hours and occasionally loose sync to earth based devices, it requires 3 to triangulate your position if you drop one for a prolonged period of time (about 15 minutes) it can take a bit to resync, the cars GPS system will use your last known position and estimate your location until everything resyncs, there is a screen within the G80 unit that will show you how many you are connected to and how strong the signals are.


SpaceX is slated to push 12 new GPS satellites into orbit between 2018 and 2025 to replace the oldest and enhance the system, so it will get better. they have already launched 2 of the new Block IIIA series, there are 10 left; then Block IIIF will start in 2025 - 2034 and launch 22 more.

the expected life of most of the units is like 12-15 years and they have been operating for 30+

and the only reason I know any of this is because my kid just did a 65 page term paper on the GPS system and it's history for her astronomy class.

The Block IIR birds are so good because I had a hand in making them in Valley Forge, PA. All 26 of them.

 

[Mr. Incredible]

Tell her thanks; I found it interesting. . I hope she got a good mark

4.6 GPA. we rarely see lower than an "A" from her except in math, sometimes she dips into the "B" range on tests, but always maintains 95% + in the class overall

 

[Mr. Incredible]

The Block IIR birds are so good because I had a hand in making them in Valley Forge, PA. All 26 of them.

that was the replacement Block for the 1970s (and early 1980s) Block I units right? launched in the late 1990s? The ones that are still up there and still working and make up 50% of the system at this point.

 

[Speeder]

Yep, they started launching in the early to mid 90s. The first IIR to go up had a rocket failure 70 seconds after liftoff. After that GPS stood for "Giant Pyrotechnic Show" at Valley Forge.

 

[Mr. Incredible]

Yep, they started launching in the early to mid 90s. The first IIR to go up had a rocket failure 70 seconds after liftoff. After that GPS stood for "Giant Pyrotechnic Show" at Valley Forge.

LOL, I think I remember that.. back around 1999-2000 I had a compaq ipaq with a compact flash GPS attachment. wasn't very accurate, but was a neat toy to have in the car

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[analbumcover]

A couple interesting items...

FEATURE - I don’t use it a ton, but I do like the AUTO HOLD feature. I have noticed that if I turn on the auto hold feature, once I reach my final destination and turn the car off, the car will automatically set the parking break. I find this helpful.

Have you figured out a way to keep the feature on? Not a huge fan of having to hit the button every time I get in. Same with defaulting in eco mode...i toodle around in town 90% of the time in stoplight traffic.

 

[Mr. Incredible]

Have you figured out a way to keep the feature on? Not a huge fan of having to hit the button every time I get in. Same with defaulting in eco mode...i toodle around in town 90% of the time in stoplight traffic.

unless you hack the ECU, not going to happen. there are safety reasons why the systems default to some settings and reset others at every key cycle. the most obvious being that there is no presumption that the same driver drives the car every time. While most do, some settings like auto-hold are reset in the event a different driver is present.

vehicles that have keys linked to memory features so each driver has a different set of settings typically don't have these issues. It is one of my biggest complaints about my G80 Sport, the key is not linked to the memory features.

 

[STL_Genesis]

Another item from the odd things department ... I have noticed what look like rubber bands around each of the outboard seat belts. These seem odd to me. Is this how the car comes from the factory? Anyone else have these? I am the second owner so someone might have added these for some reason (maybe to mask a rattle of some sort).

 

[Nikhil Malhotra]

No rubberbands on mine .

 

[Mr. Incredible]

Another item from the odd things department ... I have noticed what look like rubber bands around each of the outboard seat belts. These seem odd to me. Is this how the car comes from the factory? Anyone else have these? I am the second owner so someone might have added these for some reason (maybe to mask a rattle of some sort).

maybe the previous owner was a fan:

 

[okcguy]

I just noticed rubber bands on mine yesterday, lol! I think it came with some type of tag or maybe plastic wrap over the latches from the factory. They simply pulled the stuff off and forgot the rubber bands.

 

[STL_Genesis]

I just noticed rubber bands on mine yesterday, lol! I think it came with some type of tag or maybe plastic wrap over the latches from the factory. They simply pulled the stuff off and forgot the rubber bands.

That makes sense. Thanks!

 

[FlySwatter]

^^^Yeah, most likely. I, of course, had to look at mine, and it was naked.

 

[STL_Genesis]

I am the second owner of the car. About a week into my ownership I noticed some of the protective plastic was never removed from behind the rear seats/by the rear deck. And, the metal logo plates on rear speakers still has the protective blue film in place. I guess the prep team at the selling dealer was sloppy, not paying attention, or in a rush.

 

[Mr. Incredible]

I am the second owner of the car. About a week into my ownership I noticed some of the protective plastic was never removed from behind the rear seats/by the rear deck. And, the metal logo plates on rear speakers still has the protective blue film in place. I guess the prep team at the selling dealer was sloppy, not paying attention, or in a rush.

Bought mine new and same thing, Same with my previous Lexus and my previous Mercedes.