Light Sensor on NHW20R

Mar 04, 2006 7 Replies

Just a quick question, the user manual on page 172 mentions a light sensor. At first i thought it had something to do with the headlights, but it seems to have no effect on them day or night. Anyone got an explaination?



It's and Australian model if that makes any difference.


I already answered your cross-post on the australian-prius yahoogroup

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.But my guess is that it is the solar gain sensor that is part of theclimate control system. (If you have the sun beating down on you,you'd feel warmer than the temperature in the car, so the climatecontrol using fuzzy logic will compensate...)

On looking closer at the sensor thru the windscreen, i noticed a plastic punch out next to the blackend dome of the solar sensor, i've since found out that the canadian prius has automatic headlights.

"ZFORCE" wrote

So why does the US Prius not have it? I had automatic headlights on my previous car and it is the item I miss most on the Prius. Al

It's also odd that the Prius does not have daytime running lights too. Most cars have those too.

I've got the knockout too, and a sensor next to the knockout. I wonder what the sensor is for.

You apparently missed my post earlier in this thread. That is the light sensor for the climate control system. It uses some fuzzy logic to decide how much heating/cooling you need, based on how strongly the sun is beating down on you. (For example, the noonday sun will make you feel warmer than it really is, so the AC will have to cool more to make you feel like it's the temp you selected.)

The ceramic effect. That 70 degree ceramic tile abutting to my 70 degree hardwood is a LOT colder. :-)

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