Remote/heat/ac while charging

[kerrye]

My recently purchased 2012 Imiev came with key fobs to unlock the doors but no remote. Should it have had a remote? Did all 2012 imiev's come with a remote in the USA? I tried turning on the heat and ac while the car was plugged in. It did not appear to draw on the 120volt input but on the battery. The usage meter I had plugged in to the outlet showed no additional 120v usage when the heat came on. (car was fully charged at that point). Is there a way to heat and cool the imiev when plugged in with the 120v without the remote? Is it possible to get a remote for my car which would allow advance heating or cooling use 120v instead of the traction battery? In another thread someone mentioned that the antenna for the remote was behind the small window in front of the mirror on the right side. I don't see any evidence of an antenna there.

[Don]

Yes, all USA 2012's came with the remote from the factory, but many of them were little used and evidently forgotten when the cars were sold or traded in because it seems it's about 50/50 that anyone buying a used 2012 got a remote with it, so you're not alone

The remote is the only way to preheat or precool using AC power, so without it, you're up the creek. Bad news is a new remote from Mitsu is about $1K, plus the dealer's fee to program it to work with your specific car. Good news is . . . . you can sometimes find one used for only a couple hundred and IIRC, someone here on the forum found a way to program it yourself without having to go to the stealership!

Several threads here on the forum to read up on this - I'm not going to do ALL your home work for you . . . . but all the answers ARE here!

Don

[kerrye]

Thanks for the reply. $1000 is motivating. I called the woman who sold me the car and she actually had the remote. She had forgotten about it.

[Don]

That's a stroke of luck!! It will probably need new batteries, but since you know it came with your car, it should work fine . . . . or at least as well as it ever did. Really wish the remote was half as well engineered as the rest of the car - Once you've got it working and played with it some, you'll understand what I mean. Very few people use it regularly and I don't think anyone would say it's actually 'worth' even a quarter of what they want for one

Don

[jray3]

Good on ya, KerryE! If you were to lose it, secondhand remotes can be reprogrammed, but tis a PITA.
I consider the remote a major asset for the car, and since it stays stationed atop my dresser, it the most valuable tool to ensure that I leave each winter morning with a fully charged and heated car. This simple device has never been a victim of a software upgrade or 'new phone' compatibility bugs, and I don't think we could've kept the car on a full duty cycle through it's eighth winter and 100,000 mile anniversary on the original battery without the preheating feature.
Only issues besides the wonky interface are that the charging timer is incompatible with some J1772 EVSE (mainly early designs, like my SPX Power XPress. https://www.amazon.com/EL-50600-Charging-Station-Electric-Vehicle/dp/B008NOH620/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

[JoeS]

Kerrye, congratulations on retrieving that Remote!

As a result of the OBC issues I've stopped using my mechanical countdown timers and have gone back to using the Remotes when charging both cars as I normally stop charging at around 12 bars. Now that our summer TOU rates have kicked in the Remote time-delay feature is getting a workout.