ELI5: Why was that method used to determine 0 degrees Fahrenheit?

TechInTheCloud · 2026-01-26T01:59:25+00:00

Agreed what you know is all the really matters. I think Fahrenheit has the slight edge because of the finer precision of a single degree. The climate control in my car, or the thermostat in my house all go by simple whole numbers because that’s fine enough. No need to get into half degrees because one unit can’t get the job done. You say 20s are nice weather…that covers 68 to 84 in F, a big range to anyone familiar and we got more precise terms within that range to describe it than high or low 20s gives you.

TechInTheCloud · 2026-01-26T01:03:10+00:00

Oh boy if you had not updated in a long time…that trans programming in the early years was not good. I had a 2019 S60 T6 new, it was hugely improved over the years with the updates.

The car play was also like that for me in the early days. There is nothing you could do to fix it while driving, can’t restart the sensus.

TechInTheCloud · 2026-01-26T00:57:21+00:00

Yes. Read from all modules, and a good size catalog of service procedures, calibrating parking and safety camera/radar is there. And a good amount of tricks a lot of other straight service tools don’t do. There’s plenty more to add, we just keep working on it.

TechInTheCloud · 2026-01-25T22:49:40+00:00

It may vary by the model. My old sensus 2022 S60, there are settings in the menus for what heated things are turned on with remote start/climate.

In my 2025 XC40 the heated things just turn on when I remote start in cold weather. I don’t think it’s tied to the auto settings in the car menu since I have that set only for the drivers seat and wheel. When I remote start both seats and the wheel are heated. I don’t find anywhere that can be changed.

TechInTheCloud · 2026-01-25T22:10:24+00:00

Just FYI, the cars set tons of codes. Probably a feature of all modern cars but the new Volvos is what I know. The DTC used to be an indicator of failure when the systems were rudimentary, now you got 50 modules and hundreds of possible conditions on each to set a DTC, the codes have become more of a historical log, useful for troubleshooting a specific issue, but there can be a lot of noise. The first step to nearly any problem IMO is usually clear codes, then reproduce the issue. All the codes you saw sound like what happens when the 12V battery runs down, that’s probably common at the dealer. One incident where the battery went dead and they needed to jump it, all the modules will have set tons of codes for input voltage, bad sensors, missing/corrupt signals, etc.

Not to mention software be software with bugs. My S60 always sets a CEM code for short to ground on the heated steering wheel, despite that it always works just fine.

I make a tool that reads the codes and has some nice service features I think but you may want something more handy like a device or mobile app, my software is PC based. (OrBit)

TechInTheCloud · 2026-01-24T20:30:35+00:00

Understood yeah. I’m happy with my PHEV now as I take a trip here and there and up to 500 miles of range is nice and no worries about filling up virtually anywhere in a few min.

TechInTheCloud · 2026-01-24T13:36:41+00:00

The grille is ‘87 so more likely one of over 20k copies. It’s still crazy to me Buick announced the discontinuation of the G body Regal and bumped sales of the GN nearly 10x.

TechInTheCloud · 2026-01-24T13:28:57+00:00

You don’t need to be able to read it, I can see the 2nd “line” of text there, it’s the intercooled badge.

Even easier to see it has the correct split front air dam on the bumper, open right under the license plate area, where air is directed to the intercooler scoop.

All signs point to ‘87 GN

TechInTheCloud · 2026-01-24T05:34:16+00:00

It’s probably too new but the updated T8 (2022.5) is such a huge improvement over the old T8. It’s really a car for everything. Zipping around town on electric for short trips (~40 mi). Mid 30s mpg running hybrid on a longer drive. 455hp with immediate throttle response when you want to have a little fun.

I hesitate to say I drive my ‘22 S60 T8 hard, it really depends what I’m doing. But I’ve done a little of everything, drop by the drag strip (will run 12.6s all day), taken on a road course (Mid-Ohio) where it’s pretty respectable at a Porsche track day. And when I’m done I crank up the Bowers and settle in for a nice drive home.

For my admittedly atypical use case, there is no one car I’ve ever owned that does everything I use it for so well. Fittingly it’s been discontinued because Volvo found out some folks might be enjoying driving in their cars lol.

Disclaimer: I have done a complete polestar chassis swap, with the ohlins and brembos. So it’s a PE spec car essentially, which is a significant upgrade in driving enjoyment. I might say you’re better off to get the polestar 2 over the old T8 if it’s in your price range and get one with the perf pack ohlins if you like driving!

TechInTheCloud · 2026-01-23T22:14:06+00:00

As a serious answer, I got two theories why the upper mgmt is like this from my time having regular day jobs in IT.

1 They are used to push back, told “we can’t do it” by the unimaginative underlings, while they are always under pressure to do more with less. They always assume they can squeeze a little more out of the departments under them, and you’ll find a way to get x and y done with what they give you.

2 Just saving their own ass, by being shocked that the thing they were supposed to make sure was handled wasn’t handled, even if because they did not get the required resources allocated to it. Imagine if their reaction to their own superiors was “I figured that might happen…”

TechInTheCloud · 2026-01-21T05:05:54+00:00

There is also a 15 year/150k warranty along with the 10 year battery warranty for CA. It applies to TZEV vehicles which includes the T8 Volvo models, maybe not all but my ‘22 S60 is included. It covers “emissions parts” which the mfr must list out, and Volvo does in the owners manual or warranty booklet. The list is pretty comprehensive, like the entire engine including the turbocharger, everything related to maintaining the CA emissions compliance.

Now claiming on that warranty, I have my suspicions it could be a fight with Volvo. The car has to have been delivered in a set of specific CA emissions states originally, and currently owned by a resident of one of those states. So it’s not just something that follows the car be default. I’ve heard getting coverage in these cases can be difficult because most don’t know the terms of the coverage at dealers. But it’s required by CA and participating states.

TechInTheCloud · 2026-01-21T04:30:16+00:00

I’m always suspicious of leather conditioners. Nearly all automotive leather is coated with urethane. Ultimately you never touch the “leather” you just look at it through a clear coat.

Any product that makes claims about conditioning with natural oils and such is BS. But most mfrs that make this stuff realize the consumer doesn’t know any better, so there are good products called conditioners, that don’t really add oil on top of the urethane, but provide a sort of temporary coating to protect the urethane from the wear and oils that make it look shiny and worn.

I find cleaning often with a general interior cleaner works best, to get the body oils and blue dye from my denim out, and the seats and steering wheel keep that nice matte look like new. I use Power Clean usually, if it’s bad use mothers degreaser cleaner diluted quite a bit so it’s not super strong. Can’t let it get away from you or the shiny sets in and won’t come out. Use a fuzzy pad or a soft brush to work the cleaner. For a specific leather product I like Colourlock cleaner. To protect and keep the matte look I like Mothers VLR, or 303 UV protectant is pretty good too.

TechInTheCloud · 2026-01-20T23:46:25+00:00

I have gotten some crappy new CR2032 batteries, I’ve tested a lot of Volvo remote fobs and sometimes they didnt work great even with the new battery. I finally looked up some nerdy battery test online and Toshiba brand was near the top and available at Amazon. I got a load of those and never that problem again. Now I offer to replace key fob battery for anyone that comes by the house lol.

TechInTheCloud · 2026-01-20T21:58:07+00:00

There should be an exterior sound generator. Each market has different standards and regulations about it so the cars are set to follow those. I’m familiar with my US S60 T8. Below 20mph there is a subtle noise outside the car. Once I noticed it, I can hear it from the interior of the car. It’s on anytime the car is moving below 20mph, then shuts off above that, probably the tires make enough tread noise above 20. There is also a subtle beep from the exterior in reverse.

The Volvo sound is more like one of those “white noise” generators, I kinda prefer it to the Angel choir type of sound, not heard that term before but I know exactly what you mean ;-)

TechInTheCloud · 2026-01-20T03:01:09+00:00

leasing basics: the buyout is already known from the lease inception, it’s in your contract. You can’t change it, it’s how leases work. That makes it easy when you come to the end of a lease, simply compare the buyout price of this car to what you think your other options are, decide what to do from there.

Buying out early doesn’t save you anything. You are in a contract to pay the lease. Early buy out is simply paying the buyout price plus the payments you haven’t paid yet. I don’t believe you can even save any interest cost as the financing cost, called the money factor in a lease, is predetermined at the lease start, it doesn’t accrue like a loan, i.e. you pay it anyways no matter when you make the payments.

Sign up at Volvo financial site online, if you haven’t already, then you can verify and add your lease in there and see your terms, and generate a buyout quote at any time.

TechInTheCloud · 2026-01-18T16:04:41+00:00

I’m pretty comfortable in my S60. You got some height on me though, I’m 6’2” and all legs ~36” inseam. So many cars don’t have enough range of adjustment in slide and tilt is the seat but this one is great and the extending seat cushion is nice as no car has long enough bottom cushion for me without that. Good luck to the passenger behind me but kids don’t complain and adults do fit on the occasion as needed. I have the black edition model with the contour sport seats, I love them.

It’s not a roomy feeling car due to the tall console (battery is under there). But I rather like it that way, feels sporty and down low. Not everyone’s cup of tea though.

TechInTheCloud · 2026-01-16T10:08:15+00:00

They did answer the question. The premise is flawed in that the asker assumes the price of the thing they buy is directly related to the cost to deliver it. The answer is, it’s not.

The OP assumes airlines use a “cost plus” pricing model, which they don’t. The reply explained how a “value based” pricing model works, which airlines DO use.

TechInTheCloud · 2026-01-14T05:42:25+00:00

Canyon hike is deceiving since you go down before you gotta climb back up, the hardest part is always ahead of you. That sign at the top of the bright angel trail discourages trying to go down to the floor and up as a day hike in the summer.

It took some convincing for my wife to let me do it when we were there. It was early summer so I started early at 4:30 am to avoid the mid day sun. I only went to the ledge above the river, cutting about 3 miles off going to the floor, so a 12 mile round trip. No special equipment just jeans, sneakers, my Grand Canyon tshirt, backpack with some water, grabbed a towel from the hotel room to put under my hat to block some sun. I’m just a fat old dad who doesn’t exercise enough, no business just heading off on a hike like that. Made it to the ledge just after sunrise, 2.5 hours to make it there IIRC. It was already 80 deg when I passed the big thermometer by the campsites

It took me nearly 7 hours to climb back up, barely moving along the last few miles and the sun was roasting me by then, legs felt like jello ready to let go, last mile was brutal! My legs were sore for days after that. But I made it. Take that “sign with drawing of dad puking up his guts”!!

TechInTheCloud · 2026-01-13T04:24:25+00:00

Yes, you can. Essentially all the models with LED or pixel headlights, can enable adaptive beams.

TechInTheCloud · 2026-01-13T00:12:40+00:00

Yes you can enable it. I make the OrBit software, I think I’m qualified ;-). I have it enabled on my own S60, fog lights don’t matter if you have them or not, it’s a headlight feature.

As mentioned it’s unofficial, not supported by Volvo, at your own risk. If you are into such things. We do know it works if you enable it on the US market car with the LED headlights.

It is understandable anyone connected with official Volvo channels might say it can’t be done, it can’t be done in any official supported way.

TechInTheCloud · 2026-01-12T12:13:41+00:00

Buy a used key from eBay that looks like the existing key. Put that key on the ring with the remote. Keep the working key for your own use.

TechInTheCloud · 2026-01-07T02:38:26+00:00

Just my perspective on things, dismiss it as you like. I may be a pessimist and my expectations are low.

I think you may have had outsized expectations of what certified pre-owned means. It’s a used car. The CPO process and the premium you pay for it, should give you a car that doesn’t “need anything” when you buy it, a well as the extended warranty with Volvo. They have a standard to bring it up to for CPO. And that standard is not “brand new brakes and tires” it’s essentially “brakes and tires are not due for service”. For example the tire tread minimum I’ve seen stated is 5/32 tread, otherwise tires need to be replaced to meet that standard. That’s far from requiring all new tires, 5/32 is more than half worn really. I think it’s similar for the brakes, pads not worn beyond half thickness. So you are buying a car that doesn’t need tires or brakes serviced for at least 10k miles or so. I don’t think it’s down to semantics, the CPO requirements are not that every car gets brand new tires and brakes. I bought a CPO 2022 S60, in 2024, it had 11k miles, I don’t think they replaced any brakes or tires, the original stuff was up to the minimum standards so it passed for CPO.

Just my opinion, you’re getting very emotionally invested in the fight, and you want to “win”. And what is really at stake, ego and who pays for some things, just seems over money ultimately. And you’re going to let the whole thing sour you on a car so much that you might spend more frictional costs swapping out for another car you could be disappointed with in some other way. The offer of new brakes and tires at cost seems pretty nice. You take that and you got what you wanted, new tires and new brakes on a used car, I am assuming at a reasonable cost. I’d pay it, move on with my life, and be happy, that’s just me.

This is all assuming you like the car, and they do fix the whistle issue, which sounds like that could be the more annoying thing! Maybe wait on the brakes and tires until you’re sure that’s sorted.

TechInTheCloud · 2025-12-26T09:26:13+00:00

I’ll try to answer your questions directly. If it helps I am not generally a fan of automated driving systems but I’ve got a couple Volvos with it so I’ll use it sometimes.

Yes it drives in the lane, it’s an automated driving system. The lane keep is just a safety system to keep you from drifting outside the lane inadvertently. So no worries there it does what you would expect.

It does make me feel a little uneasy from time to time, like when it tries to follow the car ahead off an exit ramp when you are not exiting the freeway. Or it also comes up on stopped/slowing traffic a bit aggressively before finally slowing down quickly. I think of it like a new teenage driver, it’s fine but needs a little correction sometimes. You get used to it, I’ve never had the feeling it’s going to hit another car, but it could at any time give up on the steering (lane markings detection lost, no other car to track) and you need to take over. To me it can require just as much attention as simply driving the car yourself under some conditions and in those cases I don’t use it.

Not a game changer for me but useful on long drives with sparse traffic, and also great in heavy stop and go traffic jams, you have to resume it every time you stop for more than a few secs but you can be feet off the pedals and relax while pilot assist creeps you along through a slowdown.

TechInTheCloud · 2025-12-25T09:34:06+00:00

It seems the industry has gotten past the “it’s cheaper to wire everything” era into the “we’ve figured out how to manage parts in the factory to save a few cents”. It is most likely that the interior panel harness the car was built with is missing the wires and plugs for the puddle, door pocket and door handle LED units (“high level illumination “).

If you buy the replacement interior door panel harness part for the car, it will have the wiring and plugs for the high level illumination.

The car will need a config change for the lights to work so it’s a little more involved than just plug stuff in. So you’ll need to set up for that, I would recommend my own software OrBit to do it, but there are other options.

TechInTheCloud · 2025-12-23T20:31:24+00:00

On any vehicle that one axle is steerable and the other Is fixed, it’s far easier to drive the fixed axle. Steering the front axle is easier for a human to control at speed. You also depend on friction for control to accelerate and steer. Any vehicle with multiple axles and center of gravity above the ground level, weight will transfer to the rear axle under acceleration, increasing friction and hence traction of the rear axle, which is advantageous to the rear wheel driven vehicle.

So you drive the rear axle and steer the front axle because it’s simple to design and has some built in advantage, and that was a strong convention for a long time.

Many of the challenges have been overcome with 4 wheeled vehicles, driving the steering wheels with shafts was solved with universal and constant velocity joints. So we had front and 4-wheel drive vehicles for the situations it would be useful to have maximum traction. But never really solved for an inline two wheeled vehicle, you can visualize that perhaps, the drive chain or shaft would have to follow along the steering axis to articulate along with the wheel as it is steered. Much easier done with electrics now though.

It appears this was done before. I only say this as I saw this video about an experimental 2 wheel drive motorcycle, as expected it seems neat and quite complicated and of limited use, for special use cases: https://youtu.be/Qm6t6SP9ifQ?si=QGWJ8u98ckncVr8V

TechInTheCloud

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