I also routinely have to set the desired temperature a couple degrees lower than what I really want. I usually try to keep the cabin at 72F and I need to set temps to 70 to get it there.
I think the VCS can be damaged if it’s on during engine start. For safety sake, you might turn the Air Conditioning mode switch to off for start up. In the case of the generator, it may have just been a random break or possibly damaged if you had some failed start up attempts that could have lead to overheating it.
There is some pretty significant failure modeling built into the Phenom but I think it flies under the radar a bit since the failure modeling isn’t hyped up as much with the Phenom as it is with say, a BKSQ plane. It could definitely catch one out. I had a failed start up and even though I didn’t torch a starter/gen, I think I induced an ‘Eng 1 Short Dispatch’ status message indicating a FADEC performance fault that needed to be cleared with maintenance (which, if you see this is, as I understand it, NOT a no-go item but if you see ‘Eng1/2 No Dispatch’ that IS a no-go item).
Never thought of that…thanks.
It would be nice to have a good tutorial on cabin and cockpit cooling/heating; I’ve also gotten stuck on it, and passengers always get angry. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. Another thing I don’t understand is the small panel in the cabin that controls lights and other things. I mean, I understand what it does and how to use it, but I don’t understand if this panel is also “controlled” by the passengers on board or not. The cabin lights are a mystery, in the sense that I don’t know how to set them correctly. Logically, I think the reading lights should be controlled by the passengers, but do they or not? In the cockpit, I have a knob that controls the cabin lights and it has a position that says the cabin controls them, but “cabin” in what sense?
I am not an expert on the environmental systems by any stretch but here’s what I’ve found:
- You’re very limited on the ground. You can’t run the fans very hard, even with the GPU because the electrical load gets quite high and will discharge the battery. I run medium fans with air con mode auto and board pax at the last possible moment. Keep the door closed as much as possible.
- Turn the mode switch to off for engine start
- To cool the cabin with the engines running, set ECS to both, mode to auto, lower the temp knobs and set the fans to high. It will still struggle on the ground without cool ram air.
- Once airborne, fans on medium will mostly do the trick and keeping the cabin at the desired temp is a matter of finding the sweet spot on the temp controls which, in my experience, will not hold the cabin exactly at what you set. Set what you want and adjust as needed as the temp stabilizes.
- Air Con Manual mode is a different animal entirely and will require to use the Temp H / C switch to manually set the valves to the hot and cold air mixing ratio you want. This can be used to quickly change the temp in the cabin to a point, but is also entirely up to you to not melt the interior of your Phenom.
My ECS panel is usually set as follows:
Press Mode: Auto
ECS: Both
Air Conditioning Mode: Auto
Fans: Cockpit Low or Medium, Cabin Medium or High (medium for both for most of the flight)
Temps: 69-70F
With those settings I have encountered little to no issues once the cabin cooled down a bit. Setting the temps really low initially does seem to expedite the cooling process.
I have not flown in cold weather yet so this is just what works for mild early summer temps.
Again, I’m no expert but this is working for me so hopefully it helps someone else too. Overall, I find the environmental simulation pretty good and I prefer it to the BKSQ one which is all over the place.
In addition to what Eyaen mentioned above, just treat it like you would treat a car. You can close all the shades to keep the interior cooler and keep the AC at the coldest setting until the cabin cools a bit. But if it’s a really hot day, the passengers are going to be angry no matter what because, just like in a in a car (or in a real plane), the AC can’t really do any work until the engines are on and you start moving.
Just do the best you can until you’re at altitude, when you don’t need to rely on the AC and can rely on the cold temps outside mixed with the bleed air instead. I usually just set the temps to 68 on the ground and set the fan to high after starting the engine and forget it until I’m at altitude and can set the fans to low. The passengers get over their bad attitude pretty quickly and it doesn’t seem to affect your final score.
The most important thing is to keep the fans on low or med before starting the engine and turn off the AC before starting. I damaged the VCS the first or second time I flew the plane because I was cranking the AC on high on the ground and didn’t turn it off before starting the engines.
great tips. it’s wild we finally have a PJ that has this much attention to detail.
Actually It’s no different really to the Fenix Airbus, which also models cabin temperature and environmental effects. If you leave the aircraft sitting in the sun or open the door, the cabin heats up and the air conditioning system then has to work to bring the temperature back down.
The difference is that in the Fenix most people never notice because there are no virtual passengers complaining about being uncomfortable.
In the Phenom, the passenger simulation makes you aware of what’s going on in the background.
Raul clearly looks at these intricate little details.
It’s a small thing, but it adds a lot of immersion. You have to treat it more like a real cabin rather than just setting a temperature and expecting it to instantly obey. Its really clever.
I’m probably one of those passengers! I hate being too hot or too cold, so I completely understand the complaints.
As a fairly frequent flyer on the A320, I’ve often sat in.my seat feeling either too warm or too cold while waiting for the cabin temperature to settle.
The cabin doesn’t instantly reach the selected temperature, and depending on the weather, passenger load and whether the aircraft is still on the ground, it can take a while to become comfortable.
That’s one of those little details that makes the Phenom feel more realistic to me. (Disclaimer: I’ve never been a passenger on a private jet, and probably never will be)
Thats why I love flight simulators
I’m just starting to get familiar with the Phenom, and noticed the speed brake switch won’t move to closed. I can click it, and hear the switch sound, but it never moves. This is in VR. Has anyone else noticed this?
I’d check the manual first, just to confirm the speedbrake logic. I believe the speedbrake is inhibited when the flaps are extended, so it may click but not actually move/deploy in that configuration.
Try it clean with flaps up and see if it works normally then.
yeah the speedbrake has very specific conditions in which is can be deployed. however yeah it’s strange you can hear the click but the button doesn’t move. that might be a bug
And I have watched a couple cold and dark startup videos and they all show the switch in the closed (up) position. When I spawn in cold and dark, it is in the open (down) position, and there is a speedbrake CAS message. I will have to try in 2D tonight to see if it is a VR issue.
Thanks for the tip, buddy! Just curious, how did you realize you’d damaged the VCS? I think I must have broken it on my last flight, too, but if I look at the maintenance and condition of the various components of the plane, nothing is broken, nor anything related to the VCS.
the VCS box will be X’d out on the MFD when looking at ECS
It showed up as damaged in the maintenance page of the tablet and I had to click the repair button, I just clicked through each blue circle on that page until I found the right section.
If it’s still broken for you, something may be bugged… you can try switching liveries and then switching back, the manual mentions this can help reset things if something in the tablet gets bugged.
Also @SinfulDanTheMan
It was a key bind causing the issue. Speed brake switch working as it should. 
Which camera settings are you using for the Phenom 300? The standard cockpit view is too far forward for my liking.
In VR I always adjust my seated position using Shift + WASDQE on the KB. I would imagine it’s the same for 2D.
I do that for every plane I fly.
Hahah that happened to me the other day in VR on final. Startled the pish out of me. LOLOL