Electronic devices and winter temperatures.

[arfisher83]

Anyone here keep a TV or stereo or DVD player in your bus through the winter months? I was planning on leaving mine in, since I plan on using my bus through the winter. Just wondered if cold temps can damage such electronic items.

Thanks.

Adam

[GoneCamping]

A regular CRT type TV would be fine, but I would NOT leave an LCD TV in there if freezing temps were expected... don't know if it would freeze or not, but when I used to fix gas pumps equipped with LCD displays, they had electric heaters attached to the backside of the chips...

[josetann]

Originally Posted by GoneCamping

A regular CRT type TV would be fine, but I would NOT leave an LCD TV in there if freezing temps were expected... don't know if it would freeze or not, but when I used to fix gas pumps equipped with LCD displays, they had electric heaters attached to the backside of the chips...

The main reason for those heaters is not to keep the screens from getting damaged, but rather to keep them working throughout the cold. They can suffer from low-contrast, low refresh, even just plain not working if the temperature falls too much (but would resume working fine once warmed back up).

I'd check what the manufacturer says the operating temperature is, as long as you're within that range I wouldn't worry. Even below the minimum temp, most likely it just wouldn't work perfectly until warmed up. I've left various devices with lcd screens in the car (cellphones, PocketPC, etc.) and no problems yet. Then again we're in TN, our winters aren't quite as brutal as farther north.

[Redbear]

I would NOT leave an LCD TV in there if freezing temps were expected...

Had a co-worker travel to give a presentation over near Lake Ontario. At the hotel, he left his laptop in the car overnight, and the display cracked in the cold and was totally destroyed.

I've seen devices with solid-state circuits that don't work 'till they warm up to about 20°F/-5°C, but get the heater going and they crawl back to life.