Below 0C (32F) Hardware possibility

**nobb** · 12-10-2008, 02:53 PM

USB Keys are slow, why not just put it all on the EE25? Depending on the version of EE25 you get, it should be good down to -20C or -30C. I used to have the -20C version of the EE25 and it failed to boot at -40C. The problem seems to be that it just needed a few more seconds to spin up to speed before it can be detected by the BIOS. So if you can find a way to somehow delay the POST process for a few extra seconds, you should be good down to -40C.

**middle** · 12-10-2008, 11:02 PM

I am having the same problem. When the temperature goes down to below -5C I get a boot error, which I assume is from the hdd not spinning up quick enough. After about 5 min if I restart it boots normally. Today I grabbed the heater out of a surveillance camera enclosure and am planning on putting it in on Sunday. These heaters are quite small and should fit into the case relatively easily. The heater is supposed to have temperature sensors to tell it to turn on & off. My plan is to wire it up so that it comes on when I use my remote starter to warm up the car for 5-10min prior to the carputer booting. I will let you guys know how it works out. Its supposed to get to -31C on Sunday night.

**Bugbyte** · 12-11-2008, 09:00 AM

Originally Posted by middle

Today I grabbed the heater out of a surveillance camera enclosure and am planning on putting it in on Sunday. These heaters are quite small and should fit into the case relatively easily. The heater is supposed to have temperature sensors to tell it to turn on & off. My plan is to wire it up so that it comes on when I use my remote starter to warm up the car for 5-10min prior to the carputer booting. I will let you guys know how it works out. Its supposed to get to -31C on Sunday night.

This is a good idea. Post some pics of the heater and how it works.

There's a thread on this somewhere....Ah, here it is! Consider posting this solution in that thread.

Seems like for people without a remote start, you could put a thermocouple in the case and wire it to a relay. When you start the car, if it was cold, the relay would stay open, the heater would start, and when the thermocouple detected enough heat, the relay would close and the PC would boot.

**Injector** · 12-11-2008, 10:25 AM

or you wire one of this to the heater, this way you don't have to start the engine, just hit a button when you wake up and by the time you get into the car the pc will be warm.
http://www.xoxide.com/remote-12vdc-relay-kit.html

**Maheriano** · 12-11-2008, 12:26 PM

Originally Posted by middle

Its supposed to get to -31C on Sunday night.

You must be close to me, that's the forecast for here.

**VmtSquad** · 12-11-2008, 04:04 PM

Wow guys I didnt know so many people had some problems with temperature.....

Im in Salt Lake for the week, I'll have to give a try to those Samsung HDD since Flash Drive seems not fast enough for my needs!!

I'll keep you guys updated!

Keep on posting if you get some good solutions!!

**middle** · 12-11-2008, 06:59 PM

Originally Posted by Maheriano

You must be close to me, that's the forecast for here.

300km north in Edmonton.

Here is a pic of the heater I grabbed out of the surveillance enclosure.

**middle** · 12-26-2008, 07:22 PM

Ok, I finally got some time to install my heating system. After a fair bit of thinking and research, I decided the surveillance heater wasn't going to be enough to heat up quick enough so I put in 4 12 Watt light bulbs off of a relay. The relay is tied into my running lights for power and the surveillance heater board for signal. The theory behind this is when it's really cold out, I use my remote starter to warm up the car and hopefully the hard drive will be warm enough when I get in so that it will boot. It has been -25C for the past few weeks here, so I didn't have too much motivation to go out and work on the car. I will let you guys know how it works when it gets really cold again.

**nobb** · 12-26-2008, 10:13 PM

Ive experimented with using 50w worth of light bulbs as a heat source. From experience, it was terribly inefficient and did not work well. It is good at maintaining an enclosure at operating temperature, but to go from -40C to operational temperature through natural convection heat transfer takes a long time, especially in a small confined space. You would get better efficiency by conduction (eg resistors bolted onto a metal plate attached to the hard drive) or even forced convection (a hairdrier-like apparatus).

Also, you might want to watch out for the fact that the measured temperature on your attached temperature sensor will be lower than what your hard drive actually is, so be sure not to cook the hard drive.

In the end, I gave up trying to build something to heat the carpc. Rather I just used components that had a better chance of operating at -40C.

**middle** · 12-27-2008, 09:21 AM

nobb, you are absolutely right about your heating methods, resistors may be my next crack at it. The big problem here is fitting all this stuff into such a confined space. It is supposed to get as low as -25C on Tuesday, so I may know by then.
one other thing I did yesterday was I wired in a small heater to my block heater and threw it in the trunk, so I figure since the plug ins turn on at -15C at work, I will keep it plugged in. I was using this while it was -30C at home and it was working great.