To leave in car or not to leave in car, that is the question.

**wardemon666** · 12-21-2005, 01:13 PM

Hey,

I built a carputer this summer and its been great, i love it!

Problem is, its REALLY starting to get cold (-40) and the lcd is full of frost in the morning when its really cold. I dont use it any more, unless I need to (if I get lost :P)

Is it really that bad to leave the carputer and the LCD in the car for the winter?

I dont want it to be dead next summer, cause I have no more money to spend on this thing

Ideas would be much appreciated. I can take the carputer out for the winter, but its gonna look funky with a big hole in my dash,, but ill do it for the sake of the carputer.

Thanks!

Oh, last question, my screen gets red some times (liliput) and its cause of the wires in the vga cable (right at the end when i move it around it becomes normal.,,,,, would soldering a new connector onto the wires make the image fuzzy/ would it still work??? (im pretty good at soldering I can get a nice connection done to the adapter if I buy one....)

Thanks again!

**ITL** · 12-21-2005, 01:47 PM

where do you live? or more relevant, what's the low temp at night, there?

**wardemon666** · 12-21-2005, 02:14 PM

Originally Posted by ITL

where do you live? or more relevant, what's the low temp at night, there?

I'm from Canada. I'm not quite sure at night, but to give you an idea right now its about -20 celcius (it feels colder though!!!!!!)

maybe -40 was exadurating but what i meant was that its really cold... I dont have a hard drive or any moving parts in the carputer, I only have a CF card and for music and everything else, an external hard drive that i bring in from inside...

My real concern is once its warm, will condensation form? I didnt notice any, but the frost gives the impression that there is condensation on the board in the morning....

Thanks again!

**ITL** · 12-21-2005, 02:31 PM

That's pretty cold...I can't help ya there. My board hangs when it's around -5C til I let it warm up. I have no idea about -20C.

**wardemon666** · 12-21-2005, 02:51 PM

Originally Posted by ITL

That's pretty cold...I can't help ya there. My board hangs when it's around -5C til I let it warm up. I have no idea about -20C.

oh, im not complaining about if itll run or not, im talking about long term damage...

My board boots up flawlessly even at -20

Long Live Shuttle! haha...

ok well if anyone can give me their opinion about removing it from the car or not, and i need to know if i can make my own vga cable (because it messes up a wire is probably about to break...)

thanks!

**ITL** · 12-21-2005, 03:29 PM

if it runs, I dont see why you'd have any issues.

**mushin** · 12-21-2005, 03:32 PM

If you really see -40 at night, you should try this: http://www.newscientist.com/channel/...mg17223225.900 (I don't have a subscription, but the blurb is all you need to read, I think

)

As for your questions: I think if you leave it off you're probably ok. Condensation won't be a problem off, and the LCD might have problems at those temps. Turning it on seems like a crapshoot to me, but I'm not an expert so what do I know... Patching your VGA cable should be fine. My desktop machine (runs at 1600x1200) goes through a 2" extension VGA cable I made (custom casemod, long story

), and that looks fine, so I think you're fine.

**wardemon666** · 12-22-2005, 01:44 AM

Originally Posted by mushin

If you really see -40 at night, you should try this: http://www.newscientist.com/channel/...mg17223225.900 (I don't have a subscription, but the blurb is all you need to read, I think

)

As for your questions: I think if you leave it off you're probably ok. Condensation won't be a problem off, and the LCD might have problems at those temps. Turning it on seems like a crapshoot to me, but I'm not an expert so what do I know... Patching your VGA cable should be fine. My desktop machine (runs at 1600x1200) goes through a 2" extension VGA cable I made (custom casemod, long story

), and that looks fine, so I think you're fine.

Thanks for your post. So you think it should be good if I leave it in the car but never turn it on? The board is cold, and when i turn the heating on the glove compartment gets hot, so im guessing its not very good...

I love having the gps for backup purposes cause im always going new places and its very useful,,, i guess ill take it out though.. I dont want it to die early.... in the mean time ill do more adjustments while its in the house and get extra features implemented for the summer...

Does anyone also belive its a good idea to remove it for winter?

Thanks!

**DJiK** · 12-22-2005, 02:01 AM

Originally Posted by mushin

If you really see -40 at night, you should try this: http://www.newscientist.com/channel/...mg17223225.900 (I don't have a subscription, but the blurb is all you need to read, I think

)

For all your subscription problems, use BugMeNot.

It's a cool article... If I ever go back to Siberia, I'll keep it in mind.

**Bugbyte** · 12-22-2005, 09:17 PM

Be man. Leave it in the car. The whole PC in the car deal is a giant experiment anyhow. See if it can take it!

I mean, what's "long term" for a PC anyways? 2 years? Maybe 3?

The screens seem to do okay, although the touch overlay can get hosed, and most of the problems seem to be with the drives.