Thread: Whats going to happen to my lilli, and how long will it last?

Originally Posted by FyreDaug

Ive got an 809GL that will be put through a canadian winter in my carputer setup. However, the dash piece its molded into is detachable, so I dont leave it out in the cold overnight.

What can I do to prolong its life? Are there any tricks like using 72hz instead of 75hz or something like that? Its powered off of regulated 12V from M2ATX. Ive heard and read horror stories of these lilli's and im already biting my nails because of it

Don't worry about it. It should last, and if it doesn't you sound prepared. The cold will not affect it badly. It just takes a while to warm up some say it shortens the life of the unit being in the cold. The issues are mostly connection related and bad quality parts (like plastic gears or poor ribbon cable seating) Not the temperature.

Your bigger issue will be the hard drive with the cold. Some drives can take up to an hour to start to spin.

Originally Posted by -zip-

Don't worry about it. It should last, and if it doesn't you sound prepared. The cold will not affect it badly. It just takes a while to warm up some say it shortens the life of the unit being in the cold. The issues are mostly connection related and bad quality parts (like plastic gears or poor ribbon cable seating) Not the temperature.

Your bigger issue will be the hard drive with the cold. Some drives can take up to an hour to start to spin.

Zip is right.

The BEST thing would be to keep the car in a heated garage. Otherwise, don't operate anything until the car is warm. Also, if you mounted the CPU in the trunk it will never really warm up enough to use. If you mount it in the passenger compartment, then wait till the car is warm enough to be somewhat comfortable. You could also monitor the temps IN THE CASE with a temp probe. Something like an add on piece that people use to see how cold it is outside of the car would work. You just need an idea when the CPU is in a safe enough range.

Michael

Originally Posted by Wiredwrx

Zip is right.

The BEST thing would be to keep the car in a heated garage. Otherwise, don't operate anything until the car is warm. Also, if you mounted the CPU in the trunk it will never really warm up enough to use. If you mount it in the passenger compartment, then wait till the car is warm enough to be somewhat comfortable. You could also monitor the temps IN THE CASE with a temp probe. Something like an add on piece that people use to see how cold it is outside of the car would work. You just need an idea when the CPU is in a safe enough range.

Michael

Nonsense... I went through a Minnesotan winter with the carputer mounted in the trunk. The car's suspension is lower, and stiffened, and the car was never in a garage... Never had any problems. The backlight on the lilli takes a little longer to warm up when it cold however...

Originally Posted by ZtH01

Nonsense... I went through a Minnesotan winter with the carputer mounted in the trunk. The car's suspension is lower, and stiffened, and the car was never in a garage... Never had any problems. The backlight on the lilli takes a little longer to warm up when it cold however...

I stand corrected by the man from the State of a Thousand Lakes.

I mispoke when I stated "it will not work" It certainly may work, but I still say it will reduce the life of the HD, and it is BETTER to let it warm up before use.

Michael

Originally Posted by FyreDaug

Well lets put it this way, this is carputer #3, and since carputer #1 I have had this one 200gb western digital drive. I always run 2x200gb, but when I sell them off they only go with 1 200gb, ive been guinnea piggying this drive, it has been in 3 different cars now, through what would be the second full winter coming up. I also use it as the boot drive, if anything goes wrong or it starts to slow down ill notice in the windows boot times.

The only problems ive had is they dont catch the first time it timesout waiting for the drives. I start the car cold (-30c mornings) and it turns on from the m2atx right away. 90% of the time it just goes to windows, but 10% of the time it sits there with nothing on the screen, so I hit reset and its good to go. I know its the hard drives causing this, and Ive always had this issue. Its cold up here eh

I've hard of that happening too. My lil' Hitachi Notebook drive has never done that though.

Originally Posted by Wiredwrx

I stand corrected by the man from the State of a Thousand Lakes.

I mispoke when I stated "it will not work" It certainly may work, but I still say it will reduce the life of the HD, and it is BETTER to let it warm up before use.

Michael

We got a lot more then 1,000 lakes; 10,000 according to my license plate

Yeah, it's probably better to have it warm up. But I don't think it's as big of a problem as some people think.