Cold weather operators, how do you keep the 'puter warm? - Page 5

rijk · 02-25-2008, 01:38 PM

Use in a car, its silent
Or use the same stuff you put in the radiator of your car.

Question:

Is there a topic with a list of all the board and the minimum temp they operated.

Like:

Forum name..., mobo…………......…, temp startup, temp malfunction, age board, power-supply
Rijk………........, Commell 673NS……, +9C……......., +4C……….........…, 17 moths., M2 / DSX12VD

Lithoss · 02-25-2008, 08:06 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by rijk

Use in a car, its silent
Or use the same stuff you put in the radiator of your car.

Question:

Is there a topic with a list of all the board and the minimum temp they operated.

Like:

Forum name..., mobo…………......…, temp startup, temp malfunction, age board, power-supply
Rijk………........, Commell 673NS……, +9C……......., +4C……….........…, 17 moths., M2 / DSX12VD

With good quiet fans you can have a silent carpc with no hassle of watercooling

Maheriano · 02-27-2008, 12:31 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by rijk

Use in a car, its silent
Or use the same stuff you put in the radiator of your car.

Question:

Is there a topic with a list of all the board and the minimum temp they operated.

Like:

Forum name..., mobo…………......…, temp startup, temp malfunction, age board, power-supply
Rijk………........, Commell 673NS……, +9C……......., +4C……….........…, 17 moths., M2 / DSX12VD

The hard drive is the problem in most cases, not the board.

nobb · 02-27-2008, 12:45 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Maheriano

The hard drive is the problem in most cases, not the board.

No, not necessarily. Ive had boards that would fail in low temperatures (-15C) before the hard drive. I ended up having to rebuild from scratch based on components that other users mentioned would work in the cold. Here are some good sources to help people decide what boards to buy that will handle the cold:

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/powe...ards-psus.html
(note how the MII10k only works down to -15c)

http://www.cartft.com/community/Story/freeze

rijk · 02-27-2008, 01:14 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Maheriano

The hard drive is the problem in most cases, not the board.

Ok, we add the harddisk and the extra info of Nobb, -42 is the lowest the test cahmbers go:

Like:

Forum name..., mobo…………..............., temp startup, temp malfunction, age board..., power-supply..., harddrive.......,suspected failer
Rijk………........, Commell 673NS…........., +9C……......., +4C……….........…, 17 moths...., M2 / DSX12VD.., SSD 8 Gb......., mobo
andrewb........, EPIA-5000.................., -30..........., -42..................., 0 months ?., M2.................., ?.................., mobo
andrewb........, EPIA-M10 /k..............., -35..........., -42..................., 0 months ?., M2.................., ?.................., mobo
andrewb........, EPIA-MII-10K.............., -15..........., -42..................., 0 months ?., M2.................., ?.................., mobo
cartft..........., Jetway 7F2WE-1G-OC..., ?.............., -40..................., 0 months ?., M2.................., ?.................., mobo
cartft..........., Jetway 7F2WE-1G3-OC., ?.............., -40..................., 0 months ?., M2.................., ?.................., mobo
cartft..........., Jetway 7F2WE-1G5-OC., ?.............., -40..................., 0 months ?., M2.................., ?.................., mobo

The cartft i knew, the other one is new for me.
But if i am not mistaken these mobo's all have the processor onboard?, so onboard can deal better with the cold?

What i want with the list is data from the field, results from the real world, and not brand new mobo's, maybe ageing has something to do with it.
if you don't see the bios, its the mobo or the powersupply, if you do see the bios its probably the disk.

So copy the list and add your board

Maheriano · 02-27-2008, 02:43 PM

Forum name..., mobo…………..............., temp startup, temp malfunction, age board..., power-supply..., harddrive.......,suspected failer
Rijk………........, Commell 673NS…........., +9C……......., +4C……….........…, 17 moths...., M2 / DSX12VD.., SSD 8 Gb......., mobo
andrewb........, EPIA-5000.................., -30..........., -42..................., 0 months ?., M2.................., ?.................., mobo
andrewb........, EPIA-M10 /k..............., -35..........., -42..................., 0 months ?., M2.................., ?.................., mobo
andrewb........, EPIA-MII-10K.............., -15..........., -42..................., 0 months ?., M2.................., ?.................., mobo
cartft..........., Jetway 7F2WE-1G-OC..., ?.............., -40..................., 0 months ?., M2.................., ?.................., mobo
cartft..........., Jetway 7F2WE-1G3-OC., ?.............., -40..................., 0 months ?., M2.................., ?.................., mobo
cartft..........., Jetway 7F2WE-1G5-OC., ?.............., -40..................., 0 months ?., M2.................., ?.................., mobo
Maheriano....., Via Epia M10000..........., -17..........., -17..................., 24 months.., M1 ATX............, Toshiba 5400 RPM, Hard Drive

nobb · 02-27-2008, 08:08 PM

Maybe it would be easier if someone started a wiki on this. Anyways:

Forum name..., mobo…………..............., temp startup, temp malfunction, age board..., power-supply..., harddrive.......,suspected failer
Rijk………........, Commell 673NS…........., +9C……......., +4C……….........…, 17 moths...., M2 / DSX12VD.., SSD 8 Gb......., mobo
andrewb........, EPIA-5000.................., -30..........., -42..................., 0 months ?., M2.................., ?.................., mobo
andrewb........, EPIA-M10 /k..............., -35..........., -42..................., 0 months ?., M2.................., ?.................., mobo
andrewb........, EPIA-MII-10K.............., -15..........., -42..................., 0 months ?., M2.................., ?.................., mobo
cartft..........., Jetway 7F2WE-1G-OC..., ?.............., -40..................., 0 months ?., M2.................., ?.................., mobo
cartft..........., Jetway 7F2WE-1G3-OC., ?.............., -40..................., 0 months ?., M2.................., ?.................., mobo
cartft..........., Jetway 7F2WE-1G5-OC., ?.............., -40..................., 0 months ?., M2.................., ?.................., mobo
Maheriano....., Via Epia M10000..........., -17..........., -17..................., 24 months.., M1 ATX............, Toshiba 5400 RPM, Hard Drive
nobb............, Via Epia M10000..........., -35C........., -35C................., 2 months..., M2-ATX........, Seagate EE25 ST940814AM (automotive grade, aftermarket model).......,...Hard drive wont spin fast enough

nobb · 02-27-2008, 08:10 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by rijk

But if i am not mistaken these mobo's all have the processor onboard?, so onboard can deal better with the cold?

I dont think its the processor. The problem seems to be capacitors. Solid state silicon chips like processors can function down to almost cryogenic levels (according to an engineering journal I read).

Crazy_Cabbie · 02-28-2008, 10:01 AM

I said before I just use a laptop, (I'm old, I don't care if it looks cool, haha)
but for 'true' carputers, can I suggest running a laptop HD cable ($10?) to a little square housing in the dash for the drive ($5 3.5 drive bay for a desktop). Put a handle on the front of the drive. (or the rectangle of dash material ya just cut out for it)

I'd recommend putting some kind of catch or lock on the front of the drive bay, to keep it from coming loose while accessing the drive, and maybe a microswitch in the back to turn on the computer when the drive is fully seated.

(imagine dual drive set-ups like that!!! ...stop..swap..copy ...stop...swap..copy ...stop...swap...copy ...oh $#!T! Copyright lawyers chasing me in an Apache helicopter!!!!)

Just kidding! But backups would be way easier. 2+ SHARED cars with carputers would be perfect. Each driver uses their own HD with net passwords, contact lists, networking settings, songs, 'media' recorder and engine tuning settings etc...

Some kick-a$$ OBD II car with the programming box/cable installed would be a cool experiment. Owner's HD sets it unlimited (hey, he bought the car!), 'Guest' HD de-tunes it and limits top speed, blocks message alerts while in motion, turns on the microphone and camera...haha, now you guys hate me....

rijk · 02-28-2008, 11:18 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by nobb

I dont think its the processor. The problem seems to be capacitors. Solid state silicon chips like processors can function down to almost cryogenic levels (according to an engineering journal I read).

Yes, that could be true, but looking at the list all the good mobo's have an onboard chip, this could also mean that mobo's with an onboard chip are supplied with better capacitors.
Think we need more mobo's in the list to see witch is best/ the problem. my commell is an exemption, but i was using it in an odd position of the car, plenty ventilation though.

pir8radio · 03-04-2008, 09:37 AM

I use a panasonic Toughbook CF-19 in my car.... it has a built in heater element attached to the bottom of the hard drive.. This is from the factory, it uses relativity small amount of power just to keep the drive warm.. The cold is freaking out your computer not electronically but mechanically the drive is the only mechanical part, so if you can keep that warm you will be ok.

shooter64738 · 03-04-2008, 11:17 AM

I'm pretty new to this car pc stuff, but I'm helping my son build a bonneville, complete with touch screen. I'm a savvy tech guy for the most part, but we went with a standard ATX motherboard I had laying around my shop. We have a boot image for XP on a 4 gig thumb drive, and set the MOBO to boot from USB device. It was 9*f here last night, and it was booting just fine. We have a removeable usb hard drive that contains media files. I will admit it boots slower off the flash drive than it does a hard drive, I assume because it's building a ram drive to hold the OS.

Just thought I would throw that out there. I've got a ton of questions to ask around, but thats been our solution for now.

elBradford · 03-07-2008, 03:43 PM

I'm still in the planning stages of my CarPC (Post #1 heh

) but its around 50% planned out. Where I live it normally doesn't drop below 0 F but I don't want to deal with cold startup issues really I don't commute a lot. My driving consists of 15-20 minute jaunts around town between school and work, etc and so I want to avoid any delay with my system booting up.

I'm going to place my CarPC below the passenger seat. There is a floor air vent down there that I was planning on routing OVER the PC. I want to hear your feedback on the idea of blowing the air INTO the case, so that in the winter the warm air can quickly heat up the components and in the summer it can quickly cool them down. Summers here get over 100 F, hotter still inside my black car.

The only problem I see with this is the possibility of such quick heating/cooling would shorten the life of the components. Does anyone have any feedback on this? Suggestions?

rijk · 03-10-2008, 10:53 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by pir8radio

The cold is freaking out your computer not electronically but mechanically the drive is the only mechanical part, so if you can keep that warm you will be ok.

I disagree, i use a SSD as os –disk. With zero moving parts. When its cold, it wont even show the bios, only the fan’s start spinning.

rijk · 03-10-2008, 10:58 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by elBradford

There is a floor air vent down there that I was planning on routing OVER the PC. I want to hear your feedback on the idea of blowing the air INTO the case, so that in the winter the warm air can quickly heat up the components and in the summer it can quickly cool them down. Summers here get over 100 F, hotter still inside my black car.

In winter, you could get trouble with cooling in this way, or can you close the air-outlet ones de cpc is warm.

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