Carputer and cold weather... very cold!

Topper · 07-14-2005, 06:47 PM

Hello guys,
I'm completly new to this and I find all your work amazing.... Might get into carputing my car ...

I was wondering how do you deal with the cold temperature... I live up north ... way up north... In winter, it's pretty usual to get way below -10 or -20 fahrenheit...

Motherboard can stay off in those weather... but I wouldn't turn it on in the morning :-)

Is there a work around? Else than buidling a climate controled box for it

?

Thank you and love to see your work !

Mad Ad · 07-14-2005, 07:34 PM

i guess cold is better than hot - I think your biggest problem is the hard drive, the bearings in particular but there are drives for extreme conditions available if you have the cash.

anyway im sure this has been discussed before, have you searched?

stapan · 07-14-2005, 07:40 PM

remote start is your friend.

or, here's an idea I don't think anyone has tried yet.

use an electric fan wiring kit (~ $35 at autozone). it is set up with a relay and adjustable thermostat in order to turn on an electric fan when the sensor reaches a certain temperature. not sure about the autozone one, but you could find one that adjusts down to say 40 F and it would automatically power the relay when the sensor reaches that temperature, but instead of an electric fan wire it to your opus, and voila. it would automatically shut down when the temperature got low enough (probably around 25 deg if its set at 40)

PatO · 07-14-2005, 07:41 PM

Yea - search. This has been asked MANY times.
However, in an effort not to flame, I will offer a good rule of thumb - If it's cold, you should always let your car warm up for a few minutes first. By then, the interior will be warm enough for your carputer.
If it's too cold for you to drive, it's probably too cold for your computer.