cold weather and my motorized touchscreen.

skywise · 01-13-2006, 07:48 PM

I seem to recall a thread recently regarding how cold it can be and have your touchscreen work.

Well, I just got the MTSVO-SC indash touchscreen LCD and it seems it decides on it's own if it's too cold.

It's fine in around 0C, but when I got in the car yesterday with the temp around -10C the unit just beeped at me when I pushed the open button.
After about 10 minutes of the heat being on, the unit worked normally again.
(oh and it was blinking it's lights until it warmed up)

So, for those wondering what temps this unit works at, it seems to be a bit higher than -10C

So far it's not a big deal since it didn't take too long to warm up, but if we're having our normal -20C to -30C winters, it'll take a good while longer to get up to a working temp.

Cris · 01-14-2006, 08:47 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by skywise

I seem to recall a thread recently regarding how cold it can be and have your touchscreen work.

Well, I just got the MTSVO-SC indash touchscreen LCD and it seems it decides on it's own if it's too cold.

It's fine in around 0C, but when I got in the car yesterday with the temp around -10C the unit just beeped at me when I pushed the open button.
After about 10 minutes of the heat being on, the unit worked normally again.
(oh and it was blinking it's lights until it warmed up)

So, for those wondering what temps this unit works at, it seems to be a bit higher than -10C

So far it's not a big deal since it didn't take too long to warm up, but if we're having our normal -20C to -30C winters, it'll take a good while longer to get up to a working temp.

This is good info. Keep watching it and give us more feedback!

bash1979 · 03-02-2006, 08:06 AM

Bump....

I just got my MTSVO-SC installed, and I'm noticing the same 10 minute wait. It hasn't got much colder than -15C here, so I haven't had to wait much longer than that.

Anyone experience any REALLY cold temps? How long is the wait then?

konnichiwa · 03-02-2006, 08:18 AM

I have the same issues with the MTSVO-SC in the UK from about November - End December

gibsurfer84 · 12-10-2006, 09:58 AM

I got the same issues. Anyone know how to hot wire it? It gets really old waiting for it to warm up, especially when you leave music on loud the night before!

arpad · 12-10-2006, 10:49 AM

Interesting, I haven't had this issue with my MTSVO-SC but my Aopen MiniPC does it even if it gets within 10 degrees of freezing...

nobb · 12-10-2006, 01:47 PM

I have the exact screen and I am having such problems too. When it gets down to -30C (assuming my carputer will even boot), I think the screen will be completely unuseable. By the time the cabin temperature warms (and that heat is transfered to the screen), I will be at my destination already =(. Perhaps someone knows of a way to bypass the temperature sensor (is that even a good idea?).

I am guessing this screen uses a simple thermocouple to sense temperature. Therefore, if we could find the thermocouple here is what can be done: Desolder the thermocouple. Take the thermocouple indoors where it is ~20C. Measure the resistance across the thermocouple. Then, find a resistor with a similar resistance and solder that to where the thermocouple should have been. This should tell the screen that the temperature is ~20C when it isnt. I dont know if this will work, or if it will be good to use the screen in such temepratures. I was talking to a service rep for this screen and he said it is really easy to break some sort of screen cable if the screen is opened, so I am afraid to open up this screen. If anyone has ever taken apart this screen, could you please post and tell us step by step how you did it without damaging the screen's cable?

What do you guys think?

skywise · 12-12-2006, 03:28 PM

I'm pretty sure it's doing this for it's own protection.
There's a number of ribbon cables and other wiring that bends and moves when the screen comes out, chill things down to -20 and you'll wind up with brittle insulation and cracks. Then shorts, fire, mayhem and the end of the world as we know it! (or at the end of the poor screen's world

And, LCD technology, being Liquid, gets strange at very cold temps. It can usually be designed around in cars for small screens (clock N such) but the big ones start getting really slow, kinda like a good drug trip. <grin>

Soooo, I think a better solution would be to find a way to redirect heater airflow up near the screen so it defrosts faster. But be careful of getting snow in the intake, you'd wind up with a snowy/wet screen. (see above dire warning)

Sky

gibsurfer84 · 12-12-2006, 08:06 PM

do any of you have a protective cover on your screen from shipping? There looks like there is a cover but I'm afraid to pick at it because i think it is part of the screen but the upper right corner looks as if its the stuff you get on phones and other shiny plastic parts to protect them in shipping. Anyone else?

nobb · 12-12-2006, 08:17 PM

Yea that is removeable. Its up to you whether you want to remove it or not. I personally removed mine to reduce the glare.

gibsurfer84 · 12-12-2006, 08:25 PM

yeah the glare is ******* crazy, I'll definitely remove it now.

frankrizzo · 12-12-2006, 08:55 PM

careful with the heat duct idea. going from cold to warm while blowing air across it might intriduce moisture. Instead of figuring ways to try to prevent or work around the safety feature, see if someone can wire up a small ceramic heater or something. Obviously nothing hot enough to cause fire, but enough to raise temp of unit a bit, also if there is enough space in area. I am thinking along the lines of like a heated seat circuit. hell, could even be installed with a thermocouple. Heat is too low, start car, jacket warms, screen heats. BINGO. my .02!

nobb · 12-12-2006, 09:58 PM

Um, I think building a heater is easier said than done. If you search for my posts, I've actually built a 100 watt blower type heater in an attempt to warm up my screen. Maybe my heater was just inefficient, but its actually REALLY difficult to change the ambient temperature by 30 degrees efficiently. Even in -10C temperatures, it took like 15 minutes for my screen to open.

If anyone does decide to try to mess around with building a heater, I suggest something that perhaps blows the hot air INSIDE the screen itself (my heater blew hot air around the unit). However, this is easier said then done since there arent exactly any openings that can be used to direct the air. Or, a more efficient method might be to build contact-based heater, so you are heating up the metal casing of the screen directly rather than the air around it. This might pose problems as certain parts inside will get extremely hot(the parts near/touching the heated metal), while other areas will remain cold, since the air inside the unit is not being moved/stirred around.

So yea...if anyone manages to get this screen working in these low temperatures, please post and let us know.