Minnesota monthly gathering - Page 17

PURDooM · 12-22-2005, 01:17 AM

I made a box of macaroni and cheese today.

And egg nog.

neon_eddy · 12-22-2005, 07:48 AM

how about a meet jan 7 or something?

nitropwd · 12-22-2005, 01:05 PM

anyone in here willing to let me borrow or 'rent' their garage to work on my project?

neon_eddy · 12-22-2005, 01:52 PM

how long? .. I have a single staller .. but I use it from time to time..

zryder · 12-22-2005, 02:07 PM

i have a heated underground parking garage that you could use, if you so desire..

The-ill-man · 12-24-2005, 11:10 AM

minnesota question: anyone have problems with the cold and their computer? I use an ipod and it has died and i gotta bring it into the apple store now because it froze at night or something

bosstone74 · 12-24-2005, 11:21 AM

I've ahad a few hard drive issues, but with the small ammount of electricity going throught computer it warms it up just enough for it to work and then I restart and it all good...

ipods....I've used them and fixed them before...the hard drive is always the first to go...they don't like abuse

TyBong · 12-24-2005, 05:06 PM

Ive had few issues with the cold in my settup so far, and previous versions in my carPC years ago, but then again I have put seagate drives in my stuff all the time.... ipods, I have allways wondered why they show the ads with the people listening to them while they are practicaly beating the ***** outa the poor hard disk out of them.

neon_eddy · 12-24-2005, 11:05 PM

yeah .. I agree with bosstone, mine froze up when it got below -5 or so .. but just let the PC run for about 2 minutes.. then restart it

PatO · 12-27-2005, 11:08 PM

Never.
My first carputer ran for 4 years in MN. I usually let the car warm up a couple minutes before starting the computer. Granted, it was a Jeep Cherokee (comp in passenger compartment).
Latest incarnation of carputer lives in a new Cherokee in a heated garage. But spends all day outside at work - and starts up whenever commanded.

On second thought - the PS fan on my Keypower PS is finally going out (I've had it for...6 years now!)!!! Not that I care - it's so damn cold out it shouldn't be needing the fan!
I've never had a PS last that long. And that's saying something considering the abuse these carputers go through!

baileyje · 12-29-2005, 01:25 PM

I have seen some issues lately. I have a brand new setup with a 2.5" notebook drive. I guess the cold problems only exist in newer hard drives that no longer use metal ball bearings. They use some kind of gel that starts to harden a bit when the temp gets too low. I am talking to a guy about the possibility of placing a fast heating component to warm the drive in the fist couple second of the power in order to boot on the first time.

Anyway, has there been any talk lately about meeting up? I would like to meet some of the folks around the Cities to see what your cars look like.

PatO · 01-02-2006, 12:14 AM

They're called Fluid Dynamic Bearings (FDB). Some have a problem with cold, some don't. My drive is the latter.

If you're concerned, track down a non-FDB drive (good luck!).

techy101 · 01-02-2006, 12:18 AM

Mine acts up, but I've got a heated garage so it's not a problem all that often. It's to much of a PITA to move everything onto a new drive. So I live with it.

arandall850 · 01-02-2006, 11:00 PM

I've got a remote start and where my carputer is mounted it's directly in front of a vent (under the pass seat) so it gets to 70 or so before I even get to the car.

techy101 · 01-02-2006, 11:17 PM

Yeah, I put my system in with one of the floor vents shooting directly into the case through the DVD opening (DVD is in an external housing). So that way it gets a lot of cooling in the summer, and heat in the winter. Only problem is waiting for things to warm up a bit in the super cold weather.