AAA that can handle high heat (120F+)?

[eggsalad]

Greetings from the desert!

My garage remote uses a single AAA cell. Temperatures in a parked car here can range from 120F (in the garage) to 140F (parked in the sun).

At best, I can get 2-3 days out of a ProCell before it either loses voltage or bursts. That's getting pretty expensive.

Any ideas for something that can handle this heat, before I wind up in the poorhouse?

 

[StarHalo]

Energizer Lithium Ultimate, product code L92; good to ~140 degrees F, however heat still speeds self-discharge. Store your garage remote in a place that is not in, or even affected by, direct sunlight - glovebox is good, door map pocket even better.

 

[eggsalad]

Thanks, StarHalo! I'll try it!

 

[archimedes]

Looks like eneloop AAA are rated to 50°C (~ 122°F) , according to the data sheet

 

[Timothybil]

Energizer Lithium Ultimate, product code L92; good to ~140 degrees F, however heat still speeds self-discharge. Store your garage remote in a place that is not in, or even affected by, direct sunlight - glovebox is good, door map pocket even better.

In the storage spot inside the console between the front seats, or under a seat also work well. Also, get one of those sunshades to put across your windshield if you are parking in the sun - makes a big difference. I also put those plastic cling sheets with the dot pattern on them on the rear windows as well.

I don't know if you have ever seen them, but they make an exhaust fan that one puts in the window of the car. It has a solar cell and fan that sit inside the car, with an exhaust port to the outside. It doesn't move that much air, but it is enough to make a difference. I especially liked having one for those days when you are sure it is going to rain so you don't want to leave your windows cracked a little so it won't rain in. Also, those clip-in hoods I guess you would call them the shield the first couple inches of the top of the window. You can leave the window rolled down an inch or two, and not worry about any possible rain getting in. As long as the top of the glass is not lower than the bottom edge of the shade, if any rain gets in you will have more problems than just a wet seat to deal with.

 

[eggsalad]

The windshield sunshade is a good idea, as is the exhaust fan - for people who park outdoors. Unfortunately, I park in a garage where the ambient air temperature is 125-130F, so neither of those things would help, in my case.

 

[HarryN]

Consider to put temperature sensitive items in a cooler - not with ice, just a cooler. At least here, the day / night temperature fluctuations are sort of averaged out enough to keep the temperatures inside of a cooler more moderated than the car air temperature.

 

[john1230]

The windshield sunshade is a good idea, as is the exhaust fan - for people who park outdoors. Unfortunately, I park in a garage where the ambient air temperature is 125-130F, so neither of those things would help, in my case.

Am I crazy or do you just need to get a insulated bag to keep the garage remote in? That'll keep it cool and keep the battery from over heating.

Here's an example for your consideration: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00C5HUQ3W/

Or if your remote isn't too big get one of those insulated food jars to keep it in.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/COLEMAN-S...603084&hash=item25deb17510:g:MNcAAOSwEetV8zeO

Good luck.

 

[eggsalad]

I'm not sure where you're going with this. I store my picnic cooler in the garage, and it gets to be 120F inside.

 

[Timothybil]

I'm not sure where you're going with this. I store my picnic cooler in the garage, and it gets to be 120F inside.

Insulation does not stop heat transfer, it merely slows it down. Sooner or later the insides and the outside will reach equilibrium. If there is some other factor like an ice pack, or a large difference in outside temperatures during the day, the insides will probably not totally reach equilibrium, but as those of us who live in houses with a large thermal mass in the walls can attest, a large drop in outside temperature takes long enough to infiltrate that the following rise in outside temps negates the effect.
Now, if you create a small super-insulated chamber with a Peltier effect plate included, you could connect it to your vehicle's power outlet (can't call it a cigarette lighter any more, it is verboten). You would probably want to add a control to disconnect automatically when the battery dropped to a certain voltage level, to keep from draining the battery.

 

[Crazyeddiethefirst]

I lived in the Coachella Valley for 40 years, and the solution for my wife's Toyota Camry was easy:
The center console in Camrys is adjacent to the ducting for the rear AC vents. By keeping the gate and garage door clickers in there, a set of Energizer Ultimate lasted all summer(the car still got hot, but even after the car was off for 2-3 hours the Temp was still significantly lower. Even though my Chrysler 300 has AC vents in the same location, there is no similar cooling in the console. The solution for my car was to buy a generic garage door opener that fit on my keychain so the keys were inside at night...

 

[eggsalad]

Sure, but at some point, spending money to keep it cool becomes more costly than spending on an add-on HomeLink system that uses the car's 12V battery to power a garage remote. That would eliminate the problem entirely!

In fact, I bought and played with a junkyard HL system, but the ones in the junkyard are too old to work with my late-model opener. Next step on that journey would be to buy a 2011+ HomeLink transmitter from eBay.

Also, a tip of the hat to StarHalo... Just moving the opener from the sun visor (hot air rises!) to the door pocket has improved the life of the ProCells from 2 days to a week, so that's a great start!

 

[HarryN]

Insulation does not stop heat transfer, it merely slows it down. Sooner or later the insides and the outside will reach equilibrium. If there is some other factor like an ice pack, or a large difference in outside temperatures during the day, the insides will probably not totally reach equilibrium, but as those of us who live in houses with a large thermal mass in the walls can attest, a large drop in outside temperature takes long enough to infiltrate that the following rise in outside temps negates the effect.
Now, if you create a small super-insulated chamber with a Peltier effect plate included, you could connect it to your vehicle's power outlet (can't call it a cigarette lighter any more, it is verboten). You would probably want to add a control to disconnect automatically when the battery dropped to a certain voltage level, to keep from draining the battery.

In this area, we have fairly large day - night temperature shifts. It can be 110 F during the day and 70 F at night - routinely. The reason that a cooler without ice helps moderate the internal temperature is that the insulation helps average out this total temperature range into a much smaller range inside.

Obviously, if it doesn't cool off at night, it won't help.

I suppose in theory you could put a reusable frozen ice bag of some kind in there and freeze it every night. Maybe keep a cold water bottle in there as well.

My garage gets pretty hot as well, so I am seriously considering to air condition it - otherwise it is nearly useless in the summer.

 

[StarHalo]

If we're talking about spending money, look into an internet gateway setup that will allow you to open/close the door with your phone; this could be as cheap as ~$30 depending on what hardware you already have. Just use the device you already have on you as a remote..

 

[eggsalad]

If we're talking about spending money, look into an internet gateway setup that will allow you to open/close the door with your phone; this could be as cheap as ~$30 depending on what hardware you already have. Just use the device you already have on you as a remote..

Good idea. Unfortunately, it's a detached garage and the WiFi doesn't reach.

 

[HarryN]

Good idea. Unfortunately, it's a detached garage and the WiFi doesn't reach.

If it is less than 50 ft, a directional antenna setup would easily reach, if that is helpful.