Cold Weather Question

pobox1475

Enlightened
Joined
Apr 25, 2008
Messages
838
Location
High Desert, CA
I recently moved into a new house with a detached unheated garage. Most of my batteries NiMH (Eneloops), Chargers and other electro devices (remotes, laptop, PDA and Ipod) did not make it into the house yet and are stored in boxes. The temperature has consistantly been in the -teens for the past few days. What sort of performance loss and/or damage should I anticipate after the gear is brought back to normal temp?
 
As far as your batteries there was likely a stabilizing effect of low temps on the batteries slowing their self discharge, but since they are already LSD nothing should change about your batteries. Your chargers and especially your laptop could develop condensation from entering a warm moist environment and cause a short and void your warranty. Normally condensation is pure water, and pure water does not conduct electricity and so there should be no damage, but since there is likey some dust in your laptop the water would turn to mud and become conductive and ruin everything.
The solution is to unplug your laptop, remove the battery and wait an hour or so for its temperature to come up and any condensation to discipate. Doing this near a heater is a good idea provided your heater isn't too hot or too close. The heater (or heat source) will minimize both the amount of condensation and its duration as it warms the equiptment faster. A fan can help a lot too. A fan can circulate the air over and through the laptop minimizing the condensate.

*short answer*
remove batteries and wait till its warm to use the devices. Speed the warming by using a fan and maybe a portable heater.
 
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