Adapter & traffic receiver in cold weather

I'm in Silicon Valley -- "cold" around here is anything below 50F...

While LCD materials (particularly older LCDs -- things have improved greatly in the last 3 to 4 years) can be bothered by low temperatures (below 0C), I can't think of anything in the traffic receiver that would be affected. Good design for something that's going to be in a car means designing for wide temperature swings.

I wouldn't worry about the traffic receiver, any more than I'd worry about the cold affecting the numerous computers that run your car.

I don't know about the cold but in the FL hot sun of avg 95 degrees in summer mine still works.

Thanks for the insights. I was taking it inside if I had to park outside. Now I may not be too concerned.

It will probably have no problems, but if you want to minimize the chances of problems, you might want to take it inside. There are two *potential* reasons for this that come to mind.

First, when power is first applied, the areas where current is flowing will rapidly warm up, while the rest of the unit will remain relatively cold for a while. This difference in temperature will cause some parts to expand while other parts remain at essentially the same dimensions. That can cause stresses inside the unit that could conceivably result in breakage and circuit disconnects, especially if repeated multiple times.

Second, the cold-soaked hardware will have lower resistances in the circuitry, resulting in higher current flows at start-up. If the unit is conservatively designed, this should be no problem, but if the design margins are slim for cost-savings reasons, you could have problems.

With best wishes,
- Tom -

I'm not worry about the affect on adapter/traffic receiver. The only thing will be affect by low temperature is lcd panel. It will darker when cold and will be back to normal after turn on for 10-15 minutes.

I can't be concerned where my ac adapter/ traffic cable is. I can't remove it if I wanted to because the company installed it through the dashboard crevice because the power end connects to a sagequest tracking device.

You don't own your own GPS?

The 1350 and the tracking device was the companies way to get us working more productively. What they failed to realize is that the majority of techs in the field owned and used there own. To make it universal across the country with all techs they gave us (they own) the GPS. Of course I have customized it like I did my 650.

I live in Montreal, Canada where the average winter temperatures are about 21°F and I leave the traffic receiver / adapter in my car all year around with no problems.