GPS care: Hot & Cold Temps

I don't know if it's urban legend or not, but I've read that hot temperatures can reduce the life of Lithium Ion batteries.

Does anyone have any solid information on this?

JM

I was told by Garmin that you have to take the unit out if the temp is below freezing or above 100's. I wonder why or what is the difference between the nuvi and a GPS that comes with newer cars and stays in the car all the time?

I do know for a fact that the cold messes up the screen so you can't read it till it warms up and that is on a Garmin SP 2610 I dont think the heat will bother it but not quite sure so far just cold that i have noticed when i left it in the car over night when it was 17 degrees out

I have been concerned by this very issue. I called Garmin and asked one of the techs who stated she had not heard of any issues. I quoted the page from the StreetPilot I5 manual which she checked. She told me she was new and would ask another tech. She stated that the other tech said yes take the GPS with you when you leave the vehicle. I wonder as others have said the units built into the dashboard of vehicles don't seem to have the issue so it is confusing. So for the heat and cold issue did the tech say it can be left in a closed vehicle windows rolled up tight as long as the temperature outside of the vehicle is between 99 degrees & 32 degrees fahrenheit. I'm talking about leaving the GPS in a shaded area of the vehicle. It would be so much easier than to have to carry it with you every time you leave your vehicle parked.
I will always remove the GPS from the dash but want to lock it in the glove box or place it safely in a shaded area of the parked vehicle. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Len

It is easy for the car interior temps to get to 140F when sitting in a parking lot in the middle of the day.

As a practical matter, I avoid leaving much of anything of value in the car during the summer.

As to why the built in GPS' are OK - the car manufacturers have to design high and low temps into their design and those units don't have batteries.

Thanks. I bought a small camera bag which fits on my belt so I can carry the GPS with me, so looks like I will be doing that.
Appreciate the response.

Len

It would have been a great help if one could remove the battery from the Nuvi 670 (or have I missed something?).
Living in Dubai in the Middle East the temperatures get to the extreme (+45 degree Celsius) outside the car!
As the city is 'fairly' crime free I prefer to leave the unit in the car.
If I could remove the battery to avoid heat fatigue I'd probably sleep a bit easier...

i am on my 4th c 330 in two years i have had battery problems on all of the units i have had my friends have had the same problems also . i leave mine on the window 24/7 why would garmin make a gps to mount in a car on the window if you cant leave it there ?

Just an FYI,
Most commercial IC vendors rate their parts and only guarantee their operation over the 0c to 70c range (32F to 158F).
A lot of IC vendors offer IC's that are rated over broader temp ranges (industrial/military or automotive grade) but the cost goes up because more testing and screening is done.
Another thing that can't handle alot of heat is the touch screen. In fact, a quick search showed that the operating range of alot of touch screens is less than the 0c to 70c of commercial IC's. Typical is 0c to 50c (32F to 122F).
I would bet that Garmin is not using the extended temp range devices in their units. Wouldn't know for sure unless I took one apart and I have been reluctant to do that

Also heat will degrade the life of a Li-Ion battery (but the effect of heat isn't as bad as it was on older battery technologies, like Ni-MH).

NOTE: The Nuvi 660 manual states "Do not store the nuvi where prolonged exposure to extreme temperatures can occur (such as a windshield), as permant damage may result". (They do not define
"extreme" in that section).
In the back of the nuvi manual (the appendix actually) the temperature range is listed as 32F to 140F (0c to 60c)

*EDIT: I mention operating temperature above but there is another parameter that is important as well: Storage temperature. The temperature seen by a GPS sitting on the dash in extreme heat/cold could exceed the storage temperature of most commercial ICs.
More than you ever wanted to know I am sure, but I design military power supplies for a living and I deal with these issues all the time.

~Rob

If you drive a sedan and want to remove it from the dash while at a shopping center, etc., lock it in the trunk. Cars heat up because of solar radiation through the windows. The trunk will be much cooler.

Don't worry about it unless you plan to keep your GPS for more the 3 years. By that time you'll probably need to have your battery change by factory anyway. If you haven't already replaced it with a cheaper, faster and better GPS.

I have a Magellan hand held, a portable car GPS and an iPod in the car for the 2+ Winters (-20F) and Summers (100F+). They are all still working. The only problem is the battery in the winter, but if you run off the car adaptor it wouldn't matter.

I just got a 350 and don't plan to make any change.

P.S You know how hot your GPS gets when it's attached to the windshield and exposed to direct sun light while driving? It's very hot even in an air-conditioned car.

I have no issues keeping mine in the car during the Chicago winters. In the summer, I keep it in the car but it goes in the glove box. I have not had any problems with it feeling warm, even though the inside of my black car gets very tosty in the hot sun.

My manual has the following info:

Temperature Operating 32° to 104°F 0° to 40°C
Non operating -4° to 140°F -20° to 60°C
Relative Humidity Operating up to 90% up to 90%
Non operating up to 90% up to 90%
Maximum Altitude Operating 15,000ft 4,572m
Non operating 40,000ft 12,192m

As I live in Colorado during the winter with occasional -20F, I will see if the walk from the Condo to the car does anything. Probably I get a bigger thermal shock than the unit.

Cheers

My concern for theft overrides the temperature test issue. I would never leave my 660 in my car, unattended, even for a short period of time nevermind even think about storing it for any period of time in my car. My philosophy, as well, is if I bring my nuvi with me I have more control over the environment (i.e. keeping it out of extreme temperatures) that my GPSr is exposed to.

I put my GPS under my car seat. When it is possible, I carry with me.

Excellent post!

Heat is definitely a factor here in Arizona. I've heard of somebody that left a PDA inside a car, and created a permanent thumbprint on the touchscreen after picking it up. :-S

I believe the issue with cold is due to the screen as well. I work in I.T. and I know that you should never leave a laptop in your car in temps below freezing as the LCD screen can crack under freezing temps. The screen on GPSrs is no different....just smaller. So I wouldnt leave it in the car below 32F.

My nuvi and my Sirius Starmate stay on my windshield 24/7 and I haven't have any problems. My nuvi only comes in when I need to program it.

Per the owner's manual for my 340c, the temperature range for my unit is 32 - 122 degrees. When I get home, I bring my GPS in to the house (makes it convenient if I want to download POIs). If I am away from home and leaving the car, I remove the unit from the mount and put it in the glove compartment. The coolest place to store your GPS (or gigital camera or radar detector) is the glove box, not the trunk. While I personally have never taken temperature readings of the glove box and compared it to the temperature in the trunk, I do trust the websites that provided me with that information, as well as a police officer friend of mine who told me he never stores anything that is heat sensitive in the trunk of his cruiser.

Hope this helps!

Well, I think I'm going to take a chance on the cold for a couple days when I leave the car at the airport. I can't get out of their parking lot without a GPS, so hopefully the temps won't be too much for it. It's supposed to be lows of 20, which shouldn't be too terrible in the trunk for a couple nights, I'd think. Maybe I'll take a blanket to wrap it up in and keep it cozy.

I'm with you! Three years, huh?

Got just over 2 years with the 660 and 1.5 with the 2720 left by that train of thought.

But, there's this little wifey thing I might have to deal with come upgrade time (no, not her).

I dont leave mine on the dash but put it in the glove box or on the floor and cover it with a ball cap or newspaper, I just think in the window all the time cant be too good for it.

The lcd screen on the unit can't take the temp extremes that can be envolved in side a car or truck. The built in units are designed with this in mind. If you don't want to take the unit with you during summer months, place it in a bag(old insulated lunch bag is what I use) and place it in the trunk. During the winter you should really take it with you since the extreme cold can play havoc with the screen and battery.

long enough for cold weather, but my C330 does have issues in hot weather. The screen loses calibration if the unit gets too hot. I have had to re-calibrate as many as 4 times in a single day.

I know some women who carry a glove (or mitt) to use to open their car door when they can't park in the shade here in Phoenix... and this summer was brutal. (I know, I know; if you can't stand the heat, move back up north! But it's more fun to complain )

my nuvi wont charge when i leave it under the hot sun.

You don't have to shovel sunshine.

in the car for security reasons as well as 140F is hard on everything. So, I just don't leave mine in the car.

I would suppose it is like most products that would suffer from heat/cold. The permanent units in vehicles probably are built to withstand extreme temps + or -.

I am sure all of the units are the same in this respect. My book says temperature range 32F to 140F

The built in units doen't run off Lithium Ion batteries! That is where the temperature issue comes into play with portable units.

PT

Not necessary, I was driving thought the Smokey Mountains between NC and TN. It was in the afternoon and I was driving into the sun. While I had the air on, the temperature on the dash was quit high.

The Garmin Street Pilot 2620 went crazy, giving in inaccurate locations and speed. It finally went dead. I took the GPS off the dash and onto the floor of the car for about 15 min and tried again with I got lucky as it started working properly.

I have to ask this, Why are you on your 4th c330? haven't you learned anything? better yet why do you leave them in the window 24/7? Cars can get pretty hot when locked up in the sun, even in the winter, That could constitute abuse and break your agreement, Electronics are not rated for that kind of heat, especially the ion battey. Now I know the c330 is bulky and hard to carry around, So next time get a nuvi style GPS, so you can put it in your shirt pocket and go.

Bob

Nuvi 670 does not have the removable battery, and when it's time to go to sleep (assuming at night), it's not 45 celsius anymore

To make you feel better, here is more information:

Limited Storage: -4 - 140F (-20 - 60c)
Extended Storage: 32 - 77F (0-25c)
Operating Range: -4 - 131F ( -20 - 55c)

These figures are taken from page page 11 and 12 of this manual:
http://www.dnd.hu/gps/nuvi200w_manual.pdf

... and page 65 of this manual:
http://www8.garmin.com/manuals/1262_OwnersManual.pdf

Now you can really sleep well, right?

Moon

Air temperature of thirty-one degrees fahrenheit doesn't seem "extreme" to me. I'm from Wisconsin and I oughta know.

When I haul electronic things out of the car I make sure I wrap them up in a plastic bag (I keep those in the trunk) so they can gradually get back up to room temperature inside the house. If I didn't do that, the warmer inside air would immediately condense on the surface of every component. You know that spraying water on the inside of your electronic gear is not a good idea - right?

Lots of good ideas in this thread that I'll take to heart, but keep in mind that some precautions that folks are considering might be counterproductive to the life of the equipment.

GregPaul