Equipment storage tempeture

[Zensei]

Hello all.

I'm a little worried for my gear for the winter. I have it in my addic, which is well isolated, but not heated, so it can get a bit cold up there. It's dry and sealed off from the elements, but I'm worried about what the coming low temperatures might do to the accuracy... I can't say for sure how low it will get, sometimes it stays above -5, but last year iw was -23 C.

Do you know of any general lowest temperature it should be kept in?

Thanks

[AlphZeta]

Depending on what type of equipment it is. If it has a lot of electrolytic Caps, the temperature could be an issue and certainly will affect the life of those components. But for the semiconductor components, this temperature range shouldn't be of any problem.

[tekfan]

LCD screens might be an issue too. Other than that and the elcectrolytic caps I don't see a major problem. Be sure to allow them to warm up to room temperature before powerup.

[Zensei]

The equipment is hand held multimeters, oscilloscopes, bench multimeter, computers and so on...

[mikeselectricstuff]

Temperature as such shouldn't be a problem, but side-effects like condensation can be. Especially when something is taken from cold storage to a warm place - allow plenty of time to warm up and any condensation dry out before turning on.

[Zad]

Condensation is what does the damage, it gets into tiny spaces and freezes, ruining components and equipment.

[SgtRock]

Dear Zensei:

--I used to tell girls that it was impossible to spell attic while looking down the front of ones shirt/blouse. The victim would then would look down the front of her blouse and say aloud A T T I C. That is how I remember to spell attic.

"Marconi invented the radio but he had to wait years and years till anything decent was on." Johnny Carson

Best Regards
Clear Ether

[ellisg]

I have to agree, that would generally be based on whatever components are included in your equipment. And what could work for one, would certainly not guarantee to hold true for the other one.

I have always had problem with screens catching moisture on the inside, and they really are such a pain because then you have to pry it open again just to wipe off that moisture.

[Neilm]

I would have thought that any decent multi-meter would be able to take -20 (storage not operation). LCDs that can operate that cold can behave very poorly but they will recover when allowed to return to normal room temperature. If they are allowed to slowly get back to room temperature they should not get condensation on the inside.

The computers will probably not be designed to be stored that cold so you might have trouble with them.

Neil