car stereo operating temperatures

jwalcik · Post by **jwalcik** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 2:04 pm

for those of you in colder weather climates...we've had a bit of a cold snap here the last few days. this morning when i got in my vibe and started it up, the thermometer read 23 degrees. my stereo started up as normal (aftermarket, alpine), but wheni hit the shuffle button, the lights on the face of the head unit went blank, the music stopped for a second, then the music started again and everything went back to normal. i tried hitting shuffle again and got the same effect.after the car warmed up, everythign was fine. tonight, i hop in, it's 35, and i get the same effect, only this time when i hit the pause button. i'm all too familiar with the impact that the upper edge of safe operating temperatures can have on electronics (dvd players, PCs, etc), but i've never had problems with something due to the cold. is there a possibility this is the opposite? have any of you had any experience with a stereo misbehaving due to the cold?

ragingfish · Post by **ragingfish** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 2:19 pm

wondering if somehow the harness in back isn't fully seated, and maybe the cold weather causes it to shift back just enough that it momentarily loses power? just a thought. otherwise, no explanation.

jwalcik · Post by **jwalcik** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 3:42 pm

that crossed my mind as well (cold + metal = contraction), and would be explained by everything being normal after the car warms up. however, i'm not entirely motivated to pull it all out while it's still in the low 30's out. if it's still doing it tomorrow, i'll take a look saturday when it gets back up in the 60s.i know most electronics do have a low range for operating temperature in addition to a high one. most PCs for instance have a range something on the order of 35F - 95F (give or take 10-15 degrees on either end). i know how ugly things can get when you exceed that upper limit, but i'm not actually familiar with the effects of the low one.

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 7:27 pm

The only cold problem I have noticed with the stock stereo is that when it's really cold, the tuning and volume knobs stiffen up a little.

Altus · Post by **Altus** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 11:15 pm

Well - I've noticed that when the temps start getting down to -15Â°C or colder, (stock stereo) that the knobs are a little stiff, the LCD gets sluggish, and the cd player makes noise - especially when braking.But at the temps your talking about I wouldn't expect any effects on the head unit at all -- I'd be checking my warranty and maybe getting some service done.

idontknowwhatimdoing · Thu Dec 08, 2005 11:53 pm

Is it an LCD display?Some LCD are really finicky to cold weather and when required to change due to display change i.e. shuffle, can go blank or act strange until the liquid is warm enough...normally it shouldn't happen, but I have seen it before.

binary · Post by **binary** » Fri Dec 09, 2005 12:00 am

Quote, originally posted by joatmon Â»The only cold problem I have noticed with the stock stereo is that when it's really cold, the tuning and volume knobs stiffen up a little.That and the display is a bit sloth'ish... But it seems that the lights or electronics behind warm the LCD up fast.Edit Opps - sorry, didn't read to the bottom. My bad...

binary · Post by **binary** » Fri Dec 09, 2005 12:03 am

Quote, originally posted by jwalcik Â»for those of you in colder weather climates...we've had a bit of a cold snap here the last few days. this morning when i got in my vibe and started it up, the thermometer read 23 degrees. my stereo started up as normal (aftermarket, alpine), but wheni hit the shuffle button, the lights on the face of the head unit went blank, the music stopped for a second, then the music started again and everything went back to normal. i tried hitting shuffle again and got the same effect.after the car warmed up, everythign was fine. tonight, i hop in, it's 35, and i get the same effect, only this time when i hit the pause button. i'm all too familiar with the impact that the upper edge of safe operating temperatures can have on electronics (dvd players, PCs, etc), but i've never had problems with something due to the cold. is there a possibility this is the opposite? have any of you had any experience with a stereo misbehaving due to the cold?That is odd. Never had an odd issue with stereos due to temp. Rarely had I had a CD fog up but the weather and conditions have to be just right.You may want to give Alpine a call and see if there's any known issued with your model's faceplate. If it only happens when cold, I would think it's an engineering goof causing some short or glitch to happen.

zionzr2 · Post by **zionzr2** » Fri Dec 09, 2005 1:08 am

Quote, originally posted by joatmon Â»The only cold problem I have noticed with the stock stereo is that when it's really cold, the tuning and volume knobs stiffen up a little.same here as well as the display is sluggish!!once warmed up a tad everything is fine and normal

johnsoax · Post by **johnsoax** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 1:24 am

My stock radio just worked this past week with -4 degree F temperatures. Didn't even have stiff knobs.

mcgusto82 · Post by **mcgusto82** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 1:31 am

my sony is totally the opossite.the MP3 funtion stops working (skips horribly) when the radio gets hot. i've had the car around 10*f and the radio works great. the MP3 works fine when the temp is that low, but on a hot summer day, it'll only paly MP3 for about 30 minutes. Then it's too hot.

car stereo operating temperatures

car stereo operating temperatures

Re: (ragingfish)

Re: (jwalcik)

Re: (joatmon)

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Re: car stereo operating temperatures (jwalcik)

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Re: (johnsoax)