Scott Rose
sage
Reged: 04/20/08
Posts: 262
Loc: beachwood ohio
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For those of you in cold winter regions, what do you do about your laptop hookups to the mount. Can they take the screens take the cold temperatures?
I was thinking about possibly using a laptop with a G11, but not sure if this is a good idea in temps around 30 degrees.
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gnowellsct
professor emeritus
Reged: 06/24/09
Posts: 733
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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/extremeastronomy
CU there
GN
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"Aperture will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no aperture."
featuring selected astrojunk:
bunch o' widefield eyepieces
bunch o' narrowfield eyepieces
couple o' Barlows
couple o' scopes
couple o' mounts
couple o' tripods
and a pier 'n' stuff
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neptun2
sage
Reged: 03/04/07
Posts: 277
Loc: Bulgaria
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I have seen laptop working without problems at -15 degrees celsius. Only problem is that the screen starts to refresh slower and battery life can be reduced significantly but as far as i know you can not permanently damage your laptop at least up to -15. Maybe lower temperatures can be dangerous.
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Skywatcher Explorer 200P 8" f5 newtonian reflector
HEQ5 Pro Synscan Equatorial mount
Nikon Action 12x50 , Nikon D5000
Nagler type 6 11mm , Pentax XW 7mm , Televue 2x barlow 1.25"
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Scott Rose
sage
Reged: 04/20/08
Posts: 262
Loc: beachwood ohio
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thanks.
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Dan G
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 06/27/06
Posts: 1761
Loc: Minisink, NY, USA
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Scott - An LCD screen can freeze but I have had mine out in -15F. It did get a little sluggish. I use a red screen like this which also insulates the screen. When I have AC power I also use a heating pad on the rear of the screen. These sit out in the observatory all night and i have encountered no issues.
Dan in NY
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TV 76, Vixen VC200L, TV NP-127is
EM-200, NJP
ML 8300, ST-402
Tranquility Base Observatory aka "The Shed" by non-tranquil members of the house
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Locoweed
sage
Reged: 06/27/07
Posts: 204
Loc: Ft. Davis Texas
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I lost a hard drive, probably due to low temps. Here is the specs for the current WD Scorpio drives
Temperature (English)
Operating 32° F to 140° F
Non-operating -40° F to 158° F
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HunterofPhotons
sage
Reged: 04/26/08
Posts: 266
Loc: Rhode Island, USA
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Hi Scott,
As mentioned, the cold isn't good for screens or hard drives.
Since laptops give off heat, an insulating cover such as a cardboard box will keep the machine warm if your laptop use is intermittent.
If you plan to use the laptop for extended periods, then you want to make an enclosure that has some supplemental heat.
dan
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beerman
member
Reged: 03/18/07
Posts: 97
Loc: Edmonton, Canada
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I've had mine out in -20C to -25C temps a few times. So far the only problems I've experienced have been a really sluggish LCD and having the entire laptop get encrusted in frost after a couple of hours.
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Jon
C6-SGT
Homebuilt 6" F6 newtonian
Canon EOS 40D
Rubinar 500mm F8
Bushnell 200mm F3.5
SPC900NC
DSI Pro
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wildernesswanderer
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borix
super member
Reged: 04/24/07
Posts: 106
Loc: The Netherlands
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Just don't leave it outside while it is powered down. I did that once with my former laptop and it worked for about 5 minutes and then half the screen turned black.
I think when you leave it powered the internal heat will prevent any problems. Still I will be much more careful with my new laptop.
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Scott Rose
sage
Reged: 04/20/08
Posts: 262
Loc: beachwood ohio
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If I go to a dark site, I may keep the laptop in the car and just run the cable to the scope outside the car. This way I can keep the laptop warm, and have a warm car to jump into to break up the cold.
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JMW
member
Reged: 02/11/07
Posts: 42
Loc: Nevada
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I had my laptop shutdown last winter do to freezing and condensing
moisture. I bought an small adjustable heating pad for when I have
access to A/C in my back yard. I also set the laptop up in a box set
on its side so the heat from the pad stays inside the enclosed area.
For dark site imaging I converted a 5x8 cargo trailer to be a camper
and astronomy office. It is insulated and it has a built in desk for the
laptop. I put in an access port to get the USB cables and power out
to the mount and cameras. It has a 130 amp hour battery and a solar
panel on the roof to recharge the battery each day. It gives my a warm
place to stay out of the cold and I have a fold up mattress for when I
am ready to crash. I don't like driving an hour back to town after staying
up most of the night. The trailer also works great at summer star party
when I want someplace to dark to sleep in without getting baked out by
the morning sun.
Jeff
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Stellarvue ST115T Refractor
Celestron CPC-925 SCT
Zhumell Z12 Deluxe Dob
Orion EON80ED Refractor
Televue Panoptic 41; Naglar 22T4, 17T4, 12T4, 9T6, 7T6, 5T6
Atlas Mount w/ EQMOD
DM-4 Mount with Sky Commander
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Miikka Sikkila
member
Reged: 04/22/09
Posts: 23
Loc: Finland
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Jeff some luxury you got there 
I use my gear constantly over winter outdoors (no dome yet)in -15 celcius or colder and obviously it is very tough for any of the related gear. To me a dew heater needs enough power to be a "frost remover", in Finland (latitudes 60 to 70 degrees) it can some times get too cold to even run a car engine. But then you don't go out with telescopes either
For a laptop one heating tip is to turn off any energy saving modes and run it with full power so that the internal heat generated will assist in not getting the computer completely frozen.
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Every morning when the sun goes up, she brings me coffee in my favourite cup!
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scope dog
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 07/26/04
Posts: 1323
Loc: USA
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The toughbooks push the limit with laptops. I use them at work and are amazing. I purchased mine used on ebay CF-29 and have 4 Cf-34M laying around for the kids. They had a advertisement of one catching a bullet from a ak47. Anyway they advertise a working temp of -20 and none operation of -60. The CF29 during the winter when it's off all night in the truck. When I turn it on the toughbook goes through a warm-up period. A interesting feature is there are no fans, they use the metal case. I see others, HP and IBM offer their own hd laptop.
panasonic toughbook
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Jim
Santel MK91
Astreya-SAPO
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