I've gotten in the habit of keeping my equipment in my car overnight when I have a job scheduled the following day. It's locked up in an atached garage, so I'm not worried about theft, but now that cold weather is approaching (in Ohio), I'm wondering about cold temperature effect on my equipment. Any knowledge or experience on this?

Hello GlennT,
I think that the biggest problem would be condensation from moving it from the cold outside to a warm room. Electronics, for some reason, just don't like moisture on their circut boards ;-) And the plastic parts on most keyboards don't like to freeze, they become pretty brittle and could crack on you. I found that out the hard way!

Brings to mind...my bass player, and the '65 Fender Precision he had stolen from a locked vehicle, in a locked garage. If someone wants your stuff bad enough, and they've staked you out...they'll find a way of parting you with your goodies. Just a heads up.
As for the temperature aspect. I try to avoid that scenerio at all times, only because as Smurf stated, the temperature fluctuations and condensation can really do a number on your equipment, and you don't want to find that out as you're setting up for a gig...do you??

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...L

Hi Glenn.

I don't really know the facts on this but I can share some from my experience.

In Chicagoland, we get both hot and cold extremes. I have left the stuff out all night in vehicles that were parked on the street, and have never had a problem with the equipment. Items that I can remember that passed the freeze test were a Kustom 88 keyboard, Korg BX3 or CX3 (whatever model was out around '76 or'77) a small Peavey PA, Leslie 760, Peavey 18" cabinet, Peavey amp head, Electro Voice (EV15's?? 15"with horns)

Many times, I left out a synthesized accordion rig (Iorio H) containing both electronics and reeds in it, and no problems were ever encountered. Even the reeds stayed in tune.

Al Iorio, sir, my swarn testimony is available to you

Seriously though, when I look back at the mix of components that were in these items, I now feel that I was probably lucky and blessed that I did not have problems, and leaving gear out in those extremes should probably be avoided.

Ed

I have a dreadful time with my LCD displays with this practice. If I leave my Tyros or Korg in the cold for a very long period, they get stodgy and turn different colors. It takes them a good hour or two to get back to normal. If you do this practice, you may want to get to the gig early to let them reach room temperature.

Since it only gets cold here once or twice a year, it isn't a factor, but the heat is. I think it's very importnat to not leave your gear exposed to 100-degree-plus temperatures.
DonM

I leave a back-up PA head in the car year round. It's a 20 year old Peavey which is a tank. This is just in case my mai PA dies, which it has several times over the years. This old thing has outlasted probably 8 other PA units.

The biggest problem I have with equipment is damage from inclement weather (humidity, rain, etc.) at my summer patio job. I guess it all comes with the territory.

russ

Backup!! Very important, and one of the reasons I opted to go back to self-powered speakers. If one goes out, you can still finish the job with the other.
DonM

Dear Glenn,

I have been leaving my keyboards in the trunk of my car for the last 6 years. Here are the problems I encounter and have encountered.

1. In cold weather it is impossible to read the LCD display until the keyboard warms up.

2. Cables are stiff in cold weather.

3. I had an internal smart media hard drive fail on me during the winter. It had no moving parts, and might have failed due to temperature fluctuations.

4. The external adapter for my ex-PSR740 failed on me. The cable got too brittle and broke.

You might want to lay out a new electric blanket on the bottom of your trunk. You can hook up a timer to start an hour before your performance and plug it in overnight. I am thinking of trying this.

Sometimes, I bring my keyboard in from the cold if my next day's gig isn't far enough away to warm up the keyboard.

Beakybird

"Back in the old days," in the '70's and '80's, during well below freezing temperatures in Wisconsin, I would leave my Hammond M3 and Fender Bassman 10 amp in our bass players van non-stop.

All I needed was to get to the job 15-20 minutes before we started. I had the back covered with pegboard which had a small hole cut into the top half of the organ where the tone wheels generator was. I would just pull out my trusty portable hair dryer and de-thaw it, and off we'd go. I remember the concerned look on the guys' faces.

God, those were the days. lol

Scott

I leave my gear ,except guitar and Tyros in the car year round. Here in Norway where I live, it is cold and humid half the year at least. The car is parked in the garage plus I had a heating fan mounted so that the PA and my beloved reissue Fender amps stay tempered at any time.

I didn't leave my stuff in the car all the time, but on those two & three-nighters I sometimes left the amps in over night. I always TRIED to bring in the keys. But when I did leave stuff out, I always covered them it with nice, heavy blankets. It seemed to minimize the frosting and brittleness. Of course, I always got to the next job a little earlier to let things thaw before the job. Always try to let the equipment acclimate to the new temp before turning on the juice, otherwise.... CRACKLE city.

Here in Michigan we are very cold in the winter and sometimes very hot in the summer. This can cause not only condensation but expansion and contraction. This eventually could cause some solder joints on the circuit boards to become bad. I will leave the PA in the car but I always bring my keyboard inside. It may be just fine going in and out of the cold and heat but I don't want to take any chances.

Scott, I too used to leave my Gulbransen Theatrum organ, Leslie 142, driven by a Fender Bassman amp in the trailer year round. I wish I still had that bassman. It was built like a tank. Between the jarring and moving around, and the changes in temperature, I was always fixing the Gulbransen (for 10 years I was a tech). I NEVER had to touch the bassman.

Tom

Don't blankets just reflect body heat?
Do you really think that blankets keep a cold item warm in the cold?
I'm serious here ...... I don't think it makes a bit of difference unless the kb generates some heat on it's own.

Set me straight someone ( who actually knows for sure! )

In the days when I played Cordovox I would sometimes leave the amp/tone generator in the car, especially on multi-gig weekends ... Often, when I turned the unit on, I would get this sound like someone leaning on a bunch of keys at once ... the hairdryer became standard equipment ...
Now, I NEVER leave the gear in the car/truck overnight...

UD ... Wouldn't the blanket provide some kind of insulation from the cold? ... I don't know,, just asking...
t.

U.D.

You are correct about the blankets.

Insulation is different from heat generation.
If there is no heat present in the items covered by the blanket - I don't see how any heat can be generated or optimized by a blanket. Sounds too simple to me, but I could be wrong. It's physics, I guess, right? No heat - no heat to keep in !

Tony I remember the tube-powered Cordovox would sound like a synthesized vacuum cleaner, trying to get on key as it was warming up. Suprisingly, it always made it back on key, tho.

How different are the components in the music gear from the electronic stuff we see in today's cars trucksRVs? They have processors, intricate sensors, disk-drives, TV monitors (etc, etc) any they sit out all the time. Even relavtives I have up in the more frigid central BC Canada area don't seem to have problems with this.

Ed

Hey, what do you want from me, I'm Polish...

Hey!!! I resemble that remark

Steve, are you out there?

How about working a heater into the many fine functions already on the boards?

I think I just myself more than usual.

MrEd ... I had the later, transistorized model... tone generator, amp, speakers. all in one unit ... there were adjustable 'pots' for every note and after a while the vibration from the speakers would knock some notes out of tune and I would have to adjust them ... It was a great sounding instrument, but what a pain ...

As for the comparison to today's vehicles, I'm not sure what the difference is, but I know 'technics' advises that the kb be allowed to aclimate to the room and change in temp before turning on ...
t.

After the tube-driven, I too upgraded to a transistorized model. I saw the same model you had but I opted for the CG7 model with separate cabinets for amp/speakers and generator. I guess it saved me the downside you experienced.

Ed

I have also used blankets to cover gear left in the car overnight in cold weather. Whilst I agree that no heat is generated under the blanket(s) I have often found that, after a frosty night, the blankets will have absorbed the dampness which would otherwise have settled on the keyboards etc.
The equipment underneath has remained dry so I think that there is some benefit even if it aint really a sensible thing to do.

The trouble is that when you get home at 2 in the morning after a long drive and a heavy evening, lugging gear indoors is not allways the first thing on your mind.

Trevor

I've never had frost INSIDE my car. Do you shut the windows in the winter?

Arrrrrrrrgh UD you don't have the 'arsh climate
what we 'as over 'ere then. I suppose I should have said condensation rather than frost..
In any case windows are for cissies..Open 'em all up and let the wind blow through your flowing locks!!!!!
Trevor

Point in fact - blankets can help keyboards retain their heat/temperature after a gig (they all get a little warm) and it can keep the temperature of what's covered from dropping as fast as the surrounding uncovered area, at least for a while. Plus they can help as protective padding... I see nothing wrong with using blankets.

Where I live there is no problem with temperature or security so I leave everything locked in the car.

On a typical day after work, I'm packed up and in the car in less than 20 minutes (usually more like 10-15).
I never notice any heat from the kb as I pack it away, and although I entertain the possibility that it CAN retain some heat, I haven't seen evidence of it personally.

Be that as it may ... I always leave everything in the car. Snow - ice - rain - heat whatever. I only remove items made of wood, like my guitars and clarinet. I DO take the laptop in in cold weather, but not in moderate conditions.

The only time I've seen trouble is in extreme heat situations when you leave an air-conditioned room after 5 hours and load the car in a parking lot that is 90+ degrees .... I've seem condensation form instantly. I try to let the temp stabalize before turning anything on, and it's always been OK. I am always early for work and time is usually on my side.

As for blankets? Can't hurt, but I'm still not convinced that they help. Good points made by all though.

Blankets can reduce the "chil" factor..of course that is based on the wind..and some of you are sure "windy"..

Just wondering... does your chewing gum loose it's flavor on the bedpost overnight?

[This message has been edited by cassp (edited 10-14-2004).]

Hmmmm, better ask Lonny Donaghan!

Frost ????

What's that????


hehehehehe.................

You'll need to consult a medium to get any answers from Lonny Donnegan UD

FWIW, I've heard that a 100 watt light bulb can increase the temperature in an attached garage as much as 10 degrees.

+ + + + = 50 degrees

Yeah ..... old Lonny has passed.