Extremely cold temperatures


 
A

AlamLuis

New member
Hi,
I live in Winnipeg, Canada... Winter is comming and I wonder what the limits of operation are for the HM?... I think that -10C (15F) is something reasonable for many electronics but, unfortunately, there are colder days comming during December and Jannuary and I don't want to give up BBQing just because it's a bit cold outside ;)
My question is: what's the lower temperature limit for the whole system? Or, what's the same, which component would fail first due to cold temperature?

Many thanks for your help!...
 
The minimum operating temperature of the majority of the electrical components is -40C, and the Pi should probably be around that too. The LCD is rated only down to -20C though before it will start to not work so well, stay above -30C to avoid damage. For testing I've put my HM 4.0 in the freezer which is -4F (-20C) and it still worked just fine.

The bigger problem is with moisture, like snow melting and getting inside it or in my case the condensation when I took it out.
 
I regularly smoke in the winter months in Chicago and have been below 0, a few times. The LCD will be slow to respond sometimes the colder it gets. I have not any other issues. Intact to some extent cold is better then heat.
 
Thank you for your responses!... So above -30C, it should work well with the exception of the LCD. The only precaution would be to turn it off before bringing it into the house and allow condensation to dry up before next use...
Awesome!
 
A very low-tech solution I've seen to dealing with electronics that will be in cold environments is to put the device and an incandescent bulb together in a small container. The heat from the bulb is able to keep the small space warm enough and stops the device from reaching super cold temps. A small travel cooler would work well for this.
 
The HeaterMeter itself is actually a pretty good heat source if put in an insulated box! It's no 60W lightbulb but it is probably enough to keep itself warm. The Pi's temperature can be read from the webui System -> Raspberry Pi.
 
Or maybe we could use a second heater meter configured with a system to scavenge heat from the pit into an isulated box containing the heater meters... Wait, I'm getting carried away. :cool:
 
I ran a CAT5 cable from my deck through my basement and up into my kitchen (about 50-60ft). At the grill I connect to my Roto Damper to control the servo and blower and also send up to 3 probes through the CAT5 cable to my HM in the kitchen, works great for me. I cook all winter and don't have to worry about rain/snow/cold on my HM, or setting up and ripping down every cook.
 
Hi Ralph,
That's a great idea!. In that way, the only electronics exposed to low temp would be the thermocouple amplifier if I locate it (as you already did) at the side of the damper's cat5 connector.
Thanks!
 
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