Hot Tomtom

Cursor · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 17, 2009 Posts: 14

What is the maximum temperature a Tomtom can take. It's left in the sun in the car for hours and must bake. Anyone experience any heat problems recently?

MaFt · Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 11:07 am Post subject:

i would have thought it's allowed operating temperatures would be printed in the manual or info sheet in the packaging?

MaFt

Daggers · Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 11:32 am Post subject:

If it's left in the sun in the car for hours, then I would imagine it would become "hot" fairly quickly - as soon as someone breaks in and steals it.
_________________
Garmin DriveSmart 50 LMT-D

GerryC · Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 12:04 pm Post subject:

According to the x30 documentation...

pcaouolte · Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 12:48 pm Post subject:

Tomtoms are designed to be attached to the inside of the windscreen. This is a hot location even when you are driving. The OP did not say that he was leaving it in the car unattended.

The black colour helps to soak up the heat to ensure that the tomtom gets as hot a possible. Rolling Eyes

I would have thought that a silver colour would be better to reflect the heat. If they fitted a solar panel that could top up the battery then that would be ideal.

Many people drive for hours with their satnav sitting in the sun. This is not likely to be good for the electonics or the battery but I have never heard of any problems attributed to this.
_________________
Paul

Daggers · Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 1:10 pm Post subject:

In that case, I'd be more worried about the driver expiring than the TomTom! The inside of the windscreen is not going to be significantly hotter than the driver's seat.

If TomToms were susceptible to heat problems then I think we would have heard about them by now. They are used on countries an awful lot hotter than the UK (which is where I suspect the OP is based).
_________________
Garmin DriveSmart 50 LMT-D

Cursor · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 17, 2009 Posts: 14

Exactly pcaouolte, the solar powered idea is brilliant. Yes the sat nav is in the sun usually because it's on the sucker on the windscreen. Yes the specs say +60C for a short time and the battery could be the weak point.

I've seen LCD displays go dark when hot but not yet on the Tomtom. Some have silver backs and reflect on the windscreen, I have thought about making a small shade from a piece of card to keep it out of direct sunlight. I don't leave it in the car unattended.

It's good no one has reported problems yet, fingers crossed.

	PocketGPS
	Web