Jaster701

I live out here in flat Saskatchewan were our weather can range from -25c in winter to like +30c. Since we only have one garage for the time being. I was wondering what kind of precautions one could take to protect their audio systems from extreme weather conditions, when vehicles have to be parked outside? Mainly Subs?, Amps?, Caps?, & sub boxes?

loudgrand

you should be fine. when its super cold i wouldn't crank it right away let things warm up a bit before you beat on them since the foam will be a bit stiffer and more brittle.

Lord Huggington

iTrader: (1)

If you don't want to wait for the car to heat up in the winter, put a heated blanket somewhere on the box or on the subs if it won't melt them. In the summer, keep the windows down or the A/C cranked. I've never heard of cold or heat (outside temperature) wrecking gear.

veeman

iTrader: (3)

well, in the GTA, where I've lived and have had higher end car audio gear installed in my car since 1985, I've always had my car parked outside all year round and to this day have never had an issue with regards to weather related probelms. In fact, I still have a few amps that I used recently from an install i had in 1991 that are working perfectly. I never remove faceplates, pull outs, or any thing else regardless of temperature, or anything else for that matter and it gets to -30 c regualrly, and this summer has been well into the high 30's c.

hammer767

My friends voice coils on his subs frooze before, but as long as you dont crank it right at the beginning you should be fine.

kygreen

Hmm another one might be condensation some cars are better than others but my pickup is terrible in the morning I always have condensation painted on the windows if that condinsation is in your box and on your coils it could freez and do damage.

Jaster701

So no one has had issue with the sun's heat like say coming in2 a hatch back type vehicle?

My girlfriends 10" Hertz DBX 250 sub just up & died 1 day, & when we returned to the store for warrenty they told us it was from the sun's heat. they gave her a whole new DBX 250!!

veeman

iTrader: (3)

really? so the sunshine creates a hotter voice coil than playing it...lol that's funny. I can understand if it was the surround or the cone dried up or came apart or something like that...but certainly not from sunshine overheating the coils or the wiring (which is what causes virtually all cases of sudden speaker failure). I guess all those 2" and 3" dash speakers are just so damn tough with their cheapo paper cones and 10 watt power handling...cause they seem to do fine being baked all day in the parking lot...at least you usually get 5-8 years out of them prior to surround destruction..but they still work.

RomanticMoments

You totally miss the point here... It's the combination of the ambient heat and the heat from operation that can kill things. The ambient heat alone isn't enough to hurt anything, but combine the two and you can have problems. Condensation is a fact of life when an amp is very cold (-30 or so as mentioned) and then rapidly heated from operation. It can't be avoided, but it can be controlled. Cranking the volume when it's cold out is simply asking for trouble. Gradually warming the system up before ramping up the output is generally a best practice

veeman

iTrader: (3)

^^yeah that's called common sense...that's why I've never had a problem in 25 years! Did I totally miss the point? I gotta be more careful not to miss the point in the future. So, let me get this straight, the combination of the sun's heat entering the hatch and the playing caused the speakers to fail suddenly. Well then, just about everyone with a hatchback or exposed speaker should have this problem...ergo, virtually all vehicles with dash mounted, and rear deck mounted speakers..ie 6x9's should have this as well. You do realize that virtually all manufacturers supply open grills for their speakers that allow direct sunlight to bathe the speakers all the time in addition to the ambient heat. If sun load was such a big issue, don't you think they would warn against installing on decks and dashes. Now don't get me wrong, the sunlight will affect the speakers over time, but not in the way that the op mentioned that his "...girlfriends 10" Hertz DBX 250 sub just up & died 1 day..." That was due to a defective coil or wiring..and had zero to do with the sun's heat entering the hatch.