STI worthless in cold weather.

[Zurk]

I tried to use my STI (A4M9) over the weekend and it was completely useless. outside temp was -23F and inside temp in my car was 6F. The STI K band alerted for 15 minutes before i shut it off (automute is great). When i tried 20 mins later it kept alerting again continously for 10 minutes before i shut it off. in other words, it was pretty worthless. It worked fine today, but its much warmer now than it was over the weekend. i believe the operating temps is 20 degrees F or above until 120F. my GPS however worked fine as did my ipod and FM radio tx along with my car and its electronics.

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[proudNMAmember]

The cold weather can affect a radar detector's performance. It was -6 degrees this morning here and my BelEscort window mount came off. Thank goodness for velcro as a backup.

[ronsc1985]

Let me ask the obvious question. Does the heater in your car work? If so what do you care? By the time the car is warmed up enough to speed you should be good to go or are you driving a bike?

[Zurk]

heaters dont help cuz its not directed at the dashboard. i could but then i'd freeze rather than the sti. it took about 40 minutes to warm up on the dash with the front heaters working at normal (50%) blowing at me. and i travelled well over 30 miles by that time.

[insidercw3]

If it's still under warranty you should probably call Bel and send it in for repair. Just like your other electronics the STi should work when its cold. Actually electronic devices typically like the cold much better than hot and many devices work better when cold.
If under warranty I'd send it in for repair.

[spankyaf]

I noticed mine did some weird things as it warmed up from sub zero temp.. I've stopped leaving it in the car for any length of time for the moment

[ronsc1985]

If it's still under warranty you should probably call Bel and send it in for repair. Just like your other electronics the STi should work when its cold. Actually electronic devices typically like the cold much better than hot and many devices work better when cold.
If under warranty I'd send it in for repair.

Actually many semiconductor devices do not operate as well when cold. An example is bipolar transistors lose gain when cold. Other devices go out of spec. This is a big deal in military and space born electronics.

I have no idea what the design range is for an STI but I would be surprised if it encompasses the temperature range stated in the original post.

[insidercw3]

If it's still under warranty you should probably call Bel and send it in for repair. Just like your other electronics the STi should work when its cold. Actually electronic devices typically like the cold much better than hot and many devices work better when cold.
If under warranty I'd send it in for repair.

Actually many semiconductor devices do not operate as well when cold. An example is bipolar transistors lose gain when cold. Other devices go out of spec. This is a big deal in military and space born electronics.

I have no idea what the design range is for an STI but I would be surprised if it encompasses the temperature range stated in the original post.

Hmm, well I've been in the electronic design industry for many years and my experience suggest that transistor gain tends to increase when cold, decrease when hot. In receivers IF noise tends to increase as the temps decrease, this IF noise gain is directly attributable to semiconductor gains.
High gain amplifier blocks often times begin to oscillate when cold because the stage gains have increased to a point of instability. This could be what this particluar STi has encountered.

[Deputy]

Simple solution is DON'T leave it in the car. Roy makes some dandy cases that you can use to transport it in and out of the house, and it will probably slip in your pocket if you have a large enough jacket. In that weather I'd be wearing something with BIG pockets I don't think I would send it in unless it was malfunctioning all the time in all weather.

Dep

[asianfire]

My 895 worked fine this morning (8 degrees) and every other morning that it was below 20 degrees F.