How to keep electronics warm in cold countries?

score:5

Accepted answer

It gets tricky to use electronic equipment already at much higher temperatures than the -50°C you are targetting in your question. Be aware that the problem is not only limited to the batteries, but to many other electronic and mechanical parts. Going down to -50°, you will risk both temporary malfunctioning and perhaps even permanent damage to your equipment.

One problem is of course the battery. Most Li-Ion batteries show a noticeable loss of capacity already when going below 0°C. Some devices designed for outdoor operation in cold climate, e.g. electrical vehicles, do indeed come with self-heating systems, where energy from the battery itself is used to warm the battery. It is however not really feasible to implement a DIY-version of such a system for an existing product. You need deep knowledge about the battery's characteristics to decide under which conditions it is actually profitable to drain energy from the battery to increase the temperature. Consumer grade electronical devices are also rarely designed in such a way that you can practically only warm the battery and not the entire device. A battery for most common devices is also way too small, even under optimal conditions, to contain enough energy to heat up the device for a significant amount of time. Be aware that charging a li-ion battery below 0°C may easily cause permanent damage.

But there are also other problems:

  • Most electronical components behave depending on the temperature, the resistance of a regular resistor and the capacitance of most kinds of capacitors correlate with temperature. At extreme temperatures, the real values and characteristics of the components may differ so much from the intended values, that a circuit simply does not work anymore. Capacitors with a liquid dielectric material may be permanently damaged if the dielectric freezes and expands.

  • LCD displays start lagging at moderate temperatures below 0°C. The crystals forming the image are suspended in a liquid and at lower temperatures, the liquid becomes viscous and prevents the crystals from moving freely. I've had LCD displays permanently damaged after using (or trying to use them) around -30°C for shorter periods of time. AMOLED displays are not that susceptible to cold temperatures.

  • Mechanical parts may also malfunction or fail in the cold. Cameras may contain moving parts and the lubrication may thicken or even turn solid in the cold. Plastic parts can get brittle and combined with lack of lubrication do funny things.

Depending on how the device is built and how it is operated, it may be feasible to accomodate it in an insulated casing with room for hand warmers. You will likely have to build this casing yourself. I assume that fuel and charcoal powered hand warmers produce water vapour, but crystallisation warmers should be safe.

You may be able to store the devices inside at regular temperatures and take them out for shorter periods, but that may as Max already wrote, also cause problems with condensation. Not only inside the devices, but a camera lens is of course very prone to condensation, but more when you bring a cold device into a warm room and not when bringing a warm camera outside into the cold.

Upvote:2

You can get lens heaters (battery powered). They're used by amateur astronomers and photographers.

I don't know about -50°C though, that's quite extreme.

There are also chemical hand warmers, both one-shot type and re-usable phase-change types. Maybe consider a small urethane insulated cooler with those inside. I suspect you're going to have more of a problem operating the electronics, especially if there is any wind. Lobster gloves and such like don't give much dexterity and bare flesh freezes very quickly even at a relatively balmy -35°C if the wind is blowing.

Upvote:3

For small batteries (cameras, phones...) , keep them in pockets inside your coat, close to your body.

For bigger batteries, you could use an ice-chest with some hand warmer pads to keep the batteries warm.

There are some suggestions here.

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