How long should cold electronics acclimate before opening?

GotMetalBoy

Power User
My Nektar Impact LX61+ MIDI Keyboard Controller and Behringer X-Touch Universal Control Surface were delivered today and sat in 29F degrees for about 8 hours. I brought them inside 2 hours ago and left them in their shipping boxes. I want to play with my new toys!

How long should I wait before taking them out of their boxes?
 
I think its generally fine going from a cold low humidity environment to a still pretty cold low humidity environment, ie; outdoors in winter to indoors in winter. Its a pretty small change overall.

Where you can see issues is if you take an item from a cold low humidity environment, into a very hot and humid environment. Like what happens when you were glasses in a cold AC car, and then get out on a really hot and humid summer night and they condense up with fog, that is where moisture can occur.

Unless your taking your AX8 from a cold porch into a sauna, your unlikely to have enough humidity in your house to cause any real damage, but it certainly isn't hurting anything letting it acclimate for an hour or so.
 
Honestly, I don't think that's very cold for electronic components.

https://electronics.stackexchange.c...e-of-industrial-and-military-products-so-high

I just get really nervous bc when I was a kid I left my first guitar in a car for a couple hours when it was below freezing and only let it acclimate for about 30 minutes and within seconds of pulling it out of the case, condensation started forming all over it. I also watched a friends tube amp have a fireworks display because of condensation.

My new gear has been sitting in my house for 4 hours in the shipping boxes. I'm going to take them out of the shipping boxes now and see how cold the boxes inside are. If they're room temperature, it's play time! :D
 
I just get really nervous bc when I was a kid I left my first guitar in a car for a couple hours when it was below freezing and only let it acclimate for about 30 minutes and within seconds of pulling it out of the case, condensation started forming all over it. I also watched a friends tube amp have a fireworks display because of condensation.

My new gear has been sitting in my house for 4 hours in the shipping boxes. I'm going to take them out of the shipping boxes now and see how cold the boxes inside are. If they're room temperature, it's play time! :D
Yeah... Note what @lqdsnddist mentioned about humidity. I think that will be the big factor relative to condensation.
 
I guess the answer is 'it depends on the temperature and for how long' ultimately; I've received new electronic gear in the middle of nasty Canadian deep freezes many times and have let them acclimatize for 24 hours (3 days on an unheated truck at -35C -> -40C makes for a frozen-to-the-core package...we are talking 'none....more.....frozen' here heh).

Both my newest Suhr and AX8 arrived in the dead of a very cold winter after being on a truck for days. Salesguy at the Suhr store said "you have to absolutely let it sit for 24 hours, or else"....when it arrived there were printouts, in large bold lettering, attached to all sides of the box that read "Do not open for 24-hours, or else" lol....they really meant it.

I let the AX8 sit for a whole day before I plugged it in...and my CLR's....on and on....Canadian winters really suck. It does become a test of one's patience staring at awesome new goodies for a whole day before you can indulge, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do...

sat in 29F degrees for about 8 hours

Ahhhhh that's not too bad at all lol!! But I myself would leave it for at least 16 hours, maybe open the outer box after 8 hours...let it warm up slowly.

Where you can see issues is if you take an item from a cold low humidity environment, into a very hot and humid environment.

Yea on the days I feel like getting out at -20C to take pictures outside I put my camera in a big bag and seal it before I bring it into the house and let it sit for a few hours to prevent condensation forming. Condensation is always a concern anytime you go from cold to warm...I always default to 'safe-mode' and let things warm up slowly.
 
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I ended up waiting 8 hours and then took the boxes out of the shipping boxes and they were room temperature. I'm going take them out of the boxes tonight after work :)
 
This thread reminds of when I used to spray nitro finished guitars with compressed air cans turned upside down, so essentially hitting them with below freezing point propellant, and then a hair dryer to crack the finish, ala what could be expected after years of seasonable expansion and contraction. Fun of "relic's" lol
 
Salesguy at the Suhr store said "you have to absolutely let it sit for 24 hours, or else"....when it arrived there were printouts, in large bold lettering, attached to all sides of the box that read "Do not open for 24-hours, or else" lol....they really meant it/QUOTE]
Similar to what lqdsnddist said, I think that's mostly about the finish cracking, rather than about the electronics...
 
I've never had a problem with this, never heard of anyone ever having a problem with this. I've put electronics at 25,000 feet (-60 degrees Fahrenheit) and let them cold soak for an hour before turning them on (we're talking 1.5 million dollar cameras, SATCOM equipment and weapons systems on 6 million dollar Predators - 8+ million total in equipment aloft not including Hellfires at 130 grand a pop) and never once had an issue where anything was too cold to use.

The only items I would let come up to room temperature before using are guitars out of concern for the neck.
 
You have WAY more patience than I do. Would have given it an hour...max.

IMO these things are tested back and forth for this stuff. Anyone on tour would certainly have to deal with temperature extremes, and any manufacturer would account for this...or else dog+world would stop buying their stuff.
 
Afaik consumer electronics semiconductors have a storage temperature which is the same as the operating temperature. That range is typically 0 to 70 degrees C. In contrast the military spec requires -20 to 125 degrees C. The real problem are LCD and TFT displays that are better kept at room temperature.
 
Years ago I remember helping to unbox a few dozen iMac's that were sitting on the truck for several days in -30C to install at a site. They were so cold you couldn't even hold onto them for long.

The chain-of-command-up-above insisted on powering them and getting them deployed ASAP without letting them warm up, ignoring our advice to let them acclimatize at least for a couple of hours. They all immediately turned on, and booted, etc., but 80%+ of that lot that was installed at that location failed after a year or so. The hundreds of others we installed over ~20 sites (they were delivered and they had time to sit for more then a day) had normal failure rates, so it was clear, in this case, thermal shock introduced some damage that unfolded some time later.
 
I've never had a problem with this, never heard of anyone ever having a problem with this. I've put electronics at 25,000 feet (-60 degrees Fahrenheit) and let them cold soak for an hour before turning them on (we're talking 1.5 million dollar cameras, SATCOM equipment and weapons systems on 6 million dollar Predators - 8+ million total in equipment aloft not including Hellfires at 130 grand a pop) and never once had an issue where anything was too cold to use.

If I had a camera worth that much it had better be able to work at the same temperature as my cold, cold heart, which is considerably colder then -60F :smilingimp:
 
Never had any issues in 20+ years of gigging weekends and storing electronics gear in frozen garage. Stuff gets an hour at most before powering up. Mind you it's very dry here too, never humid.
 
Agree with USMC trev, similar experiences. I would be cautious with a speaker cone. Being frozen and then being used could cause a tear.
 
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