How do you protect your electronic gadgets?
 

I envy you folks with climate-controlled shops.
Mine's a garage stuffed with tools and the temperature
ranges from the low 20s to 105+.
Humidity is ...high.
I'm concerned about keeping stuff like the electronic
compass, calipers,& stud finder in those conditions and
ferry them back and forth from house to shop.
Same for battery-powered tools.
Can anyone share experience with this? Tool longevity,
battery life, etc.

I presume these are outside temp's and inside the garage it's generally
moderated quite a bit from those extremes.

Depends upon whether the garage is attached or not, and whether it is
insulated.
Mine is attached and insulated and only two sides face the outside.
There are also bedrooms above the garage. The temps in there in the
winter are warmer than if it wasn't attached, like my shed. The temps in
my shed are about the same as the outside, and in there, things also rust.


I've never worried about it much on the farm w/ roughly same temp's
except it gets quite a bit colder than that here and never noticed
anything failing untowardly.

Humidity is not generally much of an issue here, however, ...
---------
Those temps are outside, but likely inside, too.
It was a detached 24x24 unfinished garage that I connected one corner
of to the house with a mud room. With the garage doors still there,
doors to the back yard in the garage and mud room, whirlybird vent
on garage and soffit vents pending, it stays dry from falling rain only.
Houston is the closest city that shows up on a Texas map, with the
associated high humidity.
I suppose the mud room may be ever so slightly more moderate in
temp, but likely not much.
Next project may be a cabinet for the little stuff and charging station
for the battery stuff to be mounted in the mud room.
I wonder what the effect of a Thermos chest would be..., clean, dry,
would moderate temp swings without condensing. A couple of pounds of
silica gel to absorb moisture....
-J

How do you protect your electronic gadgets?
 

Joe wrote:
I envy you folks with climate-controlled shops.
Mine's a garage stuffed with tools and the temperature
ranges from the low 20s to 105+.
Humidity is ...high.
I'm concerned about keeping stuff like the electronic
compass, calipers,& stud finder in those conditions and
ferry them back and forth from house to shop.
Same for battery-powered tools.
Can anyone share experience with this? Tool longevity,
battery life, etc.

I presume these are outside temp's and inside the garage it's generally
moderated quite a bit from those extremes.

Depends upon whether the garage is attached or not, and whether it is
insulated.
Mine is attached and insulated and only two sides face the outside.
There are also bedrooms above the garage. The temps in there in the
winter are warmer than if it wasn't attached, like my shed. The temps in
my shed are about the same as the outside, and in there, things also rust.


I've never worried about it much on the farm w/ roughly same temp's
except it gets quite a bit colder than that here and never noticed
anything failing untowardly.

Humidity is not generally much of an issue here, however, ...
---------
Those temps are outside, but likely inside, too.
It was a detached 24x24 unfinished garage that I connected one corner
of to the house with a mud room. With the garage doors still there,
doors to the back yard in the garage and mud room, whirlybird vent
on garage and soffit vents pending, it stays dry from falling rain only.
Houston is the closest city that shows up on a Texas map, with the
associated high humidity.
I suppose the mud room may be ever so slightly more moderate in
temp, but likely not much.
Next project may be a cabinet for the little stuff and charging station
for the battery stuff to be mounted in the mud room.
I wonder what the effect of a Thermos chest would be..., clean, dry,
would moderate temp swings without condensing. A couple of pounds of
silica gel to absorb moisture....
-J



If you have an enclosed cabinet for the drills and batteries, you
could try mounting a porcelain fixture with a small light bulb in it
that burns constantly in the winter months. It would require
experimentation to find the right size bulb to generate the minimum
amount of heat, but hurry--LED bulbs probably wouldn't work.

--
 GW Ross 

 3 kinds of people: those who can 
 count & those who can't. 

How do you protect your electronic gadgets?
 

On 3/11/2013 7:10 AM, Joe wrote:
I envy you folks with climate-controlled shops.
Mine's a garage stuffed with tools and the temperature
ranges from the low 20s to 105+.
Humidity is ...high.
I'm concerned about keeping stuff like the electronic
compass, calipers,& stud finder in those conditions and
ferry them back and forth from house to shop.
Same for battery-powered tools.
Can anyone share experience with this? Tool longevity,
battery life, etc.

I presume these are outside temp's and inside the garage it's generally
moderated quite a bit from those extremes.

Depends upon whether the garage is attached or not, and whether it is
insulated.
Mine is attached and insulated and only two sides face the outside.
There are also bedrooms above the garage. The temps in there in the
winter are warmer than if it wasn't attached, like my shed. The temps in
my shed are about the same as the outside, and in there, things also rust.


I've never worried about it much on the farm w/ roughly same temp's
except it gets quite a bit colder than that here and never noticed
anything failing untowardly.

Humidity is not generally much of an issue here, however, ...
---------
Those temps are outside, but likely inside, too.
It was a detached 24x24 unfinished garage that I connected one corner
of to the house with a mud room. With the garage doors still there,
doors to the back yard in the garage and mud room, whirlybird vent
on garage and soffit vents pending, it stays dry from falling rain only.
Houston is the closest city that shows up on a Texas map, with the
associated high humidity.
I suppose the mud room may be ever so slightly more moderate in
temp, but likely not much.
Next project may be a cabinet for the little stuff and charging station
for the battery stuff to be mounted in the mud room.
I wonder what the effect of a Thermos chest would be..., clean, dry,
would moderate temp swings without condensing. A couple of pounds of
silica gel to absorb moisture....
-J



Kitty litter works well to absorb moisture too.
I use it.

--
Jeff