How do you keep your detector cool when not using it?

[mdakin]

So, I find myself wondering what long term damage I may be doing by keeping my detector in my car at all times. Is anyone else doing this? My car sits out in the parking lot at work all day long, and on hot days I know it gets burning hot in my car. I have a Prius, so it's not in a trunk, but it is in the back with a privacy visor pulled over it. It technically is in the shade but I know what my car feels like when I get into it. I just had to send my X-1 Probe back to be replaced, one thing that happened in the last 3 week or so is the probe somehow acquired a curve to it, presumably because it was so hot the plastic started to melt.

My house is pretty small, and there is no real place for me to keep it in-between hunts. If I bring it inside it is exposed to a curious 6 year old, and 2 year old. The 6 year old I bring out hunting so is more apt to play around with it.

I can't really leave it in my garage, as it most likely will get just as hot in there as it does in my car.

I think I remember seeing a post somewhere that someone created a storage system with a large cooler, I'm thinking about doing that.

What do you all do if anything to keep your detector in moderate temperatures. In theory, if you beach hunt for 4 hours, you're exposing it to extreme heat as well.

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Matt

[del]

hey Matt i think your really asking for trouble if you leave it in the car during those summer days . the heat with no circulating air can't be good for the electronics and i know i've seen a few guys have their lcd screens ruined by to much exposed sunlight not to mention if someone actually spots the machine and decides to break in and take it .

Dan

[jkress]

I agree, the heat reached in a closed car will get pretty intense during the summer.
Although your garage might be hot as well, it will be cooler than your car.
Good luck. thumbsup01

[mdakin]

Well, I just took a digital thermometer and placed it in my car, in the trunk area and the back seat. Temp peaked at 122 degrees F. Ouch, definitely need to find an alternative solution.

[SHIMMER77502]

I was told by a detector shop owner to NEVER leave a machine in a car or garage - not even the pinpointer. I too live in a small house (1400 sq ft). I finally went to Home Depot and bought coat hooks, put them up in my hallway and looped bungee cords on them. The cords support my machines. Fold the coil down and it takes up about 5 inches of space. It works for me anyway.....

[mdakin]

I got you beat by 50 feet, I live in a 1450 sq ft colonial/cape built circa 1860, it has no closets, and really doesn't have a hallway. The basement is a stone foundation and floods when it rains, so I can't even store stuff in there.

[del]

hey Matt you need a man-cave like George and i have , a place for all your detecting needs. George has a nice finished area in his basement and i'm cleaning out an old Bomb-shelter for mine .

[mdakin]

My man cave used to be my garage, now I can't even take out my Harley to go for a ride there's so much kid junk in there. Forget about storing the metal detector!

I have nothign but my car and the world I go to with my headphones on, nose to the ground, finding cool items!

[bob_e99]

I was planning to keep mine in the trunk because I like having accessible if I come across a site that looks interesting but I guess that I'll have to re-think that idea.



Thanks.

[coinnut]

Under the bed lol Well that is if the misses allows it Other than that, I would choose the garage over the car. Other things get left in a garage like aerosol cans and they don't explode. But aerosol cans in a car? I wouldn't try it So I'm figuring the temperature and air circulation in a garage is way better than a sealed up car.

[Epi-hunter]

To be frank, this is why I don't buy used detectors.

NEVER EVER keep them in a car in the summer, to temperatures exceeding 120 degrees. For any amount of time.

Detecting on a beach might get very warm, but would not exceed the extreme temperatures of a parked car in the heat. There must be some other answer. I don't care how small the house is... hook them in the garage somehow. Much better choice.

[RobW]

Mine is always in the trunk of the car, along with a change of clothes (generally) so that if I canbreak away I can. I've never had a problem in all these years...now I probably just jinxed myself.

oh wait there was that time about 12 yrs ago when I had a hatch back and someone saw the 2 detectors in my car and broke in and stole them both >{

But I never had any heat issues

[mdakin]

Well, to start, I put my detector equipment in the garage before I left for work this morning. I replaced it with med/large sized cooler chest.

Put the thermometer in the car back seat for 15 minutes, 117 degrees F.

Next put it in the cooler in the back trunk/hatch back area for 30 minutes or so, 120 degrees F.

The cooler was too tall for me to pull the security visor over the cooler, but I'm thinking that wouldn't make much of a difference.

So, the whole cooler in the car technique seems to be debunked.


I think I’m going to go to the Minelab website and see if they give any threshold levels for their equipment. I build computers, and the CPU’s North and South bridge processors can take a bit of heat without any damage.

[dave in iowa]

I did just once , , when i got it out the screen wouldnt show , after awhile it did , not a good idea to leave it in the car , thieves and heat .....

[z118]

I've left all my detectors in my trunk all summer for as long as I've had them. I've yet to notice any ill effects. I don't think an enclosed trunk gets to be as hot as inside the car itself.

[aloldstuff]

I also have always kept my detector(whites prizmIV) in the trunk. Never had an issue. Now I have a V3i and that is always brought into the house after each use. So the way my life goes, the V3i is now at the electronic hosptial(white's) getting fixed. Go figure........

[steve in so az]

Mount the detector on the wall where kids cannot reach. steve in so az

[RobW]

I also have always kept my detector(whites prizmIV) in the trunk. Never had an issue. Now I have a V3i and that is always brought into the house after each use. So the way my life goes, the V3i is now at the electronic hosptial(white's) getting fixed. Go figure........

That's because you babied it too much...it's high maitenence...like my daughter...feel sorry for whatever guy tries dating muchless marrying her lol

[aloldstuff]

Rob, I firmly believe that your future son-in-law will be living off of you anyway

[hunter1]

Whats the cooler gona do for you, Unless you ice it down like beer. You are beating a dead horse. proper care for the detector is not to store it in a car, period. Pick a nice place in your garage hang it from hooks or hangers out of the way. it will last you a lot longer by doing this. good hunting >