Television In Cold Weather

[Roy W.]

We were thinking about going to our 33RLDS on our seasonal site this winter. Water has been turned off, but we will have electric and heat. If we enter the trailer and the inside temp is say 15 to 20 degrees, can we turn on the flat screen tv? I'm sure it would take days for it to warm up to a 70 degree inside temp after being so cold. Asking because I've heard some bad stories about the new TV's in cold weather.

[mike837go]

An LED (light emitting diode) TV won't be a problem.


An LCD (liquid crystal display) might.


If it is so cold that the liquid crystals are frozen or at least sluggish, the image will be unwatchable. LED's are solid already and are not impacted by temperatures normally found on the earth's surface.

[RoyBraddy]

The one thing we have done is never turn the TV's on until the room temperature is back up to normal.

Haven't had any problems with our flat screens doing this for temps down in the 20s...

Roy Ken

[SparkDr]

I have a seasonal camp that we snowmobile into during the winter her in the Adirondacks of Upstate NY. No heat except a wood stove. We have never had a problem with either LED or LCD TV's regardless of the temperature in camp when we turn them on even when at or below zero.

[rjackson]

Originally Posted by mike837go

An LED (light emitting diode) TV won't be a problem.


An LCD (liquid crystal display) might.


If it is so cold that the liquid crystals are frozen or at least sluggish, the image will be unwatchable. LED's are solid already and are not impacted by temperatures normally found on the earth's surface.

neither will be a problem , led tv's are led backlight but still LCD.... there is no liquid in an lcd, cold temps won't hurt them

[dewey02]

Originally Posted by rjackson

neither will be a problem , led tv's are led backlight but still LCD.... there is no liquid in an lcd, cold temps won't hurt them

True, but the problem is not in the LED's or the LCDs.
The problem may lie with how the LCD's are illuminated. LED TVs use (ta dah!) LEDs to backlight the picture. LCD TVs use flourescent tubes to backlight the picture. Some flourescent tubes will light up under low temperatures, but others will not. I don't know what kind of tubes they put in TVs, but in my garage I have some cheaper flourescent lights that won't turn on below about 30 degrees F, and some more expensive ones that will light down to about 10 degrees F.

And I'm with Roy B on this one. I don't believe it is ever a good idea to fire up electronics until they are up to room temperature. You will be putting your furnace on and your metal electronics will be cold. That change in temperature may cause condensation on sensitive electronic circuits. Wet electronics is never a good idea.

[SparkDr]

Originally Posted by dewey02

And I'm with Roy B on this one. I don't believe it is ever a good idea to fire up electronics until they are up to room temperature. You will be putting your furnace on and your metal electronics will be cold. That change in temperature may cause condensation on sensitive electronic circuits. Wet electronics is never a good idea.

I have to disagree with this line of thinking. All newer home heating equipment devices have similar electronic controls, control boards, and circuitry. So do our cars and trucks, particularly when there is a touch screen in-dash navigation or information system. I do a computer controlled Christmas lights display at my home with multiple electronic devices scattered throughout my yard to control the lights. In all of these instances, no one bats an eye thinking about starting or running these items in sub-zero conditions.
We have actually found that it's better to turn the TV on before the room comes to temperature. It allows the TV to warm internally and actually reduces the chance of condensation.
If it makes you feel better to warm up the space before turning on the TV, then go for it. But, it is not necessary.

[RoyBraddy]

Roy W - We don't have the extra monies here to experiment as to what works best or doesn't...

Old school tells me to warm up the room first then turn on your expensive electronic items...

I suspect we will continue warming up our RV rooms to normal temperatures before turning on any of the high dollar electronics items... We leave the Flat Screen TVs in our Fifth Wheel over the winter months which we have a couple of Oil Filled Electric heaters set to low #3 settings in the living room and back bedroom hallway that are controlled by those 'THERMO CUBEs' that come on at 35 degrees and kicks off when the temperature reach 45 degrees. I bring in the Flatscreen TV that is used in my OFF-ROAD POPUP trailer that is also stored here over the winter months. This area of Northern Neck Virginia very seldom gets below 32 degrees for any extended time periods - usually warms back up the next day...


Just passing on what we do here at this location in this situation.

As noted in a couple of other posts here you can see others do it differently haha...

As a side note I guess I have never had my DISPLAY on my solid state wrist watch ever be affected by below freezing temperatures and we are OUTDOOR type folks here...

enjoy...

Roy Ken

[NC Hauler]

Originally Posted by SparkDr

I have a seasonal camp that we snowmobile into during the winter her in the Adirondacks of Upstate NY. No heat except a wood stove. We have never had a problem with either LED or LCD TV's regardless of the temperature in camp when we turn them on even when at or below zero.

Same here, Never an issue with LED or LCD TV's left in RV, Have had them sit in temps hanging around zero and below, turned them on while room was still cold and all was fine...Manufacturers ship them in the winter, They sit in cold warehouses.

5er has been winterized, no heat on in the 5er, TV's at very cold room temps, and never an issue when TV turned on. Been doing this for as long as LCD and LED TV's have been manufactured and never had an issue of any kind with TV's.