Guy Olinger, K2AV wrote: > an INTERNAL reading. If 110 F is a fault temperature, then you could > destroy your K3 by leaving it out in the sun.
That's not a valid comparison. The sort of temperature that will cause rapid damage is 150C for silicon semiconductors, something like 100C for electrolytics, 75C for the 1N34 germanium point contact diodes, if it uses them. These temperatures are reached when the equipment is operating at full power and the insides of the devices are much hotter than the point at which the temperature sensor is placed. If you leave the equipment out in the sun, powered down, and the case temperature reaches 45C, the inside of the semiconductor devices will also be at 45C, well below 150C. It may be lower, because of thermal inertia. Typical consumer equipment is designed to tolerate an air temperature of 45C whilst keeping the core temperature of internal devices well within safety limits. If you actually operate at that sort of temperature, the case temperature and internal temperature will be significantly higher. Leaving electronics exposed to the sun can, of course, result in destroying some of the more temperature sensitive components, as case temperatures can get a lot higher than 45C. Having a large thermal mass will help protect the equipment as the sun should start to go down before the maximum temperature is reached. -- David Woolley "The Elecraft list is a forum for the discussion of topics related to Elecraft products and more general topics related ham radio" List Guidelines <http://www.elecraft.com/elecraft_list_guidelines.htm> ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
