I have a number of new (old stock) decoders in original packaging. They are all NCE non-sound models.
My question is, are there temperature limitations for storage?
Thank you!
Mobilman -
My intimate, technical experience with current electronic components is fairly non-existant. On the other hand, most components and their boards are fairly robust, many being designed to operate under their own or nearby loads which can produce a range of temperatures. In a way, even those components that come with heat sinks prove the point - designers and manufacturers require those dissipators only for the ones that are really hot running, well beyond any concieveable storage conditions.
Unless you are planning to store these things for ages in triple-digit attics, I’d offer that you have no concerns. What they’re built to take in operation is your biggest hedge. Do you have some odd circumstance in mind here?
John
Right after I did this post I got the bright idea to put a thermometer on the closet shelf and shut the doors. It’s 100-101 F. out right now, and the thermometer reads 82 F, which is likely quite safe for decoder storage.
They are in a sealed 13x14x3 plastic case (Container Store) so that should add to the protection.
Thank you for the comment!
I cannot provide an answer to your question about temperature limitations on stored decoders. But, I recall that you took down your layout a few years back and sold nearly everything on eBay. Why not just sell those decoders on eBay?
Rich
Whenever I think “is it too hot or cold for this product,” I consider the part where it was crammed in a cardboard box, wrapped in plastic on a pallet, jammed into an uninsulated and non-climate controlled steel box, and spent a few weeks on the North Pacific. If it survived that, I’m not too worried about my storage shed.
I had unintentionally left an Athearn Genesis F3 with a self-installed Digitrax decoder in our attic for several months. The attic can heat up to 115-120 degrees in summer. After I had brought the engine back to its normal air-conditioned environment, it ran flawlessly.
JW
I live in southeast Texas myself, north Houston to be exact. Ive had my trains stored in storage units, garages and attics at certain points with zero effects on unused decoders, also all nce at that time. I have, however, had issues with cheaper boxcars and bridge components warping from the heat but never a decoder. The decoder itself is not plastic, its pc board material, i.e., fiberglass. They can handle the heat.
So decoders are very small. You must live in a place where the temperatures are tolerable for you as a human being. Do you not have enough room to store some small decoders in a box say, under your bed?