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Nexus7 cant take the heat

D

david1949

Newbie
Hi all i said i would let you all know how my Nexus 7 with Co Pilot mapping would perform in my motorhome on holidays i left the U K on the 5Th of January this year for a three month holiday in the south of Spain + Portugal + morocco. Arrived in the south of Spain on the 16Th of January from leaving home the co pilot mapping on the nexus7 worked well not as good as my old Garmin 2720 but i got me there. The trouble started on the 5Th of February on the way to Portugal the Nexus7 would shut down sometimes when you where driving along. After checking it out i found that the heat coming through the windscreen was heating the back of the cradle up and the back of the Nexus them it would shut down i had to move the Nexus and cradle to the top of the dash all seemed ok for the next two weeks till i went over to Morocco the heat coming through the windscreen onto the dash was so hot it fryed the inside of the Nexus so that was it when i took it apart it was just one big melted mess so bin-ed it and went and bought a new Garmin because i had been going on this same holiday for the last 6 years with my Garmin 2720 and it was on the windscreen all the time and the heat never affected it at all. So the Nexus 7 with G P S my be ok for the colder country's but it cant take the heat:mad:
 
I cover my devices when in direct sunlight when i'm not using them and summers here are not hot.

Taking it around Spain in direct sunlight with hot air blowing against it is just asking for trouble.
 
I have read all your reply and disagree with them the Nexus 7 never came with a warning say do not use in hot climate countries. A Sat Nav can take the heat of the day coming in through the windscreen of a car onto the dashboard and no problem . After all the Nexus 7 comes with G P S and again i say no warning saying do not use as a Sat Nav on a car dashboard in hot weather after all glass draws sunlight . After all my new Garmin sat on the dashboard the rest of the holiday about 5 weeks and no problem an again i have done the same holiday with my old Garmin 2720 for 6 years and on problem.
 
You can use it in a hot country, that's not a problem, I live in a hot country. :) After all I've used consumer grade electronic devices like laptops, phones and digital cameras, even when the ambient air temp is around 45C. That's what it's like here in the summer sometimes.

But you really should avoid extremes of heat with devices. Don't know about the Nexus, but most consumer grade electronic and tech devices have warnings in the manuals about not subjecting them to extremely high temperatures. If it didn't come with a warning to the effect, maybe you could sue Google?

It's a known fact that inside a car windscreen, when the sun is directly on it, that it can get extremely hot, sometimes to over 100C. That's boiling point. Try leaving your tablet or laptop in an oven at just gas mark 1, see how long it lasts. But that is the kind of temps that can be generated with the sun shining through a car's windscreen in a hot country. That's why we're always warned never to leave dogs in cars on sunny days, because it can literally roast them alive.

Don't know about your particular Garmin, but the Garmins I've seen are basically military specification. Which means they can handle upto 125C and still be expected to work, and not melt.
 
Its not about using it in a hot country. We have tablets and phones in the tropics too you know. Its about the device already heating up a lot (during navigation with screen on and processes running) and you have hot air blowing into it at the same time. These devices have an internal thermometer detecting when the temperature of the devices reach a dangerous level for the internal components that it auto-shuts down. Batteries are also prone to failing in such conditions.

The difference between devices like tablets and dedicated navigators like your Garmin is that the processors on the Garmins run on a lower rate (thus less heat producing and therefore can take more external heat), and have been designed to handle extremes of temperatures.
 
david1949 said:
I have read all your reply and disagree with them the Nexus 7 never came with a warning say do not use in hot climate countries. A Sat Nav can take the heat of the day coming in through the windscreen of a car onto the dashboard and no problem . After all the Nexus 7 comes with G P S and again i say no warning saying do not use as a Sat Nav on a car dashboard in hot weather after all glass draws sunlight . After all my new Garmin sat on the dashboard the rest of the holiday about 5 weeks and no problem an again i have done the same holiday with my old Garmin 2720 for 6 years and on problem.
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Your stand alone GPS's were designed to be mounted on your windshield, included in that design is the fact that they will be bombarded with heat coming from the defroster. The Nexus 7, while yes does have GPS, was not designed to be constantly bombarded with heat. It has a faster processor, faster GPU, larger screen, all parts which generate and are effected by heat. If you want to use the N7 as a GPS device I would suggest at least moving it some place off the dash.

It certain stinks that it failed but it is certainly not surprising. Like I said I am actually surprised that it held up that well.
 
Recoil1 said:
I believe there is no warning not to use it as a bullet proof vest either but I probably would use common sense and not use it to stop bullets. Now you know that most electronics wouldn't survive long with the way you tortured them so you can use that common sense and not do it again.
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If the tablet was used in an environment so hot that it melted, I think that counts as unreasonable use and expectations. It must have ponged a bit as well.

Both Panasonic and Fujitsu make robust tablets designed for use in extreme conditions, but they are rather pricy at around $1000 each.
 
I had similar problems with my old EVO shutting down due to heat from the windshield when used as a gps while on vacation. I "solved" the problem by taping a piece of white paper behind it to act as a sunlight reflector. Zero cost, and it worked like a charm. Based on feeling the case, it reduced the temperature by 20 degrees or more. As many have already stated, a dedicated navigation device (PNA) will be hardened against heat by design at the expense of weight, a phone or tablet will usually be designed to keep it as light as possible. Sorry for your loss!
 
david1949 said:
I have read all your reply and disagree with them the Nexus 7 never came with a warning say do not use in hot climate countries. A Sat Nav can take the heat of the day coming in through the windscreen of a car onto the dashboard and no problem . After all the Nexus 7 comes with G P S and again i say no warning saying do not use as a Sat Nav on a car dashboard in hot weather after all glass draws sunlight . After all my new Garmin sat on the dashboard the rest of the holiday about 5 weeks and no problem an again i have done the same holiday with my old Garmin 2720 for 6 years and on problem.
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Actually, it did. All electronics ship with an acceptable or suggested operational range warning, and a warning not to leave them in direct sunlight. My Nexus device sure did.
 
That really doesn't come as a surprise. Would you honestly leave your laptop on the dashboard of your car in the sun while playing a full on 3D game on it (producing tons of heat)? That's pretty much what you did.

If you didn't destroy the electronics or screen, the battery definitely would have prematurely failed. Li-Ion batteries are not particularly designed to handle temperature extremes, either hot or cold.
 
Guys I used my Nexus 7 as a cookie sheet when I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies and now it's not working. Google is a bunch of jerks for not telling me not to do this.
 
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