do NOT leave your iPad in the car

[0098386]

I would never leave my iPad in the car *shivers at the thought*

On a hot day I wouldn't leave any valuable electronic in a car. My parents instilled that into me since a child. Their demonstration was a bug that had been cooked on the dashboard. Figured if the sun is powerful enough to do that to something that can move and actively cool itself down then it wouldn't be a good idea to leave my Gameboy to toast.

 

[illitrate23]

Okay, I'll bite. Per Apple's own specs (http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs)
Environmental requirements
* Operating temperature: 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C)
* Nonoperating temperature: -4° to 113° F (-20° to 45° C)

[snip]

Apple has explicitly given you the range of temperature in which the iPad is designed to operate.

Last Thursday i was reading a book on my iPad, sitting on a bench in full sunshine. Admittedly it was a hot sunny day, but this is the UK and if it got near 35°C it'd have been front page news and the country would have gone into a state of emergency. Still, after reading for some time i got the temperature warning.
Not a bad thing, tbh i was getting close to getting sunburnt so it was a timely reminder to move into the shade and get a drink, but even so, if the iPad is hitting the operating limits when being used in the UK, it's going to hit it very often in most of the rest of the world where it doesn't rain 90% of the time.

 

[martosprint]

I live in North Florida and if I would tell you how many kids and pets have died in cars when parents left them for fairly short periods with windows closed you wouldn't believe me. But yes it's true, even with the outside temperature between 75 and 80 degress F the inside of a car will heat up to 120-130 degrees. You suffocate at those temperatures! You are not even supposed to leave a camera in a hot car.

 

[kkat69]

I thought that was just common sense.

Yep.

You want to call my common sense into question? I leave a laptop in my car for short periods of time frequently with no issue. Lets go ahead and list accredited universities and job titles.

Only on Macrumors can someone come on to try and help others and be blasted for it

Having successfully attended an accredited university has little to do with common sense.

Amen!

 

[nixiemaiden]

I actually really appreciate this warning because it is something I could see myself doing. I live in the southern US and leave things in my car often that I really shouldn't because I have them with me and don't want to carry them. It isn't something that I think about but sometimes when I am coming from work and don't go straight home, I will leave my laptop in my car while I run my errands.

I personally have never had any problems with leaving electronics in my car in the florida sun for upwards of an hour (ds, mp3 player, cellphone, etc.) and have not had a problem with any of them and therefore never really thought about it.

Thank you very much for the warning.

 

[Nexus4144]

lol, wow i didnt know that max temp for the ipad was only 113. About a week ago, i left the ipad in the back of my tsx and thought it wouldnt have a problem since the windows have 5% tints and it was in a case. But figures... i live in Vegas so the temp here is 110 easy, making it even hotter in the car. When i pulled it out, needless to say, it was burning up and shows that temp warning, but after a few minutes in an AC'd room, all back to normal

 

[ReallyBigFeet]

apparently it's not all that common.

Apparently, all the electronics in my car, inclusive of my touch-screen GPS, my full-screen touchpanel head unit, my iPhone AND my never-leaves-the-car iPod Touch didn't read the memo about not being able to survive inside a car either because miraculously, they seem to work just fine regardless of how hot it gets.

I think there's something with the iPad's design that makes it more susceptible to heat than 'other' electronics. What that is, I don't know but it sure seems to be a panty-waist to heat. Could it be all those batteries inside?

 

[CJS7070]

I left my iPad in the car for about 3 hours this morning while I did a few things in the office. It is only in the mid 80's or so today and I frequently leave my iPad for a few hours, so I did not think too much about it. Well, when I took it out to read on it at lunch (as I do almost every day) there was a temperature warning and said the iPad needed to cool down before I could use it. YIKES

Just thought I would pass this along in the hopes it may help someone else...

When I first saw the thread title, I thought that the iPad was somehow damaged by the heat. Glad it still works!

 

[Shinigami301]

Exposing lithium batteries to high heat severely curtails their long term lifespan.

 

[Figbash Acrobat]

Also: do not leave iPad in the microwave, oven

 

[Figbash Acrobat]

And FWIW, leaving an iPad in your car is a good way to have it stolen.

 

[lucidmedia]

Apparently, all the electronics in my car, inclusive of my touch-screen GPS, my full-screen touchpanel head unit, my iPhone AND my never-leaves-the-car iPod Touch didn't read the memo about not being able to survive inside a car either because miraculously, they seem to work just fine regardless of how hot it gets.

I think there's something with the iPad's design that makes it more susceptible to heat than 'other' electronics. What that is, I don't know but it sure seems to be a panty-waist to heat. Could it be all those batteries inside?

This is a real issue here - a design issue. Apple has long pushed aesthetics over heat management, and it occasionally comes back to bite them (Macbook Air).

 

[holyjohn]

Yikes! Don't leave iPad in the car!
It's not like a durable GPS navigator yet...
I think the temp problem will be addressed in iPad 4 or later

 

[MrTan]

hmmmmm, reading this thread and thinking it may not be a good idea to take my ipad to Egypt in July... when its about 45c!

But it's 5 hours on the plane....

 

[Figbash Acrobat]

hmmmmm, reading this thread and thinking it may not be a good idea to take my ipad to Egypt in July... when its about 45c!

But it's 5 hours on the plane....

It'll be fine. Just stay inside the pyramids.

 

[Figbash Acrobat]

hmmmmm, reading this thread and thinking it may not be a good idea to take my ipad to Egypt in July... when its about 45c!

But it's 5 hours on the plane....

Seriously though, for a 5 hr plane trip I would have to take the iPad with me.

 

[MrTan]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

[isimon117]

I left mine in the trunk of a car for 2 hours or so in 44C weather (I'm visiting Israel), and when I took it out, it was really hot, but no temperature warning

 

[Southern Dad]

I have an iPod Touch that stays in my car almost all the time. It resides in the center armrest and is used to play music, podcasts, etc. on my commute. I've left it in there for weeks on end and never thought about it. I've also never received a warning that it was too hot.

Just as well it has never failed to function. Now on leaving the iPhone, iPad or maybe my only child in the car? No likely. The iPad is still to new to be out of my site. The iPhone is a 3GS so its starting to get past the baby stage... The kid? Well, I've had her seven years... I'm kind of attached.

 

[0098386]

Apparently, all the electronics in my car, inclusive of my touch-screen GPS, my full-screen touchpanel head unit, my iPhone AND my never-leaves-the-car iPod Touch didn't read the memo about not being able to survive inside a car either because miraculously, they seem to work just fine regardless of how hot it gets.

I think there's something with the iPad's design that makes it more susceptible to heat than 'other' electronics. What that is, I don't know but it sure seems to be a panty-waist to heat. Could it be all those batteries inside?

The iPad is a little more powerful than the devices you mentioned. Its internal running temperature is going to be a lot more. Hot internals+hot externals= t'aint good.

 

[r0k]

I often leave my iPad in the car near the center console. Obviously I couldn't do this during extremely cold weather as I got it April 3rd. I haven't done it during extremely hot weather either.

After reading this thread, I'll be even more careful about taking my iPad along. If I'm on a long car trip and not the only driver, it goes with me. If I expect to park in the sun for many hours, it stays at home. When parking in the sun, the temperature at the center console is typically a lot lower than the spot on the dash where the insects get cooked. That's why the one poster in this thread gets away with keeping his iPod there. A lot of cars have their usb and aux jacks in the center console and it is common for people to leave iPods there for days at a time (not in freezing weather of course). The spot where I tuck my iPad is next to the console and somebody has to look pretty closely to realize it's there. In the Apple case, my iPad looks like a notebook and I make sure the Apple logo isn't facing outside to tempt thieves.

I should mention, if you need to leave your iPad in the car for a long time, tuck it under the seat. That's the coolest part of the car on a hot day. Crack open a window an inch or so. A few drops of rain may get in but the car won't get up to 130 degrees. As I mentioned above the center console stays relatively cool but not as cool as the floor area. A good way to check is to go around and touch surfaces immediately after getting in the car on a hot day. Clearly the dash will be hot as heck, as will any other area that gets direct sunlight. Touch the center console area and the floor. They are a lot cooler, but still might exceed iPad operating temps. You won't have to wait as long for it to cool down if you store it there as it would if you left it on the seat or on the shelf by the back window (arguably the hottest spot in the car or at least tied with the dash and front windshield area).

 

[AppleRules]

And FWIW, leaving an iPad in your car is a good way to have it stolen.

Wow! You're bright, is that why your dad calls you son?

 

[patrixl]

Here's another good reason..

Lithium detectors.


I got my Macbook stolen, that was in the trunk of a car, hidden from view... Because thieves have lithium detectors now. And guess what the batteries are made of?

 

[hcho3]

I left my iPad in the car for about 3 hours this morning while I did a few things in the office. It is only in the mid 80's or so today and I frequently leave my iPad for a few hours, so I did not think too much about it. Well, when I took it out to read on it at lunch (as I do almost every day) there was a temperature warning and said the iPad needed to cool down before I could use it. YIKES

Just thought I would pass this along in the hopes it may help someone else...

You are lucky someone did not break into your car and took your ipad.

 

[BobVB]

Pretty much common sense...

The iPad has a huge battery that generates heat when discharging, the only reason they don't get warm in the hand when in use is because of the nice diffusing metal back and the huge thin nature of the battery.

Above a certain temperature the heat won't dissipate as fast as it is generated and so they have built in a fail-safe to prevent you from damaging your iPad inadvertently by making it refuse to work above a certain temperature.

So the warning appears safely below the temp that could actually hurt your iPad, its just there to prevent damage to it.

Now that the e-ink readers are in a price war I am considering picking up one for full-sun recreational 'paperback' reading and just hope that eventually full color fast response screens of similar technology are developed for more general usage.