Can cold stop the recorder ?

[marouflard]

Hi guys,

Yesterday night I left my Olympus recorder in the usual hiding spot. I went to retrieve right after lunch, which means it could have recorded for more than 12 hours. It was off when I took it but I thought it was because it had run out of battery in the morning. Sadly when I plugged it I only got a 3 hours recording, which is very frustrating because before it cut I could hear my two favorite lovebirds being very cheerful... Plus the recorder showed the battery was still at 50%. I then checked if the automatic switch off (VCVA) was disabled and it was. So since it's pretty cold those days (around 0° Celsius) and I the recorder is set on some stone when hidden, I was wondering if the cold could have caused the recorder to stop working. What do you guys think ?

Anyway I'll try again tonight, maybe with some fabric around it (but not in front of the mic).

[tweaktweak]

Hmm. Maybe. Also, it was outside? Maybe condensation/dew affected it? I'm not sure that the cold itself would be a factor but maybe any large temperature change would cause the device to fail. It's hard to say.

EDIT: I looked up a random Olympus recorder manual they state:

To protect the high-precision technology contained in this product, never leave the recorder in the places listed below, no matter if in use or storage:• Places where temperatures and/or humidity are high or go through extreme changes. Direct sunlight, beaches, locked cars, or near other heat sources (stove, radiator, etc.) or humidifiers.• In sandy or dusty environments.• Near flammable items or explosives.• In wet places, such as bathrooms or in the rain. When using products with weatherproof designs, read their manuals as well.• In places prone to strong vibrations

So no mention of cold but i'm sure there's a limit.

[sndprv]

The cold shouldn't affect the recorder at the temperature you stated. I've done recordings
with all sorts of devices at those temperatures and never had any problems. But humidity
and wet weather will affect the quality of the recording by making it 'hissy' and will shorten
the lifespan of a device, no question.

But why did your device stop recording? I haven't used an Olympus for about 10 years, and I
only used it in warm temperatures, so it's difficult to guess what happened.

1. Check if the hard drive was full. What quality setting (bitrate) did you set it to?

2. My guess is that the hard drive is partitioned into several folders, like the Sony devices.
If a folder reaches the maximum capacity, does the device stop recording or does it continue
writing the recording on to a new folder, like the Sony devices?

3. Quite often, animals (rodents, foxes, squirrels, birds, etc.) will come and mess around with
with a device. I've had the on/off button of one of my previous devices chewed right off
by a creature. So, stopping a recording wouldn't be difficult to do - they only need to poke
the 'stop' button with a nose/beak/paw/whatever. That's why I hide the devices where larger
animals can't get at them, e.g. inside a thorny bush.

Edit:

Personally, I only use the small USB sticks for outdoor recordings. They're easy to hide and you
can buy them really cheap (for only about 6 quid in the UK, including delivery). So if they stop
working or the quality starts to sound crap, I just throw them away and buy some new ones.

[sndprv]

I tested my mini USB recorders in below zero, blizzard-like conditions last night and they worked perfectly
fine - even after leaving them to get completely covered in snow. As long as you don't leave them out while
the snow is melting, they should still work OK.