Suggestions for really cold weather

[walkabout]

I received a bid request for a camera system in Antarctica. Last year in July it hit -138.3. Where do I find a system that can handle that kind of cold?

 

[No5]

Axis has reported that their cams have been tested down to -90 ºC, far off from -138.3 you mention.

Extreme Conditions

You may want to contact their sales team about your extreme conditions....

 

[nayr]

What about a camera enclosure with a built in heater, then modify it to hold a 2nd heater, put a camera thats rated for -40 and pack any voids with some heavy insulation and hope for the best.. basically you want to pump heat into the enclosure quicker than it can radiate away which isint all that hard, even at extreme temperatures when your working in a sealed unit... maby put the camera enclosure inside a larger container packed w/insulation so it radiates heat as slowly as you can get it.

that will probably help keep the electronics alive, if your talented enough you might pull the camera board out and see if it has any electrolytic caps, and if so desolder em and replace them with dry equivalents.. If you use a camera thats already rated for at least -40 it probably already has dry caps.. the higher the wattage camera the more heat waste it will generate which will also help.

Humorous idea... fit it all into a case with a Pentium 4 running a torture test, those are really efficient heat generators and think how much you could over-clock it at -138! Ive got a laptop (toughbook) rated for polar use and its hard disk is wrapped in a heater to keep it moving in the cold.. dont think it would work too well at -138 however.

now keeping frost/ice from obscuring the display is a whole nother can of worms.. and testing it before putting it in the field wont be easy.. id be amazed if you find an off the shelf solution for outdoors in polar reigns... finding -40 cameras for high altitude climates isint easy.