+94.6C Extreme temperature of Dashboard with only +27.5C outside

[niko]

I had my car parked facing sun and time to time measured temperature of dash camera and dashboard.
Dash camera was not working while the car was parked, but still at some point temperature of dash camera measured from the side reached +70C and dashboard at crazy +94.6C !!! ( check video "Part 3" ).

For temperature measurements, I used professional CEM DT-8866 Dual Laser non-contact IR Thermometer.

I parked the car at around 8 AM and outside temperature stayed almost the same (+14C) till 11 AM where dashboard temperature measured at +80C, but within a short period of 2h (between 11 AM and 1 PM) outside temperature rapidly rose to +27.5C and dashboard temperature at some places to whooping +94.6C.

Few month earlier I measured dashboard temperature at +84C when outside was only +12.5C.
At some days when the sun was not that intense and outside temperature was around +20+21C, dashboard temperature was only in the region of +60C.

My extended observations show that it is not so important how high is outside temperature, but more important is the intensity and direction of the sun in relation to your car, wind, clouds, the colour of your car body, the colour of car interior, tinted or not tinted glass etc., which all combined together plays a significant role in temperature inside of the car.

 

[Module 79L]

I had my car parked facing sun

You're crazy!

My extended observations show that it is not so important how high is outside temperature, but more important is the intensity and direction of the sun in relation to your car

In other words, UV radiation. If it can burn your skin through the clouds, imagine what it can do with clear skies. And you can have UV radiation level 9 or 10 in a 27ºC day in the Summer.

I'm not questioning the accuracy of your thermometer but 94.6ºC seems a bit too much. You can get severely burned with only 60ºC and the temperature you read is almost at the boiling point. I dread to think what would've happened if someone inadvertently touched the dashboard in that or in a similar occasion.

 

[niko]

You're crazy!

Yeah, in the name of the science!

I'm not questioning the accuracy of your thermometer but 94.6ºC seems a bit too much.

For temperature measurements, I am using CEM DT-8866 Dual Laser non-contact IR Thermometer, which is similar price and specs to Fluke 62MAX PLUS, so temperature readings must be accurate. ( updated earlier post ).

 

[Nigel]

When you are using those IR thermometers, you should try to keep the thermometer at around 20C, they get very inaccurate if you leave them sitting in the sun!

I'm not questioning the accuracy of your thermometer but 94.6ºC seems a bit too much. You can get severely burned with only 60ºC and the temperature you read is almost at the boiling point. I dread to think what would've happened if someone inadvertently touched the dashboard in that or in a similar occasion.

I've seen over 90 in June, the plastic on the dash conducts heat very poorly so it does heat up easily, but if you touch it you wont get burned since the bit you touch cools down to finger temperature before it warms you finger up much.

The temperature of the plastic isn't very important, a better thing to measure with the IR thermometer is the temperature of the roof liner, that is at air temperature at the top of the car, the same air that is supposed to be cooling the dashcam, if that is at 90C then expect a working dashcam to be 20C higher!

 

[niko]

You are more-less accurate with what I did.

When you are using those IR thermometers, you should try to keep the thermometer at around 20C, they get very inaccurate if you leave them sitting in the sun!

I keep IR thermometer in glove-box where temperature is around +20C

The temperature of the plastic isn't very important

Correct. That's why I use dash mat cover bought from Australian manufacturer. I don't know if without carpet the measurements of plastic dashboard would be higher, or lower, I will try to catch similar sunny/hot day and do the same test without dash mat.

a better thing to measure with the IR thermometer is the temperature of the roof liner, that is at air temperature at the top of the car, the same air that is supposed to be cooling the dashcam, if that is at 90C then expect a working dashcam to be 20C higher!

Agree, - on my screenshot and video title I have added dash-camera temperature measurements which were at +70C.

 

[old4570]

I measured 70Deg C for the temp of the windshield when facing the sun with my IR Temp Gun .. ( 30deg C + outside )
Dash mat was about 76 or 78 ...
No wonder suction cup mounts fall off .

I now have a thermometer in my car , and its interesting to note just how warm it is in the car when its been under the sun for a while ..
It might be 20Deg C outside , but often my car is 38Deg C or more .. ( Dash temp )
I can take readings from 2 places , Dash and near the T-bar ( trans ) .
So while the temp might be moderate near the center console , often the dash temp is much higher , 20 to 30deg C higher ...
So while your feet might be cool , your head could be cooking ...

So if its warm weather , I always open all the doors to let the hot air out ..
I really dont want to be in a car that might have the air temp @ 50Deg C + ...

 

[jokiin]

So while your feet might be cool , your head could be cooking ...

explains some of the hotheads you encounter I guess

 

[old4570]

explains some of the hotheads you encounter I guess

Could go a long way to explain some things ...
If you cook the brain - it dont work so well

 

[old4570]

Picture shows the inside of my car ( Pentax K10D - Pentax 50mm F2.8 Macro lens = Look at that dust !!!!!! )
Anyhow , the Temp outside is 17Deg C ( Nice sunny day ) ... Dash mat is 45Deg C - Plastic is 43Deg C , Thermometer shows 36.3Deg C - probe is under the dash mat . ( It also gives the temp for the thermometer itself from where its located )

The cams are 40Deg C as is the windshield ...
Temperatures taken with my IR Temp gun ..
Outside temp is 17 Deg C ...

Outside temperature has little relevance to the inside temp of a car , unless perhaps its been parked under snow for a while ..
The sun cooks everything under it , and how much of the suns energy is retained is the governing factor .

So yeah , when I open my car door , I was blasted by some very warm air ..
So even though its cool outside , after a while it can be seriously warm in a car ..
And if its warm outside , it can quickly become a health hazard in a car . And we humans are not good at tolerating temperature changes ( core body temperature ) ..

 

[Module 79L]

One thing you're all doing "wrong" is comparing the temperature of the air outside with the temperature of materials that are not exposed to it, thus not being directly influenced by it.
Outside air temperature, be it high or low, only influences the temperature inside the car when it is parked in the shade. How many times have you got in in a car parked out in the open on a sunny but cold day, and feel how warm and cozy it was inside? And how many times have you got in in a car parked in the shade on a very hot day and find it was as hot inside as it was outside?

 

[Deleted member 46308]

explains some of the hotheads you encounter I guess

 

[Gibson99]

Back when I was a mechanic at a dealership, I did a similar test. Two identical brand new cars parked right next to each other in the middle of the lot. Only difference was, one was painted white, one was black. They even had the same dark gray interior.

After baking in the sun all day, without being opened or moved on a typical 100f Texas summer day, I got my IR temp gun and made some readings. White car paint was 140f, black paint was 160f. White car interior was a consistent 160f, +/- 5. Black car interior was 190f +/- 5.

Neither car had window tint or privacy glass, and neither had a shade in the windshield. Both were parked in the same direction, side by side. The only shade they could have gotten was from a lamp post or chain link fence, so effectively zero shade.

So the moral of the story is, if you live in a hot area, buy a light colored car!

 

[Dashmellow]

So the moral of the story is, if you live in a hot area, buy a light colored car!

Is that ever true! I own a midnight blue truck and it's like an oven in the summertime. As an oven it can have some advantages though. My girlfriend and I attended an outdoor potluck supper and we left the food out in the truck to keep it hot until dinner was served. And in the winter the snow melts off the vehicle a lot faster than it would on a light colored vehicle.

The other thing about dark colored vehicles is that they show the dirt a lot more easily than on white vehicles. I live on a dirt road and when I wash the truck it's all covered with road dust or mud by the time I get home. Sometimes, it's hardly worth washing the damn thing. White vehicles don't seem to show the dirt quite the same way.

Next vehicle will be white or silver.

 

[Gibson99]

White vehicles don't seem to show the dirt quite the same way.

Next vehicle will be white or silver.

Beige also hides dirt exceptionally well. Sometimes a bit too well, and it makes it easy to get lazy about washing it, till one day you notice that it's started to get weird black stuff on the paint that now takes a pressure washer and maybe Clay bar to remove... Not that I've ever been that lazy... It was a friend. Yeah, that's it...

 

[Dashmellow]

Beige also hides dirt exceptionally well. Sometimes a bit too well, and it makes it easy to get lazy about washing it, till one day you notice that it's started to get weird black stuff on the paint that now takes a pressure washer and maybe Clay bar to remove... Not that I've ever been that lazy... It was a friend. Yeah, that's it...

Never liked beige vehicles somehow. Reminds me of old computer cases.

 

[lacibaci]

So what this experiment shows is that none of the dash cameras sold are actually suitable to be used as such. :{o

 

[jokiin]

Next vehicle will be white or silver.

silver hides the dirt real well

 

[jokiin]

So what this experiment shows is that none of the dash cameras sold are actually suitable to be used as such. :{o

it's possible to exceed the operating temp of any camera

 

[Dashmellow]

silver hides the dirt real well

Yeah, that's why I mentioned silver as well. Funny thing was when I bought the truck I was planning on white or silver until I saw a freshly polished and detailed one in midnight blue sitting in a driveway and it just looked so gorgeous I went with that instead. I figured that since I don't live in a hot climate it would be fine but I wasn't thinking about road dirt at the time.

 

[jokiin]

Yeah no doubt it's a dirt magnet, I had a metallic Black car previously which looked great when clean, very hard to keep it that way though