It’s never too early for fleet managers to start taking extra precautions to make sure their equipment functions correctly this winter. With tablets no longer an accessory, but an essential part of fleet communications and compliance, be sure to include your devices on the list of equipment you pay special attention to before the cold weather strikes.
If your fleets operate in harsh climates, cold temperatures can interfere with the performance of your ELD devices in several ways.
Battery
Exposing tablets to extreme cold temperatures below 30˚ F slows the metabolism of the chemical reaction inside the battery, causing them to drain faster, and they’ll stop charging. When this happens, your drivers can’t log into their dispatch, logging, telematics, or navigation software and continue or start their routes—resulting in downtime, lost profits, and possibly ELD compliance violations. This inconvenience often causes drivers to wait up to 20 minutes with the tablet warms up to a temperature appropriate for charging.
Screen
In addition to the impact on your tablet’s batteries, the LCD screens can stop functioning properly in frigid cold temperatures. The colder the temperatures, the slower the response time from the electrical signal to pixel transition, which degrades the image.
Internal/External Components
Frigid temps can cause multiple table problems including reading SIM cards, executing processing operations, and physical damage like screen shattering.
Condensation
If the device is charged too soon after bringing it in from the cold, your tablet is vulnerable to condensation under the display, making the screen hard to read, and possibly permanently damaged.
With the threat of COVID-19 lingering into the winter, many organizations are requiring their drivers to leave their devices in their vehicles overnight or for extended periods of time to help reduce the chances for infection and transmission of the virus. Keep in mind that if devices are removed from the vehicle, it should be limited to under five minutes of exposure.
To protect your technology investment and keep your drivers and your business up and running this winter, start with the vehicle mounts you use for your tablets. GPS Lockbox’s patented ATMOS, the world’s first temperature regulated mounts for tablets can ensure the performance of your devices, even when your drivers leave their tablets in their vehicle during cold temperatures.
ATMOS’s innovative integrated heating system alleviates the cooling issues by syncing to your device’s working temperature ranges and automatically sustaining its normal temperature for continuous charging. ATMOS also features:
- Magnetic quick-connect charging port reduces wear and tear.
- Smart power supply with ignition sense prevents overcharging.
- Spring-loaded for reliable mounting and rapid docking and undocking.
- Push-button keyed lock keeps the device secure when away from the vehicle.
- Hard-wired directly to the vehicle or powered by a standard cigarette lighter adapter.
ATMOS isn’t just designed for harsh winter climates. It is also designed to alleviate extreme overheating with a built-in fan system that restores your tablet back to working order 8x faster.
The Atmos cradle is based on the same groundbreaking design as the standard Flex cradle, making it an easy addition for fleets already using the GPSLockbox™ Flex system. Learn more about Atmos or Shop Atmos now.
