I’m using my Photon in the Sparkfun Weathershield. I notice the minimum temperature rating of the Photon is -20 deg. C. That’s only -4 deg. F. While temperatures that low are not common in this corner of the northeast, they’re not unheard of either. The lowest temperature I’ve seen where I live is around -14 deg. F.
So the question is what will happen if I go below the specified min. temperature? How was this figure determined? Will the Photon start behaving erratically? Will the pipes freeze and all the electrons leak out? Will it recover once the temperature goes back up or will it join my other Photon in the Big Prototyping Lab in the Sky? Inquiring minds want to know!
That’s a great question! I’m not exactly sure what would happen, actually! @mohit is our hardware expert and probably has more experience with sub-zero experimentation
The minimum temperature is derived from the datasheet of the the P0 module (USI BM-09). I’ve personally only tested the unit on a toasty -10C day during the winter. At temperatures below -20C, there is a possibility of the Photon turning into a back hole and engulfing the entire humankind with it, so please tread with caution.
Well while I’m waiting for the end of the world, one spec I don’t see on the Photon datasheet is how much heat the device produces. And I know it’s some because between the Photon and the Weather Shield the onboard thermometers read about 6 deg. F too high. Perhaps that would be enough to cover the gap between -4 and -14 on a cold winter night. I guess we’ll find out next January.
