Can temperature changes hurt games and electronics

[Arrrhalomynn]

Recently I've developed the habit of sleeping with the windows open. Now it's getting colder, it also means my room is getting colder. Quite a lot actually. I wouldn't be surprised if the difference between night and day (in my room) would be more than 20 degrees celsius.

Which made me wonder. Isn't there a chance this will hurt my games and consoles?

[Hydrobond]

Temperature changes can hurt them, but as long as the temp. doesn't dip below the storage temperature printed on the cart/console, you will be fine. It is usually pretty low, though.  Operating temperatures are a different story though.  

[Arrrhalomynn]

carts have temperatures printed on them? On the few I've checked it only says 'avoid exposing cartridge to extreme temperatures'.  And it's mainly cd's I'm worried about, since most of my games are on those.

[Zimbacca]

I know that extreme temperatures will cause problems.  I never close my window (except last winter we had 5 inches of ice here) and haven't had any problems yet.

[Hydrobond]

Ok, when I looked on the back of a spare N64 cart, i was informed that the temperatures would be in the "consumer information and precautions booklet."  When I did a quick google search, I found that the optimum storage temperature was about 20C with variations of no more than 1C over a period of 24 hours.  Now tihs is long term storage, but is still interesting.  Honestly, I would be surprised if anything happened to them, as long as the temperatures dont dip below freezing in your room.  I vaguely remember reading on various electronics sotrage temperatures of about -20C to 130C, so I think you are fine with the carts and consoles.  Operating temperatures are much more strict though.

Plus, I would bet that the numbers they publish are well within the real temperature limits of the item.

[Arrrhalomynn]

Wouldn't a low operating temperature be good on a console? Especially the new consoles needs loads of cooling. I'd think a little help from nature would be a postitive thing.

[Hydrobond]

A little help is ok, they don't really need it because they are designed to handle high temps.  If it gets too low, condensation from the air is a concern.  And I don't really know what the actual operating temperatures are.  However, in general operating temperatures are more strict than storage temperatures.  

Condensation got me one day.  It was a really warm day, about 90F 100% humidity, and I took the camcorder outside to take some pictures of a car we were selling.  After about thirty seconds of the camcorder geing outside, the thing started beeping, so I looked at the screen and it read "Internal moisture too high."  The thing then shut off and refused to turn on for over an hour.  But at least it didn't short because of the water. I doubt consoles have such protection.