Cinema HD display won't start... too cold??

Question

Hi!
I've just migrated to a new town -- a ski resort town where it's currently snowing. (Yes, it's snowing in late-June... here in the southern hemisphere!) When I went to turn on the G5 this morning, the computer fired up fine, but the monitor wouldn't turn on. The aluminium frame is very cold to the touch, so I checked the manual, and it appears that the monitor requires an operating temperature of 10 - 35 degrees Celsius. Well, snow means it's sub-zero C outside, so I'm assuming it's the cold that's preventing the monitor from powering on.
Does anyone else here live in a cold area in winter?
Any tips, tricks, techniques for making sure the monitor will work each morning?
How do you use the monitor in sub-zero Celsuius (32F) weather?
And is there any way I can verify that this is the problem?
(For the record, it was working fine last night when I switched it off.)
Cheers!!
OZ

Answer 1

The backlight uses fluorescent tubes which are harder to start when cold. They contain a small amount of mercury, and the mercury vapour ionizes under the high voltage to provide a current path. The lower the temperature, the less vapour pressure. At -40 the mercury would be frozen.. With the right electronics, tubes will start at -10C, but Apple only specs theirs down to +10C. The liquid crystal display itself gets sluggish when cold, and condensation or frost on the electronics would also cause problems near freezing.
Maybe you could get some of that temperature controlled heating tape used to stop pipes from freezing, and stick it on the back of the display.