Mouse performance in cold weather

[Bing Bong]

Do all optical mouse misbehave and fail in cold weather or are mine
the only ones. I have a desktop computer that lives in a temperature
controlled cabinet in my astronomical observatory. It is on 24/7 with
no problems at all. The LCD screen is also part of this temp.
controlled cabinet thru a sheet of lucite. The MS keyboard is on top
of the cabinet and works fine at ambient temp. The mice just fail all
the time. I had some old mechanical (ball) mice which worked OK but
they were old and didn't track well on the fairly slick surface of the
desk so I replaced it with several optical mice. All of them just
freeze (pardon the pun) in really cold weather. The red light is
noticable dimmer when I reboot ( I need to reboot all the time because
the cursor doesn't move). After reboot, the mouse works for a little
while then just locks up. I have tried several versions of MS optical
mice, directly to USB (all my other USB devices work fine) and thru
the dongle to ps2 port. All do the same.

Is this because the led output drops in cold as the series resistor
changes resistance. What else can I use? I prefer mice to trackballs.
Maybe I'll just give up and get a new mechanical mouse and a mouse
pad. How retro.

BB

 

[Rod Speed]

Do all optical mouse misbehave and fail in cold weather

Nope. Mine certainly dont.

or are mine the only ones.

Its unlikely they are the only ones, but that shouldnt be happening.

I have a desktop computer that lives in a temperature
controlled cabinet in my astronomical observatory.
It is on 24/7 with no problems at all. The LCD screen is
also part of this temp. controlled cabinet thru a sheet of
lucite. The MS keyboard is on top of the cabinet and
works fine at ambient temp. The mice just fail all the time.

Never had one fail, but then I use brand name optical mice for other reasons.

I had some old mechanical (ball) mice which worked OK but
they were old and didn't track well on the fairly slick surface
of the desk so I replaced it with several optical mice. All of
them just freeze (pardon the pun) in really cold weather.
The red light is noticable dimmer when I reboot ( I need
to reboot all the time because the cursor doesn't move).
After reboot, the mouse works for a little while then just
locks up. I have tried several versions of MS optical mice,
directly to USB (all my other USB devices work fine) and
thru the dongle to ps2 port. All do the same.

Is this because the led output drops in cold
as the series resistor changes resistance.

Nope, that shouldnt change enough to matter and
doesnt explain why rebooting fixes it for a time either.

What else can I use?

I'd fix the problem thats producing that effect.

I prefer mice to trackballs. Maybe I'll just give up and get
a new mechanical mouse and a mouse pad. How retro.

I'd measure the USB voltage on that system, likely its sagging for some reason.

 

[tiptoe89]

Just curious, what type of mouse pad are you using? Is it a dark color
or have a mix of light and dark colors? Optical mice have a very hard
time with black/dark mouse pads.

Any possibility of condensation on the sensor?

Also, have you tried these mice attached to other computers? Can you
place a known good mouse and computer in the cold room and see if they
also experience the problem?

And have you tried a wireless mouse?

Just some ideas.

Clay

 

[NealR2000]

This happens to me, too. I use a Logitech optical wireless mouse. It
has nothing to do with the surface, and there is no moisture on any of
the sensors. It just doesn't like the cold when the computer is
booted up. If I try and move the cursor, it will move for a second,
and then stop. After another 3-4 seconds, I can get another second's
worth of movement out of it. This goes on for about ten minutes,
after which, the cursor becomes normal. It's not a defective mouse,
as I broke my old one a while back, and the replacement does exactly
the same thing.

I'm not talking super cold temperatures, either. The room drops to
about 55f overnight, going up to about 68f during the day.

I love the wireless aspect of the mouse, so I am resistent to going
back to a corded mouse, but those few minutes of down time every
morning can be really aggravating.

 

[JAD]

This happens to me, too. I use a Logitech optical wireless mouse. It
has nothing to do with the surface, and there is no moisture on any of
the sensors. It just doesn't like the cold when the computer is
booted up. If I try and move the cursor, it will move for a second,
and then stop. After another 3-4 seconds, I can get another second's
worth of movement out of it. This goes on for about ten minutes,
after which, the cursor becomes normal. It's not a defective mouse,
as I broke my old one a while back, and the replacement does exactly
the same thing.

I'm not talking super cold temperatures, either. The room drops to
about 55f overnight, going up to about 68f during the day.

I love the wireless aspect of the mouse, so I am resistent to going
back to a corded mouse, but those few minutes of down time every
morning can be really aggravating.

that is plain weird. I lived in chicago for many years with a system in the unheated
garage during the winter. The mouse and everything worked normally.