PSA: Don't buy an RSI Smartcap if you live in a cold climate - frozen locks

Doesn’t matter how they design it. Someone will complain for some reason.

I’m not saying the complaints of you and OP are invalid, but when you live in an extreme climate, you see extreme behavior. Move to southern Arizona if you never want a frozen lock.

 

Ya can’t be a poser outdoor guy without all the gear. For fucks sake, put it in your glove box, problem solved. I had a canopy years and years ago with a pop lock that’s freeze all the time, be prepared and you don’t have to make a thread bashing a company for some ridiculous and avoidable incident https://www.duluthtrading.com/firef...xcfmFqvY3Ld__qEVLjfoMbK5st4qyDzBoCu5cQAvD_BwE

 

Do they have snow down there?

I went back to a Leer

 

I’m not sure if I’m authorized to share this technology, but up in here in Canada we got this stuff……….

 

I personally have not seen an alu-cab freeze up from condensation. Not to say it would not happen. The covers definitely help the situation. That being said this thread has prompted me to carry some lock deicer in my glove box as we do camp at altitude here in Colorado and even in summer it can get cold in the mountains above 9k feet.

 

I'll play.

 

Breaking news; when the temperature drops below 32 degrees Fahrenheit, water freezes! Film at 11:00.

Is OP a Millennial or Gen Z? We should start a poll.

 

My vote is for whiny boomer. “They don’t make latches like they useta!”

 

Bro millennials are 40 now.

 

Damn. I think I'll get back to work now.

 

Yeah, but they invented Karen. Old habits are hard to break.

 

Everybody needs a scapegoat with a catchy name! Y2K was so scary for the elderly, makes sense the term “millennial” would invoke such strong feelings of resentment

 

When I was your age we had to forge our own locks from steel were mined ourselves and no one complained.

 

PSA: Don't do stupid shit, it hurts!

 

Oh, man, some of the most fun things I've ever done have resulted in injury. Stupid shit is the most fun.

Nah we just named it. It's like if Godzilla was just unnamed for years, and then suddenly, someone was like "Hey, let's call it Godzilla".

 

Having lived in Canada in Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia I am basing my advice on ~4 decades of vehicle stuff in harsh climates - especially the frequent freeze/thaws in the mountains. Maybe some lock designs are better than others but with the sides and backs of canopies sloped the way they are, all the locks have the barrels tilting slightly inward to trap water inside the tumblers. Do not use heat guns or blow dryers or pour hot water close to a tempered glass window, search YouTube to watch people shatter their windows with those ideas. Do not use WD-40 in your locks. Yes, it sort of works initially, but it will provide moisture that starts things rusting - same reason you don't put WD-40 on anything that is oiled or greased. Instead, before winter comes, the best thing I have found is Boeshield T-9 (some bike chain wax-based dry lubes are similar). It's basically a spray in solvent that has dissolved waxes in it. So it washes out gunk and then leaves a microfilm of waxy stuff after the solvent gases off. It does not induce rust (woodworking nerds put this on tablesaw tops, planes, cast iron, etc.) and the wax makes it way harder for water to stick to the metal parts, let alone form ice that doesn't just shatter off the waxy surface. I rarely need to do this more than once in the middle of winter. Then, as an absolute last resort, keep a cheap bottle of lock de-icer in the cab of the truck in case of ice rain. The spray silicone-based lubricants some other posters mentioned are likely similar but wax sheds water better than silicone. Another pro-tip is to get black locks and park them facing south - I've thawed canopy and padlocks like this in calm, sunny conditions even colder than -40C which is the same as -40F for any American friends.

 

Friggin move?

 

Genius!!!

 

The deserts in North America get temps below freezing at night during the colder months.

Btw there is a ski area in Tucson.

 

My truck has spent.much time in Tahoe.
Had the issue once - cause I washed the road grime off the taco on arrival the night before...

- having heard of the issue, I put my palm on the locks for some 20.seconds.

They popped open...