When you are a self-professed "gamer," a lover of all things video game, you want to keep your collection of consoles and games in the best condition possible. Most of these items, especially older game cartridges, need to be kept at a warm temperature. That said, you can use a storage unit to hold your growing collection, but you will need to find and rent climate controlled storage units to protect your collection. Here is why this type of storage unit should matter to you.

Freezing Winters and Old Gaming Systems

Back before video games were burned to DVD/CD discs, they were a series of electrical circuits and boards inside plastic shells. You could not leave them out in a cold car for a long time because it affected how they worked when you brought them into the house to play. (Parents who bought some of the first consoles ever made and the cartridge games found out firsthand what can happen when you hide these items in a really cold location and then bring them in to place under the Christmas tree.)

The same holds true for these vintage systems twenty to thirty years later. You cannot store these items in a very cold storage unit and expect the systems and cartridges to work properly once you bring them in out of the cold. Protect the old games and consoles by storing them somewhere reasonably warm (at least fifty degrees but no more than eighty degrees, per many of the original owner's guides).

Cold, Hot, and Electrical Cords

Old game cords can withstand temperatures better than the consoles they plug into, but if the cords are exposed to moisture of any kind, then heat and cold can also destroy these items. By keeping the cords in a storage unit that is temperature-controlled, exposure to small amounts of humidity or moisture will have no impact on the cords. Without the temperature controlled environment, the moisture could freeze the cords and cause them to split or crack, especially if they are really old. Moisture inside the cords when it is hot can cause an electrical shock or cause the electricity to jump and travel or start a fire. Keeping the cords in sealed bags while in storage can help reduce these issues.

Temperature, Humidity, and Old Video Game Cartridges

Finally, the cartridges themselves can be affected. Inside these cartridges are circuit boards that are very fragile and made of silicon, metal, and wiring. Humidity can cause the metal and wiring in these games to rust and break without ever opening the cartridge cases. The silicon, when exposed to really high heat or extreme cold and very dry conditions, can break and destroy the games. When your collection means a lot to you, you want to prevent all of these things from happening to your collection, and that is achieved through a climate-controlled storage unit.

For more information, contact local professionals like North Star Mini Storage.