CPU Temperature

DV-Mega Single / Dual band Hat for the Raspberry Pi
Post Reply
w5gw
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Oct 21, 2018 10:25 pm

CPU Temperature

Post by w5gw »

I'm obtaining between 126 to 128 deg F and the color is orange on my DV Mega dual board with RPi. Is this too hot?

I have it in the enclosure sold by gigaParts, not a lot of air circulation.

73 Gary
KG5ZOK
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri May 04, 2018 1:55 pm

Re: CPU Temperature

Post by KG5ZOK »

Many people add a fan or two to cool the unit. I do.
I believe the technical answer is that, at 80 deg. C, the pi issues a warning.
At 85 deg. C, the pi will begin throttling the CPU to prevent damage.

So, temps in the 53 deg. C range aren't a problem.
User avatar
N6WBL
Posts: 24
Joined: Thu Nov 15, 2018 3:53 am
Contact:

Re: CPU Temperature

Post by N6WBL »

I think that's the C4Labs case which was lacking air flow. I drilled 9 holes under the CPU location on the bottom piece as I noticed it retained heat there, and it stays in the green and quite a bit cooler with a Pi 3B. I like the look of the C4Labs cases but they could use a bit more design work and quality control. My JumboSpot case was missing a drill hole and included a extra part forcing me to use the Dremel again. Some cut slots on the bottom of the DVMega case would really help it get rid of heat like some of the commercial Pi cases.

Jason - N6WBL
User avatar
KE0FHS
Posts: 1122
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2018 8:40 pm
Location: Colorado, USA
Contact:

Re: CPU Temperature

Post by KE0FHS »

Here is the temp key:
< 50°C (122°F) = green
≥ 50° < 69°C (156.2°F) = orange
≥ 69°C = red

I personally wouldn't worry about anything in the low orange range like what you're seeing. I interpret orange to mean "keep an eye on this, especially if it gets in the high end of the orange range" while red means "you need to do something about the temp." I find that the 3B+ and 3A+ tend to run a bit hotter (low orange range), even with heat sinks and ventilation holes in the cases ... but nothing to worry about.
73, Toshen, KE0FHS
Playing with Pi-Star (unofficial notes about setting up and using Pi-Star):
https://amateurradionotes.com/pi-star.htm
User avatar
N6WBL
Posts: 24
Joined: Thu Nov 15, 2018 3:53 am
Contact:

Re: CPU Temperature

Post by N6WBL »

With hot weather having come, my unit was getting a bit warm and in the orange again. Easy solution if you have the C4Labs DVMega case is to get the maker focus Pi fan. I soldered the wires to a USB connector for 5v power and placed it between the top and bottom cover on the back pushing air in through the gaps around the ethernet and USB ports. There is enough friction between the covers to hold the fan in place. I do have the 9 holes I drilled in the bottom of the case previously, and now with the fan it keeps the unit down in the 38F - 40F range. If I'm not home and the house warms to 80F this will still keep the unit at an acceptable temperature. Note, if you'll be near the item the fan was about 18 dB, so you could look for a Noctua fan as they're better constructed, longer life, and quieter (I put Noctua fan on the back of my FT-7800 which you can barely even hear and just about the same air flow of the stock fan).

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072F ... UTF8&psc=1

Jason - N6WBL
N6WBL wrote: Tue Jan 15, 2019 9:51 pm I think that's the C4Labs case which was lacking air flow. I drilled 9 holes under the CPU location on the bottom piece as I noticed it retained heat there, and it stays in the green and quite a bit cooler with a Pi 3B. I like the look of the C4Labs cases but they could use a bit more design work and quality control. My JumboSpot case was missing a drill hole and included a extra part forcing me to use the Dremel again. Some cut slots on the bottom of the DVMega case would really help it get rid of heat like some of the commercial Pi cases.

Jason - N6WBL
M1DNS
Pi-Star Team
Posts: 1388
Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2018 5:30 am

Re: CPU Temperature

Post by M1DNS »

Anyone concerned regards board temps might want to consider the pi 3A+ instead of the 3B+ same processor, slightly less ram, runs much cooler than a 3b+ and its way cheaper. Ok it lacks a rj45 port, but it has a full-size usb2 so you could run a usb-to-network adapter if you really want a cat5 install. It does have hardware for dual band wifi support on both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz.

It'll run pistar 4.0 just fine, still lots of no. crunching ability Image
It's shape and size matches well with the newer duplex boards also. Got a couple duplex hotspots here running with them and running much cooler.

https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/ra ... el-a-plus/

Andrew M1DNS, (Mod)




Andrew M1DNS.
Pi-star Admin Team.
KB1ILJ
Posts: 13
Joined: Sat Jan 09, 2021 11:05 pm
Location: CT

Re: CPU Temperature

Post by KB1ILJ »

I went to the drill press and drilled some holes in the top, and bottom of the case to cool the RP 3B/DVMega down.
Post Reply