Boxing up Raspi?

Steve Read wrote:

 

Mine has been on for about an hour in my SK Pang case streaming BBC TV (QI as it happens) and there is quite a heat build up on the top of the case.

That makes me wonder, does the Roku 2 have a fan, since it uses the same SoC as the Pi and performs the same types of media task?

Of course the comparison would fall down if the Pi's main source of heat is not its SoC.  Which parts get hot?

I will have my tech team test it out - but think ventillation is not an issue because not only are the sides open, but there is also significant space above the board.  I will let you know once they have it running

Morgaine Dinova wrote:

 

That makes me wonder, does the Roku 2 have a fan, since it uses the same SoC as the Pi and performs the same types of media task?

 

Of course the comparison would fall down if the Pi's main source of heat is not its SoC.  Which parts get hot?

The spot right above the SoC is the most noticeable. Blair may be right that the increased headroom of their case may lessen the problem, the SK Pang case doesn't have a lot of clearance which I expect will lessen any natural convection.

Here is the response from my tech team  ". The power consumption on the board is about 8-10 watts which generate the same amount of heat as a standard night light, a fully enclosed case that wraps tightly around the board will accumulate heat over time without an active cooling system. Our design have plenty of circulation and distance from the processor, in addition the material we are using has a softening point of 220 F " 

Blair, I think as soon as it is available from UK stock I will be interested in that case, the additional headroom will certainly make a difference to the one I currently have. Thank you for your response.

I think the Lego case the Foundation currently have on the front page will do wonders for the heat problems some of the Pi's have at the moment.

Great to see they give that so much publicity, but seem to be ignoring the reports of broken TV's, problemattical SD cards, power 'Supplies' not working (they were the ones that decided on using chargers, not us) et al.

Steve

I've got this case for the beaglebone -> http://builttospecstore.storenvy.com/products/277058-dockstar-enclosure-kit

Now it is available in clear.

About the RasPi I'm waiting for Adafruit to get theirs back in stock, but today I received my second RasPi from Element14 and found

that this one got shipped with a little sheet that says "RASPBERRY PI REGULATORY COMPLAINCE AND SAFETY INFORMATION"

On the WARNINGS box among other things it says:

"-This product should be operated in a well ventilated environment and should not be covered."

I guess that means good bye to a case ?

-J

Tried to post that question (about it being covered) on the RasPi forum, but it got buried.

Unsurprisingly, i've just checked my leaflet and it says the same thing.It also warns against connecting any unapproved devices to the GPIO connectors, I thought that education was part of what this was about ? And if they can point me towards an 'approved' device and i'll happily buy it.

I remember seeing some comments about issues with temperature but can't find them now.

I've one of the RasPi up now, not running graphics, just responding to a constant ping over the network

the board draws about 400mA and the IR gun shows about 115F for the GPU/RAM stack.

Obviously the GPIO header goes straight to the BCM chip without much protection you can do a lot of damage.

I guess that little piece of paper is just sort a "I told you so" and invalidate the warranty.

-J

Morgaine Dinova wrote:

Of course the comparison would fall down if the Pi's main source of heat is not its SoC.  Which parts get hot?

The ethernet chip takes about half the heat/power. It gets just as hot as the SOC.