R8600 R8600 Cooling

[ridgescan]

I'm not at all comfortable with how hot my R8600 gets after some time of operation so I brought out my old HiFi Boxer fan I used to use for my old R71a and placed it at the right-side toward the front. It apparently draws just enough heat out through those few mount holes on the case's sides to reduce the temp of the case to about less than a third of what it was by feel. I have the fan right up against the case side with flow going away from the rig.
I run a fan on the R75 too and have for a while. That fan is at the rear-right of that rig and draws heat out through the jack openings-hey whatever works. Heat dissipation is a very subtle thing with these rigs. If you can find a way to get the trapped heat in there moving you got it made.
Heat aint good and Icom's heat tolerances notwithstanding, I figure it is a good thing I'm doing.

 

[prcguy]

How are you powering your 8600? What voltage? Is it in the open or tucked into something restricting air flow? I'm using around 13.8v and mine runs warmer that ambient but not hot and its sitting out in the open.

 

[ridgescan]

How are you powering your 8600? What voltage? Is it in the open or tucked into something restricting air flow? I'm using around 13.8v and mine runs warmer that ambient but not hot and its sitting out in the open.

Astron RS-4A, 13.8V/3Amps. Maybe I shouldn't have said "hot" but "too warm" would better describe it.
If 0 is cool and 10 is hot-to-touch, before fan I put general case at 6 and right-side of case at 7. After fan, entire case including right-side is now 3. Significantly cooler
Radio is out in the open. My BC785D is resting on top of R8600 furthest to the rear and with kickstand up fully exposing the "cooling vent" so virtually no blockage.

 

[AOR-262]

I use my R8600 daily. It's either static on a particular frequency or Scanning the memory channels. My R8600 is barely warm. An ice cube would take ages to melt if placed on the top of the case. Just out of curiosity, not the best way to measure the temperature but I placed a thermometer onto of the case. It's been there for several hours and not moved from its current reading.

 

[prcguy]

I turned my 8600 on this morning and will let it run for a few hours before I take a case temp reading with an IR thermometer. I'll post the temp and operating voltage later today. Meanwhile ridge can lower the voltage on his Astron to maybe 12.5v and that will definitely make his 8600 run cooler.

 

[ridgescan]

I turned my 8600 on this morning and will let it run for a few hours before I take a case temp reading with an IR thermometer. I'll post the temp and operating voltage later today. Meanwhile ridge can lower the voltage on his Astron to maybe 12.5v and that will definitely make his 8600 run cooler.

How do I do that? The Astron only came with a schematic but is there a thing in there where I can adjust voltage?

 

[ridgescan]

I use my R8600 daily. It's either static on a particular frequency or Scanning the memory channels. My R8600 is barely warm. An ice cube would take ages to melt if placed on the top of the case. Just out of curiosity, not the best way to measure the temperature but I placed a thermometer onto of the case. It's been there for several hours and not moved from its current reading.

I can't explain the difference between mine and yours but I've read around a little and mine's not the only heat complaint.

 

[AOR-262]

I can't explain the difference between mine and yours but I've read around a little and mine's not the only heat complaint.

@ridgescan

Since replying to your message earlier my R8600 hasn't stopped running a memory scan of several memory Groups ... so it's been working if you want to call it that. Just placed my hand on the top cover and exactly the same as I mentioned earlier ... the top cover and also the sides of the case is barely warm.

 

[ridgescan]

@ridgescan

Since replying to your message earlier my R8600 hasn't stopped running a memory scan of several memory Groups ... so it's been working if you want to call it that. Just placed my hand on the top cover and exactly the same as I mentioned earlier ... the top cover and also the sides of the case is barely warm.

I wonder if the fact that my primary listening is on HF which means constant audio, whereas you're "scanning" which means occasional audio. This makes me think that maybe heat might increase with the frequency of audio output. I don't know. But I gave a pretty accurate description of heat with mine in post #3.

 

[AOR-262]

I wonder if the fact that my primary listening is on HF which means constant audio, whereas you're "scanning" which means occasional audio. This makes me think that maybe heat might increase with the frequency of audio output. I don't know. But I gave a pretty accurate description of heat with mine in post #3.

@ridgescan

After reading your reply I tuned my R8600 to 0.252 kHz AM (unless the station name has changed, I still refer to that frequency as Atlantic 252). The volume was set at 20 -- and left the receiver play music to itself for just over 2.5 hours. I also hit the Record Audio option as to have the R8600 record as well as receive -- make it work that little bit harder. Not finished yet ... I also set one of my memory channels as a Priority ... checking every 5 seconds for activity on that frequency. Result = a barely slight increase in the touch of the top case temperature. Hardly anything. Wouldn't even bother putting my hands on the top case to warm them up if my hands were froze from the cold. Can't think why ... or what you're doing to be concerned about the case temperature ... is it wrapped in thick insulation?? (joke)

 

[prcguy]

My 8600 ran all day, around 8hrs on a UHF frequency with lots of traffic and the volume was set very low. Probing with a Seek thermal camera the hottest spot on the back panel is 93F. Both sides had some heat peaking round 91F and the top was cooler than the sides. The ambient temp in the radio room was about 65F most of the day, so parts of the radio case reached about 28deg above ambient. Operating voltage is 14.1V, which was higher than I expected.

 

[ridgescan]

@ridgescan

After reading your reply I tuned my R8600 to 0.252 kHz AM (unless the station name has changed, I still refer to that frequency as Atlantic 252). The volume was set at 20 -- and left the receiver play music to itself for just over 2.5 hours. I also hit the Record Audio option as to have the R8600 record as well as receive -- make it work that little bit harder. Not finished yet ... I also set one of my memory channels as a Priority ... checking every 5 seconds for activity on that frequency. Result = a barely slight increase in the touch of the top case temperature. Hardly anything. Wouldn't even bother putting my hands on the top case to warm them up if my hands were froze from the cold. Can't think why ... or what you're doing to be concerned about the case temperature ... is it wrapped in thick insulation?? (joke)

Yeah-tin foil

 

[ridgescan]

My 8600 ran all day, around 8hrs on a UHF frequency with lots of traffic and the volume was set very low. Probing with a Seek thermal camera the hottest spot on the back panel is 93F. Both sides had some heat peaking round 91F and the top was cooler than the sides. The ambient temp in the radio room was about 65F most of the day, so parts of the radio case reached about 28deg above ambient. Operating voltage is 14.1V, which was higher than I expected.

So do you figure that's kinda "too warm"? If it's registering at 91Fto 93F on the case surface, what do you think it is inside the rig? And again, what ya think about my question to you about adjusting voltage in my power supply?

 

[ridgescan]

The manual states that the operating ambient temp should be between 40F-140F. My shack is between 68F-75F depending. I practice a sort of "hippocratic oath" with my radios which is to keep them as comfortable as possible. So the fan stays

 

[prcguy]

I think its very cold for what it is. When I put my hand in the hottest measured areas I can barley feel any heat. If my ambient temp was say 90F then I would expect the case to be around 118F and that would be a little more noticeable. I think the hottest point I measured was from a case mounted regulator or similar as it showed up as a square spot on the thermal camera.

Update: I just added a thermal pic of the rear panel after about 12hrs on. You can see a little square spot in the middle left that is the 95F area and I think that's the I/Q USB out jack. The thin dark lines running at an angle are various cables attached to the back panel.

So do you figure that's kinda "too warm"? If it's registering at 91Fto 93F on the case surface, what do you think it is inside the rig? And again, what ya think about my question to you about adjusting voltage in my power supply?

 

[escortz28]

Hi - have you operated and observed the temperature without the BC785D on top? Even minimal blockage as you indicated still can have an adverse impact on the air flow/heat dissipation over a given period of time.

 

[ridgescan]

Hi - have you operated and observed the temperature without the BC785D on top? Even minimal blockage as you indicated still can have an adverse impact on the air flow/heat dissipation over a given period of time.

Yes when I first bought it in August last year the scanner was along side the R8600 and the R8600's case ran just as hot as now when the scanner's atop it. The box fan's really bringing the case temp down and I think that is a good thing.
I just wanted to make this thread for those R8600 owners who may be concerned about the heat, to tell them a fan at the right side front of the case is helping mine. It seems the right side is where a lot of heat is being generated from.


prcguy thanks for all your effort there
I gotta look at how to get in there and possibly adjust the voltage on the Astron.

 

[nanZor]

Ridge - about the Astron 4A ....

With a rig like the 8600, I'd be very tempted to upgrade to the 7A at least to get the overvoltage crowbar protection that the 4A doesn't have. Ie, if it goes overvoltage, someone throws a "virtual crowbar" inside it to make it immediately short itself out and trip.

And generally, I go very conservative with the continuous current rating, keeping overall current to 1/4th the case rating. Ie, for a 4A, I'd never run more than 1A continous - even though they say 3 - just to keep the heat down so it will run for 35 years. I don't know if you are running more than the 8600 on the 4A, but just words to the wise.

And of course, once in a blue moon, turn the supply off for 5 minutes or so, just so the caps stay healthy getting a discharge once in awhile. No set schedule for doing this, just maybe at the minimum once a year ....

 

[ridgescan]

Ridge - about the Astron 4A ....

With a rig like the 8600, I'd be very tempted to upgrade to the 7A at least to get the overvoltage crowbar protection that the 4A doesn't have. Ie, if it goes overvoltage, someone throws a "virtual crowbar" inside it to make it immediately short itself out and trip.

And generally, I go very conservative with the continuous current rating, keeping overall current to 1/4th the case rating. Ie, for a 4A, I'd never run more than 1A continous - even though they say 3 - just to keep the heat down so it will run for 35 years. I don't know if you are running more than the 8600 on the 4A, but just words to the wise.

And of course, once in a blue moon, turn the supply off for 5 minutes or so, just so the caps stay healthy getting a discharge once in awhile. No set schedule for doing this, just maybe at the minimum once a year ....

When I went to HRO Oakland and bought the rig the guy there went and grabbed me this 4A off the shelf, me not giving thought to stuff like what you said. So yeah, I may just do an Oakland run soon and get the 7A.
Also, I'm in the habit of turning off the power supply every time after turning off the rig. Do folks actually leave their supplies on all the time? I've heard this before. I myself don't feel comfortable with that. But the irony that I have no qualms about all the wallwarts around here staying plugged in is strange.

 

[swman]

You may wish to consider the even larger RS-12A (the next model up). After some hours of operation with the IC-R8600 (at 12.2 volt setting) the larger 12A's rear heatsink can still be touched (so be it on the very warm side). It also uses 2 pass transistors (instead of just one).

see : N9EWO Review : Icom IC-R8600 SDR Receiver