Some photos of my RTL-SDR and its melted chips for your amusement. Request for cooling advice please.

[nexusjuan]

So this is the result of approximately 4 weeks of continuous monitoring of a P25 system using DSDplus FL. I have another one that looks just like it. They are still recognized but have lost the gain function and only display static.



This is a device I bought that has two RTL-SDRs inside of it and a y splitter for the antenna. I'm attempting to use it to monitor the same systems and it works great. However after only a short amount of time it the SDRs and case start to get quite hot. I removed the cover and added a PC case fan I have attached to the red and black wires of a USB cable. It's still getting too hot and causing errors in DSDplus it still functions but the status screen shows a smattering of errors. What sort of heat sink or thermal pads etc should I use? I'm thinking of adding 2 more sdrs to the case if I can get the cooling under control. Having it all in a case attached to a USB hub makes it really convenient to throw in the car with my laptop for a little wardriving.

 

[a417]

Someone thought it was a good idea to jam cheap components into a cheap case, and cheap out on cooling. What are the odds?

Get a kit like this, from the usual scumbags, find which ones fit on the hot chips...press and pray, and then point a fan at it. Do you have one of those cheap IR thermometers?

 

[PDXh0b0]

If you keep the case, airflow...fan blows in, that air needs venting to blow out. I would go with rtl-sdr blog v3 or nooelec.

That case looks like an oven, once electronics go past their temp threshold, there's no going back.

Thing about those ebay Dual sdrs, all told that's about $20 off aliexpress ,,cheaper in bulk...they charge like $60 ?

Get that ebay refund, get two Nooelec v5's , usb hub, two 10ft usb extension cables, couple f-type to sma adapters, some quad shield rg6 and make a 1/4 wave ground plane antenna

1/4 Wave Ground Plane Antenna Calculator – M0UKD – Amateur Radio Blog

 

[nexusjuan]

If you keep the case, airflow...fan blows in, that air needs venting to blow out. I would go with rtl-sdr blog v3 or nooelec.

That case looks like an oven, once electronics go past their temp threshold, there's no going back.

Thing about those ebay Dual sdrs, all told that's about $20 off aliexpress ,,cheaper in bulk...they charge like $60 ?

Get that ebay refund, get two Nooelec v5's , usb hub, two 10ft usb extension cables, couple f-type to sma adapters, some quad shield rg6 and make a 1/4 wave ground plane antenna

1/4 Wave Ground Plane Antenna Calculator – M0UKD – Amateur Radio Blog

I had one of the NooElec Smartee v2 when they came out probably 8-10 years ago. It eventually failed it would also get very hot in its tiny metal case with no airflow. The V5 is on my wishlist, but I also want a HackRF one. I think for continuous monitoring whatever sdr I'm going to go with is going to need to be cooled they just get hot under constant load. I expect this to be a bit torturous for the hardware which is why I'm using cheap dongles. For this project I'm going with the $10 dongles and plan to shoehorn two more in and add a fan and some stick on heat sinks. I like the idea of it all being in a compact unit that I can throw in my bag with my laptop and attach to a prexisting antenna on my car. I'm just experimenting. I'm getting good reception with the current splitter I do have it attached to a magnetic whip antenna on the roof of my house approx 25ft in the air. Could you recommend a better solution for splitting the antenna?

 

[HiddenLefty]

Have you seen my ghetto SDR heatsink setup?

Ghetto SDR Setup

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[nexusjuan]

Have you seen my ghetto SDR heatsink setup?

Ghetto SDR Setup

Discover the magic of the internet at Imgur, a community powered entertainment destination. Lift your spirits with funny jokes, trending memes, entertaining gifs, inspiring stories, viral videos, and so much more from users like L31FY.

imgur.io

That is something else. What SDRs are those and what was the use case and did the heat sinks solve the issue you were experiencing?

 

[aRBemo58]

I have had both NooElec and RTL-SDRs run continuously with no issues in their original cases (those cases disperse heat quite well). DO not plug them directly into a computer or laptop bt use short USB extensions as on alaptop the fan will blow its cooling heat straight at them. I thing you bought a real puppy there!

 

[chrismol1]

I've had older nooelecs die on me around a year before I put heat sinks on them. I think the RTL-SDR blog have that tad bit more surface area to dissipate heat better, but still hot. What I do is have 2 heat sinks on both sides on an sdr, the same length and a little over width of the SDRs and that makes them completely cool to the touch. I use heat sinks thats 3 inches long by 2inches wide that are sandwiched stickied to the sdr. The height on the heat sink is 1/2 inch. I find that size perfect to keep them cool to the touch.

 

[PDXh0b0]

I had one of the NooElec Smartee v2 when they came out probably 8-10 years ago. It eventually failed it would also get very hot in its tiny metal case with no airflow. The V5 is on my wishlist, but I also want a HackRF one. I think for continuous monitoring whatever sdr I'm going to go with is going to need to be cooled they just get hot under constant load. I expect this to be a bit torturous for the hardware which is why I'm using cheap dongles. For this project I'm going with the $10 dongles and plan to shoehorn two more in and add a fan and some stick on heat sinks. I like the idea of it all being in a compact unit that I can throw in my bag with my laptop and attach to a prexisting antenna on my car. I'm just experimenting. I'm getting good reception with the current splitter I do have it attached to a magnetic whip antenna on the roof of my house approx 25ft in the air. Could you recommend a better solution for splitting the antenna?

If it is a strong signal, you could get away with a cable TV Splitter, the case is fine, heat sinks dissipate the heat, but that heat still needs an escape, a 10mm fan on each mind suffice.(one blowing in,other blowing out) I've used old psu cases, heat sinks from recycled surround sound units. The rtl-sdr blog & nooelec dongles dissipate the heat fine, they just need the ambient space for the heat to release into(this is where small fans help) if you had multiple dongles plugged into a usb hub in a room that had some air exchange they would be fine, in a room with no air exchange and a high ambient temp, something is going to over heat😉

 

[DS506]

I have 6 RTL-SDR and one airspy dongle on a rack cut out of PVC pipe. They are spaced about 3/4 inch apart. The whole thing sits on top of a laptop cooling fan. USB extensions running to a hub with individual switches so I can activate only the SDR's I want. I do not run them 24/7. Longest has probably been a week.

 

[CanesFan95]

Have you seen my ghetto SDR heatsink setup?

Ghetto SDR Setup

Discover the magic of the internet at Imgur, a community powered entertainment destination. Lift your spirits with funny jokes, trending memes, entertaining gifs, inspiring stories, viral videos, and so much more from users like L31FY.

imgur.io

Did you goop 'em?

 

[Jphila20]

It may not be much, but it works.

 

[Indianabrad]

I made this cooler for my 5 Nooelec array. It has "sheeted heat transfer material for electronics" between the SDRs & sinks. When SDRTrunk gets real busy with comms, you can put you hand at the end of the sinks & feel the hot air coming of them. The whole thing is held together with a slip tie and I had the sinks in a junk box. The fan is powered by an old wall wart wired directly to it. ... I never throw anything electronics related away & having been a PC tech for 27+ yrs, I have lots of useful stuff in boxes.

 

[HiddenLefty]

That is something else. What SDRs are those and what was the use case and did the heat sinks solve the issue you were experiencing?

They're the RTL-SDR and when you have an average ambient temperature of about 80 then things begin hot. It's about all I knew to do plus point the room fan that way. It looks ugly but it made them not scorch me to touch anymore after running at least several hours. They're supposed to get warm, not burn you, and I felt I was leaning too close to that end of the spectrum beforehand. The heatsinks were free thanks to several old computers via the CPU and North/South bridges. Can't imagine what you'd pay for a chunk like that. Scrapping out old things for heatsinks is almost exciting these days.

 

[nexusjuan]

I made this cooler for my 5 Nooelec array. It has "sheeted heat transfer material for electronics" between the SDRs & sinks. When SDRTrunk gets real busy with comms, you can put you hand at the end of the sinks & feel the hot air coming of them. The whole thing is held together with a slip tie and I had the sinks in a junk box. The fan is powered by an old wall wart wired directly to it. ... I never throw anything electronics related away & having been a PC tech for 27+ yrs, I have lots of useful stuff in boxes.

Thats pretty sharp what are you powering the fan with? I'm using usb to power a cpu fan and it's really not pushing enough air. I ordered the kit of stick on heatsinks someone posted earlier in the thread and 2 more dongles I plan on putting 4 total in the case. I'll post some pics when I get it all together.

 

[Indianabrad]

what are you powering the fan with?

This is literally taken from my post above "The fan is powered by an old wall wart wired directly to it." Which is an old 12VDC power adapter that I cut the plug off of & wired it to the fan wires. I get plenty of juice for the fan, since the adapter puts out the fan's native power of 12 volts.

 

[nexusjuan]

This is literally taken from my post above "The fan is powered by an old wall wart wired directly to it." Which is an old 12VDC power adapter that I cut the pulg off of & wired it to the fan wires. I get plenty of juice for the fan, since the adapter puts out the fan's native power.

I missed that, that makes sense. The project I pulled the fan from was using a wall wart to power it (space bucket).

 

[dave3825]

think for continuous monitoring whatever sdr I'm going to go with is going to need to be cooled they just get hot under constant load.

I have been running 2 NooElec for 6 months 24/7 and they get warm but that's about it. No cooling at all.

 

[RaleighGuy]

I have 5 NooElec minis, that came with heat sink, three run 24/7 for my Calls Platform feed and haven't had any issues with excessive heat.

As a side note, looking at the very top pic, I notice what appears to be a 2018 date, 5 years ago technology wasn't as good as today and no telling what else may have caused issues over that time frame. Even the second one shows what looks like 2021, and they don't look like the newer or better quality version dongles.

 

[vagrant]

I have the same as aRBemo58 and they have been in use 24/7 for several years to handle APRS and ADS-B stuff. The important thing to note is I did the same and use short USB extension cables to get the dongle away from the PC, or Raspberry Pi, etc. Once I did that the dongles went from hot to warm-ish. No fan, nor heatsink are being used.

I have had both NooElec and RTL-SDRs run continuously with no issues in their original cases (those cases disperse heat quite well). DO not plug them directly into a computer or laptop bt use short USB extensions as on alaptop the fan will blow its cooling heat straight at them. I thing you bought a real puppy there!