I already had the thermal imaging camera out so I decided to get a comparison in running temps between the airspy mini and nooelec smart. The nooelec lana is barely warm to the touch.
Dongle Temperatures (thermal Imaging)
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I already had the thermal imaging camera out so I decided to get a comparison in running temps between the airspy mini and nooelec smart. The nooelec lana is barely warm to the touch.
That may or may not be a good thing. The question is, how hot are the chips inside the "cool" unit? They could either be melting because the heat is not being conducted away well, or cool because heat is being conducted away well and the heat sink (the case I take it) is big/designed well enough to dissipate it.
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Additionally one has to take into consideration the different infrared emisivity of the surfaces of both units. The thermal camera is only calibrated for one emisivity. And the bright reflection on the AirSpy might be from a hot light--if so, you are seeing its temperature. (One of the funny things is to watch someone trying to measure the temperature of their car by pointing at the window (they end up finding it the temperature of the cold sky overhead.) To eliminate such effects, the best thing to do is to make the measure with a piece of black electrical tape on both.
(I worked in the thermal camera R&D world.)
I just tried measuring both with an instant read thermocouple thermometer, and they read very close to the readings on the thermal.
I've seen some pretty erratic things looking at shiny chrome and aluminum. Good luck checking if your beer is cold. I have a Seek Thermal camera that hooks to a cell phone or tablet, comes in very handy checking old houses for heat losses.
I've seen some pretty erratic things looking at shiny chrome and aluminum. Good luck checking if your beer is cold. I have a Seek Thermal camera that hooks to a cell phone or tablet, comes in very handy checking old houses for heat losses.
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Look at a glass windshield on a car on a clear day for fun. I have a Chinese made stand alone thermal camera (looks like a flip phone) that was out before the Seek Thermal but used to work with ones so good that you and I cannot buy one. Did you note what temperatures that you saw?
I use an AirSpy II that has been on for months and is only slightly warm. My IC-R9500 receiver interestingly, like you and I, runs right around 98.6 F on the outside; and a board on it had to be replaced from heat over the years.
I use an AirSpy II that has been on for months and is only slightly warm. My IC-R9500 receiver interestingly, like you and I, runs right around 98.6 F on the outside; and a board on it had to be replaced from heat over the years.
iMONITOR
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Most chips are designed to tolerate heat. Have you ever felt the Processor(s) or memory modules in you computer?
slicerwizard
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A silver Nooelec NESDR SMArtee XTR draws 160 mA when it's sampling at 2.4 Msps.
An Airspy Mini draws 305 mA when it's sampling at 3 Msps. A higher operating temperature is to be expected.
An Airspy Mini draws 305 mA when it's sampling at 3 Msps. A higher operating temperature is to be expected.
lwvmobile
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Don't know if all silicon is made equal, but those temps seem fairly reasonable to me, my CPU idle temp is around 35C/95F and under load around 60C/140F, and my GPU can go up to 80C/176F before throttling back. Also, SBC computers like the Raspberry Pi are designed to run without heat sinks on them, and those get pretty high as well, as high as 85C before throttling or displaying the overheat warning.
I guess the real question is what is the temperature of the chips themselves and not the outer housing. Even a CPU Heatsink can be relatively cool to the touch in comparison to the heat coming from the die.
I guess the real question is what is the temperature of the chips themselves and not the outer housing. Even a CPU Heatsink can be relatively cool to the touch in comparison to the heat coming from the die.
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In the case of my R9500, keep in mind the 98.6 F was measured on the outside over a large area. That mean quite hot inside. I was told it was not designed to really be on continuously when it failed. It was actually the capacitors that died due to the heat of nearby components. (The R9500 does have a fan.)
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But it can damage other components like nearby electrolytic capacitors.
iMONITOR
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Most electrolytic capacitors are designed with a maximum rated ambient temperature of 105 °C = 221 °F.
iMONITOR
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I've never heard or read anything about a limited duty cycle on an ICOM IC-R9500. For what it cost that would be ridiculous and inexcusable! A lot of ICOM gear is notorious for running really hot. You could cook breakfast and keep your coffee hot on top of the old ICOM IC-R71 & IC-R7000 receivers!
prcguy
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If you look at the scale on the thermal image, ambient is around 78F and the components range from about 7 degrees to 20 degrees above ambient. That's what I would expect. Thermal cameras show heat or the infrared spectrum so there is no specific frequency its sensitive too, they just measure various ranges of heat.
The LNA looks to be about 7 degrees above ambient and its a low current device so that's about right. 97 to 98deg F is not out of line for the dongles and they would feel just warm to the touch.
The LNA looks to be about 7 degrees above ambient and its a low current device so that's about right. 97 to 98deg F is not out of line for the dongles and they would feel just warm to the touch.
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I was told it during the repair process but I did not like hearing that. There is no exact temperature at which heat becomes a problem but how long and how hot are the factors .
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iMONITOR
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Sounds like a design flaw to me. It's like when a salesperson tells me I need to buy an extended warranty on anything, I tell them they just talked me out of buying their product, it must be junk!
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Not sure how " no specific frequency its sensitive" came into this discussion but I am not sure what you mean by that as thermal cameras are generally either midwave (about 3-5 micron wavelength) or longwave (about 7- 12 micron wavelength). (These center around about 750000 GHz and about 320000 GHz.) The 5-7 micron gap is due to the fact that the earth's atmosphere does not pass well those wavelengths. So they are in actuality directional wideband receivers with graphic display *although no one refers to them as such*. (I worked a total of 23 years as a no specific frequency its sensitive
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I would call it reality.
What is that setup? 2 dongles hooked to 2 filters to an antenna?
- dc block - smart
FM broadcast filter - LNA - splitter -
airspy mini
Airspy mini is providing the bias tee power for the lna, hence the dc block to protect the smart, which I recently found out isn't necessary.
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