SDR Heat Sink

[rrobinso84]

One of my SDRs had been getting really hot left running 24x7. A few arcade tokens have helped keep it cooler and provide some needed support!
Anybody else got some solutions?

 

[a417]

pop the top, stick some of these on, and provide airflow.

 

[rrobinso84]

pop the top, stick some of these on, and provide airflow.

Nice! I'm sure they will work better! Thanks!!!

 

[dave3825]

When I used to run my dongle off usb extension cables, they used to lay flat on my pc desk. I simply put a heat sink like this from I believe a pentium 2 on top.

 

[ewh01]

I put one of these on: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076YZMQR5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[vagrant]

I use 15 cm / 6” USB pigtails. It keeps the hot SDR away from a Pi, or whatever. The heatsinks help as well.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

One of my SDRs had been getting really hot left running 24x7. A few arcade tokens have helped keep it cooler and provide some needed support!
View attachment 137971Anybody else got some solutions?

It bugs me that designers totally ignore thermal requirements in some effort to make a product small or cheap. It is like they are ignoring laws of thermodynamics. If they ignore those, what else have they ignored? I once bought a ROKU for my TV. It burned up in two days because it got too hot. It was housed in a plastic "hockey puck" without any vents or external radiators.

 

[chrismol1]

I pulled apart an old piece of computer equipment and removing a few heatsinks from the board and they lay nicely on top and bottom of my SDR, now its completely cool to the touch. These things cook without it. I remember my old nooelec that died, I said to self this doesn't seem good for something to run that hot that it burns

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

I am used to having commercial gear that operates, within specs -30 to +60 C and is survivable to +70 C. Stuff today gets wrecked if they are in a +45 C environment.

 

[Danny37]

I used a m.2 ssd drive thermal heat sink on mines. It doesn't run as hot as before

 

[maus92]

It bugs me that designers totally ignore thermal requirements in some effort to make a product small or cheap. It is like they are ignoring laws of thermodynamics. If they ignore those, what else have they ignored? I once bought a ROKU for my TV. It burned up in two days because it got too hot. It was housed in a plastic "hockey puck" without any vents or external radiators.

Nooelec puts a piece of heat transfer pad on top of their circuitry to contact with its metal case. At least it's an attempt to shunt the heat to the atmosphere.

 

[rrobinso84]

Nooelec puts a piece of heat transfer pad on top of their circuitry to contact with its metal case. At least it's an attempt to shunt the heat to the atmosphere.

Good to know. I'll mount an external heat sink to the case to replace the arcade tokens (I need those anyway).

 

[iMONITOR]

Sit a ice cold can of beer on it in an emergency!

 

[a417]

Good to know. I'll mount an external heat sink to the case to replace the arcade tokens (I need those anyway).

They work best if you remove the PCB from the case, and then apply the heatsink to the actual chips.

 

[iMONITOR]

Hot PC Laptop CPU VGA Video Card 55mm Cooler Cooling Fan Heatsink

$2.92 + .96 shipping!

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[StoliRaz]

It bugs me that designers totally ignore thermal requirements in some effort to make a product small or cheap. It is like they are ignoring laws of thermodynamics. If they ignore those, what else have they ignored? I once bought a ROKU for my TV. It burned up in two days because it got too hot. It was housed in a plastic "hockey puck" without any vents or external radiators.

I cut the cord and got my first Roku over 10 years ago. I've been through many of them and I noticed they get pretty warm when in use but haven't had one burn out on me. I just got another RTL-SDR and the instructions packed with it actually warn the user that it gets warm because the body itself is used as a heatsink. I always worry about the thing catching fire, enough that I have concerns about using one for an unattended stream.

 

[vagrant]

@StoliRaz - I use two SDR USB dongles 24/7 to feed APRS and ADS-B data. They are slightly warm using the pigtails I noted above. They have been in use for years.

 

[K5MPH]

Put a small 5 inch fan on it,you can buy them a walmart for 5dollars they plug into your USB port for power.........

 

[dave3825]

Hot PC Laptop CPU VGA Video Card 55mm Cooler Cooling Fan Heatsink

Put a small 5 inch fan on it,you can buy them a walmart for 5dollars they plug into your USB port for power.........

For my needs a heavy heat sink has always worked good. Not sure I would put a DC motor thats notorious for creating RFI anywhere near my dongle

 

[iMONITOR]

Not sure I would put a DC motor thats notorious for creating RFI anywhere near my dongle

These types of cooling fans on heat sinks are brush less so they shouldn't generate any RFI.