GoPro Heat

[Nick F]

But if the issue was related to the Solo charging the gopro with a wrong voltage, the heat should be present even if the camera is off as the drone would keep on charging it anyway.
Instead the temperature rises only with the gopro on (even not filming )....
Probably thé problem is elsewhere...

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

But if the issue was related to the Solo charging the gopro with a wrong voltage, the heat should be present even if the camera is off as the drone would keep on charging it anyway.
Instead the temperature rises only with the gopro on (even not filming )....
Probably thé problem is elsewhere...

Again, there are two different power inputs. One for charging and power, and one only for power without charging. How the firmware is choosing to apply power to either or both of those is likely behind the heat problems.

 

[Nick F]

together with the log concerning my last flight where my Solo tried to "run away", I reported to 3DR the heat problem issue with 2.4 Firmare installed (Android).
Let's see what they come up with... how long do they taker to answer?
I sent my report a couple of days ago already.
Thanks!

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

Contact them via chat on the website. That will speed up them responding to your ticket.

 

[SPP]

Here is some preliminary test.
I have not touch the gimbal wiring yet.

I want to log heat value first , so when and if I can roll back SOLO to 2.3.0, we have a reference.




CAMERAS STAND BY ONLY




RECORDING & Stand-by




Next test will be to use a Hero4 LCD bacpac rear door, to cover the back portion of Black4, to simulate heat trap by the gimbal.
We can not discount the fact that the rear part of the Black4 is a cooling radiator. I dismantled a Black4 before, and it has extra cooling metal at the very back of it, albeit its casing is plastic. So aside from potential heat caused by our suspect, which is the Solo injecting some sort of power...we must also calculate loss of cooling efficiency if on the gimbal.


AMMEND-above photo taken 11:41:11sec as EXIF shows....LOL
Use the EXIF to show how many minutes passed since test stop and thermal photo taken.


At a mere 5 KM/H of wind, 1.389 meter per second, at 28C ambient temperature, my Black4 can record non stop till battery dead ( 77 minutes approx ) and do not overheat, but is at 56 Celcius easy.. This is why when flying, the Black4 is not likely to overheat.

For information only purpose, the ESC even not working or pumping power to motors, is still generating heat.


Motor PODS, left side



Motor PODS, right side



SOLO HOT SPOTS



Ignore relative humidity data and reflective apparent temperature. Too lazy to alter them to actual.
It makes 0.2C difference only at best.

My Flir/Exctech 5 is not very high resolution. Its ony 120 x 90 IR Resolution. So a closer object to thermal sensor is more accurate.
Well its not bad, been very helpful.

End of test for now

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

If I remember later, I will see what my 4 black heats up to on mine. I'm running 2.3 still. I have an infrared gun to check it with, no fancy FLIR gear

 

[SPP]

Hi P2P, infra red gun is good enough. What you need to do is to make sure its laser pointer dot is accurate to sensor, often it is not if the target is as small as GoPro lens holder, which is also the cooling radiator.
U notice I always place sensing recticle on that point near the lens, that is the hottest spot to read.

I think if we test on a soldering iron small tip of say 3mm tip, we can figure out where the laser dot is off, if it is off .
Distance to spot ratio for infra red is another thing to watch.
By scanning a bit left right and keeping the infrared say 10 cm close to target, you will get the hottest spot for sure.
I had hardtime trying to accurately find the real hot spot if using infrared unless I get real close, if target is small, even with lock feature of highest temp recorded. I think my infrared laser dot is way off.

Do let me know the ambient temperature when you do your test, so we can track temperature rise.
I never test in ambient condition cooler than 26C, but I think the temp rise would be the same, if apple to apple condition.

thanks

 

[ChrisBird]

Hi P2P, infra red gun is good enough. What you need to do is to make sure its laser pointer dot is accurate to sensor, often it is not if the target is as small as GoPro lens holder, which is also the cooling radiator.
U notice I always place sensing recticle on that point near the lens, that is the hottest spot to read.

I think if we test on a soldering iron small tip of say 3mm tip, we can figure out where the laser dot is off, if it is off .
Distance to spot ratio for infra red is another thing to watch.
By scanning a bit left right and keeping the infrared say 10 cm close to target, you will get the hottest spot for sure.
I had hardtime trying to accurately find the real hot spot if using infrared unless I get real close, if target is small, even with lock feature of highest temp recorded. I think my infrared laser dot is way off.

Do let me know the ambient temperature when you do your test, so we can track temperature rise.
I never test in ambient condition cooler than 26C, but I think the temp rise would be the same, if apple to apple condition.

thanks

Pretty sure the heatsink in the gp4b is just below the lens holder, at that is where it was when i fitted my peau 3.97mm lens.... Runs horizontally across the case.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[ChrisBird]

Here is some preliminary test.
I have not touch the gimbal wiring yet.

I want to log heat value first , so when and if I can roll back SOLO to 2.3.0, we have a reference.

View attachment 3876


CAMERAS STAND BY ONLY
View attachment 3877



RECORDING & Stand-by
View attachment 3878



Next test will be to use a Hero4 LCD bacpac rear door, to cover the back portion of Black4, to simulate heat trap by the gimbal.
We can not discount the fact that the rear part of the Black4 is a cooling radiator. I dismantled a Black4 before, and it has extra cooling metal at the very back of it, albeit its casing is plastic. So aside from potential heat caused by our suspect, which is the Solo injecting some sort of power...we must also calculate loss of cooling efficiency if on the gimbal.

View attachment 3881
AMMEND-above photo taken 11:41:11sec as EXIF shows....LOL
Use the EXIF to show how many minutes passed since test stop and thermal photo taken.


At a mere 5 KM/H of wind, 1.389 meter per second, at 28C ambient temperature, my Black4 can record non stop till battery dead ( 77 minutes approx ) and do not overheat, but is at 56 Celcius easy.. This is why when flying, the Black4 is not likely to overheat.

For information only purpose, the ESC even not working or pumping power to motors, is still generating heat.


Motor PODS, left side
View attachment 3882


Motor PODS, right side
View attachment 3883


SOLO HOT SPOTS
View attachment 3884


Ignore relative humidity data and reflective apparent temperature. Too lazy to alter them to actual.
It makes 0.2C difference only at best.

My Flir/Exctech 5 is not very high resolution. Its ony 120 x 90 IR Resolution. So a closer object to thermal sensor is more accurate.
Well its not bad, been very helpful.

End of test for now

Good info. So seems the temps are as expected, its only 4 deg Celsius difference when in the gimbal. Not surprised as there will be little heat dissipation on the back.

Ive noticed the gp4b is warm when i touch it when it lands. The real heat was when i had the solo idle on the table, wasn't recording either. Got to hot to hold on to. I ended up pulling the gp4b battery which was just as hot.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[PdxSteve]

I'm amazed at how hot the h4b gets only just by turning it on and deleting a few files just on its own (no solo involved). It gets really warm instantly.

 

[SPP]

Pretty sure the heatsink in the gp4b is just below the lens holder, at that is where it was when i fitted my peau 3.97mm lens.... Runs horizontally across the case.

Yes, the whole front, if you remove the silver color thin plate of hero4, are all heat sink. Its metal plate.
Lens assy/barrel holder is linked to that front. Sorry, I often call it just lens barrel, actually its the cavity to place the lens barrel.
.

https://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfront.net/igi/T1ruXf2gMfmEc2Zg.huge


This is the metal front plate I speak of. Hero4 is near identical to this Black3 original in its cooling system

One thing I do not understand is, Black4 uses thin rubber gasket on that lens perimeter, while Silver4 does not. Use a toothpick and u can stretch the gasket a bit.

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

I measured the temperature in the same place you did. Between the lens and LCD screen.
Ambient temperature is 71F (21C).
GoPro battery was at 3.74 volts.
Gimbal power to camera checked and was within spec at 5.4 volts.

My results were essentially the same as yours. And I verified it was not charging the battery. The battery voltage had not changed, so it was neither charging or discharging when on the gimbal.

However I did one additional test. Sitting on the table connected to USB power, it did not get super hot like it did when on the gimbal. This perplexed me. How could it be be blazing hot while the gimbal powering it without even charging the battery... but plugged into USB with the battery charger, it didn't get hot. WTF I said.

Then it occurred to me.. what else is different? BOOM. The HDMI. So I put it back on the gimbal and left the HDMI unplugged this time. Guess what, no blazing hot torch of a camera. After 10 minutes, it was no different than when it was sitting on the table plugged into USB power. Then I plugged the HDMI back in, and it was ablaze again within a few minutes. Unplugged the HDMI, temperature dropped back down to normal. Plugged into the HDMI on my TV in the living room, running just on battery, temperature climbed up again.


All that extra heat is from the HDMI output doing it's thing. NOT from the power. Conclusion, there's nothing Solo/3DR can do about that. It's a GoPro design issue. People having overheats, it's your camera not disposing of the heat from the HDMI fast enough, probably combined with outdoor ambient temperature and direct sunlight.

 

[SPP]

Nice P2P !!, I will later test with & without HDMI too
I think it is not only about HDMI wire/plug blocking heat, its about video processing.
If HDMI is connected, video processing as in VIDEO SIGNAL OUT happens.
If no HDMI, video signal out processing does not happen.
Imagine our video graphic card , its there consuming power a bit when plugged into our PCIE lane , but it will work harder if a monitor is connected to it. What do u think ?

Since HDMI is the only high definition output, I guess it works harder than if an LCD BacPac ( non HD output ) is connected to it.
I have a GoPro original BacPac extension cable

I can test this condition like above with LCD BacPac connected via this extension wire, versus HDMI out.
Some extra warmth may happen to power up this LCD BacPac, but at least Black4 rear body cooling area is not blocked.

Thanks

 

[SPP]

Okey dokey.

Final test result
Indeed its it is video processing as the heat output cause

.



.



I guess we have so much time NOT flying Solo and worrying of 2.4.0 potential problem, we actually have more time to play with our Solo on the table, messing with it and assumed camera is hotter due to FW 2.4.0

Placebo effect ?

End of Test

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

Nice. I'd be out flying it, but the heat index is about 105 today. It is 70 in my house, I have netflix, and beer.

 

[SARDG]

Nice. I'd be out flying it, but the heat index is about 105 today. It is 70 in my house, I have netflix, and beer.

Best to fly inside, in front of the TV then!

 

[michel]

I have the same problems , my gopro is very hot and not acces to the complete Gopro setting

 

[SARDG]

I have the same problems , my gopro is very hot and not acces to the complete Gopro setting

What model GP?

 

[michel]

Gp 3+

 

[SARDG]

Gp 3+

GP3+ has limited 'Settings' access in the Solo App. You need to use a GPH4 Black for near-full-settings access. With GPH4B, the GP will (should) power up (and off) with the Solo and you can start and stop recordings from the App AND enjoy more remote menu settings.