The Mobius & Heat Issues

[rmurphy]

That opens up a lot more options for me.

So glad that helped. I believe the change went into affect (effect? I can never get that one straight) in 2009. What a hassle before. Freaking beanbags... Sheesh.

If only the UK laws followed the same common sense.

Mark this day in history! Gotta be the first time I've ever heard anyone call a California law one that has common sense. We are so used to getting bashed on for "nanny" laws and whatnot that it's refreshing to see someone actually appreciate something I happen to think the powers-that-be got right for a change!

 

[sludgeguts]

So glad that helped. I believe the change went into affect (effect? I can never get that one straight) in 2009. What a hassle before. Freaking beanbags... Sheesh.



Mark this day in history! Gotta be the first time I've ever heard anyone call a California law one that has common sense. We are so used to getting bashed on for "nanny" laws and whatnot that it's refreshing to see someone actually appreciate something I happen to think the powers-that-be got right for a change!

Indeed, it's not often many of us actually say that those in power have done something useful (aside from hand in their resignation!).
From my point of view, there are two ways of looking at this.
Anything that we, as motorists, attach to the dash/screen should not restrict our view of the road anymore than it already is. - So, from a driver's perspective, it should be OK to sit a satnav ON the dash whereby the background would be your bonnet (hood). As soon as it starts to appear above this line - it's illegal.
By the same token, anything mounted at the top of the screen should also not impede our view ahead - the screen for my reversing cam is mounted above my mirror, where the only background is those black dots, tax discs are generally mounted right at the side of the screen & low to the dash.
The problem with this scenario is, as we are all different sizes, our viewpoint changes immensly. I'm tall, so I can see all of my bonnet, but my view of the instrument panel is very restricted by the steering wheel. A shorter person will have problems seeing the bonnet but a great view of the instruments!

The second way of looking at this is for auto manufacturers to start making cars with useful storage. If you were to remove your dashboard, you'd most likely be amazed at just how much empty space there is under there.
Aside from the vent pipes & wiring looms, there really is very little else. So why not create small, lockable, storage spaces - and maybe include a 12v socket and USB socket in some.
This way, you can have a phone in there on charge as well as a satnav in another, on charge - nothing stuck to the screen at all. And when you lock the car, these could auto close & lock?
I have noticed that some modern cars now have a display that flips up in the middle of the dash, usually these are the built-in satnavs. Manufacturers really should let people buy whatever satnav they like & save that space for us to plug them in.

 

[Usually Unfocused]

Are the two heatsinks through the case at the same potential? In other words, is it safe to short them together with a common added heatsink?

I have lots of heat sink material here, but think I'll need to buy and trim down one of the special conductive pads used atop CPU's to affix it in place.

 

[BobDiaz]

Are the two heatsinks through the case at the same potential? In other words, is it safe to short them together with a common added heatsink?

I have lots of heat sink material here, but think I'll need to buy and trim down one of the special conductive pads used atop CPU's to affix it in place.

I tried to find the image of the heat sink inside the camera, as I recall it was one solid metal heatsink, but I couldn't find the image.

However, I did find this thread from another forum:

http://www.radardetectorforum.org/showthread.php?t=27844

Of interest is this user's mod:

The user does not report any problem with any shorts.

 

[jokiin]

a 1080p hedgehog

 

[Dashmellow]

In looking around for a suitable heat sink to install on my Mobius that is the very one I found that looked like the best candidate. Thanks for posting that photo so we can see what it actually looks like on an installation.
If anyone is interested in ordering these, they are available at $2.40 USD for 8 of them from DealExtreme SKU: 35816. A search for "heat sinks" on DX will turn up a nice selection of small heat sinks that might also work well on a Mobius.

 

[Necromancer]

I got a thermometer to accurately measure the temperature of the heatsink.
I was measuring it under the same "normal" conditions im driving it, didn't try to "stress test" it.
That means when its hot the A/C is working, and its pointed at me, not at the camera.
The temp in the car was 30C (small car, the A/C can barely keep up) and the highest reading i got was 65C
since then the temperatures outside dropped significantly and i didn't even come close to it, so i put on hold any more measuring, tracking and solutions til summer.

i have ordered Arctic thermal adhesive and a bunch of heatsinks 1.1cm x 1.1cm
https://www.ebay.com/itm/160952712468 Im pretty sure its possible to put up to 4 of these (2 on each plate) on the Mobius.

After establishing a picture of the highest reading with the stock heatsink, i was going to attach just one on one of the mobius plates, and see by how much the temperature drops to assess its effectiveness. If its still high, i would attach another one and see how high it gets with 2. Only then i would glue it permanently.
My guess is that just one would suffice, since it does added a lot of surface area (taking into account the Mobius flat heatsink aren't bad - they do work under developers limits even if its pretty hot).

But as i said, everything is postponed until summer.

 

[Usually Unfocused]

I just ran a 10 hour test in time-lapse mode, with an interval of 2 sec.
18,421 jpgs, 18GB. ~20C room

The heatsink was barely warm to the touch.

 

[BobDiaz]

I just ran a 10 hour test in time-lapse mode, with an interval of 2 sec.
18,421 jpgs, 18GB. ~20C room

The heatsink was barely warm to the touch.

CMOS chips consume lots more power when the gates change state. IF the chip is static and nothing changes state, the chip consumes very little power. Subject to how it's designed, if the circuit goes into lower clock speed or "sleep" between shots, this will really reduce power consumption. There is the possibility that for still shots, part of the circuit is shut down. After all, the MPEG-4 encoder isn't being used for JPEG photos.

 

[Usually Unfocused]

Nod, I just wanted to put that datapoint out there in case anyone else was wondering.
Was curious about input power consumption, but I found a mention that it draws ~250mA while on and idle, and less than double that at full bore; so I'll SWAG an average of 300 mA for my time-lapse project. Suppose I could run test at 1 fps and 1 fpm and crudely compare...but really would need a mWH meter....

 

[Mtz]

from DealExtreme

Take care with dx.com. Is very possible to wait 2 months to receive your orders. My suggestion is to go in some local electronic shop with the Mobius in hand and find your heatsink.
When I have ebay or aliexpress available I will never buy again from dealextreme. Two months of waiting for a piece of... $25 was enough for me. No more dx, ever.

enjoy,
Mtz

PS: I hope to not transform this dread in "dx OK or not" because some lucky users received the orders in 2-3 weeks.

 

[jokiin]

I've had mixed experience with DX, not too bad, Australia must be a good market for them though as they've opened a warehouse there now

 

[Mtz]

Regarding Mobius cooling I have another idea: use the "radar detector mount style" something like this but the metallic part of the mount to be in contact with the Mobius heatsink. The bigger the mount the bigger area surface for cooling. To protect the mobius from scratches just cover the top case with black electrical tape except the heatsink.



Of course is the Mobius was created with this idea in mind the radar detector mount could be in contact with the heatsink in other way, almost the same style like for radar detectors but the mount to be in better contact with the heatsink.

enjoy,
Mtz

 

[Dashmellow]

Take care with dx.com. Is very possible to wait 2 months to receive your orders. My suggestion is to go in some local electronic shop with the Mobius in hand and find your heatsink.
When I have ebay or aliexpress available I will never buy again from dealextreme. Two months of waiting for a piece of... $25 was enough for me. No more dx, ever.

enjoy,
Mtz

PS: I hope to not transform this dread in "dx OK or not" because some lucky users received the orders in 2-3 weeks.

I've ordered quite a few times from DX over the last several years and on average parcels arrive in about three weeks. Perhaps it is because I am in the Northeastern US. All in all, my experience with DX has been positive and they even "promptly" replaced two different items that arrived damaged. They have some good deals on some items you don't always see everywhere. Still, Mtz makes a good point about Dealextreme and you have to buy from them knowing what you are signing up for and sometimes you need the patience of a Saint.

Anyway, my original post was more about the particular heat sink in the photo than about DX. I would love to hear more from folks who install heat sinks on the Mobius

 

[murcod]

I've installed some heatsinks - from DX (no complaints from me about them, but the odd delivery has taken 3wks+; they're excellent for returning non functioning items).



It's interesting to watch that Youtube video of the dead Mobius case being warped. That would result in the heat pad losing contact with the IC generating all the heat- certain death! I also noticed the other day that the Mobius in my wife's car appeared to have some warping around the heatsink, but didn't think much of it at the time. Her vehicle is out in the sun a lot and gets driven around for work.

I wonder if cutting a hole in the case (removing the stock heatsink completely) and attaching a decent heatsink direct to the IC would be the best solution? It would certainly give the best heat transfer.

 

[murcod]

Of interest is this user's mod:

The user does not report any problem with any shorts.

The Mobius' two visible external heat sinks are joined together by some sort of aluminium foil type layer inside the case. So, they're most likely electrically joined/ commoned. There's also no visible electrical connection to the Mobius' electronics (there's an electrical insulating, thermally conductive pad between the plastic top of the IC and the heatsink's foil.)

I should have taken pics when I had mine apart today.

 

[bob price]

New user in very hot California. My Mobius heatsinks get too hot to even touch. Considered adding a sink but called SpyTec and they claim to have sold a great many cameras and very very rarely get one returned due to overheat failures. They say the camera is built to take heat. Ergo: I won't add a sink unless others here have had overheat failures.

Great forum--thanks

 

[Necromancer]

"Too hot to touch" is not a precise way to measure the temp. It gets too hot to touch at 50-55C, the camera can take a lot more then that.

 

[bob price]

"Too hot to touch" is not a precise way to measure the temp. It gets too hot to touch at 50-55C, the camera can take a lot more then that.

I know, but have no way to measure temps. I'm just recalling 30 years of building desktop computers, and this gets much hotter than anything I've seen in the past.
I don't want to add a sink, so will probably wait and see.

 

[murcod]

The heat sinks I added on were a preventative measure- there seem to be only a couple of documented heat failures (but a lot of talk about those couple of failures!) Heat is the major enemy of any electronic componentry, so the cooler you can keep any component, the longer it's life should be.

Where I live it can reach 45 C in summer- so if there are going to be heat related failures my odds of being a victim are pretty high. Summer will be here in a couple of months, time will tell. I've added the previous pictured heat sinks onto two of the three Mobius I own (the third is used as a rear facing camera and isn't exposed to direct sun.)