Caerus
Active Member
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2014
- Messages
- 186
- Reaction score
- 229
- Country
- Canada
- Dash Cam
- DCTeam, A118, A119S-V2
This probably isn't going to be super scientifically accurate, but interesting to try nonetheless. I wanted to test how much of a difference there was between operating temperatures of the stock 2.61 FW and the 27.5Mbit 2.60 FW from @gse. I may include the other Mods created by @BCHobbyist at another time. I chose the 27.5Mbit Mod FW to compare as it is currently the highest bitrate available to download here. It should theoretically make the camera output the most heat. Most likely, all of the others created will fit somewhere in between these two.
To eliminate (as best I could) anything that could affect the results, I had the camera set up in my house. I used an IR thermometer gun that I tested to be accurate. It was set to display the max temperature it could find. My house is set at 23°C. Keep in mind that the IR thermometer gun only records surface temperatures, so all of these temperatures recorded are from different areas on the outside housing of the camera. The internal temperature of the components will be higher. I'm uncertain by how much, but I didn't feel like taking apart the camera to start firing an IR gun at chips/components while it's running.
I had the camera about 1 foot away from a 55" TV, running the first 2 episodes of Planet Earth 2. This made sure that the TV took up the entire FOV of the camera. I figured I wanted to watch a good nature documentary, and it should give the full spectrum of colours and movement, instead of just staring statically out of a window or at a wall. This way it could also be repeated with both FW recording the same picture from the same location, for the same duration. The temperatures were recorded after the completion of the second episode, so basically after 2 hours of continuous recording. I thought that would be plenty of time for the camera to get to the max temperature and remain there.
The settings I used for both FW were the same as what I would use in my car. 1080p@60fps, WDR On, Frequency 60Hz, No CPL, EV 0.
These are the results:
Stock FW 2.61 Highest Temperatures
Right Side (Near power cable/AV jack) - 40.5°C
Left Side (Front portion, near screw/lens) - 44.6°C
Top (Middle of the vent grills) - 41.9°C
Bottom (top right corner on the LCD screen) - 51.9°C
Mod FW 2.60 (27.5Mbit) Highest Temperatures
Right Side (Near power cable/AV jack) - 41.4°C
Left Side (Front portion, near screw/lens) - 45.1°C
Top (Middle of vent grills) - 43.4°C
Bottom (bottom of the LCD screen, above centre of power/menu buttons) - 52.9°C
Surprisingly, despite the large increase in bitrate, the temperatures didn't increase substantially. It was all within 1-2°C. This is of course on the outside housing, internally the difference could be larger.
Since the above results are kind of ideal conditions, made to directly compare temperatures due to FW/picture/bitrate changes only, for comparisons sake, I also recorded temperatures after a 45 minute drive. It was 27°C outside and sunny. I had the A/C on coldest setting, half power. There is already an increase further in temperatures. So of course depending on in cabin temp, time of day, direct sunlight exposure, etc. will also affect your results. Hence why this test isn't super scientific, but interesting to see, as real world scenarios can be all over the place. But directly comparing the temperatures from just the increase in bitrate, you can see it doesn't go up by very much (externally of course).
Mod FW 2.60 (27.5Mbit) Highest Temperatures (after 45 minute drive)
Right Side (Front portion) - 48.5°C
Left Side (Near microSD card slot) - 49.4°C
Top (Camera/GPS connection where it is powered) - 45.9°C
Bottom (Middle of LCD screen) - 53.8°C
To eliminate (as best I could) anything that could affect the results, I had the camera set up in my house. I used an IR thermometer gun that I tested to be accurate. It was set to display the max temperature it could find. My house is set at 23°C. Keep in mind that the IR thermometer gun only records surface temperatures, so all of these temperatures recorded are from different areas on the outside housing of the camera. The internal temperature of the components will be higher. I'm uncertain by how much, but I didn't feel like taking apart the camera to start firing an IR gun at chips/components while it's running.
I had the camera about 1 foot away from a 55" TV, running the first 2 episodes of Planet Earth 2. This made sure that the TV took up the entire FOV of the camera. I figured I wanted to watch a good nature documentary, and it should give the full spectrum of colours and movement, instead of just staring statically out of a window or at a wall. This way it could also be repeated with both FW recording the same picture from the same location, for the same duration. The temperatures were recorded after the completion of the second episode, so basically after 2 hours of continuous recording. I thought that would be plenty of time for the camera to get to the max temperature and remain there.
The settings I used for both FW were the same as what I would use in my car. 1080p@60fps, WDR On, Frequency 60Hz, No CPL, EV 0.
These are the results:
Stock FW 2.61 Highest Temperatures
Right Side (Near power cable/AV jack) - 40.5°C
Left Side (Front portion, near screw/lens) - 44.6°C
Top (Middle of the vent grills) - 41.9°C
Bottom (top right corner on the LCD screen) - 51.9°C
Mod FW 2.60 (27.5Mbit) Highest Temperatures
Right Side (Near power cable/AV jack) - 41.4°C
Left Side (Front portion, near screw/lens) - 45.1°C
Top (Middle of vent grills) - 43.4°C
Bottom (bottom of the LCD screen, above centre of power/menu buttons) - 52.9°C
Surprisingly, despite the large increase in bitrate, the temperatures didn't increase substantially. It was all within 1-2°C. This is of course on the outside housing, internally the difference could be larger.
Since the above results are kind of ideal conditions, made to directly compare temperatures due to FW/picture/bitrate changes only, for comparisons sake, I also recorded temperatures after a 45 minute drive. It was 27°C outside and sunny. I had the A/C on coldest setting, half power. There is already an increase further in temperatures. So of course depending on in cabin temp, time of day, direct sunlight exposure, etc. will also affect your results. Hence why this test isn't super scientific, but interesting to see, as real world scenarios can be all over the place. But directly comparing the temperatures from just the increase in bitrate, you can see it doesn't go up by very much (externally of course).
Mod FW 2.60 (27.5Mbit) Highest Temperatures (after 45 minute drive)
Right Side (Front portion) - 48.5°C
Left Side (Near microSD card slot) - 49.4°C
Top (Camera/GPS connection where it is powered) - 45.9°C
Bottom (Middle of LCD screen) - 53.8°C
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