Stock FW vs Mod FW Operating Temperatures

[Caerus]

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

 

[viofo]

Thanks for your feedback.

I did comparison one week ago with this MOD FW, but I didn't see obvious difference.
We are working to update the A119S to latest SDK, now we have finished this on A119.
After this, I will do the comparison again, and tune the IQ again.

 

[BCHobbyist]

excellent thermal work,
leaving the clam shell open while recording with 27.5Mbps Bit Rate MOD at highest resolution & frame rate, take a reading of heat sink and also from the side microSD card with cover closed, it will get very hot writing to card. I'd be interested to see the data for those areas, anything approaching 65C indoors can expect +10C inside vehicle in full sun, 75-80C is thermal shutdown limit I believe (search for it in firmware for adjustments). Adding 2 more MODs to list for all 4 models.

 

[Caerus]

Thanks for your feedback.

I did comparison one week ago with this MOD FW, but I didn't see obvious difference.
We are working to update the A119S to latest SDK, now we have finished this on A119.
After this, I will do the comparison again, and tune the IQ again.

Sure no problem.

Good to know that the FW is still being actively worked on and fine tuned. I think there is so much active mod work going on right now because we just want to get the best out of this camera and we can see that it is capable of a lot more.

excellent thermal work,
leaving the clam shell open while recording with 27.5Mbps Bit Rate MOD at highest resolution & frame rate, take a reading of heat sink and also from the side microSD card with cover closed, it will get very hot writing to card. I'd be interested to see the data for those areas, anything approaching 65C indoors can expect +10C inside vehicle in full sun, 75-80C is thermal shutdown limit I believe (search for it in firmware for adjustments). Adding 2 more MODs to list for all 4 models.

Thanks, I'll see if I can do some open shell readings when I have some extra time.

 

[Caerus]

So I got around to doing some internal temperature readings.

All of the settings were the same as in the original post, and the testing methodology was the same. The only change was I kept the shell unscrewed but closed until it was time to do the readings. When I opened the shell, I left it plugged in and recording.

In the image below, these same 3 spots gave off the highest temperatures using both stock FW and the 27.5Mbps. I didn't pull the PCB or take off the heatsink, so I'm unsure what chips are under locations 1 and 2. Location 1 where I'm pointing the IR, had the highest temperature. There is no heatsink there, but there also appears to be no visible chips, so I'm not sure why that would be the hottest spot inside the camera. Unless the chip is on the other side, or maybe that is just where the heat concentrates the most. Location 3 would be the housing above the pin connections of the microSD card slot.


Stock 2.61 FW Highest Temperatures:
Location 1: 52.9°C
Location 2: 51.3°C
Location 3: 42.7°C

MOD 2.6 FW 27.5Mbps Highest Temperatures:
Location 1: 54.2°C
Location 2: 52.9°C
Location 3: 49.5°C

Again, just like the external readings, the internal readings show that there isn't much of an increase in temperature in terms of the heat generated from increased processor output. It is in the range of less than a 2°C rise when maxing out the bitrate.

The biggest increase in temperature was from the microSD card slot. This is most likely due to having to continuously write much larger files due to the increased bitrate. Even with an almost 7°C increase in temperature, 49.5°C is still well below the max temperature microSD cards are designed to operate in. Almost all are rated -25°C to 85°C, some are rated to -40°C. Despite this, the heat generated from the microSD card slot is still the lowest of all three locations.

I'm mentioning again that this is done inside my house in a 23°C mostly controlled environment. In extreme summer heat, with sun, and hot in cabin temperatures, I think with such little difference between temperatures of stock FW and the current highest bitrate MOD available, if you were to have heat related problems, it is probably going to happen regardless of what FW you are using.

I think with all of the current MOD work being done in the 25 - 27Mbps range, there won't be any problems thermally if these bitrates are used.

 

[BCHobbyist]

Great work, thanks for this interesting area of DVRs. Thermal dynamics and MODs always collide. As you stated installing DVR in hot vehicle in full sun will increase baseline temps. The hotest area will be under the silver tape at joint of copper sheet. The processor/chipset isn't accessible but should be around 55-60C during high bit rate recordings, add 10 for sun in vehicle and reaches 70C, hotter countries reach hardware limits. Probably avoid loading 26-28Mbps in hot countries.
Luv that sensor ribbon cable.

 

[gse]

It is interesting to look at the temperature of the Holder and the board from behind the matrix.

Spoiler

 

[Nigel]

If the modification results in the case temperature rising by 1°C, how much does the temperature of the processor rise by?

The case has a much bigger surface area than the little processor chip, maybe 50x, so presumably the processor temperature rises by considerably more than 1°C. You can't find this out by leaving the case open, needs a temperature probe inside the assembled camera.