Successfully Surviving Overheat, Heat Sinks Helped A LOT!

NorthStar

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Hey guys,

Today I left my car in direct sunlight all morning until 3pm, with 2 heat sinks installed to the cam

As of 11am “HT” overlay started showing on the video. As per Blackvue notes of the latest heat cutoff temp, this means that the surrounding temp reached the 70c/158f point

This means that the cam will auto shut down if the temp goes up only by additional 5c/9f

Outdoor temp was 36c/96f at that point. The outdoor peak temp of that day was 40c/104f

Surprisingly, despite the fact that the heat kept building up inside the car, it didnt shut down until I came back to the car 4 hours later

I am assuming that the 2 heat sinks setup I am using helped a lot to let the cam survive this extreme heat while parking in direct sunlight for 4 hours straight.

Here are couple of pics for the heat sinks, along with the ebay links. Please note that I installed the heat sinks at the bottom of the cam on purpose, not on the top, since hot air always go up by its nature, so I didnt want to block the vents on top

The SD card I am using is the famous Samsung endurance 128gb, incase anyone was wondering

Thoughts?

UPDATE: June 9th: today the outside temperature was 111F/44c, the car was parked all day in direct sunlight and the cam kept working without issues

UPDATE: June 12th: the temp yesterday was 113F/45c, the car was parked all day long in direct sunlight, with closed windows and the cam kept working without issues



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Excellent post! I'll keep this in mind *IF* I develop any overheating issues this summer.
 
There are quite a few heat sinks for 540 Size motors for RC cars.
And don't get desperate and buy one of the heat sinks with a fan on it, at least not unless your car radio go full tilt all the time, otherwise the fan noise will make you insane.
 
There are some cheaper ones on ebay for $3.88 with FREE shipping << HERE >>
Question... how did you attach them? Are they a snug fit or did you need adhesive?

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There are some cheaper ones on ebay for $3.88 with FREE shipping FONT]HERE >>
Question... how did you attach them? Are they a snug fit or did you need adhesive?

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The ones I got are snug fit, cant be any better. I ensured that the ones i get are from a known brand and that the metal they use “works”. Also, i was only looking for the options with long fins. Some are longer than the others if you notice
 
If my grey good serve me right a 540 motor are 36 mm in diameter.
The 540 are actually the length of the motor housing / can.

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You can even get water cooled "sleeves" for electric motors in RC boats.
There are other sized too, so if 36 mm don't do it for your particular camera, you could try googling for "electric motor heat sink + your diameter"
 
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Who knows what might happen, someone reading this thread might get the bright idea of designing and manufacturing one specifically for the BlackVue DR900S that covers it's entire length from end to mounting bracket.

Attaching on the bottom would be the best way to go for me, otherwise it would interfere with my PolarizitTM filter.
 
With acess to a lathe and a little ALU you could turn out a fancy smanch custom heatsink, for any diameter cylinder shaped camera.
 
I do have one more question concerning the weight of those heat sinks. Are the heat sinks light enough that they'll add no appreciable strain to the adhesive strip that holds the unit on the windshield? If it's too heavy on a hot day, I'd hate to come out and see the unit hanging by it's wires. Just something that crossed my mind.
 
I do have one more question concerning the weight of those heat sinks. Are the heat sinks light enough that they'll add no appreciable strain to the adhesive strip that holds the unit on the windshield? If it's too heavy on a hot day, I'd hate to come out and see the unit hanging by it's wires. Just something that crossed my mind.

Good question. Surprisingly, they are super light weight, I added two without worrying about what you mentioned

Keep in mind that I am strictly referring to the ones I bought from “CPV Racing” brand, ebay link in original post. They worked very well in regards to reducing heat as well as being lightweight. I am not sure if other brands will be worse/better
 
Here are couple of pics for the heat sinks, along with the ebay links. Please note that I installed the heat sinks at the bottom of the cam on purpose, not on the top, since hot air always go up by its nature, so I didnt want to block the vents on top

The SD card I am using is the famous Samsung endurance 128gb, incase anyone was wondering

That's Genius! Nice idea.

Mike
 
UPDATE: today the car was parked in direct sunlight for 4 hours with outside temp of 110f/43c and the cam was working just fine.

I will keep you posted once the temp goes up to higher numbers
 
That's pretty interesting, today i've noticed "HT" tag in the video (without notification) and that's only about 18°C ambient temperature (white car, white seats, parked in direct sun).

But I don't know why I should use a heatsink when the Blackvue obviously didn't think it's necessary... :p
 
But I don't know why I should use a heatsink when the Blackvue obviously didn't think it's necessary... :p

Who knows? It could be anything really, I'd guess the 4K sensor put them in a heat range not expected for their design. Once a design is formalized, marketed and has made an impact in the marketplace, it not all that easy to change. First you have customer awareness of the design, but you also have supply chain issues, etc. Adding a heat sink may not be aesthetically pleasing, but if it works. The thing is already expensive enough, further modification might have placed them out of the market.
 
UPDATE: after 15 days of using the double heat sinks method, while the car being parked in direct sunlight all day long, max outside temperatures of 108-111F (40-44c), the cam never overheated or turned off!

Only downside that I noticed is that the heat sinks created fine scratches on the body of the cam during installation, but who cares! Pic attached

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UPDATE: after 15 days of using the double heat sinks method, while the car being parked in direct sunlight all day long, max outside temperatures of 108-111F (40-44c), the cam never overheated or turned off!

Only downside that I noticed is that the heat sinks created fine scratches on the body of the cam during installation, but who cares! Pic attached

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Did you not use any heatsink (thermal transfer) compound? It should help significantly to move the heat into the heatsinks...
 
Did you not use any heatsink (thermal transfer) compound? It should help significantly to move the heat into the heatsinks...

Nope I thought I will start without it and see if it works fine, and it did, so I decided not to put any thermal compound since it is messy
 
UPDATE 12th of June: yesterday the temp reached 113F/45c and the cam kept working without issues
 
Uuuuu thats hot, my old wrinkly ass would be on the beach in the water under a parasol and drinking lots of sodas.
But are we talking regular driving and recording here or parked in the sun and recording ?
 
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