Raspberry pi heatsink

[Wonderweb]

Hi. 

I have just got hold of a raspberry pi 4 to use with my portable setup and was wondering if it required a heatsink while running astroberry etc. I will be using it for full control (goto, plate solve, guiding image capture) 

TIA

[vlaiv]

I would add one - at least passive one.

I don't think you need active cooling as night time tends to be cold enough, but small passive heat sink will help move heat away from the chip more rapidly (and prevent any throttling in performance due to thermal issues).

[Knighty2112]

There is a case you can get for the pi that acts as one big heatsink due to the design. I got one for my Pi. Works a treat, but don’t use it for astro stuff, just coding and messing around with. 

[Wonderweb]

58 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

I would add one - at least passive one.

I don't think you need active cooling as night time tends to be cold enough, but small passive heat sink will help move heat away from the chip more rapidly (and prevent any throttling in performance due to thermal issues).

Thanks for the info. Would I be better off getting a single large heatsink that covers the whole board or the smaller ones for the individual chips? 

[vlaiv]

29 minutes ago, Wonderweb said:

Thanks for the info. Would I be better off getting a single large heatsink that covers the whole board or the smaller ones for the individual chips? 

I have similar thing to what @Knighty2112 suggested above - whole case aluminum heat sink - and it is causing a bit of a problem for Wifi connection - although it has some plastic in the area where antenna is - precisely because of that.

If you plan on using wifi - then I'd say - don't go with very large heat sinks that might interfere with wifi performance.

[Dr_Ju_ju]

then just go for one of these https://thepihut.com/products/dual-fan-heatsink-for-raspberry-pi

[vlaiv]

how about this one:

https://thepihut.com/collections/raspberry-pi-cooling/products/xl-raspberry-pi-4-heatsink

[Knighty2112]

Sorry, the one I actually have is as below, which the top part comes off easily so might give better wifi connection, but still give thermal conductance with the case for heat dissipation still. 

 

[Dr_Ju_ju]

With all those 'enclosed' cases, ensure that you have a heat transfer pad with thermal grease fitted, as I have found that, sometimes the case pads don't always make full contact with the chips they are supposed to be cooling, and even with some of them they also require a fan to remove residual heat..,.  

[pete_l]

You definitely need a heatsink on the Pi4 processor. Without it the CPU will heat up and without any warning slow down its clock speed quite a lot.
There are two types of cases that I have experience of. One is plastic and contains a fan that disperses the heat from heatsinks that you stick on various chips.
The other is a metal enclosure that has the heatsink integrated into its body and that passively transfers heat to the outside.

The plastic one has the advantage of not impeding the on-board WiFi / Bluetooth signal. However, all the ones I have used contain a cheap and nasty little fan that quickly becomes a source of a loud droning noise as the bearings fill up with dust and eventually just stop working.
The metal ones have the advantage of no moving parts, so are silent. However, they affect the WiFi very badly indeed. Possibly not an issue of you only want to communicate over 1 or 2 metres at low speed (maybe better at 5 GHz?), but further than that and the best I can say is that the link becomes "iffy".
 

What I would like is a plastic case with a large, metal heatsink built out to the surface. Failing that a fan-shaped heatsink that I could 3d-print a case around.

Edited October 18, 2021 by pete_l

[vlaiv]

https://www.martinrowan.co.uk/2019/08/wifi-signal-strength-with-raspberry-pi-4-cases/

 

[Wonderweb]

Could I use a metal heatsink case and attach a wifi antenna? 

[callisto]

1 hour ago, Dr_Ju_ju said:

then just go for one of these https://thepihut.com/products/dual-fan-heatsink-for-raspberry-pi

I second that...I put this one in my old ASIair V1, comes with heatsink 👍

[rwillett]

The Raspberry Pi 4 will need a heat sink. It will get hot even at night if you do a lot of processing. There are loads of cases around that are designed for the Pi 4 which have thermal paste/thermal pads that will 'glue' parts of the case to the chips. The case then becomes the heatsink and this works well.

I recall that the CPU does thermal throttling if it gets too warm, reduces the CPU frequency so its cooler, not what you want for plate solving.

Rob

[gazza25]

i use a flirc case and then done the external WiFi aerial mod works a treat 

 

[Wonderweb]

On 22/10/2021 at 15:15, gazza25 said:

i use a flirc case and then done the external WiFi aerial mod works a treat 

 

I'm looking at the flirc case. It seems to do the job and not be too bulky. What is the external WiFi ariel mod please? 

[Doug64]

19 hours ago, Wonderweb said:

I'm looking at the flirc case. It seems to do the job and not be too bulky. What is the external WiFi ariel mod please? 

Hi,

You can buy an external USB WiFi aerial and by updating the script on the Raspberry Pi you can use this instead of the internal WiFi aerial.

I also have the Flirc case with external WiFi aerial.

Doug

[Wonderweb]

3 hours ago, Doug64 said:

Hi,

You can buy an external USB WiFi aerial and by updating the script on the Raspberry Pi you can use this instead of the internal WiFi aerial.

I also have the Flirc case with external WiFi aerial.

Doug

Thanks Doug.

Does it need to be a specific type of antenna? There's loads of usb wifi antennas on amazon and I want to be sure I have the right one. 

Thanks

Darren 

[Richard Wesson]

2 hours ago, Wonderweb said:

Thanks Doug.

Does it need to be a specific type of antenna? There's loads of usb wifi antennas on amazon and I want to be sure I have the right one. 

Thanks

Darren 

Darren, 

Be aware that some some USB wfi antennas will not work with the PI 4 including the one from the Pi Hut. I went through a couple that did not. I have one from Brostrend that i finally bought after advice on here which works.  

[Wonderweb]

13 minutes ago, Richard Wesson said:

Darren, 

Be aware that some some USB wfi antennas will not work with the PI 4 including the one from the Pi Hut. I went through a couple that did not. I have one from Brostrend that i finally bought after advice on here which works.  

Brilliant.  Thanks for the info. I'll try and pick one up. Are they available on amazon? 

[Richard Wesson]

6 minutes ago, Wonderweb said:

Brilliant.  Thanks for the info. I'll try and pick one up. Are they available on amazon? 

Yes - that is where i got mine. I can post a link later to the model if you like?

[Wonderweb]

2 minutes ago, Richard Wesson said:

Yes - that is where i got mine. I can post a link later to the model if you like?

That would be great. Thanks alot. 👍

[Richard Wesson]

52 minutes ago, Wonderweb said:

That would be great. Thanks alot. 👍

Here we go:

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01GC8XH0S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

 

[Doug64]

On 03/11/2021 at 12:53, Richard Wesson said:

Darren, 

Be aware that some some USB wfi antennas will not work with the PI 4 including the one from the Pi Hut. I went through a couple that did not. I have one from Brostrend that i finally bought after advice on here which works.  

Hi,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, I've had a few family problems

This is the one I use and I have the script to go with it should you require it.

TP-Link AC600 High Gain USB Wi-Fi Dongle, Dual Band Wi-Fi Adapter with 5dBi Antenna for PC/Desktop/Laptop, Supports Windows10/8.1/8/7/XP, Mac OS X 10.9-10.14 (Archer T2U Plus) : Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

Regards

Doug

[Doug64]

3 minutes ago, Doug64 said:

Hi,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, I've had a few family problems

This is the one I use and I have the script to go with it should you require it.

TP-Link AC600 High Gain USB Wi-Fi Dongle, Dual Band Wi-Fi Adapter with 5dBi Antenna for PC/Desktop/Laptop, Supports Windows10/8.1/8/7/XP, Mac OS X 10.9-10.14 (Archer T2U Plus) : Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

Regards

Doug

The Script I have will work with the above antenna and any other using Archer T2U Plus

Doug