Overheating of FlightFeeder

I have been hosting a FlightFeeder at New Delhi, India for a couple of weeks since I received it.
Recently, I received a notification about site anomalies. It says that my FlightFeeder CPU is overheating and at approximately 70 degree Celsius. However, the room in which it is installed is air-conditioned at 16 degree Celsius. Do I have to be cautious of the equipment being damaged or not? Should I open up the FlightFeeder and install heat sinks?
I do have another always-on Raspberry Pi which runs 5-6 servers simultaneously and handles web traffic. It does not reach 60 degrees even when heat sinks are not installed.

Write a mail to adsbsupport@flightaware.com, they handle FlightFeeder support. I would not open or change anything unless told to.

1 Like

Try to find something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/iUniker-Raspberry-Heatsink-Compatible-Model/dp/B07BQN1MNN/ref=sr_1_7?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1531098445&sr=1-7&keywords=rpi+case&dpID=51z-ky7o5NL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch
I never get higher than 45 deg C.

1 Like

Hi @anlelmc He is using a flightfeeder not a piaware so i think he best contact support like @biekerc told.

guys :slight_smile:

:point_up:

1 Like

8. WHAT IS ITS OPERATING TEMPERATURE?

The Raspberry Pi is built from commercial chips which are qualified to different temperature ranges; the LAN9514 (LAN9512 on older models with 2 USB ports) is specified by the manufacturers as being qualified from 0°C to 70°C, while the SoC is qualified from -40°C to 85°C. You may well find that the board will work outside those temperatures, but we’re not qualifying the board itself to these extremes. -Performance and Cost Considerations

1 Like

:roll_eyes: ok, I missed it.
It is the first time that I am chatting with a FightFfeeder owner. Why it is more advantageous to use them over a RPI solution?

1 Like

Well, no response from the FA team.

In regard to the question over a FF’s advantage over RPi, well, RPi costs around INR 3000 ($40+) which is a serious investment. For comparison, it equals tuition fee for my high school for a month.

Rather, I requested a FF and it’s working well, getting good stats, no issue.

The RPi that I run to feed other sites like FR24, RB24 and PF was actually an award that I got from my high school.

This is not exactly an ‘advantage’. But yeah, it feels good though, whether you use a RPi or host a FF as we are contributing for the same cause.

There is some variation in how hot RPi 3 runs and how hot the prostick runs. The RPi boards have thermal throttling that will prevent the board from reach much more than 70C (this is around the hottest temperature I have seen). The throttling starts around 60C and the board crashes around 80C.

Of the thousands of PiAware and FlightFeeders on FlightAware very few are running this hot. Most are in the 30-60C range.

1 Like

Maybe a temporary workaround would be to shut it down for a few minutes after every week or so to cool it down a bit.

UPDATE: I shut it down for a couple of minutes and now it is around 40 deg C.

I have successfully used case and CPU fans on my RPIs. I have several located in my attic and they do get hot enough to throttle the CPU. They can run directly from the 5v supply on the GPIO header, if not used by other devices.
The fans, along with heatsinks, keep the CPU at a reasonable temperature.

Unfortunately this doesn’t help flightfeeders as they are designed and managed by Flightaware.

2 Likes

@ anlelmcno both are raspberry pi. i was saying flightfeeder belongs to flightaware (property of flightaware). but a pi aware we buy it. so its best he get support approval first.

1 Like

@anlelmc

the flight feeder running at that temperature it’s okay. because in side it’s a pi.

1 Like

@sudiptoghosh don’t worry about the heat. is your device working that’s the important. I will try to get a temperature gun to check the temperature. I have two flightfeeder. but different account. the one at the airport is running in a.c. room 23 degree.
the one in my home is in room temperature of 30 degree.

i plan to built a piaware for house attic and outside for two other site. will try to test the temperature and update you.

1 Like

This is an old topic, but I just checked the box to receive notices…
In the past, and now, my FF ran ‘hot’, so I opened it as shown in the picture from kugasrigroup and drilled additional holes in the case. Still not good enough to keep from getting the overheating notice. Recommendation 3. was to reboot, and that seems to work for a while. Any other solutions? (Turn off notices…?).
Getting/providing good data.
Thanks!

Sitting the FF /Pi on it’s edge will improve the air circulation slightly.
Sitting it where there is a constant draught will help a lot too.

My FF is mounted on it’s long edge on the side of a bookshelf with full clearance on all other sides. Many 1/8" holes have been drilled in the cover for additional cooling.
System temperature rarely goes below 160 degrees and the CPU load rarely gets above 8%. Seems, possibly, a design error.
However, the price was right and installation was straightforward. Somehow in the past, the LAN (RJ45/Cat5E) was fried, so it’s now connected WiFi.
Thanks!

FlightFeeders should be free…
You meant a Raspberry Pi with PiAware installed?

The price was right meant $Zero. That’s a pretty nice price!
FlightFeeder|375x500
You can see the holes, but the Status screen shows 155 degrees F at 8% CPU load. That’s below the overheating threshold that elicits a notice. Additional holes in the bottom for updraft cooling.