Heat Question

[deanathpc]

Hey folks.. Recv'd my resistors today and have 'em installed already.  running some twinkling tests right now and there is some major heat coming from the unit.  Is this normal?

Dean

[RJ]

Yes the regulators get good and warm. The power supplies are intended to power add ons.

Also it keeps the conductor warm since a few parts are not made in extreme low temp models.

It is fine they do not get anywhere near operating limits even in hot weather.

RJ

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RJ

[deanathpc]

o.k. then as long as this is the norm I'll not worry about it.

Thanks RJ!

[RJ]

I take it that you have it working?

RJ

[rrowan]

Would thermal paste be good to add to the heat sink/regulator?

Rick R.

[deanathpc]

Yes RJ I do have it working.  Did some testing via xLights and everything is good.  I still don't have it working through Vixen yet though.  Can't seem to configure it there.  I'll do some more testing tomorrow while the kids are running around like kids.

Dean

[tng5737]

I assy'd my first ED tonight and tested it using LSP and it seems to function alright.  However the 7805 regulator is running very hot - too hot to touch.  I felt all of the chips and they seem to be fine.   Is the regulator supposed to be that hot?

[deanathpc]

That's what I was running into...  Never tried to touch it but smelled very warm and I could feel the heat coming off of it...

[tng5737]

I built the second ED kit and tested it - it also runs very hot.  There is not that much on the board so I am wondering why it they are so hot! 

[deanathpc]

As RJ posted previously here it's because of the design.  The dongle needs to power daughter boards also.

[RJ]

Because ethernet chipsets are power hungry.  The chipset alone pulls more than a complete Express does.

Is it over 180 degs? If not it is fine. Hot to us is not hot to a linear regulator. The max temp for it is 257 degrees. If it gets this hot it will shut off and cool down and power up again. But that will not happen I ran the same setup with no heatsink for months with out it being turned off and never reach anywhere near a temp that was concern. In fact the one demoed at LSH did not have a heatsink on it. I tested with out it and then added it to give us a bigger margin of safety. I had another option but I decided to keep it as is so the conductor could be heated. one of the items on it is not avaliable in a -40c model so for our extreme cold friend it will keep them from having issues.

RJ