Hey all,

I believe there has been comments to DJI regarding the inspire camera getting hot during the firmware updates etc... But why is the camera run so Hot during normal operation when it has a dedicated cooling fan. Electronics suffer a shorted life span when they have large temperature swings (thermal cycles).

Has anyone else experienced the camera getting hot during a normal flying session right after landing? This does not seem to be a normal condition, when so much design effort has been developed into the Inspire 1.

Tahoe Ed can you comment on this question and is there something DJI can do with the firmware to turn on the cooling fan sooner to keep the 4K camera cool?


Thanks

Rich

Rich,

I have observed the camera gets fairly hot during normal operations.  

It appears they intended on using the Inspires motion as a secondary cooling measure.  My camera is always much hotter after hovering for a bit, rather than continuously moving.

method007 Posted at 2015-6-21 07:05
It appears they intended on using the Inspires motion as a secondary cooling measure.  My camera is  ...

I would think the prop blast should be enough air flow. They have a heat sink on the top of the camera housing that should remove heat pretty nicely.

But you are right by saying forward flight should improve the cooling characteristics.

Rich  

GB44 Posted at 2015-6-21 06:36
Rich,

I have observed the camera gets fairly hot during normal operations.

GB

I wonder if the video transmitter is inside the camera housing? Because this thing gets hot even when you are not recording...

Rich

This is "normal" as small cameras with high resolution do get very hot and I am sure they thought about this during construction of the Inspire 1 camera ...
The camera starts as soon as you connect with the pilot app (maybe even as soon as you turn the Inspire on).
Not sure if it makes much differens if you actually hit "record" or not!?
If the housing of the camera gets hot during operation it means that they made a good job with the design of the heatsink ... Getting the heat away from the electronics

I am not so worried about the camera getting hot during flight ...
But if you have the camera connected and running during the "deep discharge cycle" you might wanna place a fan next to it to give it some extra cooling ... As this will probably prolong it's life span!

I have had thoughts about if it is the fan inside the camera that is creating problems with the "drifting" horizon level ...

I am sure the camera will be running cool when connected to the handheld gimbal

RichJ53 Posted at 2015-6-21 12:17
GB

I wonder if the video transmitter is inside the camera housing? Because this thing gets hot ev ...

Rich, yes it does get hot .

Even when just sitting in the aircraft whilst in simulator mode it still gets hot.  Haven't experienced any problems though.

Have you ckecked the camera fan (very small fan in the back of camera) is working properly?

BPoHVoodoo Posted at 2015-6-21 21:06
Have you ckecked the camera fan (very small fan in the back of camera) is working properly?

My camera fan is not running like it should and I get no video when it is stopped.  When the fan does run... once in a while, I get good video.   I wonder if this has to do with a few updates ago when some of us could not get item 15 to update.  

Could we have a camera update that will put all cameras at current version?

w1der Posted at 2015-6-21 13:39
This is "normal" as small cameras with high resolution do get very hot and I am sure they thought ab ...

Hey Wi1der,

Good points and I didn't think about the HD electronics inside of the camera. You have a great idea using a fan on the camera when it is setting static. This would come in handy when the firmware updates are being installed because I noticed the camera was really hot afterwards.

I am not using my Inspire to deep cycle the batteries but this is very true.  I cannot tell if the tiny fan is running on the camera body, I the next time it is running I will watch for it.
Rich

BPoHVoodoo Posted at 2015-6-21 21:06
Have you ckecked the camera fan (very small fan in the back of camera) is working properly?

next thing to check!
Thanks

RichJ53 Posted at 2015-6-22 00:49
next thing to check!
Thanks

Yes Rich,

Yet another item to put on the checklists.

Got the same problem, no cooling form the mini fan on the camera and more often than not the camera gets worryingly hot.
Have checked multiple times but i have so far i haven't seen the mini camera fan moving.

Anyone found a answer to this topic, any solution.?

Ph02on Posted at 2015-6-21 17:17
I am sure the camera will be running cool when connected to the handheld gimbal

Do I detect some what irony in this post !?

aj_selj Posted at 2015-6-22 20:16
Got the same problem, no cooling form the mini fan on the camera and more often than not the camera  ...

No solution yet, it appears to be normal for all that have posted on this thread. I haven't been able to see the fan working on mine yet. I will check it again and see if it running using a LED light shining into the fan area.

Maybe DJI has a fix for this in the next firmware update?

Rich

Shield strikes again  !!

I think we need to get the "Avengers" on to this !

GB44 Posted at 2015-6-25 04:44
Shield strikes again  !!

I think we need to get the "Avengers" on to this !

I see that.... Avengers it is

Well I have checked my camera cooling fan in the rear of the housing. I do not see it running the white fan blades are stopped at all times so far. Of course I cannot see the fan when flying, but it would seem this should come on at a certain temperature.

Autumn, can you answer this question and how can we check the camera cooling fan for proper operation?

Thanks
Rich

Mine is just warm to touch during flight probably arounf 30C...only when doing pre-flight checks it gets hot to touch but bearable...more like a little hotter than the charger....

RichJ53 Posted at 2015-6-27 12:45
I see that.... Avengers it is

Well I have checked my camera cooling fan in the rear of the housin ...

Tried to respond earlier Rich.

My last flying day I ran through three batteries and after the third I specifically checked the camera and it was cool to touch.  Forget to look for the fan working or not though, but all seems fine.

That said When using the Simulator indoors and not flying it gets hot.  I think this may be normal as obviously there is no air rushing over it as when in flight.

retret66 Posted at 2015-6-27 13:56
Mine is just warm to touch during flight probably arounf 30C...only when doing pre-flight checks it  ...

retret..
When you have the Inspire ready to fly, can you visually see the camera fan running? This is probably temperature controlled and I have not been able to see my fan work... even though the camera is running hot.

Can anyone verify the tiny fan turns on for the camera? I cannot see mine working and the camera still gets pretty darn hot.

Tahoe Ed, Can you tell us when this fan is designed to turn on?

Thanks
Rich

RichJ53 Posted at 2015-7-30 13:07
Can anyone verify the tiny fan turns on for the camera? I cannot see mine working and the camera sti ...

I just made a test for you ...

Turned my inspire on ... without the pilot app running ... fan did not start.
Connected the pilot app (max 1-2 min after I started the bird) ... fan started spinning right away (no recording only viewfinder in the app).

Also ... it´s not very hot here today ... below 20 C

I brought this question up to DJI tech support about a month ago, when I measured the temp of the camera at 104˚F / 40˚C while sitting on my coffee table. I used an infrared temp gun to measure it.

Tech support said that it was normal and would cool while flying.

w1der Posted at 2015-7-30 17:12
I just made a test for you ...

Turned my inspire on ... without the pilot app running ... fan did ...

Hey Wilder

Thank you for reporting back. When I have the Inspire running... I cant see the tiny camera fan well enough to know it is running....

Thanks again for looking into this

Rich

remltr Posted at 2015-7-30 22:52
I brought this question up to DJI tech support about a month ago, when I measured the temp of the ca ...

Thanks Remltr

I have heard they say it is normal, but it sure gets hot when you run the firmware updates....

I am running a fan on this when installing the firmware updates from now on

Rich

RichJ53 Posted at 2015-7-31 09:26
Hey Wilder

Thank you for reporting back. When I have the Inspire running... I cant see the tiny c ...

Well ...

When I did this test I had it on my living room table ... I adjusted the camera (through the pilot app) so it was looking at the birds ass ...
I found this to be an easy way to tell if the fan was moving or not.

w1der Posted at 2015-7-31 00:31
Well ...

When I did this test I had it on my living room table ... I adjusted the camera (throug ...

Hey wider

Guess what I found today. My X3 cooling fan is stuck and not running. I used a paper clip to free the fan blades inside and it really took some force to get it to move. I think I have had this problem from day one.

now I can just blow on the fan and it spins and when the inspire is turned on, I see the fan spinning.

This is something others should be aware of just in case the fan is stuck on your Inspire X3 camera.

Rich

GB44 Posted at 2015-6-27 00:54
Tried to respond earlier Rich.

My last flying day I ran through three batteries and after the thi ...

GB

This is something you may want to check out!  I found my X3 fan was stuck solid!

Guess what I found today. My X3 cooling fan is stuck and not running. I used a paper clip to free the fan blades inside and it really took some force to get it to move. I think I have had this problem from day one.

Please pass this information along to others to check. This tiny fan could get dirt inside it and stop the blades from turning.

Rich

Rich,

I am glad you caught the problem before it did any damage. I used a toothpick to unfreeze my fan.

teamnest1 Posted at 2015-12-25 20:37
Rich,

I am glad you caught the problem before it did any damage. I used a toothpick to unfreeze my  ...

Me too,

Thanks for your post, was your fan "Really" stuck hard? or just came loose easily?

I had to work on mine for several try's to get the little bugger to move. I didn't want to break anything.


Rich

RichJ53 Posted at 2015-12-26 03:47
GB

This is something you may want to check out!  I found my X3 fan was stuck solid!

Rich,

Thanks for the message.  I did read this about the fan and just sort of logged it in the brain as another check.

Good to know though.  

By the way have you updated to the v1.6 yet ( have you got an X5 or still running with the X3).  I am still on the X3 at the minute.  I had asked DJI to confirm if this v1.6 was for all Inspires or just the Pro with X5, but haven't heard any feed back as yet.

RichJ53 Posted at 2015-12-27 00:54
Me too,

Thanks for your post, was your fan "Really" stuck hard? or just came loose easily?

Mine was fairly easy to get loose. However, it was brand new so that may have been why it was so easy.

GB44 Posted at 2015-12-27 02:00
Rich,

Thanks for the message.  I did read this about the fan and just sort of logged it in the br ...

GB

I am running the X3 and at this point, not intending to get the X5 camera.  If I do decide to move up to the X5 most likely buy the Inspire 1 Pro.

To be honest, I tried to update my inspire to the latest firmware "WM610_FW_V01.06.00.40" but it did not seem to engage into the update cycle. I tried this two different times and re- downloaded the file onto a new SD chip... nothing.
From reading the DJI information pdf release notes, this update is for both the Inspire 1 and Inspire 1 Pro.
2015.12.22
Overview:
1. All-in -One Firmware version updated to v1.6.0.40.
2. DJI GO app iOS version updated to v2.4.2.
3. GO app Android version updated to v2.4.3.
What’s New:
1. Improved battery reliability when using the aircraft in cold environments.
The firmware can only be downgraded to v1.5.0.30 or later.


Rich

teamnest1 Posted at 2015-12-27 05:19
Mine was fairly easy to get loose. However, it was brand new so that may have been why it was so e ...

teamnest

The only thing I can think of .. baring defective ... is that a flying bug went into the fan hole and died (sticking the fan)
I did not see any debris inside the fan blades, so it is hard to tell for sure. But I can say the fan was really stuck!

Rich

RichJ53 Posted at 2015-12-27 13:02
teamnest

The only thing I can think of .. baring defective ... is that a flying bug went into the ...

Rich,
Appreciate the thread.  Have added this to the list of my "write-ins" for post/pre-flight checks.

The camera fan is temperature controlled and only comes on when it hits that temperature which is most of the time. If it does not come on at all if powered up in your house, then it's probably stuck. Stick a toothpick/paperclip or whatever to spin the fan and that should free it up.
I Also, I updated my Inspire V2 to 1.6 and it works just fine, although the vertical speed is slower (cold out).

DJI-Ken Posted at 2015-12-27 19:25
The camera fan is temperature controlled and only comes on when it hits that temperature which is mo ...

Thanks Ken,
My fan was not running at all when I first checked it. Now I can blow on the fan with my breath and it will spin freely.

I was able to get my inspire updated with the latest firmware WM610_FW_V01.06.00.40. I hope this doesn't affect the speed during normal temperatures.

I also, noticed the batteries do not need updating, only the inspire 1

Rich

SixtyMike Posted at 2015-12-27 18:46
Rich,
Appreciate the thread.  Have added this to the list of my "write-ins" for post/pre-flight ch ...

Glad this is something of value to you. I asked this question sometime in June and everyone was saying it is normal for the camera to run hot.... But nothing about how the fan was suppose to operate. I really noticed it during the firmware updates. Now it is working normally, just as DJI Ken posted and I just finished this last update with this tiny fan running the camera did not get as hot as before

Rich