Cooling boards during an update

Michgolden

Hi all. Just passing this along. A friend of mine had his AC in today getting the gimbal board replaced, he had a plug break off from a crash. This was done at a very reputable repair shop. While getting the work done the technician told him that a big issue with the Phantom series is that when you are performing a firmware update and the bird is sitting there for a half hour the circuitry gets very hot and can cause problems later on. He suggested to update in an open area and use a fan to help cool the bird. Sounds like it couldn't hurt to try it.

OrlyP

They do indeed get hot to the touch, especially the camera. It's probably more of a problem in warmer climates. I live in a tropical country and have updated my P3S at least 3 or 4 times without any active cooling. But I agree that putting a fan should help keep things from cooking. I'll try to remember doing that in future updates or if I'm working on the aircraft on the bench while it's powered up.

solentlife

I measured temps on my camera while standing and after 20 odd minutes it was climbing to high 40's C and still climbing ... I shut it off.

I did it because a poster claimed that temp was not a problem and I knew I had seen mine get hot enough to make me extremely worried ... especially with an SD card in there !! SD cards do not like heat !!

I have three ways to cool my gimbal / camera .... which are the main items to get hot :

1. My first way which now is not needed ... a standard domestic fan heater set to just blow.

2. A spare PC fan that runs of 5V which is fixed to the underside of a plate stand. It blows directly upward through a large hole in the plate.

3. My latest means of cooling is a laptop cooling bed sold in local shop for about $5 ... I noticed the sale on it and grabbed last one they had. It runs of USB power ... so any of my spare DJI batterys through a $5 discharger can power it ...

Nigel