Reported by New Intelligence
Reported by New Intelligence
Source: jeffgeerling
Editor: Daming
[New Intelligence Overview]The newly released “Raspberry Pi 4” has powerful performance comparable to a PC, but its heat generation is quite concerning. Just starting a few tasks can cause the temperature to soar to seventy or eighty degrees, and it is nearly sixty degrees even in standby mode! A guy took the initiative to install a cooling fan on the “Raspberry Pi 4”, reducing the temperature by 20 degrees. He filmed the installation process and posted it online, sparking heated discussions.
The recently released “Raspberry Pi 4” is powerful and affordable. New Intelligence has previously provided a comprehensive introduction. However, the powerful performance comes with a side effect of increased heat generation. In fact, the Raspberry Pi official website states it has “performance comparable to a PC”, but the unmentioned second half is something everyone understands.
Unfortunately, the official protective case does not consider heat dissipation or airflow setup. Therefore, this performance beast generates significant heat even in standby mode, and since the protective case is made of metal, the heat is transferred to other components, some parts feel quite hot to the touch.
After putting on the official accessory protective case, taking a thermal imaging photo after five minutes in standby results in the following:
The CPU temperature is around sixty degrees. In this thermal radiation photo, the lower left part appears bright white (indicating a temperature of 60-70 degrees), which is the power circuit connected to the USB-C power interface. This circuit is a major heat generator, but the components in this circuit do not have a metal casing like the CPU, resulting in significantly poorer heat dissipation.
This thermal imaging photo was taken only during system standby. If there is a load on the USB interface, the temperature of the USB chip controller on the right will also rise to 60-70 degrees. Upgrading the firmware might lower the temperature somewhat, but it will still be quite hot.
If you really want to use the Raspberry Pi 4 as a PC replacement as advertised, at least connect a USB 3.0, transfer a large amount of data, connect a mouse and keyboard, open a few browser windows, and run a word processing software while playing music… I tested it, and within ten minutes, the temperature quickly reached 80 degrees, and the CPU throttled.
So it’s better to install a fan yourself.
The following video can guide you step by step on how to install it. (If interested, jump to 9 minutes and 15 seconds directly)
My fan was purchased from Amazon, Pi-Fan (two-pack), very suitable for installing above the Raspberry Pi 4 circuit board, and comes with screws. The interface can be directly plugged into the Pi’s GPIO pins without modification.
1. First, you need to drill a hole; the simplest method is to use a 1 1/8” hole saw, drill slowly and don’t rush.
2. Drill a hole directly in the center of the top of the protective case (remember to remove the Raspberry Pi 4 first!), drill in the middle of the area opposite the Pi logo (so that the fan does not conflict with the network interface or USB ports).
3. Use a file or sandpaper to smooth the edges after drilling the hole.
4. Place the fan on top of the hole, align it as much as possible, and then mark the screw holes corresponding to the edges of the fan with a mechanical pencil or other tool.
5. Use a drill bit to drill the marked fan screw holes and sandpaper to remove burrs from the inside of the screw holes.
6. Place the fan under the top of the protective case, stick the label on (so that it can be seen from the top of the Raspberry Pi case), and then secure the fan to the case with screws and nuts.
All done! After installing the fan, check the operating temperature again using the previous testing software to run a CPU stress test, the temperature dropped to 60 degrees, and the CPU did not throttle.
The fan used in the video has a noise level of about 50 decibels at a distance of 30 centimeters, so it is not exactly silent. In addition, the fan consumes an extra 80 milliamps of power, which needs to be ensured when powered by solar or battery.
Of course, you first need a Raspberry Pi 4 and an official protective case.
Reference link:
https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2019/raspberry-pi-4-needs-fan-heres-why-and-how-you-can-add-one
