Copper is not only a good conductor of heat, but also of electricity. Be extremely careful not to cause a short circuit.
I would listen to the tips of the previous speakers. They have already done such mods successfully and they work.
My fan mod is relatively easy to build and keeps Homey’s CPU below 40 degrees even at the current temperatures.
FYI - installed new heat-sink on my heavily loaded system and also put thermal pads on memory chips + it’s possible to close the top part, which is great (I like the HP23 design)
(note the last section)
Used this heatsink : https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003955915167.html
However please note I had to modify it - the cutout for BT+2.4GHz antenna must be much wider !!
The bad heatsink with improper cutout :
The good (original) :
Probably next step will be : https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004355749568.html
…but this will require again soldering of the carrier board as the threads can’t be inserted in reversed way. Also it’s a question, where to connect FAN, probably will do some research around but maybe someone know ? Possibly in the way it can be controlled ?
Nice Sharkys, like to read when you did the fan heatsink mod.
For the ones who want to cool down their homey and don’t want to open it, this is also an option
I have printed a stand to raise the HP2023 a bit so air may also flow underneath the homey,
and then I have placed a cheap USB-powered fan next to the homey
With just this extra airflow it’s cooled down for about 10°C
Please send me your STL file
Do you have something to upload it to?
Well, Printables or https://www.thingiverse.com/ ?
@Sebas It’s a good idea if you don’t have a patent on it
Well there you go feel free to use/modify it.
Thanks
Finally my cm4 arrived from official Digikey So excited where to start the modification.
I plied open the open homey lid, after monitor a few hours, I see without lid it can drop about 7 degree Celsius, hence a much bigger heat sink will job without a fan.
I wonder where is the portion of the antenna not cover when i get a huge sink approximate 11mm, drill 4 holes using bench drill.
Not sure what you mean - you mean the required cutout ? Honestly, with larger heatsink, it’s a question if external antenna is not a better solution (when you connect external antenna, it needs to be enabled in config.txt.)
The selection of internal or external antenna is done at boot time using the config.txt file, and can not be changed
during operation. The config.txt options are dtparam=ant1 to select the internal antenna, or dtparam=ant2 for the external
antenna.
Can i have the stl fil ?
If you ever wondered - this is with the bigger heatsink which almost touch the top lid
And Ethernet adapter, can we also used as radiator
Btw, does your Ethernet adapter is also heating so significantly ? When you touch it, is it cool or hot ? So scientific measurement is required…
Hmm, I think that it is old information; but I see now that the USB website script is changed. The backup tool is now working (also on the CM4 modules with more flash storage). It looks like that it is retrying when it is stuck. (The progress indicator is stopping but resuming after some seconds.).
So replaced heatsink by https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002536334210.html - it’s Waveshare brand, match all the specifications but it’s little bit noisy - will be adding also https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001710082330.html, suggested by @spkesDE The top lid can be closed without any problem, there is even more space compared to the bigger heatsink I used before.
Beware - the cage needs to be de-soldered due to the mounting mechanism of Waveshare fan.
Do not comment on way I connected it unless you have some good recommendation instead But voltage wise seems to be fine for HP23.
Impact on the temperature (please note my HP23 is not like yours, it’s always and permanently doing something) - past 30 days - fluctuates between 49C-52C
(first is stock - reaching even over 80C, 2nd is heatsink I posted above, 3rd decrease is fan)
IR photo