Mounting Homey Pro 2023 vertically?

Questions & Help
1

The Homey Pro 2023 has no factory option (like key holes for hanging onto screws) for mounting it vertically (typically to a wall). This is of course easily remedied by a custom mount, 3D-printed or manually crafted, but I wonder if there are any valid reasons not to?

The main potential concern would be cooling. The PI module inside runs fairly hot, and I wonder if the mounting direction in any way could affect the efficiency of the cooler/heatsink? My guess is that it probably doesn’t make much of a difference, but I am curious if anyone has looked into this or even tested it.

As for the RF antennas, they should be pretty omnidirectional, so the orientation of the device should not affect performance/range.

2

Re cooling, you can check the infrared photos…

Basically I would say it’s so poor already, it would not make any sense. On the other side, if you have smaller smart home, there is nothing to be worried about (<200 devices, <40 apps etc.).

3

Ok, so basically you’re saying it probably doesn’t matter which way it is oriented?

It’s a pity that they didn’t manage to make a better cooling solution, but I guess it was to cut costs (and noise).

4

It’s non-scientistic believe :wink: In certain scenario it might even help because it’s not just CM4, what is heating but also some chips on the main board, like ESP32 - in my case it has 40C and it doesn’t have any cooling.

Well, even just a slightly higher/bigger heatsink would help…the cost difference is minimal. But again, for smaller smart homes, you will anyway not feel difference.

The scenario I have used (active fan with regulator) works so far very well for me…