USB Dongles fit and Overheating

[N6010Y]

Hi Folks,

I have 2 units up and running (one prototype and the other for a colleague), and one of build for another colleague.

I received my USB GPS dongle yesterday, and found that when plugging the WiFi, ADS-B and GPS dongles in at the same time, the 4 port USB becomes a tad tight.

I powered up my prototype and started a 2 hours soak test to see how hot the USB ports and dongles became.

After about an hour and half, my iPad mini SkyDemon lost GPS and traffic, and my WiFi dongle stopped flashing.

After removing the Wi-Fi dongle (and dropping it very quickly), it was almost too hot to touch.  After it cooled down, I tried to re-boot but no joy with the WiFi dongle; all was fine using a stand-by dongle.

It appears that I have cooked the wi-fi dongle, but I did notice also that the ADS-B dongle also got quite hot.

My current solution is to plug the ADS-B dongle into the unit, and run the wi-fi and GPS on USB extension leads; WITHOUT any loss of performance.

Just wondered if any other users has experienced similar issues and what has been done to mitigate the high temps.

Thanks in advance.

Hugh

[The Westmorland Flyer]

I have the LogiLink WiFi dongle and that runs cool but the ADS-B dongle certainly does get uncomfortably hot. I found it was taking 400mA, so that's 2W of dissipated heat in a very small area. I am running the ADS-B dongle on a short USB extension lead and will probably continue to do that when the gear ends up in G-JONL.

[Paul_Sengupta]

I've been playing around with these dongles for a couple of years now, and have several types, including the small one. They do get hot. I tend to favour the larger format ones with the large "UHF TV" aerial sockets on them. They don't get as hot as the little ones.

[ianfallon]

Had mine on all day - the ADS-B dongle gets quite hot but no problems

[wyrleybird]

I had my wi-fi dongle fitted in far top right port and ADS-B in the bottom left  but the small mini ADS-B got very hot so i changed to the longer type
it now runs cool had it on for 5 hrs

[ianfallon]

Interesting - I have Wifi bottom right, GPS top right, ADS-B bottom left.

[onkelmuetze]

I have the same problems as described in post #1. Worst placement is DVB-T and WiFi on top of each other, but even nex to each other the WiFi drops out after a while (>2hours). I will order a larger WiFi dongle the next days.

I thought about hardwiring all the components and put them into one case to get rid of wobbly connections and cables, but as long as the devices produce that much heat, I better keep them on the outside.

[dougblair]

My wifi dongle does not get hot  but the DVB-T gets too hot.  The wifi dongle is the recommended one as is the DVB-T dongle.  You might try putting the DVB-T dongle on a usb extension to isolate it from the rest of the kit.  I will try it as well.
Doug

[dougblair]

Hi http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231483794170?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT  is where I got the WIFI Dongle as per the recommended list.

[carlp]

I have a DIGITAZ branded dongle, it's warm after 12 hours but not 'hot'. Unlike the 'recommended' dongle it does not have the flashing LED to indicate that it's working so perhaps not having the LED helps keep the temperature or at least reduce the power load on the power supply?
The DVB-T is warm but not very hot (yet)

Probably fine for my flights which are usually less that 2 hours long 

Carl