Arctic Silver 5 surgery a success!!

[BlackTracer]

I have a plus that I bought way back in April/May 2014. I have never had any wifi range issues or other issues like video freezing, etc. Am I lucky or is a wifi module overheat and failure in my future? Should I do the Arctic Silver mod at the very least? Or leave it alone and if it ain't broke don't fix it? This has been on my mind since I started reading about these overheat failures.

FYI I also did not experience any satellite count issues but did the foil mod anyways. Also did Frank's GPS plug secure mod for good measure.

Thanks for any input.

 

[rbhamilton]

Re: Am I a wifi time bomb waiting to explode?

Tic tic tic... yep. It's only a matter of time. BUT if you do the Arctic Silver fix you should be OK. Hopefully.

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=28176

 

[RichWest]

Re: Am I a wifi time bomb waiting to explode?

I think the percentage is higher for success rather than failure. So you're lucky from my perspective to have remained trouble free. Hopefully your trend will continue. And seeing that you're in FL, if the heat would have been a problem then you would already had an issue.

I'll leave you with this, if aint broke don't fix it....

Just my perspective...

 

[Fplvert]

Re: Am I a wifi time bomb waiting to explode?


I have the same concern, but my wifi seems solid. Never had any problems with satellites dropping either. 85 C = 185 F so should be fine?

 

[Mako79]

Re: Am I a wifi time bomb waiting to explode?

I accidently left my phantom in a hot car. Wifi module stopped working. I could never get 640x480@30fp on this module. I think it was gradually dying from the start. I tried to do the artic silver to fix but too late.

I purchased a used wifi module. It runs 640x480@30fps up to 200m. I did the artic silver for preventative measures.

I try not have my phantom on idle too long without the props cooling it down.
I would suggest NOT to transfer files from phantom to smart device unless you have no other methods.

 

[RichWest]

Re: Am I a wifi time bomb waiting to explode?

I have the same concern, but my wifi seems solid. Never had any problems with satellites dropping either. 85 C = 185 F so should be fine?

That looks as cool as a cucumber. The rectangle box over with the temp mark says 118F, further it doesn't look typical to the heat signature/shape I would have expected. EDIT: It's the QR code sticker... Using the color scale, the diamond indention on the wifi cover is the main source of heat for many, looks to be fine to me based on the image.

How long was the unit on prior to taking the thermal image? If you take the sticker off you'll have better overall performance...related to heat

 

[BlackTracer]

Re: Am I a wifi time bomb waiting to explode?

Yeah I gave up on the wireless transfer long ago. Takes too long and not worth the overheat. I even had my gimbal heat up after sitting on the table wirelessly transferring video once upon a time.

Thanks for all the replies. I am still on the fence with doing the mod. I am leaning toward doing it tho.

Also I have left mine in a hot car in the summer more than once with no ill effects. I consider myself lucky stupid with that and I don't do that anymore.

 

[Fplvert]

Re: Am I a wifi time bomb waiting to explode?

I have the same concern, but my wifi seems solid. Never had any problems with satellites dropping either. 85 C = 185 F so should be fine?

That looks as cool as a cucumber. The rectangle box over with the temp mark says 118F, further it doesn't look typical to the heat signature/shape I would have expected. EDIT: It's the QR code sticker... Using the color scale, the diamond indention on the wifi cover is the main source of heat for many, looks to be fine to me based on the image.

How long was the unit on prior to taking the thermal image? If you take the sticker off you'll have better overall performance...related to heat

The bird was on for about six minutes. Motors running (no props) at half throttle. I didn't see any temperature increases after 5 minutes. The other hot rectangular spot is a DE channel 7 mod. which also showed 118 F.

Do you think the sticker should be removed?

 

[RichWest]

Re: Am I a wifi time bomb waiting to explode?

Do you think the sticker should be removed?

The sticker acts as a insulator. In your case, it doesn't seem to be an issue.

For others with heat related issues, then yes remove the sticker to improve heat dissipation. As well as re-applying a thermal compound expressed in other threads for the topic...

Again, I'm glad to see a properly working unit's temp reference. Thank you for posting the thermal image!

 

[48Straight]

Re: Am I a wifi time bomb waiting to explode?

It is just a matter of time and replacing the heatsinc compound is a must unless you want a flyaway at some future random point.

 

[Fplvert]

Re: Am I a wifi time bomb waiting to explode?

It is just a matter of time and replacing the heatsinc compound is a must unless you want a flyaway at some future random point.

:roll:
I don't see how loss of wifi could cause a fly away. Before I replaced the RE-500 with a RE-700 on my P2V, I had wifi drops at 250-300 feet. No fly-aways though.

MHL

 

[Mako79]

Re: Am I a wifi time bomb waiting to explode?

It is just a matter of time and replacing the heatsinc compound is a must unless you want a flyaway at some future random point.

:roll:
I don't see how loss of wifi could cause a fly away. Before I replaced the RE-500 with a RE-700 on my P2V, I had wifi drops at 250-300 feet. No fly-aways though.

MHL

Probably inferring to losing FPV mid flight and losing track of the bird.
If you ever lose FPV and still want to be in control, use the radar to fly back. You can also enable NAZA IOC and HL and pull the right stick down.

It is a MUST to do the wifi artic heat sink mod. The wifi modules are expensive and DJI wants your whole bird back which means back to china and 2 or month wait.

 

[BlackTracer]

Re: Am I a wifi time bomb waiting to explode?

It is just a matter of time and replacing the heatsinc compound is a must unless you want a flyaway at some future random point.

:roll:
I don't see how loss of wifi could cause a fly away. Before I replaced the RE-500 with a RE-700 on my P2V, I had wifi drops at 250-300 feet. No fly-aways though.

MHL

You don't see how because there is no how. 48Straight: FPV and flight control are unrelated. An imperfect heatsinked wifi module cannot cause a flyaway. This is a fundamental concept of our quadcopters. I am sure you already know that.

 

[gfo315]

Re: Am I a wifi time bomb waiting to explode?

Woah, didn't know the WiFi module had so many problems itself. My Phantom has approximately 1 month, and I haven't opened it yet.
But anyway, is there any problem in using the 640 30 fps live view during 1 hour? That's exactly what I do. Should I open it up and get some decent heat sinking out there?

 

[BlackTracer]

Re: Am I a wifi time bomb waiting to explode?

OK, I just ordered the Arctic Silver 5 on Amazon. Will be here Thursday. I will soon after do the surgery following burlbark's you tube video. It looks simple enough. Nothing but cool runnings after that!!! Thanks again everyone who has responded up to this point.

 

[BlackTracer]

So I did the arctic silver 5 mod tonight. It was fairly easy. Getting the double sided tape loose was the first challenge. Used a hair dryer but I was afraid to heat it up too much, so I ended up slowly separating it. The heat probably helped a little but mostly I pried it up slowly. The next challenge was that small silver cover on the first board. Prying those tiny clips up was a bit difficult. But once I got aggressive with them it came off ok. There was no thermal material under that cover whatsoever from the factory. The only thermal material was a light application under the top cover and on the triangular shaped thing. But it was barely there. There also was no thermal pad under the second board like I saw on the youtube video. So I liberally applied the new paste in all the right places, put it all back together, including reusing the copper tape around the seam between the top and bottom covers. Reconnected all the connections and tested it indoors for wifi connectivity and camera video feed. All is good. I will be much more comfortable now about the wifi unit heat signature. <takes a deep breath of relief>