[BPI-R3] Running Hot

Banana Pi Router design BPI-R3/R3 Mini(MT7986)
3

I purchase the kit from Sinovoip store at Aliexpress. They included 4 heatsinks with adesive to put in SoC, switch, and both wifi chips. Running lmsensors ( sensors command ) shows

mt7915_phy1-isa-18000000
Adapter: ISA adapter
temp1:        +53.0°C  (high = +120.0°C, crit = +110.0°C)

mt7915_phy0-isa-18000000
Adapter: ISA adapter
temp1:        +41.0°C  (high = +120.0°C, crit = +110.0°C)

Look at this review. They show options to cooling the device including fan control.

4

You should retest it using real infrared thermometer.

There is an open ticket that R3 shows raised temps than they are if you read up other forum sections.

5

Order some chip heatsink and a cheap laptop cooling pad, running 24/7, problem solved. IMG_1856 IMG_1864

6

This is my heatsink configuration:

IMG_2236

I need to purchase bolts to swap cable ties but they do the job :wink:

And this is my temperature graph (CPU unloaded and closed enclosure):

2023-01-17%20(1)

The SoC temperature seems correct. The 2,4Ghz WiFi chips seems ti give a +27C offset reading vs 5Ghz. I opened a bug about this.

[Edit] Ambient temp 20 Celsius

7

Hi,

I have little heatsinks with an official metal enclosure.

Ambiant temperature: 19˚C

root@bpi-r3:~# sensors 
mt7915_phy1-isa-18000000
Adapter: ISA adapter
temp1:        +55.0°C  (high = +120.0°C, crit = +110.0°C)

mt7915_phy0-isa-18000000
Adapter: ISA adapter
temp1:        +45.0°C  (high = +120.0°C, crit = +110.0°C)

And with my infrared thermometer :

phy1: 43.4°C
phy0: 37.9°C
cpu: 40.5°C
switch: 41.7°C
8

Is it possible to see if the BPI-R3 is thermal throttling?

It seems like BPI-R2 has cpufreq (MT7623 overcloking, voltages, powerconsumption, governors). But on my RPI-B3 the cpufreq folder is empty on both the stock image and openwrt snapshot.

And I don’t see mt7986 in this file:

9

Bpi-r3 is a very new board and we have the very basic support for it merged for 6.3,thermal and pwm not yet completely,cpufreq is maybe next,but all takes time and is some work which has to be done including testing. So please do not expect all is working out of the box.

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10

Yep, BPI-R3 is pretty hot with stock case and radiators. 56-57 ˚C on average without much load. 65-67 ˚C under some load. And I don’t see too much sense in installing fan, because stock case hasn’t any ventilation holes. It is sad, because I like this case. I’m looking for better “cooler” case and normal radiator with quiet fan.

11

I similarly considered a single large heatsink given the mounting holes but the chips covered aren’t entirely the same height, particularly the switch chip MT7531. Did you use some thick heat pads perhaps?

12

See here Banana pi R3 fan with PWM

13

Ah, missed that as wasn’t looking to run a fan. Thank you @frank-w.

14

That’s interesting. I purchased the kit with the board, case, antennas, and power supply but didn’t get any heat sinks in the package. If just adding the heat sinks drops the temps that low, that’s probably the way to go.

root@jakarta:~# sensors 
mt7915_phy1-isa-18000000
Adapter: ISA adapter
temp1:        +70.0°C  (high = +120.0°C, crit = +110.0°C)

mt7915_phy0-isa-18000000
Adapter: ISA adapter
temp1:        +55.0°C  (high = +120.0°C, crit = +110.0°C)

The case is pretty bare bones. It would have been nice to have the LEDs exposed and maybe a punch out for the USB header.

It seems like others have started some models for a 3D printed case, so that might be the way to go in the future. I also might try my hand at replacing the top with acrylic with ventilation.

I think I’m going to get a block heatsink and cut it to size. If I get ambitious I’ll tap some holes to mount it.

15

Are there tasks that can be farmed out? Even if it’s just testing, I’m willing to help.

16

There are the kits with and without the heatsincs. The temps are without the top of the enclosure. I believe that some holes in the upper and bottom frame to allow some convection plus a low noise fan.

17

Actually I have put thick thermal pads under the SoCs so the heat transfers to the whole case.

18

Do you mean on the other side of the pcb?

19

Yes, exactly. Every bit helps there.

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20

here you find my heat sink setup which results at 26°C CPU Temperature, running a CPU/IO stress test.

21

Can someone suggest single big radiator, which cover all bpi chips and fits the board (mounting holes etc). Without fan, I can’t see reason in using it with default metal case.

22

I ended up buying this aluminum heatsink and tapping holes. I put thermal pads on everything but the MT7531 to get the chips mostly level.

IMG_7738

I did the 12v fan mod as well and may end up adding a fan. My closet has a relatively high ambient temperature (30ºC) and little airflow, unfortunately.

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