I currently have a rpi3 with a 1.5TB WD Passport HDD attached thru a powered usb hub. I’d like to improve my “cable management” and reduce the clutter by putting both components in a single case. I am interested in the osmc pidrive case, but I have a few concerns.
The rpi is currently in a canakit case with heatsinks but it still occasionally overheats, resulting in a frozen video or a complete crash and reset. It doesn’t seem to matter whether or not I have the rpi overclocked. I am worried that putting in in the same case with a HDD will make the heat problem worse. It does look like there is more room inside the case for heat dissipation, but will it be enough? Is there room to mount one of the fans on Amazon that plug into to rpi’s i/o pins?
Can I take the WD drive I already have (P/N: WDBKXH5000ABK-01) out of it’s case and mount it in the pidrive case? Or will only a “pidrive” fit?
I did exactly what you are wondering about, but with a Toshiba 3TB drive. Took it out of the original drive case and it fits the pidrive fine. Had to cut a little sleeving off the usb cable to get that to bend into the case, but as long as you are careful…
The pi3 runs at just under 50C normally, around 60C when playing videos, but gets quite hot when under heavy internet use (my pi3 is also used as a media downloader) but the pidrive case lid is held on by magnets so it’s simple to pop the lid up when needed. I have a stick-on heatsink on the pi3 processor which seems to be enough for here in southern Spain, even in the summer when it’s 40C in the house.
I’m already pulling the lid off of my pi’s canakit case to try keeping the temperature down. The Canakit has two heat sinks and it still occasionally gets hot enough to cause the RPi to reset. And while I’m in Florida, my RPi is in an air-conditioned room where the temperature is at no more than 75 degrees Fahrenheit (23-24C).
I’m starting to think that maybe one or more of my addons is causing a problem (I have a few 3rd party addons). So I may just do a fresh install of OSMC and be a bit more limited in the number of addons I install to see if that helps.
I would suggest doing that. You could just use a new SD card for testing. I have 2 Pi 2’s and have never had heat problems. Both run around 40C while idle.
I’m trying to simplify and clean up my cabling (power cords, usb cords, hdmi cords, etc) to keep things tidy. The pidrive cable requires only one usb power port for both the rpi and the hdd. It is also more streamlined.
I decided to go with a Flirc case instead. My RPi overheating and repeatedly restarting is more of a concern than neat cable routing.
I have removed about 25 addons that I just was never using (ie, “ABC Family”) to see if opening up memory would help keep the processors a bit cooler. It seems to have helped 1-2 degrees Fahrenheit, but that’s it.
My problem seems to be with streaming live TV from the HDHomerun Connect. If a channel is 1080p, the temperature shoots up to 178F (81C). 720 is around 146F (63C), while SD resolution is around 124F (51C). Other addons like Pluto don’t seem to have the same heating problem, a Pluto stream at 720 is only 126F (52C).
Waiting for the Flirc case now from Amazon. I’ll report on heating differences when I get it.
Well, I got my Flirc case from Amazon on Friday. Just put the RPi in it this morning. Unfortunately, it did not come with the thermally conductive piece of tape that is supposed to bond the cpu to the heat sink. I’ve contacted the seller, asking for them to send the piece of tape. Hopefully, I’ll hear back soon.
In the meantime, I’ve gone ahead and put the RPi in the Flirc case. It seems to help with the heat. Before, my RPi was getting up close to 180 degrees Fahrenheit when I streamed a 1080 feed from my HDHomerun. Now it seems to top out around 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Not as good as it should be, but much better and surprisingly good considering I don’t have the CPU bonded to the heat sink yet - there’s a small air gap.
