Vero overheating 91 C

Help and Support
1

Played my Vero V and got heat issues. It clocked 196 F or 91 C and it was freezing in the video so I assumed it got up to throttle temps while the video was still playing. I am concerned that the heat control is not good. My Pi never got this bad and I put a heatsink on it which kept it down to 160s F 70s C at highest.

I am enjoy its capability to do 4k on multiple encodings but I have had a few times where is been crashing during videos. Idle temps seem ok but it seems like it isnt ok when under load for long enough.

2

Would be good to see some logs to see what’s up.

90C isn’t a critical temperature; but it’s certainly not an idling temperature.

3

Do you mean decoding different encoded files, or are you encoding files on the Vero?

4

I think part of it was it being set on carpet since the heat seems to transfer through the bottom

5

still feel it runs hotter than ideal since it frequents 80-82C. I feel like I question if a better heatsink would make sense for it. Just because its not at critical doesnt mean its good for longevity for it to run so high.

6

It would still be good if you could clarify if you are encoding media on the device. That will be quite taxing.

Some logs would also be helpful.

7

Im only playing media I meant it can play media at 4k on multiple encodings

8

Then still something strange goes on as my temperatures just fluctuate between 62 and 83c.
Suggest to:

  1. Upload full logs and share URL
  2. Check with htop was is using CPU
9

A photo of how / where you’ve placed the device in your room wouldn’t be a bad idea either.

10

Yeh between 62 and 83c is about where Im at now with it off the carpet, it Idles an average around 72c generally now. Isnt that still a bit high to keep at long term though? Feel like it should be below 65C when Idling.

11

If it is in a “normal” environment (e.g. a TV Cabinet) when idling it should be around 60-64c. So as I wrote a few things I would suggest.

12

It’s higher than it should be - but that is far from overheating.

We need more information to advise though.

13

Right now its on a wood dresser open air, nothing around it.

I am not sure how to take temperature logs regular logging doesnt seem like it has that data.

14

They probably don’t need logs of the temperature, they need debug-enabled logs of what the device is doing, to see if (for example) it’s consistently devoting CPU cycles to some task it shouldn’t actually be performing.

15

Make sure there is no scrolling text when idle.
I’ve found this raises idle temps.

16

Hi. Adding some datapoints. Mine is around the same temperature idle. I’ve put some small bits underneath it to raise the Vero and get more airflow. Now sitting idle temps are between 70-72c. Used to be a couple degrees higher. The Vero is completely open, no cabinet and no obstructions. However, I live near the equator where it’s 29° day and night.

One curious thing I’ve noticed is that temps drop to around 66c when playing 1080p YouTube. You can check with top that during idle kodi is quite taxing on the CPU. I’ve Arctic horizon 2 skin and CPU % hovers between 70% and 90%. Streaming video it’s around 60%-66%.

I’ve accepted that it’s high temp device when idle. I asked about the standby and impact on kodi utilisation but it only seems to stop the hdmi connection with the TV. Kodi still idles with high utilisation.

17

Then you need to check what that Skin is doing (e.g. changing the contents on the screen).
With OSMC Skin the load average is 0.4 in idle.

18

Yeah, it’s a heavy skin and I’ve a few widgets where summaries are being displayed and scroll frequently. Never bothered to investigate further but I’m almost sure it’s the scrolling text ramping up the CPU.

Edit: there’s an option in the skin to remove the autoscroll of textboxes. It now idles at around 15% CPU. Thanks for the hint @fzinken and @BanditRider for the tip on scrolling text!

19

Yes that we require constant redraw which eats CPU

20

So I tested and it gets up to and stays at 65c at an idle without playing videos from a cool start. However if playing videos it will go up to the 70’s and lower 80’s and take a bit to cool back to that 65C at an idle after playing. I really think the device just doesn’t run to much cooler than that. To be fair my ambient temp in winter in the room is about 26C usually because on the upper floor the radators run hot