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I am using my RPi 3B purely for feeding data Flightradar24 (with Pi24 installed instead of pure Raspbian). I assume that usage of electronics and overall load of the device is rather low.

My temperature readouts with small fan installed are:

  • 39.7 to 40.8 degrees Celsius all the time, as reported by RPi via command line,
  • 34.3 to 34.9 degrees Celsius all the time, as measured by hardware thermometer with thermocouple attached to RPi's plastic case.

Since I saw temperature measured around 46 degrees Celsius on most of the screenshot, I assume above (low load of the device). Correct me, if I am wrong.

Given above and the fact that the fan is quite very noisy, can I consider running RPi 3B with Pi24 completely without any cooling methods, i.e. without a fan and without a radiator? Or is it too risky?

trejder
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    Check out What is the maximum / minimum operational temperature?. 46 degrees if far from being dangerous. – Dmitry Grigoryev Oct 07 '19 at 09:49
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    You might like to read my answer to the following question: (1) For the passive cooling with thick copper plate https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AYGnw6MwFM, you can get below 50C without any fan, (2) If you use Ice Tower but not turning on fan, I guess the performance should be better than cheapy cooling fans: https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/104196/fan-is-still-working-after-shutting-down-pi-4 – tlfong01 Oct 07 '19 at 09:49
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    And you may also consider DS18B20, which gives your human readable readings. https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/1511995185.html?spm=a2g0w.12010612.8148356.15.53c95722RZD1Sc. Like this: https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/100203/pi-cant-find-5th-ds18b20. – tlfong01 Oct 07 '19 at 10:01
  • @trejder Don't take it personally, but I voted to close your question because it's on the point of turning into the "My country is the hottest" contest. – Dmitry Grigoryev Oct 07 '19 at 12:27
  • @DmitryGrigoryev, I've been using various SE sites for years and right know I managed to develop an attitude of absolutely not taking such things personally! :> Though the beginnings were tough. I totally agree with you that this is a pretty dupe, after all... – trejder Oct 07 '19 at 12:33

3 Answers3

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My RPis has been running for two years without heatsinks in India.These are working fine at 40 to 50 degrees also.

Nagaraj
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My flightradar 3B sits on the window sill because the aerial cable goes though the hinged side of that window.

That one is running 24/365 with a current temp of 47.8° compared with an ambient temp of 19.7°

No case, fan or heatsink on that one.

Dougie
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  • Thank you. I understand that no case is an issue here, because you get a much, much better "natural" cooling then in my case, where RPi is enclosed in a plastic case and then closed inside a server rack / shelf. – trejder Oct 07 '19 at 12:25
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    The temp limit is 85° you're going to have to drive dump1090-fa very hard to get anywhere near that limit. Even my 3B+ AIY machine (in the cardboard box) which is running the heavyweight Google Assistant python process is sitting at 50.5° (same room on a shelf in the middle). – Dougie Oct 07 '19 at 13:04
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My Pi3 has been running for years without a heatsink in Sydney where the Summer temperature regularly exceeds 40 degrees

Milliways
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  • Thank you. As above. No heatsinks and no other means of artificial cooling like a fan? Just a RPi and some plastic case? Or no case at all? – trejder Oct 07 '19 at 12:26