07-09-2017, 12:26 AM
I have attempted to add a heatsink to the Freeplay Zero and here is my story ....
In my experience, the pi Zero doesn't really get too crazy hot, now it definitely gets warm but with the open game slot there is quite a bit of air flow. I have modded a game cart to 'cover' the slot opening and i still have not noticed any considerable heat difference even with the game slot closed.
I would suggest, before doing anything rash like gluing a heatsink onto your pi, that you attempt to monitor the pi temperature. Perhaps write a script which periodically logs values from This will give you a sense if there is a true need for heat dissipation.
But all that aside, i have tried 3 different configurations for a heat sink on the pi.
1. a 'normal' or even 'tiny' heat sink will not fit on top of the cpu, this is due to other passive components appearing on the freeplay board (essentially there is an inductor in the way)
2. I have a 'ground down' heat sink from a previous experiment which is essentially a slightly ridged piece of aluminum with most of the blades ground down. This would fit between the CPU and the board. But after thinking about it further, i figure that it was not 'really' doing very much. only measurements would prove the effectiveness.
3. After a long evening of playing with my freeplay zero and fiddling with heat sinks, i thought ... perhaps i can mount the heatsink to the 'bottom' of the board under the CPU. Now logically this makes very little sense as the heat would have needed to dissipate from the chip and through the board before the sink would be of any help. But hey, a normal pi heat sink does fit in the case on the 'underside' of the zero board. But again, this is probably a silly idea and not really a functional suggestion.
In summary, i suggest setting up a temp logging script (i'll try to do that later tonight and share), and rather than add a full sized sink try a low profile (~6mm height) if needed. And above all, don't glue the sink to your pi before assembling everything first, triple check that everything will fit! And if putting electronic parts in close quarters, try to use some kapton or electrical tape to prevent shorts.
-Sam
In my experience, the pi Zero doesn't really get too crazy hot, now it definitely gets warm but with the open game slot there is quite a bit of air flow. I have modded a game cart to 'cover' the slot opening and i still have not noticed any considerable heat difference even with the game slot closed.
I would suggest, before doing anything rash like gluing a heatsink onto your pi, that you attempt to monitor the pi temperature. Perhaps write a script which periodically logs values from
Code:
/opt/vc/bin/vcgencmd measure_tempBut all that aside, i have tried 3 different configurations for a heat sink on the pi.
1. a 'normal' or even 'tiny' heat sink will not fit on top of the cpu, this is due to other passive components appearing on the freeplay board (essentially there is an inductor in the way)
2. I have a 'ground down' heat sink from a previous experiment which is essentially a slightly ridged piece of aluminum with most of the blades ground down. This would fit between the CPU and the board. But after thinking about it further, i figure that it was not 'really' doing very much. only measurements would prove the effectiveness.
3. After a long evening of playing with my freeplay zero and fiddling with heat sinks, i thought ... perhaps i can mount the heatsink to the 'bottom' of the board under the CPU. Now logically this makes very little sense as the heat would have needed to dissipate from the chip and through the board before the sink would be of any help. But hey, a normal pi heat sink does fit in the case on the 'underside' of the zero board. But again, this is probably a silly idea and not really a functional suggestion.
In summary, i suggest setting up a temp logging script (i'll try to do that later tonight and share), and rather than add a full sized sink try a low profile (~6mm height) if needed. And above all, don't glue the sink to your pi before assembling everything first, triple check that everything will fit! And if putting electronic parts in close quarters, try to use some kapton or electrical tape to prevent shorts.
-Sam