white IRIS...cooler IRIS?

Posted by Dan McKenna on September 3, 2015 at 7:21pm

I needed to take some video around noon and was getting high HDOP

The IRIS was sitting on the ground for about 5 minutes and when I went to unplug the battery

and reboot noticed that the top was hot.

I normally fly a dawn and just before sunset and found if my house is warmer than out side

 get a better start up and less drift if the Iris is outside for 15 minutes before powering up.

Just an observation that now is a ritual with me.

It just seems that if the top of the iris was white the electronics would be cooler in the day.

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Replies

  • DavidFolts September 4, 2015 at 7:48am

    Where do you live Dan?  Down here in the Houston area the heat gain on the Iris top cover is rather instantaneous and fierce this time of year...so now I fly evenings and on cloudy days....I'm rather leery of hot sunny days and the Iris electronics overheating.

    I believe the GPS receiver and the Pixhawk are exceeding their operating temp envelope on sunny days....I get those "GPS Glitch" alarms on Tower on hot or sunny days. (previous threads on a flyaway incident I had...)

    I had thought of painting the top cover white, and placing a tiny cooling fan to blow air through the unit....

    • Dan McKenna > DavidFolts September 4, 2015 at 9:25am

      I am at almost 6000' near the top of Palomar Mountain California.

    • DavidFolts > Dan McKenna September 4, 2015 at 9:37am

      Indeed....heat transfer thru the plastic shell...

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