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  1. Xiegu-X6100
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New radio, heat mitigation

NC3Z
 

Just got a new X6100 from Radioddity. Cool little radio but generates healthy heat, which I was not to keen about. I had a ham buddy 3D print a X6100 stand I found online and added a Noctua 60mm fan to it. That made a world of difference. Here are some pictures of the heat as seen by a Flir K2. The fan had a low speed reducer inline so was turning slowly and quietly.

--
Gary Mitchelson
NC3Z/4 Pamlico County, NC FM15
NC AHIMT COML
SHARES NCS997

Cooling 1.jpg
Cooling 2.jpg
DSCN2945.JPG
DSCN2949.JPG
No cooling 1.jpg
No cooling 2.jpg

RuiHam
 

Fantastic
Im thinking to buy this radio to use it as my base station and I already write somewhere.
Is 600€ less than a 100w radio? and the Amp I can get one for 150€.

But forget the power ... with a fan system like that the radio works perfeclty as base station?
How / where can I get something similar .. it seems great.
NC3Z
 

This is the stand that I had my buddy print for me, find someone with a 3D printer.

--
Gary Mitchelson
NC3Z/4 Pamlico County, NC FM15
NC AHIMT COML
SHARES NCS997
 

Gary,

I have similar stand with small fan for my X6100.? I added to rear of the rig couple heat sinks I got on Amazon.? Looks like you have added them also.

One thing we have learned about the X6100 to reduce heat is to not have the int battery charging on when operating the rig, and have the rig off when charging the battery.??

My X6100 with rig on and battery charging draws about 1A in rcv and this does cause the rig to get hot after some time.? With rig on and charger off the current draw is about 400 ma.? With rig off and charger on the current starts at 750ma and after battery is fully charged drops to less than 300 ma.

All this is from the external 12V power using inline current meter.

So suggest when rig on have charger off and when charger on have rig off.

73, ron, n9ee/r

Ron Wright, N9EE/R
Hernando Co ARES EC
Spring Hill, Florida also n9ee55@...


On Thursday, August 17, 2023 at 12:41:35 PM EDT, NC3Z <nc3z@...> wrote:


This is the stand that I had my buddy print for me, find someone with a 3D printer.? ? ?

--
Gary Mitchelson
NC3Z/4 Pamlico County, NC FM15
NC AHIMT COML
SHARES NCS997
NC3Z
 

Yes, the charger is off when not needed, that is pretty well documented that is not good to do.

--
Gary Mitchelson
NC3Z/4 Pamlico County, NC FM15
NC AHIMT COML
SHARES NCS997
Erik Finskas OH2LAK
 

Hi Gary et al.

Nice to see you have also fallen to this fantastic radio :)

I have thought of doing some deeper investigation about the X6100 thermal management and already now I'm a bit puzzled just by looking videos and pictures of X6100 teardowns, for example this;


The PA module of the X6100 is nowhere close to the back plate but more in the middle of the radio, behind the front panel PCB, to where it also is attached for cooling.
The LiPo battery packs are at the back, accommodating the full back side width and height. There are on internal fans or heatpipes to transfer the heat off the PA chip other than the 'middle wall' which then will heat up the whole radio chassis.

I've been thinking of some sort of a heatpipe solution to transfer the PA heat out from the radio, or removing the battery pack (or replace it with a smaller one) so that there would be direct access from the PA chip to the backplate so that it could be lead to cool to a cooling fin at the back.

73,
Erik OH2LAK

On Thu, 17 Aug 2023 at 17:15, NC3Z <nc3z@...> wrote:
Just got a new X6100 from Radioddity. Cool little radio but generates healthy heat, which I was not to keen about. I had a ham buddy 3D print a X6100 stand I found online and added a Noctua 60mm fan to it. That made a world of difference. Here are some pictures of the heat as seen by a Flir K2. The fan had a low speed reducer inline so was turning slowly and quietly.

--
Gary Mitchelson
NC3Z/4 Pamlico County, NC FM15
NC AHIMT COML
SHARES NCS997
 

Cooling fins stuck to the back make a big difference. I used these which cover almost the entire back plate.?



Then set the radio on top of this while running and it doesn't even feel warm any more.?

https://a.co/d/2JJsZlV
 

¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

The only thing I found with the back of my X6100 was it was slightly concave so a large heatsink only made contact round the edges, so I replaced that with 15 smaller 20mm x 20mm heatsinks and the difference was noticeable

?

The other thing I haven¡¯t seen Mentioned in this thread is how much input voltage affect the heat output

?

I run mine when at home at 11v-11.5v from the PSU instead of the standard 13.8v it runs a lot cooler and no difference in power output

?

?

Peter

M0PWX

?

?

From: groups.kc3suw.eycn2 via groups.io
Sent: 18 August 2023 12:07
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [xiegu-x6100] New radio, heat mitigation

?

Cooling fins stuck to the back make a big difference. I used these which cover almost the entire back plate.?



Then set the radio on top of this while running and it doesn't even feel warm any more.?

https://a.co/d/2JJsZlV

?

1CC3B01E1E6D4A8B9B3107DD56C467BF.png

 

Gary

Best is to cool the radio at the bottom, as the back side is not really a part of the internal heatsink. Besides cooling also lowering the inoutvoltage to 10,5V? is advised because a part of the heat is generated by the internal (lineair) 9V voltage regulator.

https://pseudovoice.wordpress.com/2022/09/06/x6100-auxiliary-passive-cooler/
--
Robert
NC3Z
 

With the way I set this up I have part of the airflow that also goes over the bottom heatsink, by design. All sides of the 6100 are now keeping equally cool even @ 13.8V. I didnt want to go crazy with heatsinks, been there done that when I had a KX3 which had cooling issues also.

I am at a happy medium now between the size of heatsinks and keeping the 6100 nice and cool.

--
Gary Mitchelson
NC3Z/4 Pamlico County, NC FM15
NC AHIMT COML
SHARES NCS997
 

Printed the stand out - pretty nice. Thanks.
 

Thanks Gary
Nice stand and fan?
73 Rob G3RCE?
 

New radio case cooling on ebay?
 

I bought a portable fan on amazon.
works great.
?
Jerry
----
Extra Ham Radio Operator: WF5W
Registered Linu=x User: 275424
3D CAD designer

The most exciting phrase to hear in science - the one that heralds new discoveries - is not "Eureka" but "That's funny...". - Isaac. Asimov


On Mon, Dec 4, 2023 at 3:19?AM <ovendour@...> wrote:
New radio case cooling on ebay?

 

¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

A repurposed CPU cooler looking at the size of the contact patch and the heatsink tape,

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Pretty pricy for $5-$10 CPU cooler and a bit of plastic

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I bought a couple of packs of 20x20x10mm Heatsinks and a reel of heatsink tape, the heat is radiated across the who back of the X6100, not a small spot as cooled by the linked cooler from ebak

?

Peter

M0PWX

?

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From: ovendour@...

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New radio case cooling on ebay?

?
 

Also see?? for options. Please keep in mind that cooling at the bottom (not the back) is the best option.
--
Robert
Anaxi
 

I like the idea of lowering voltage and still operate with 10W. Applying such on field/battery, would a module such as?XL4015 5A Step Down DC-DC Converter between the battery and radio and regulated to output 11.5V work? Probably some risk of introducing some RFI...



I run mine when at home at 11v-11.5v from the PSU instead of the standard 13.8v it runs a lot cooler and no difference in power output
 

I use a cheap USB powered fan from Amazon. It will last for 2 days on a cheap small power pack for phone charging. Keeps it cool doing a couple hours of FT8.
 

I'm largely CW. ?I do have a heat sink on the back, but the critical issue to keep the heat down seems to be keeping the voltage at around 11V so that the regulator doesn't have to dissipate so much heat. ?I sometimes power it with ?a power pack and a USB-C 12v trigger dongle with a diode in series to drop the voltage. I have also used a buck converter with no problem. There is some info about these things on my blog in case you are interested.


73 Howard K4LXY
 

Howard, make sure you¡¯re not charging the radio while using it. The main menu has a charge on/off choice. ?


Mars. Kc3jjh

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