[Elecraft] K3 COOLING VENTS

[Brendan Minish]

On Fri, 2009-05-15 at 19:13 -0400, K2ZLS wrote:

>      The other driving factor here, that NOBODY seems to take 
> seriously,  is the heating effect on the computer chips and DSP 
> processor. They could use heat sinks, but space limitations may be a 
> problem.  My background is computers and I know that  HEAT is their 
> WORST nightmare. 

My PC consumes well over 200W of power when running hard, My graphics
subsystem another 80-100W or so when stressed. almost all of this
dissipation is confined to a few very small areas, this is a heat
problem. My i7 CPU with a big heatsink and fan on it stabilises at 57C
when working hard (~35 degrees C above ambient temp)  

My K3 with Sub consumes under 15W in receive, the front panel temp
stabilises at around 14 Degrees above ambient temp after being on a
while. this is not a heat problem, no matter how you look at it. 
   

If it makes you happy, cool the case externally. the side panels are in
good thermal contact with the internal screen between the Front panel
area and the rest of the radio so this will also lower the temp in the
front panel area.

Cut slots or holes in there and you will have a new set of issues to
deal with, namely EMC issues with digital trash from the front panel
DSP / CPU areas getting back into the receiver.

-- 
73
Brendan EI6IZ