PCIMAX running at 80 degC

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treken
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PCIMAX running at 80 degC

Post by treken »

Hi I have a PCIMAX3000+ installed in a Dell Optiplex 745 running Windows 7 with the card installed in PCI slot, IDE Power connected, USB connected and supplied magnetic Antena connected.

I discovered the 'Automatic Refresh' option and this showed my transmitter temperature to be toggling between 80 & 80 degrees. The Alarm was toggling on and off. The power was being reduce to Zero when it hit 81 degrees

I wound the transmitter power back to about 65%, this dropped the temperature to 64 degrees after about 45 minutes and the power output was being reported at 0.1W

My question is, is this 'normal' or do I have an issue with the antennae. Is there power being reflected back to the output stage that I can fix or is there some other issue?

The Optiplex has chassis fans however these are controlled by the cpu temp rather than what the MAX may require. I have not tried removing the side panel, and would prefer not to if possible.

thanks
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pcs
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PCIMAX running hot in PC case

Post by pcs »

Especially the 3W model needs some airflow. Some PC cases provide this by default, others don't.
To make matters worse many PCs get very hot inside during normal operation so when you put PCIMAX inside such a PC case you can have problems.

Not because of PCIMAX but the CPU and graphics card get very hot.

So you need to improvize a bit, fans can be purchased that can be set to various places inside PC chassis. Some graphics cards will blow on PCIMAX as well if you mount it close and some CPU or PSU coolers also blow around sufficiently. At home I took the side cover of my PC off, the PC runs much cooler this way.

Anyway, as you noticed protection works quite well so the card does not get fried.
Best regards,
Marko - PCS Electronics
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http://www.pcs-electronics.com
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