A10 temperature - it gets hot!

[David Goadby]

I have tried both the Android and Debian boots on my A10s and both now seem to work. However, under certain condition's the A10s chip does get very hot; in fact too hot to touch. I will get some accurate measurements later.

The hottest experience was during the first Android boot where the screen shows a silver Android logo for a long time. Since them temperature has been mostly cool to the touch but I haven't run any intense software yet!

* Is this normal operation?
* Does the A10s chip have it's own thermal mechanisms to protect itself?
* Should I consider adding a small heat-sink for improved long term reliability?

Have any other users noticed this?

David Goadby

[LubOlimex]

Hey David,

The A10s generally works at higher temperature but it is not a good sign if you can't touch it. How much current at 5V does the board consume? How does the board behave if you leave it for 15-30 minutes of working - say playing a movie - does it hang or restart or turn off?

Best regards,
Lub/OLIMEX

[olimex]

A10-A10S-A20 are BGA chips and as such doesn't dessipate power so good as A13 which have large thermal pad.
It's normally A10S to be hot when work intensive like playing video or making intensive computation
same does A10/A20 and other processors which work at 1Ghz, it uses about 2 Watts of power so it's normal to go about 50-60C which you can't touch with finger

[David Goadby]

A quick check with the Android desktop on HDMI and running only the browser the A10s temperature is 52.4C and the total current 0.489A @ 5.05V. The temperature was taken with a small mass K thermocouple with heat-sink compound for good conductivity. Ambient is 23.8C

I will try to get more permutations later with Linux as this is not as host as it has been. My gut feeling is that the very high temperatures were during the very long start-up at the first boot. I'm not sure what it is doing but it got there eventually.

Right now the SD card has stopped booting Debian so I need to sort that out first.

More: Board just booted into the silver Android logo but it never progressed past that point (another problem?). The current was averaging at 0.58A and the temperature just reached 62C but no higher. That was touch hot for me.

More: I have just booted into the Debian console on HDMI and current is now 0.32A and temperature is steady 40.5C. That is more respectable.

I think I might stick a small heat-sink on the A10s as it will do no harm. Keeping electronics cooler is always a good thing to do. 


David Goadby