1 Topic by scu (edited by scu 2008-01-26 10:22:43)

  • scu
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  • Registered: 2008-01-26
  • Posts: 1

Topic: Is the touch screen supposed to be warm?

I got my Chumby this week. I noticed that the touch screen feels warm, though not hot, after the Chumby is powered up. Even it is functioning well so far. I am a little concerned about whether such temperature is expected. I read that someone reported a heat related issue of the screen. Is it normal for Chumby's screen to be warm?

  • Registered: 2008-01-08
  • Posts: 172

Re: Is the touch screen supposed to be warm?

My chumby has had no issues with it's screen, although mine gets warm too. Doesn't concern me, because I have seen similar behavior from my PDAs.

  • Duane
  • Duane
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  • From: San Diego, CA
  • Registered: 2006-08-24
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Re: Is the touch screen supposed to be warm?

Yes, the screen is supposed to get warm.

The chumby dissipates about 2W during normal use (a bit more when playing audio).  The energy that's not convert to RF by the wifi radio, or by the light coming from the display, or sound by the speakers, is converted to heat energy.  Since the chumby is full of polyfill and enclosed in leather (neither of which are good conductors of heat), the heat has to go *somewhere*, so the screen is used as the heat sink - it's glass on metal, so it's a good conductor of heat, and it's spread across the surface.

A lot of the heat is generated by the wifi adapter - there's actually a little bit of heat conductive tape that routes the heat from the wifi card to the motherboard, which in turns passes it to the display, which radiates it to the air.

It actually isn't a lot of energy overall - it's less than a laptop in sleep mode, or a VCR or TV in standby - an AppleTV apparently draws 15W in standby.  We're drawing less and we're actually *on* and doing something.

Duane's Website

  • Registered: 2008-04-01
  • Posts: 4

Re: Is the touch screen supposed to be warm?

For what it's worth, my Chumby touchscreen runs around 118 degrees F, as measured by a Craftsman 82327 infrared thermometer from a distance of 4 inches.  Noticeably warm, but not hot.  By contrast, my Dell 18" LCD monitor runs around 98 degrees.

  • Registered: 2008-03-22
  • Posts: 12

Re: Is the touch screen supposed to be warm?

Mine registers at 113.5

  • Registered: 2008-02-25
  • Posts: 21

Re: Is the touch screen supposed to be warm?

Not hot hot, but hot enough as to make me feel concerned if a touch-screen intensive application, such as a game can be viable... meaning that after a while of touching 'buttons' on the touch screen, the fingertips can get sensitive to heat.... certainly not something you want to be touching all day long.

KingDave