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by worik 2311 days ago
In my experience those PI Zero cases and camera are very unreliable. They over heat
1 comments

I've had absolutely zero problems with them overheating, and that's even using them as security cameras in a desert cabin without AC, where outside ambient temps exceed 120F.

The only thing I did to prepare them for that abuse was adding a small adhesive-backed aluminum heat sink [0] to the CPU. It only required some filing of the fins to fit in the tight packaging of the camera enclosure.

I never attempted running them without the heat sink, knowing it was going to be a rough desert life for them. So I can't even say if it was necessary.

It's also possible my software settings which are optimized to minimize wifi bandwidth and storage consumption are helping keep things cool. The `motion` process is only using around 15% CPU continuously, and the loadavg hovers around .27, FWIW.

[0] https://www.adafruit.com/product/3084