Do I have to use the thermal kit with 9609?

[richtian]

Hi,

Just get the sbRIO-9609 kit box today. It's a surprisingly big box. 🙂 I find the thermal kit for sbRIO-9609 in the box. I'm wondering whether it's a MUST to use 9609 with the thermal kit. This becomes a big concern for us because the thermal kit itself is a little heavy. Is there any guideline on when to use the thermal kit or when not to?

Thanks,

Richie

[NickelsAndDimes]

Hi Richie,

Thermals vary from project to project, so in general the harder you're working the sbRIO, the more likely you'll need to implement some kind of cooling or heatsink.

As for guidance on when it becomes necessary, I'd direct you to the Environmental section of the device spec sheet. There's a table of onboard temperature maximums for the sbRIO, as measured by its onboard temperature sensors. If you monitor the sbRIO's temperature and notice it getting close to these values, you should consider implementing some cooling to the system.

[NickelsAndDimes]

Hello again Richie,

We also just uploaded new documentation about sbRIO cooling that you'll find useful:

Cooling NI Single-Board RIO Systems
https://www.ni.com/en-us/support/documentation/supplemental/12/cooling-ni-single-board-rio-systems.h...