Camera running hot/warm

[conradhagemans]

I have running the hack for more then 2 weeks now on both my 2 camera's.
I noticed that they are running warm.

Does anyone know why?

Is the sensor recording all the time even if not an RTSP stream is requested?
Isn't it possible to put the camera in idle mode till a stream is requested or motion is detected?

[samtap]

My camera's don't run hot, actually they do get hot but it doesn't make any difference if I run cloud app or rtsp server. Can you monitor cpu usage (i.e. using top command in ssh), does it run hot because it uses a lot of cpu or is there another reason, i.e. the IR leds heating up the device from the inside as was suggested elsewhere?

[conradhagemans]

Hi,

Thanks. I checked with top.
CPU is very low. What is nic 73.6%

Mem: 26784K used, 10172K free, 0K shrd, 4776K buff, 13936K cached
CPU: 0.3% usr 25.7% sys 0.0% nic 73.6% idle 0.0% io 0.0% irq 0.1% sirq
Load average: 0.21 0.09 0.09 1/50 2795
PID PPID USER STAT VSZ %VSZ %CPU COMMAND
1041 1 root S 11072 29.8 3.7 snx_rtsp_server
570 2 root DW 0 0.0 2.7 [isp]
2779 2775 root R 1356 3.6 0.4 top
830 2 root SW 0 0.0 0.2 [RTW_CMD_THREAD]
1030 1 root S 1352 3.6 0.0 ntpd -p time.google.com
1034 1 root S 1348 3.6 0.0 telnetd -p 2323 -l fang_login
1039 1 root S 1348 3.6 0.0 tcpsvd -E 0.0.0.0 21 ftpd -w /
2795 1045 root S 1344 3.6 0.0 sleep 3
1 0 root S 1164 3.1 0.0 init
944 1 root S 1164 3.1 0.0 udhcpc -i wlan0 -p /var/run/udhcpc.pid
2775 2770 root S 1160 3.1 0.0 -sh
710 1 root S 1160 3.1 0.0 /sbin/getty -L ttyS0 115200 vt100
1045 1 root S 1152 3.1 0.0 {fang-ir-control} /bin/sh /media/mmcbl
711 1 root S 1152 3.1 0.0 /sbin/syslogd -n -m 0
712 1 root S 1148 3.1 0.0 /sbin/klogd -n
898 1 root S 1096 2.9 0.0 wpa_supplicant -Dwext -iwlan0 -c/tmp/w
987 1 root S 780 2.1 0.0 /usr/boa/boa
2770 1043 root S 596 1.6 0.0 dropbear -R -P /var/run/dropbear.pid
1043 1 root S 572 1.5 0.0 dropbear -R -P /var/run/dropbear.pid
4 2 root SW 0 0.0 0.0 [events/0]

[samtap]

%nice is related to the amount of cpu resources claimed by processes running with regular nice prio (i.e. processes that can be dropped in case something with a higher prio requires cpu, which is not really relevant for our device).

But you should read it the other way around, in "CPU: 0.3% usr 25.7% sys 0.0% nic 73.6% idle 0.0% io 0.0% irq 0.1% sirq" the 73.6% is the amount of time the cpu is idle.

[MarkG55]

I think that I've worked out the cause of this issue - it's related to the IR control script - it's leaving the solenoid for the IR cut filter energised when it shouldn't be - updated fang-ir-control.sh:

#!/bin/sh

echo "IR script started"
# ir_init
gpio_ms1 -n 2 -m 1 -v 1
gpio_aud write 1 1 0
gpio_aud write 0 2 1
gpio_aud write 1 0 0

sleep 1
gpio_ms1 -n 2 -m 1 -v 0

echo 0x40 > /proc/isp/filter/saturation

sleep 3

# ir loop
IR_ON=0

while :
do
        DAY="$(gpio_aud read 2)"
        if [ $DAY -eq 1 ]
        then
                if [ $IR_ON -eq 1 ]
                then
#                        gpio_ms1 -n 2 -m 1 -v 1
                        gpio_aud write 1 0 0
                        echo 0x40 > /proc/isp/filter/saturation
                        IR_ON=0

                        # wait a second and then disable the output to the solenoid to reduce power use!
                        sleep 1
                        gpio_ms1 -n 2 -m 1 -v 0
                fi
        else
                if [ $IR_ON -eq 0 ]
                then
                       echo 0x0 > /proc/isp/filter/saturation
                        gpio_aud write 1 0 1
#                        gpio_ms1 -n 2 -m 1 -v 0
                        IR_ON=1

                        # wait a second and then disable the output to the solenoid to reduce power use!
                        sleep 1
                        gpio_ms1 -n 2 -m 1 -v 1
                fi
        fi
        sleep 3
done

It's nearly midday here, so I can't actually test this until tonight, but I'm pretty confident that this is the fix. I suspect that the reason why most people aren't seeing this issue is because they're in cooler months in the northern hemisphere - meanwhile, here in Australia, it's often over 30 degrees C at midnight!

In further testing that I've done, I've found that IR sensitivity also gets worse over time with the cloud apps - just not as bad as when running the script. If we can find a way to further reduce power use - e.g. by undervolting/underclocking the processor then that would improve things further.

[thanme]

@MarkG55 Where did you discover what the arugements for gpio_ms1 are?

[TommyChausson]

@MarkG55 , good to hear that the poor vision is an issue! I've just tested your Script on one of my camera, but keep to have a sad night vision. Should we wait the camera become "colder" to view a . signifiant difference ?

[MarkG55]

@thanme I'm just using the commands that are already in the IR control script - just copied one line to 2 other places. I'm presuming that the last value indicates the digital output that will be set by the command.

@TommyChausson Yes, you'll need to turn the camera off for a while to let it cool down. The problem is only causing extra current draw while the IR LEDs are off - once the IR LEDs are on, there is no extra current draw, but it seems that the camera just doesn't get a chance to cool down properly once it has warmed up. I'm 100% confident that if you leave it off for 5 to 10 minutes, you'll see a significant improvement - the question is just on whether it stays that way, or whether it will slowly go bad again.

[TommyChausson]

@MarkG55 , "Day is coming" so i cannot test now :( , i will try tonight

[MarkG55]

OK, I've done some more testing and found that compared to the standard set up, it was actually using more power when the IR LEDs were on - I've updated the script above.

I'm pretty confident that it should be right now, but still can't check it because it isn't dark enough yet.

[samtap]

Why don't you cover the lens to make it dark? ;-)

Anyway great job at debugging this. I wonder if we could also find some way to control brightness of the IR leds. I think with the current script they're either off or on, but with cloud app the brightness is controlled based on how much light is reflected. If something is close to the lens, the brightness is reduced to prevent the object from appearing too bright and white.

[MarkG55]

Thanks - I just did some testing and it seems a lot better with these changes.

I had a camera running the cloud app alongside one with the updated hack and the pictures were quite similar. The picture on the hacked version appears more grainy, but I think that just comes down to the fact that I'm running with MJPEG which I find has more detail than the H.264 stream. The camera running the cloud app is also a newer version which has a slightly wider angle lens, so that was also making it a bit harder to compare.

Are you sure that the cloud app is controlling the brightness of the IR LEDs? They don't appear to be varying in brightness to me and I'd expect them to simply be either on or off with either option. To handle the case of something being close to the camera with a lot of IR being reflected, it looks like the camera in both cases simply reduces the exposure time (or maybe the gain) When I did the test tonight, I found that the hacked version was actually giving a better picture - but I think that comes down to the difference in the angle of the view from the different lenses - sitting at a certain distance from both cameras, the hacked version was showing a good picture of me with a dark background and the unhacked version was washing me out almost completely. When I moved closer to the cameras so that I was taking up a similar amount of the picture area on the wider angle lens version, the picture of me then came good.

Overall, even with this change, I'm still not overly impressed with the IR performance of this camera. I'd rate it as OK for a small room, poor for a larger room and pretty much useless outside even within the rated 9m range (because you're not getting the reflection of the light that you get within a room)

For the price for these cameras though, it's still hard to complain of course...

If we can get the camera to run cooler than even with the cloud app, then I think that the night time performance would significantly improve. If it's not possible to reduce power consumption in any way, I'm tempted to try drilling some holes in the top of one of my cameras to allow better ventilation and see how that goes!

[conradhagemans]

I am pleased with the results. I updated both my camera's with the modified script.
It's night here. So the first picture is without lights on in the room, the second with the lights on.

[thanme]

So I was playing with this last night (I'm using your original update and not the new one yet) and it looks great.
I'm currently running an unhacked camera next to a hacked one to compare and I put my hand over them to check for heat. By doing so, I covered the lens which caused the IR to turn off on the unhacked version and nothing on hacked on. having something that close to the lens with IR on made it all white which triggered something.
Does anyone have any idea how I can get a console output for the cloud apps?? I'm keen to see if we can work out what's actually happening

[SuperSaiyan1]

@conradhagemans
Hi Conrad. Can you share your config of homeassistant and xiaofang camera. Having a lot of trouble with it.

[conradhagemans]

Yes ofcourse I can share my setup.
There are two ways to integrate your camera's within HomeAssistant

Method 1: Direct connection. Probably the easiest one.
In your configuration.yaml put the following lines:

camera:
  - platform: ffmpeg
    input: rtsp://192.168.1.205/unicast
    name: CAM Mini
  - platform: ffmpeg
    input: rtsp://192.168.1.191/unicast
    name: CAM Mini 2

Ofcourse put your own IP addresses in.

Method 2: Indirect via Zoneminder. I like this method more. Then you are also able to trigger recording.

In configuration.yaml:

zoneminder:
  host: localhost
  username: zoneminder_user
  password: zoneminder_user_password

camera:
   - platform: zoneminder

switch:
  - platform: zoneminder
    command_on: Record
    command_off: Nodect

Do you know how to setup Zoneminder configuration to see our camera's?

[conradhagemans]

If you want a more fancy setup in Homeassistant like on my images to have camera button on the top menu etc. let me know then I share my full setup/config files.

[samtap]

@conradhagemans this stuff can be really useful to others, would you mind putting it up on the wiki? This issue will likely be closed some day making it much harder to find.

I will make sure the fixes for the ir control script will be included in the next image.

[nikonaum]

@conradhagemans ZoneMinder setup:
Set the source type to FFmpeg
Source Path: rtsp://[your-ip]/unicast
Remote Method RTP/RTSP

Credit goes to @thanme from this thread fritz-smh/yi-hack#118

[nehaleem]

Hi, could be possible to merge this fix to the new version ? I tried version 0.2 but i'ts really overheating (i can't hold hand on front glass) and camera will freeze because of that heat.

[ZeroPoints]

@nehaleem Did you even read the thread. Samtap said he will make sure to include them in next.

[iothing]

I submitted a pull request that fixes this issue, if you cannot wait: https://github.com/iothing/fang-hacks

[nehaleem]

@ZeroPoints Sorry, didn't saw that. Don't get me wrong, i'm really grateful for all this work! I just asked :-)

[Tommy032017]

@MarkG55 @iothing & @samtap
Thanks for your efforts and the new script to fix the overheating, but now I will have a purple night view and no more b/w. I did some efforts and may be found the problem.

I think the color problem comes from "echo 0x40 > /proc/isp/filter/saturation":
Could it be, that:
echo 0x0 > /proc/isp/filter/saturation = b/w mode
echo 0x40 > /proc/isp/filter/saturation = color mode

... so only this lines must be changed in your script.
So switching night mode IR_ON needs the command "echo 0x0 > /proc/isp/filter/saturation"

#!/bin/sh

echo "IR script started"
# ir_init
#gpio_ms1 -n 2 -m 1 -v 1 # this causes increased current flow
gpio_ms1 -n 2 -m 1 -v 0 # has something to do with the ir-cut/pass filter movement
gpio_aud write 1 1 0    # pin 1 is an output and is set to low, purpose unknown
gpio_aud write 0 2 1    # pin 2 is an input, the photoresistor
gpio_aud write 1 0 0    # pin 0 is an output and set to low, these are the ir-leds

sleep 3

# ir loop
IR_ON=0

while :
do
        DAY="$(gpio_aud read 2)"
        if [ $DAY -eq 1 ]
        then
                if [ $IR_ON -eq 1 ]
                then
                        gpio_ms1 -n 2 -m 1 -v 1 # filter movement enabled
                        gpio_aud write 1 0 0    # disable ir led and latch the filter in the correct position
                        gpio_ms1 -n 2 -m 1 -v 0 # filter movement disabled
                        echo 0x40 > /proc/isp/filter/saturation
                        IR_ON=0
                fi
        else
                if [ $IR_ON -eq 0 ]
                then
                        gpio_ms1 -n 2 -m 1 -v 0 # filter movement enabled
                        gpio_aud write 1 0 1    # enable ir led and latch the filter in the correct position
                        gpio_ms1 -n 2 -m 1 -v 1 # filter movement disabled
                        echo 0x0 > /proc/isp/filter/saturation
                        IR_ON=1
                fi
        fi
        sleep 3
done

[Tommy032017]

Unfortunately, I've been glad too early - temperature on lens is after 2h again by 50.5 °C.

[SuperSaiyan1]

@conradhagemans

I would appreciate if you cloud share your config.

I have a problem viewing the stream in Homeassistant (RP3)
The preview pic changes every 10 - 15 seconds and that's OK.

But when I open the strem and watch the video. It goes blank.

Tried with your setup:
`camera 1:

• platform: ffmpeg
  input: rtsp://192.168.1.142/unicast
  name: CAM Mini`

And also
`camera 1:

• platform: ffmpeg
  input: -rtsp_transport tcp -i rtsp://192.168.1.142/unicast
  extra_arguments: -pred 1 -q:v 2
  name: CAM Mini`

[conradhagemans]

@SuperSaiyan1 No problem.
My camera's do not run very warm. I made some changes to the 20-rtsp-server script on the camera. With the default script VLC was crashing. Maybe the same happens with Homeassistant.

The script is stored in this directory: /media/mmcblk0p2/data/etc/scripts

#!/bin/sh
PIDFILE="/var/run/rtsp-server.pid"

status()
{
  pid="$(cat "$PIDFILE" 2>/dev/null)"
  if [ "$pid" ]; then
    kill -0 "$pid" >/dev/null && echo "PID: $pid" || return 1
  fi
}

start()
{
  LOG=/dev/null
  echo "Starting RTSP server..."
#  snx_rtsp_server -W 1920 -H 1080 -Q 10 -b 4096 -a >$LOG 2>&1 &
  snx_rtsp_server >$LOG 2>&1 &
#  snx_rtsp_server -W 640 -H 480 -j 60 -Q 5 -u media/stream1 -P 8554 >$LOG 2>&1 &
/media/mmcblk0p2/data/test/snx_isp_ctl --osdset-en 1 --osdset-ts 1 --osdset-template 1234567890./-:Date --osdset-gain 2 --osdset-bgtransp 0x1 --osdset-bgcolor 0x000000
  echo "$!" > "$PIDFILE"
}

stop()
{
  pid="$(cat "$PIDFILE" 2>/dev/null)"
  if [ "$pid" ]; then
     kill $pid ||  rm "$PIDFILE"
  fi
}

if [ $# -eq 0 ]; then
  start
else
  case $1 in start|stop|status)
    $1
    ;;
  esac
fi

As you can see I am running the snx-rtsp-server without any parameters. I think it will run then in 720p mode and not 1080p. Then in Homeassistant with this setup:

camera:
  - platform: ffmpeg
    input: rtsp://192.168.1.205/unicast
    name: CAM Mini

the stream will run smooth. Maybe therefore the camera isn't running hot.
Did you test to connect with VLC?

To test in VLC choose in the menu 'Open Network' then fill in rtsp://192.168.1.205/unicast

Good luck. Let us know if you get it working.

[Tommy032017]

@conradhagemans
Would be kind, if you could tell me, what script you are using for fang-ir-control.sh?
Yesterday I tried a lot of different settings within the script, but the camera lens heat up over 50 °C (room temp. about 21 °C).
May be you could provide me a complete image (or only the changed files of fanghacks_v0.2.0) of your using hack.

Thank you very much.

[Yannik25]

Thanks for your help @conradhagemans, but I also still have the same error loading the stream in fullscreen with HA, the still 10s refreshed image works fine.
I changed the script to yours, also HA config is same to yours. VLC stream worked before and after applying changes.

[iothing]

Tommy032017: apologies, this was my fault with the purple image, I submitted a new pull request fixing this

For your camera running hot: could you try to measure the current? Also check top to see if there is some process causing heavy cpu load that could result in heat.

[Tommy032017]

@MarkG55 Thanks! Will do new topic.

[eterpstra]

@tommy I don't see any link to you're new image. Can you please share it?

[eterpstra]

@Tommy032017 I don't see any link to you're new image. Can you please share it?

[Tommy032017]

@eterpstra
Sorry, but there is no link to a new image. Just use the modifications of the script above from @MarkG55 and everything will be fine. Or you have to wait until a new image will be published by @samtap.

[eterpstra]

@Tommy032017 Oke so i have to delete fang-ir-control.sh and create a new fang-ir-control.sh with the new settings?

[ZeroPoints]

@eterpstra Just edit the existing fang ir control sh
no need to delete and create new. its practically a text file

[eterpstra]

Oke thanks @ZeroPoints and @Tommy032017

I applied the hack and it seems to be running fine. Still one question.. When you power off the camera and poweron the camera again, is the hack still enabled? Or do i have to poweroff the camera, remove the sdcard, poweron the camera and insert the sdcard again?

[ZeroPoints]

Its still enabled

[mhdawson]

I applied the change to fang-ir-control.sh. The camera is still warm to the touch (about 30 degrees C on the top). Is that what's expected ?

[MarkG55]

@mhdawson I'd say that's quite normal or even quite cool even when using the stock firmware & settings - you've probably got a fairly low ambient temperature?

To everyone else, my apologies for the delay in posting an update:

I finally received an order of new cameras - I've measured the current drawn by one of them with just the stock firmware and settings - having never loaded the hack and the current drawn by the camera is.... exactly the same as the hack with my modified version of the IR control script. Unfortunately, I've been caught up with a heap of other things so I haven't had a chance to do much further testing or even set the cameras up properly and that's also why it has taken me so long to post here.

At least based on this, it appears that the cameras that have been running the original hack probably aren't damaged. It seems that for me at least, temperatures between 3 cameras - one previously hacked but running the stock firmware, one that hasn't ever seen the hack and another that has the fixed hack, all 3 are running at similar temperatures and similar looking pictures...

After the above test, I modified the camera that was running the updated hack by removing the speaker and adding a heat sink to the Sonix controller - that appeared to make a fairly significant improvement to the picture compared to the cameras that were running stock firmware, The next day, ambient temperatures dropped off significantly and the difference in picture quality the following night was nowhere near as noticeable - I haven't had a chance to do any further testing since then...

[garvarma]

Hi @conradhagemans,

I have a raspberry pi 3 and i want to install zonemider, but i can't.

I followed this link to install:

https://wiki.zoneminder.com/Raspbian

But when i try to install lits of package:

sudo apt-get install php5 mysql-server php-pear php5-mysql, appears me a big lits of dependencies package and not continue.

Then if i make: "sudo apt-get -f install"

appears me an error of package systemd:

¿Desea continuar? [S/n] s Leyendo lista de cambios... Hecho. Segmentation fault Configurando systemd (230-7~bpo8+2) ... Segmentation fault dpkg: error al procesar el paquete systemd (--configure): el subproceso instalado el script post-installation devolvió el código de salida de error 139 Se encontraron errores al procesar: systemd E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
Do you have zoneminder installed in raspberry too?
Any help?
thanks

[s-bed]

This issue seems to be related to issue #67 which also includes a commit to the fang-ir-control.sh. @MarkG55 's script seems to differ from @iothing 's version. Do we know which one resolves the heat issue?

[dendrees]

Is this fang-ir-control.sh: fix already included in the SD-Card image, V0.2.0? Mine is also running hot.
And where can I find fang-ir-control.sh ?

[samtap]

It's not included in the image. Did you change any settings in mi home related to ir filter/leds?

[dendrees]

No settings have been changed in the Mi home app.

[kittenarmy]

@MarkG55 Thanks for the script. The camera would be much warmer by now from combined heat of this and the processor. The only thing I notice is it seems to have also raised the threshold where it changes to daylight/turns off IR.

[madmax2]

@samtap Can you please do an urgent new image that includes the heat fix and any other fixes e.g. 1hr+ incorrect time zone.

Many people will download the older 0.2 image and not be aware of this heating issue and thread until the heat has cause some damage to their devices.
I can feel camera was somewhat hot but not sure if that is normal.
I notice now my camera has two large yellow spots on the sides of the white casing (probably caused by the heat damage)

[madmax2]

@MarkG55 @ZeroPoints
do you replace the entire original "21-ir-control" script with this one #61 (comment)?
I replace that script with your one and ir control is not running anymore in the status > manage scripts.

How do we check the before and after temps after using the new script?

[MarkG55]

@MarkG55 @ZeroPoints
do you replace the entire original "21-ir-control" script with this one #61 (comment)?

Yes, that should be all that you need to do from memory.

I replace that script with your one and ir control is not running anymore in the status > manage scripts.

Maybe try restarting the camera.

How do we check the before and after temps after using the new script?

You could use an IR temperature gun. Alternatively, you can use a USB current meter to compare the current being drawn by the camera with different configurations. If everything else is the same, a camera drawing more current is going to generate more heat and so run hotter.

[madmax2]

@MarkG55
restarted the camera and ir control still not running
Why and how to fix this?

this is my ir control script

[madmax2]

Yesterday I made a new image within the the script of @MarkG55, posted in this thread above, and installed it on 4 cameras.
All cameras are now running since 10h in dark without any heating problems!
Room temp. = 21°C:
Housing top: 41°C
Measured in the lens (night view): 48 - 49°C (day will be about 38-40°C)
This are the same temperatures as the camera will run with stock firmware.
Thanks again to all involved people, especially to @MarkG55, who did the trick.

can you share the image and post a fork to this github or suggest a merge so that the release page shows the new image?

I think this is way too important and for many newbies they will not know that the IR heating is an issue
until it has cause some damage to their device.. or even until it has killed their their cameras.

It is also confusing about how to fix this.. when reading this thread..
and not everyone would know that there is even an issue in the first place.

In my case I didn't know that the camera was running too hot even though touching it did feel somewhat hot..
but I thought that was just normal camera temp..
But now I noticed my camera has a yellow mark/stain on the casing of one side of the camera..

It is very irresponsible of @samtap to not post an updated image...
despite knowing this is an important issue for a long time now (since 2017) of this post ..
and expecting newbies to fix this themselves or assume that newbies who install the 0.2 image to know that there is even a problem to begin with..

Even on the release page for 0.2 image (Known issues) there is no mention of the heating issue on that page or how to fix it.
https://github.com/samtap/fang-hacks/releases

Not sure if he is still following this github or not..
but he should have immediately posted an update image with the IR heating fix
rather than relying on every individual to know about this issue and to do it themselves.

[pinchies]

Bumping this. Would be great to have a new image. Frustrating that after 4 years there is still no mention of this issue on the release page.

[Coldblackice]

Would also love it if anyone has any suggestions on what to do about this heat issue. My camera gets hot to the touch, unfortunately.

[kittenarmy]

Would also love it if anyone has any suggestions on what to do about this heat issue. My camera gets hot to the touch, unfortunately.

You could do what I did with my Xiaofang 1S, put little heat sink on the chip and 40mm fan running at 5V to cool it, the fan barely makes noise. I run both without the backs as they can get quite warm. You may have trouble powering it directly from USB pins as it expects PWM but the one I have runs okay with a cheap switch mode 5V DC PSU.