Will the raspberry pi 4 output enough heat by itself to avoid a dew heater?

[keenerb]

I'm assembling a pretty compact 4" portable allsky setup for camera tripod. I've read a lot about needing a dew heater, but my rpi4 gets pretty warm, I feel like it might keep everything warm enough all by itself in a small enclosure.

Any feedback on that?

[Wolfyann]

Hi, very good question :)
me I've do this test with Rpi 3B+, and dissipator on CMOS sensor, but is not enough. The board was arround 60°C (up to 78°C).

[EorEquis]

In SE USA, so it gets pretty humid around here at night...

My original build in a DIY 3dP enclosure, the pi + camera heat was plenty. I did drill some "vent holes" in the enclosure top, to allow heat from the enclosure body up into the dome...no idea if that was necessary however.

Have recently rebuilt everything, with a commercial enclosure and just the camera (no pi) in there...so far so good, but it's only been a couple of nights.

[keenerb]

It seems to be adequate with my home brew allsky portable setup so far. Got a few partly cloudy nights below dew point in Atlanta area but no moisture buildup, but it's still pretty warm. I picked up a USB camera lens heater to wrap around outside of tube if I need it but so far so good. I just hate how bright my skys are!

[loykastj]

I'm using the Greg-the-maker RPi 4 3D printed enclosure for my Pi 4b and RPiHQCam.
So far, it has generated enough heat to keep dew off of it. As we progress further into the fall here in Oklahoma, I'll have more dewy nights to to test it.

I did modify his base mount to include a 30mm 5v fan to expel hot air from the case interior to the outside, and so far the internals remain above ambient at night, while allowing it to not overheat during sunny daytime.