Firewire 400 reader running hot!

[Asher Kelman]

I just realized that leaving in a Sandisk 2GB card in the slot of one's G5 in the new black Lexar Firewire 400 reader may nor be such a good thing. It might be plug and play, but is it safe to leave it commected.

I discovered tonight a very hot CF card! How hot, as hot as the worst a Mac laptop can get!

I wonder how well the cards stand up to heat. It does not seem a good design for card readers that get hot! Why use so much energy in the first place!

Asher

[Ray West]

Hi Asher,

I gave a basic explanation here http://www.openphotographyforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1293, I think it is the penultimate posting. I will extend it further if you wish. Oh, you ain't no fieldmouse....

Best wishes,

Ray ;-) ;-) ;-)

[Asher Kelman]

Hi Asher,

I gave a basic explanation here http://www.openphotographyforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1293, I think it is the penultimate posting. I will extend it further if you wish. Oh, you ain't no fieldmouse....

Best wishes,

Ray ;-) ;-) ;-)
The "Magic Smoke" explanation was delightful! Now however, I'd like more substance that's actionable besides new card readers. The seem fragile!

Asher

[Ray West]

Hi Asher,

Sandisk will publish details of the operation temperatures of their cards, plus storage temperatures, I suspect. It is likely you can exceed these by some margin - they will err on the safe side.

If there is insufficient cooling/air flow, then things do get hot, over time, even with relatively small currents and voltages. I have no knowledge of your specific devices, other than sandisk's card. Maybe the Lexar reader detects its a Sandisk card, and tries to cook it.

I had a poke on the oxford semeconductor site, (they make the firewire chips in the Lexar reader, afaik,) but they have crippled the relavent data sheets pdf's.

I expect someone else will know.

Best wishes,

Ray