Another Look at Sony Camera Overheating

[@Daniel_A_Hernandez]

I believe what likely happened was that the copper heatsink came into contact with some of the capacitors surrounding the processor and caused a short circuit. That would explain the heavy battery drainage and the eventual death of the camera. the longer the short circuit, the more damage it causes there are compounds designed to shield the open electrical components surrounding a processor that is already used when applying "liquid metal" thermal compound. Even though the display connection was damaged from a previous screen replacement, that does not affect the booting procedure from initiating properly, since you were still able to see an image from the screen when plugging in from a USB. I hope this helps with understanding what likely happened.

[@byniasofficial2567]

You are a wise man.

[@soyboy3274]

either that or it damaged the bga chips itself, these solder joints aren’t too stable

[@PhobiaSoft]

I definitely assumed the copper plates were to blame, but wasn't sure what it would've made contact with. Capacitors make a lot of sense regarding the battery drain. Thanks for posting this!

[@UrikKane]

(caution, long post) Hi, it's very cool of you to revisit this topic, since you actually said in the first overheating video you might revisit this in the future. As an owner of a5100 I can fully agree with you - there is no way to fix the overheating issue. First, I'd like to thank you for doing that first video - the disassembly is impeccably filmed and detailed and inspired me to do the same. About a year ago, I did my first re-assembly and I used your video on repeat throughout the process. I did replace all the thermal pads too. My pads did actually cover entire surface of that little aluminium plate ( in two pieces). If I recall correctly, they were 1.5mm pads. I also replaced the thin pad on the back of rear metal cover (the one with holes in it) with 0.5mm pad, also running almost the entire area of that back plate. A few months later, I actually done that once again (for whatever reason... I don't remember). When I was replacing my pads, I recall seeing the letters from the processors got actually decal'ed onto the pads - that's how pressed into the processors they were. I also completely removed the plastic cover from the back of the camera and put copper foil tape there ( I'm going to replace it someday with aluminium foil since the copper one got rusty & ugly from contact with splashes of sea water during summer ). But ultimately, none of that helped against overheating. The results were never consistent. And I've tried almost everything else as well - external power, external fan (lol), attaching an external copper heatsink + fan, freezing camera before shooting, applying "cold compress". I honestly think software engineers played it safe, and if they added the "ignore high temp" setting to a5100 like they did to a6300/a6500 the overheating could be remedied to at least some extent. I really think the threshold for software overheating detection and power off is way too early and the chip could safely handle more. I feel sorry for what happened to your camera, sounds like just bad luck. I am very sloppy with things like that, it usually never ends well, but using your video, I already re-assembled the camera like at least three times, and I don't have the fancy pry tools etc so I just mostly use my fingernails to pull it apart. TL:DR Absolutely agree with Colin, to any a5100 owners, there's really no point to try the pad replacement. If you really have to disassemble it for some reason, don't disconnect the flash cable if you can avoid it - it's quite finicky to reconnect, at least without some tools, I barely managed it with a toothpick lol. Never disconnected it again after 1st time. In the end, it's still a great compact mirrorless camera, and the overheating only bothers me when I'm shooting concerts (I don't do it commercially, just casual hobby and I don't want to invest in another camera).

[@16bitbrit]

This was interesting - I am sorry to hear the mod didn't work, especially given the time and thought you put into it. I own both an A6300 and an A6500 - two amazing cameras, but both prone to the overheating issue. In my experience, a lot of heat emanates from the battery. A camera grip that has a battery expansion helps a great deal, as does ensuring the LCD screen is pulled away from the camera body when recording. I am a wedding videographer and manage to record 40mins+ of continuous footage with no problems when adopting these methods. However, and as you rightly point out, this is an issue that really should be addressed by Sony, especially as the battery grip increases the size of the camera setup. I have my fingers crossed that the rumoured A7000 will address this issue, both through a combination of better engineering and through utilising the new NP-FZ100 battery type. Your upgrade is smart one - the GH5 is a fantastic camera. Great video as always.

[@bradj7205]

I think there are 2 possible issues that caused the failure. As @yoyofargo said, its possible the copper shim made contact with the SMT resistors creating a short. A adhesive thermal glue would solve that by not letting the copper shims shift, or as yoyofargo suggested, kapton tape over the resistors. The other possibility (and I'm really leaning towards this) is the "thin plastic piece that was getting in the way" that you cut out. That is an electrical isolator that prevents contact of the heat sink plate and the smt components on the right side of the board. I'm sincerely not trying to be rude here, but companies don't put things like that in their products because its fun to increase material and manufacturing costs. That absolutely needs to be put back between the heatsink and the board just like it was from the factory.

[@PotatoFi]

Thanks for posting this one, even if the mod was a failure.

[@aurthorthing7403]

Alternate title: How I Broke my Camera

[@ToddsNerdCave]

Great video. Shame it didn’t work out. I gave up on my a5100 about 3 years ago because of its overheating issues. I too now use a GH5.

[@TheRetroFuture]

This was a BRAVE attempt! Very interesting. Thank you!

[@TheyreStillOutThere]

I'm curious if the plastic piece you snipped may have been either a conductive layer of some kind (I used to sometimes get intermittent shorts in audio cables from the conductive PVC layer making almost microscopic contact with the hot conductors back when I was learning how to wire guitar rigs) or a protective layer against shorting. Maybe snipping that caused an intermittent short or an incomplete circuit somewhere. And my first thought when you used bare copper for the heatsinks was "that better not come into direct contact with anything inside once he gets it reassembled." Also, it's entirely possible that your mods weren't the cause of the issues at all, and it's just from taking the camera apart and putting it back together a few times (to be fair, I don't think the internals of these devices are ever meant to be touched again once the camera is built, save for warranty work). Those ribbon cables are so delicate, as you well know. Maybe one of them just kinda gave up the ghost when you were taking it apart or reassembling. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@questy44]

As an electronics engineer I must say you did very well, you were just very unlucky, possibly the copper shim, possibly ESD. I might do a similar mod if I pick up this camera.

[@Fattydeposit]

You start out optimistic with a bouyant, celebratory sequence of slo-mo teardown clips. You end with tragedy and loss, complete with sad, mournful music worthy of a daytime soap opera. Classic storytelling.

[@jimc9823]

Do you use ESD (anti static) precautions when going into electronic items? ESD can cause weird stuff to happen.

[@TIBISCOBIOLABAND]

I understood your frustration and I felt the same, but recently I found out how to solve the overheating problem on sony a5100. This one it's a kind of a last year video topic, but mabe I can help out others wondering about this issue. There's two ways to work around the overheating problem. To mention, both ways needs a dummy battery: 1. Dummy battery + sony wall charger or external battery and connect the camera tru hdmi to an external monitor. This method got me tru recording 1080 at maximum quallity about 45min time instate of 15 or sometime even 8min. 2.Dummy battery + sony wall charger or external battery and connect the camera tru hdmi to a Atomos Ninja Star pockets 10bit ProRes or if budget no matter Atomos Ninja V. This way you can record externaly and overheating issue is SOLVED! The only down side of this aproach is that you need to spend around 200$ for the Atomos Ninja Star and the cfast 1 card. Happy shooting!

[@EssenceofPureFlavor]

New intro!

[@SmokeMonster]

I'm glad you made this video. I had looked into modding my A6000, but if you can't do it, I sure as heck can't. I'd look into other options too, but I have so much NEX/Alpha gear having owned pretty much all of them since the NEX-3. Maybe I can work up the nerve eventually.

[@ThisDoesNotCompute]

Yeah, the worst part of this whole experience wasn’t breaking my camera, but just finally accepting Sony mirrorless will never meet my needs, as much as I want it to. It’s expensive to switch systems, but I’m going all in on MFT.

[@PadPoet]

If your A6000 overheats get the Vello BG-S4 battery grip. Problem solved. Keep going with the Mister madness bro, loving your content.

[@agenericaccount3935]

Subscribed, but I had no idea you used to do some camera content. I had to pull my ancient a5100 off the shelf today to do some overhead shots. Overheated in like five minutes. KZbin led me back here. I think it's fair to say it's just time for me to pull the trigger on an newer body with higher temperature tolerance 🙄

[@bewareofthedawwg8765]

Great video! That camera looks like a bear to take apart, very tightly constructed. It’s great to hear an objective description weighing whether or not it is worth trying to reengineer the thermals. Not a fan of the musical interlude with the slow turning screwdrivers, but I know some people are into that.

It was worth the try, good to know that Sony has this recurring problem. I have a NEX F3 and several times it superheats and turns off too.

[@illius85]

Another video about trying to fix it with those new flat liquid coolers they use nowerdays in gaming smartphones would be amazing :D

[@hbarudi]

Good new intro for this youtube account. Your hunt for a good camera continues, but your phone is great can use just use your phone from now on, this "mirrorless" technology by making the camera send the picture directly to its sensor instead of reflecting it from a mirror and smaller size does not seem to work. Maybe we should see a custom phone built for its camera, the last such phone was lumia 1020.

[@Angelgreat]

Hey This Does Not Compute, when you tried that plastic piece, I think that was needed for the camera.

[@NotMoreGames]

Thanks for sharing. It’s incredibly ambitious to take apart something so compactly put together with so many finicky parts. Shame Sony dropped the ball with this series illustrating that the Sony brand is a mixed bag when it comes to high end products. I’m a big Sony fan still, but accept they do get it wrong sometimes, just like any other manufacturer really.

[@kbhasi]

Nice to see that you redid the intro!

[@mos6581com]

I've had good luck with my Sony a6000, a lot of people do complain about it overheating, but I've had it recording video for just under an hour without any issues. I didn't have a battery inserted at the time though, it was running straight off of AC power.

[@C4103]

I had been shopping for a new camera for live streaming over the past couple of months and looked pretty seriously at the a5100, but ultimately didn't buy it because overheating at all is a complete no go in my situation. The camera has to stay on and shooting for 2-3 hours, sometimes longer. I ended up going with the Lumix G7 and have been immensely satisfied with it.

[@ThisDoesNotCompute]

What's peculiar about the overheating problem is that it only happens while the camera is recording. You can set the HDMI port on it to a "clean" output (which just sends the video and not the camera's onscreen icons and menus) and use a capture device, and the overheating never happens. I actually did this for a while when shooting podcasts, capturing the footage externally using an Elgato Game Capture HD and never hitting Record on the camera -- but that also meant I was tethered to a computer.

[@C4103]

@@ThisDoesNotCompute That's interesting, I may have actually been fine with it then. I do a live stream on Twitch where I play the drums to people's requests and I use an elaborate setup with 2 rackmounted computers, one being a hackintosh in charge of all the audio and the other being a Ryzen 1700x based Windows PC running OBS and my bots. For cameras right now I'm using a Canon Vixia HF M400 and my new Lumix G7 going into dual Elgato HD 60 Pro's in the streaming rig with HDMI like you said, along with a Logitech c920. I really like how compact the A5100 looks, and the footage I've seen captured from it looks great so I may reconsider in the future if it doesn't overheat when just running HDMI out.

[@JerryWoo96]

What plastic bit was that? Was it the ribbon cable?

[@ThisDoesNotCompute]

It was just a little cover that normally hides the side of the heatsink when you look inside the battery compartment -- it's just a cosmetic thing.

[@JerryWoo96]

@@ThisDoesNotCompute What was the thickness of the shim? i'm gonna replace add a thermal pad to the other chip instead of the shim.

[@Shomomomo]

Nameless: The Hackers? I KNEW THAT THEME SOUNDED FAMILIAR!! That’s awesome dude.

[@Reaperman4711]

I'm a little surprised to hear micro 4/3 is still around in any significant way, and I should probably pay it more attention. Time to figure out where I stuffed that gf1, I guess.

[@kyoudaiken]

This seems to be a new sport of big companies. Apple started it. How much can a customer endure? How much can we piss them off and still buying our utterly shitty engineered e-waste? Seems that it works... Sad.

[@DokterRoetker]

Get a camcorder if you want to do long shootings of video. Big sensor cameras have a nice cinematic look to them, but they're just not meant for continuous video recording. There are also full frame camcorders.

[@mydogblaze]

Always enjoy your videos.

[@nate6862]

Could be that the chips had too much pressure on them which caused something to break as thermal pads compress and the shims don't. Just remember that failure is always an option as well as a learning experience.

[@funposting8912]

Similar problem with my fdr-x3000. It lasts a good 20-40 minutes, but when you pull out its battery it's near untouchably hot. One benefit is that the battery acts as a thermal cell, once you pull it out you're taking a tonne of heat with it, put a fresh, cold one in and all's fine. Because the battery is covering the CPU you'd have to move the battery to to a proper thermal mod, like a heatsink with a small fan, or a tiny waterblock. I still wonder how small I could keep the package afterwards.

[@seanchoi6632]

Maybe the plastic bit you cut off is important?

[@ReNeyer]

@J Fz Could have been a sink for interference or something.

[@Rickenbacker451]

@J Fz So just put it back and it will work again. 😁

[@retrogameon]

This video makes me very sad about my 6300. Such a shame too, it's an awesome little camera when it's not shutting down because of heat. Although Premiere Pro absolutely hates the video codec.

[@johnnystene8339]

Maybe take a look at that plastic piece you cut, it may have embedded wires that you just didn't notice. Samsung phones have a similar bit of plastic (used for NFC & temperature monitoring) that looks useless but the phone won't work properly if it's damaged or missing.

[@medleysa]

Have you ever thought of getting a standalone camcorder? It seems that everyone is recording video for KZbin with cameras that are primarily designed for photography, which always struck me as odd. It looks like you can get a decent hand-held camcorder that records 1080/60 for half the price of a DSLR. I'm guessing interchangeable lens choice has something to do with the decision, but why don't more KZbinrs use camcorders?

[@gigihanmandarin]

Small sensor with no depth of field. Also, their widest focal length usually start at 28mm which is too narrow for vlogging unless you don't mind your face filling up the frame. Camcorders are for dads filming their kids playing soccer as the power zooms of camcorders are great for that. Vloggers don't need super zoom, they need ultra wide angle focal lengths. And bokeh.

[@TheyreStillOutThere]

The new intro is cool. Digging the fat stack of laptops

[@yoyofargo]

4:15 Kapton tape over those smt resistors, the copper slid and shunted them. They look pretty hefty, probably part of the battery charge circuit.

[@Ryezn5057]

Yeah using CONDUCTIVE copper shims was a bad idea here. Should've just used a thermal pads instead.

[@-Gothicgirl-]

A good solution for the heat is remove the sticker between display and case. The case behind has holes which let the heat better out

[@pixelprime5908]

I know this is a bit unrelated but do you know the name of that yellow tape typically used on pcbs?

[@NicholasElliott]

kapton tape

[@Lofote]

Wait 60 seconds after reinserting teh camera and switching it on. Does it then work? Boot can take a while if something is wrong. 06:30 You are in MTP mode, you need to be in Mass Storage mode... I guess thats why it does not find it. (It is of course now too late to change it if you can't access the menu).

[@Farqad_K]

Hello my friend I have a question I have camera Sony nex-5r The problem is that I cannot record more than 30 minutes, only 30 minutes because of the high temperature. Do you know the problem and how to solve it? Please help me bro😢😢🙏🙏

[@nine7295]

And from a company that put a root kit in their music CDs intentionally. I own a a5000 myself, but I should refrain from buying their stuff . I don't use it much so it's fine. But the Sony Z Ultra phone I bought, died suddenly after 3 years, with no way to revive it (not the battery). I fix electronics often, but I won't even try to attempt this unless it's the only last resort. Thanks for the video .

[@FOREST10PL]

Thermal paste + thermal pads? Ouch

[@kevinf2757]

I replaced some parts on a Thinkpad Yoga and when I put it all back together I was getting really weird behavior randomly where the keyboard and trackpad would get disabled or come in and out. I finally found I could reproduce the behavior by squeezing a certain part of the case. So I took the back cover off and noticed that some kapton tape lifted off a portion of a connector and so the connector was simply grounding out to the case and causing really wonky behavior from the keyboard and trackpad. What really threw me off was it was the screen connector that also connects to the sensors that tell it if it's in tablet mode and the issue had nothing to do with the actual trackpad or keyboard connectors which is where I was looking for so long. It might be that the camera is so thin that the tolerances for thermal pads and stuff needs to be exact or components will come into contact with metal. Could be hard to track down.

[@nashphophyllite1018]

Love the new intro!

[@baaelectronics]

Cool new intro, Colin!

[@deepdoodle1]

Great channel sir!

[@fishhealthy1835]

Love the new intro :D

[@oledcrt]

Why not try reflowing the chip, since you have nothing to lose?

[@Jonnynot1plate]

I have a sony a6000, what tips should I take away from this to never have heating issues?

[@ThisDoesNotCompute]

Honestly - buy an a6400 instead, which apparently fixes all the overheating problems. It’s a brand new model that came out, of course, right after I made this video (and sold all my Sony lenses). There’s just no way to permanently fix the overheating on the a5100/6000.

[@Jonnynot1plate]

@@ThisDoesNotCompute thanks, Colin. I saw some tips of how to keep it from overheating and I think I'll follow that. I have rarely if ever used it yet somehow convinced myself it needed a sony zeiss lense that I also never use. Great content. I had a question. I'm going to remove yellowing on a dreamcast shell. Will the peroxide not harm the sega logo in front of the controller port?

[@EndUser2090]

Its a shame Sony is selling these lemons. Great vid nonetheless.

[@kbhasi]

My guess is that they only tested this for photos, not video, before putting it on the market.

[@Editor909]

I think if you get a new camera of the same version of what you were trying to fix, and trying with that.

[@Rickenbacker451]

Was it still under warranty? Wouldn't bother to open it then. 🙄

[@Poire33]

Were you following an iFixit guide, Collin?

[@ThisDoesNotCompute]

No actually, I had previously figured out how to disassemble the camera on my own.

[@Poire33]

@@ThisDoesNotCompute You're so intrepid. :) Good luck next time something overheats or your computer suffers GPU failure. :) (I know 27" 2017 iMacs aren't known for GPU failures.)

[@piQmi]

@@ThisDoesNotCompute Have you never tried using a battery dummy?

[@CKT1138]

Strangely I can shoot 20+ minutes without overheating on my a6000

[@greysuit17]

Dang I was hoping you figured it out.

[@steventrott2718]

Have the same camera and same issue... called sony customer support. Basically told me there’s nothing they can do for me and to check their website for more Info. When I bought this camera new I bought it mainly for photography. However I also knew it took amazing video and was planning on using it down the line for video. Sadly my warrantee is expired now.

[@andrewpannelli8016]

Great episode.

[@a4andrei]

You could have zapped something since I didn't see an ESD wrist strap. Or, the copper pads could have shifted and shorted something. Either way, it seems that this is a design flaw and you can't really do much to improve the thermals without using a bigger radiator. The camera is too darn slim and is a good example of form over function.

[@mrlurchAU]

Yup :( I had enough of my A6000 overheating and also moved to a Panasonic (FZ2500). Shame, because the IQ on the Sony was fantastic.

[@josephdoesathing]

Hey, Tried The A6400

[@JoeWithTheGlasses]

New Year, New Intro :O

[@ChaseMC215]

Whoever had the idea of making everything tight to not let the camera be cool should be fired from Sony

[@jacobyu5050]

SHAME ON SONY, thank you for sharing

[@christianguitron6316]

Maybe it was the copper that shorted something out because they weren't secured in any way.

[@zincmann]

New Introduction!

[@ps3customgamer]

My guess is too much pressure after tightening the camera back together

[@qtben17]

I think sony sensors in general emit a lot of heat and need a good engineering to contain it. My hero6 and yi4k+ ( both has sony sensors) have several times overheated and needed shutting down to cool off. Same thing with my dji mavic air on a 100 degree F weather in arizona and some weird stuff going on with the video footage. That too has a sony sensor. But, i never encountered overheating issues with my 3 canon dslr cams. Sony oh sony lol

[@wielku]

"I trimmed back this plastic bit" off the cringe

[@Rickenbacker451]

Have watched it again, at 4:07 you see the whole thing, seems like it's there to insulate.

[@1O1ZERO]

why do sony have so many problems with overheating their stuff, i had several equipment from them in my hands that overheated, including a PS4, Audio Mixer Decks, Cameras and a bloody refridgorator compressor

[@PantsuMann]

A for effort though. I would never ever dare to open up my Sony. Those cameras are cramped like some NASA shit. Always enjoyed your disassembly videos, however they turn out :)

[@GiuseppeGaetanoSabatelli]

I feel like your mod might have been fine had it not been for the ghost in the machine that killed the camera. I feel like they're unrelated.

[@Ramdileo_sys]

Oh no!!.. he did it again!! :..-( The heat causes the materials to expand Colin... if the copper heatsink was very tight inside there.. when expand.. may have created a lot of pressure over the chip and the motherboard... may have broken something... or crushed the tin balls down there enough to make contact between them.... or Isopropyl alcohol still liquid under the chip perhaps do some damage ..?

[@dreammfyre]

Heh, I've bricked my fair share of stuff thru the years. If you love taking stuff apart and tinker around it just comes with the territory, I guess...

[@smeegle]

doesn't Sony even test these cameras for long term use? it seems like a bad business model to sell overheating cameras.

[@oskarwrobel1672]

I think they just sell proper camcorders for long-time video recording. In their view they have no business in letting one line of their products cannibalize the other.

[@Ramdileo_sys]

I remember an epic moment from the first attempt.... "yeah, i kill my camera" ... :D

[@TheOsfania]

The "Z" logo at 1:50 looks suspiciously like the new Nikon logo!

[@mruppel2]

It's NFC symbol

[@aaroNiGHTS]

Maybe use the camera in a colder country! :D

[@2S2F1]

They tried way too hard to make the camera as small as possible.

[@Aqua_Xenossia]

Guess that disassembly really made the camera...blow its load.

[@bio-plasmictoad5311]

It's a shame, you shouldn't have to do this with camera's that are expensive and as good as they are .

[@Falcrist]

Boy I'm glad my A7iii doesn't have that issue... but then again I would never have bought it if it did. I wonder why Sony allows this problem to persist. It's driving people to other platforms.

[@msure3367]

Painful to watch😬. My Sony never overheats but I don't shoot more than a few minutes of video and don't use 4k. I have the Panasonic as well, which is an amazing camera, but the Sony is more travel friendly.

[@ahmedp800]

More videos like this please and less podcasts 👌🏻

[@funposting8912]

1:03 -- When you do everything so intentionally, painfully slow for effect, no wonder your camera overheats

[@stanguay169]

Design flaw by Sony?

[@brewHamm]

Hey y'all >10K viewer gang

[@TheOsfania]

This is why I use Fuji.

[@magreger]

Very good video despite the failure. Also can I just say, disassemble porn?

[@TrungLe-dw1mm]

Get a dummy battery and get a device to capture video into the SD card

[@mistakenotou7681]

Call linus to water cool it

[@teebee5323]

Sony camera software(firmware) is inferior to Canon which is itself inferior to Nikon, do yourself a favor and don't fuss w/ a borked sony snapper.

[@garyslatter9854]

You should have got your money bag from #sony for this flawed product.

[@WIImotionmasher]

Well.... now I know not to buy Sony cameras

[@phonotical]

Was fine until you got goo in there and flooded it with alcohol, damage must have been done there

[@MrKubben90]

how not to fix your camera xd