Hi!

At the moment I am building a new live setup. All is in a big case - the fireface (uc) at the bottom and an akai apc20 above it. There is 1 cm air between them but the fireface is getting really hot. It doesn't hurt my hand but isn't enjoyable and I know how warm the thing can get before and this seems to be a little bit too much. Should I worry?

EDIT:
I checked the temperature with my multimeter: Inside it's getting around 57 ?C (max) and on the top outside around 42 ?C.

Best regards
El Duderino

DAMAGE TO PAINT DUE TO SELF-INFLICTED HEAT

In spite of my previous post, I would like to add that that due to the heat generated by my Fireface 400 (FF400), it has inflicted permanent cosmetic damage on itself. My FF400 sits on a shelf, I run air conditioning most of the time and the only thing that?s near it is my Audio Kontrol 1 audio interface (AK1), which runs cool as ice as it does not do any DSP in the hardware. The AK1 had been sitting on top of my FF400 while the FF400 was used on and off for a couple for a month. After that period decided that it was time to clean the shelf where it was sitting. I first disconnected all cables from my AK1 and tried to pick it up, but I couldn?t, as it was literally stuck to the FF400. I pulled a little harder and it came off. Basically, what had happened is that the AK1 has four small rubber pads on the bottom. The small area under each pad had become hotter the rest of the FF400, resulting in permanent damage to the black paint of the FF400 (it appears to have melted).

After I noticed this I placed a small fan next to the FF400 as I described in my earlier post. Last year when I was in the UK I did notice my FF400 getting hot but it was not too bad, probably because the weather in the UK is cool, but here in China temperature has been an issue. However, according to the specs in the FF400 user manual:

Temperature range: +5? up to +50? Celsius

I assume these values refer to the environmental temperature rather than the actual temperature of the box. The temperature where I use the FF400 is usually between 27 and 30 degrees Celsius, which is not too hot, and certainly less than 50 degrees Celsius!

Therefore my beautiful FF400 has experienced permanent cosmetic damage and possibly internal damage which I am not aware of simply because I haven't taken the box apart, although it does have a bit of a worrying burnt smell on the right-hand side near the Phones jack. The unit still seems to work so I assume no internal damage. However I do get blue screen of death often and currently my FF400 is unable to establish a connection to my computer (Red HOST LED on). The point is that the heat issue has resulted in physical damaged and therefore the re-sale value of the product has been automatically reduced.

Here are some pics. The first image shows where the arrangement:

This image shows an overview of the damage:

This image shows the rubber feet of the AK1:

A closer look of the damage:

And even closer. Here it can be seen that the texture of the paint has changed, resulting in micro bubbles appearing in the paint while it was melting.

And finally, one of the rubber feet on my AK1 which also melted around the edge.

I know it looks like stains but they won't come off, believe me, I have tried rubbing it with a cloth and water to no avail. I even used a bit of ethanol and no success either. Scratching it with my nail also has no effect, therefore the damage is in the paint rather than on it.

Therefore I am worried that my unit may be faulty.

Thanks for replying. Actually, at the beginning I also thought it was nothing more than traces of rubber but it is not. I have tried to remove them with both ethanol and isopropyl without success. While the important thing is whether it works or not, with me being a perfectionist this is a pity because the case looked like new only a month ago. Is there any way to order a spare top cover?

Thanks Daniel. Actually, I doubt that the rubber in those pads contains any aggressive substances at all. The actual rubber it's not really melted, I probably chose the wrong words to describe it. Just one of the pads developed an air bubble because of the heat, giving the appearance of melting, while the other three pads are fine. However there was damage under each of the four pads on the actual FF400.

I will contact the distribuitor in Beijing by email (I expect to be in Beijing in a couple of weeks' time), but I have a gut feeling that they're going to tell me they can't supply a spare top cover because they will typically only stock complete units, not spares. Anyway, it's worth the shot. I will direct them to this thread if that's OK.

Out of curiosity, you RME guys probably have loads of FF400 there for testing, what sort of temperatures do yours get up to when idle, mic gain set to minium and phantom power off?