MiSTer FPGA Forum

Hello, I have the MT32-Pi Lite from U,timayeMister.com, and I have noticed the device gets very hot, even when not actively in use. Has anyone else experienced this, and is there anything that can be done? I would understand if the device got hot when playing a game that had MT32 audio, but mine heats up simply by staying plugged in. I prefer to leave my Mister setup turned on and ready to go but I dislike constantly unplugging the MT32-Pi so it doesn’t overheat, especially since the PCB connector seems a little delicate. I would like to keep it plugged in too. This is the device I am using: https://ultimatemister.com/product/mt32 ... or-mister/

I am wondering if the device is pulling too much voltage, for example. Is there a pin I could adjust for the SNAC adapter? Or am I supposed to use a level shifter? Or perhaps I need a different power supply? (The rest of the Mister stays very cool.) Any tips or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Pi Zero 2W just naturally gets hot unless you are adding cooling, and the mt32-pi-lite doesn't seem to be. You'd have less overheating with one of the larger pi's like the 3+, but then it would be far less compact.

Thanks, the MT32-Pi Lite has a heatsink and a thermal pad but no active cooling. I still don’t understand why it continues to get warm even when it’s not in use, however. Can the SNAC port be temporarily switched off through software, I wonder?

I’ll need to check and see what’s considered a safe maximum temperature for the Pi Zero 2W.

You can always get a USB 3 extension cable with a power switch

Abibofile wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2025 1:51 am

Thanks, the MT32-Pi Lite has a heatsink and a thermal pad but no active cooling. I still don’t understand why it continues to get warm even when it’s not in use, however. Can the SNAC port be temporarily switched off through software, I wonder?

I’ll need to check and see what’s considered a safe maximum temperature for the Pi Zero 2W.

Its powered on. Its booted the MT32 SW and so it will get hot. As far as I know you cant shut the port down.

After a while without use it should go into sleep mode

But its always in use. Mt32 is a bare metal application. It doesnt have an OS to do things like pausing. Its operating at the bare metal layer of the pi

This design is made with an aluminum top to be used as a heatsink (also include thermal pad), which makes it seem like it’s heating up. That is not overheating, If top plate didn’t heat up, then that would actually be a problem. You can also reduce the overclock that is usually configured on Pi2w MT32 devices.

FPGA64 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2025 11:09 am

But its always in use. Mt32 is a bare metal application. It doesnt have an OS to do things like pausing. Its operating at the bare metal layer of the pi

There is a power saving mode and its set in ini file :

Set the timeout for power saving mode (seconds).

After the specified number of seconds of silence, the CPU clock speed will be
reduced, the audio device will be stopped, and and the LCD's backlight will
be turned off to save energy (certain I2C displays only).

Armakuni wrote: ↑Fri Jan 10, 2025 12:36 pm

FPGA64 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2025 11:09 am

But its always in use. Mt32 is a bare metal application. It doesnt have an OS to do things like pausing. Its operating at the bare metal layer of the pi

There is a power saving mode and its set in ini file :

Set the timeout for power saving mode (seconds).

After the specified number of seconds of silence, the CPU clock speed will be
reduced, the audio device will be stopped, and and the LCD's backlight will
be turned off to save energy (certain I2C displays only).

Correct, and it is set default to 300 seconds.
mt32-pi.cfg:

power_save_timeout = 300