The market offers a wide variety of compact cameras that record in high definition, but almost all of them suffer from the effects of heat and automatically limit their recording sessions to avoid being cooked. Breaking Taps on YouTube has this problem every time it uses its Insta360 X4, and decided to solve it with a huge custom heatsink made of copper and aluminum.

Does the Camera Overheat? Building a Custom Heatsink
Does the camera overheat? Building a custom heatsink

The Insta360 X4 costs 560 euros on its official page. Logically, the price goes up once we start exploring compatible accessories, but its basic specs remain interesting: 8K at 30 FPS, 360 degrees, two cameras, 135 minutes of battery life (in 5.7K at 30 FPS)... pretty good.

However, the camera expects movement: additional airflow (whether on a drone, riding a bike, or doing another sport) helps with cooling, but a static setup on a tripod leads to overheating. In fact, Breaking Taps on YouTube explains that its X4 cannot record more than 30 minutes in 4K using both cameras, and decided to tackle that limitation with brute force, that is, by manufacturing a giant heatsink.

A Custom Heatsink for the Insta360 X4

Yes, the Breaking Taps team is formidable and out of reach of other enthusiasts, but we are also interested in some technical details of the camera. Its main heat dissipation resource is a very thin aluminum cover, with not completely full contact over the chips (on one of them we see that the thermal paste follows an “L” shape). Instead of creating a new cover, Breaking Taps removed some material to get a flat surface.

Does the Camera Overheat? Building a Custom Heatsink
There isn't much of a “heatsink” to speak of in its standard configuration. The camera needs help.

The heatsink is divided into two parts: a central copper piece that makes direct contact with the aluminum cover, and a case (also aluminum) that acts as support and incorporates additional mass. Actually, the most complicated part of the project for Breaking Taps was reassembling the camera: some of its internal flexible cables are very small and connect in uncomfortable positions, plus there is a gasket on the perimeter to prevent water and dust from entering.

Does the Camera Overheat? Building a Custom Heatsink
The 20 minutes turned into 80, with a peak of 47C. Not bad.

Despite the difficulties, the mod worked perfectly. The camera records until the battery runs out (70-80 minutes), a substantial improvement compared to the original twenty minutes, while the maximum temperature recorded was 47 degrees.