Pepwave Max transit Duo Hot to touch

My Pepwave max 4E25 is overheating. I use one T-Mobile SIM card and have tried everything including balancing it on its plug only so literally it’s metal base touches nothing. This last time it ran so hot it stopped working then burned my hand trying to throw in my refrigerator because I was concerned it would burn down my rv. I need a solution or instructions on how to return it.

Hi Rachel. First thing: Don’t put it in the refrigerator when it’s warm/hot. 2nd: Contact your Peplink Partner about this –regardless if the ultimate solution is return or replace. This is absolutely not expected behavior. Partners have an obligation to deal with issues such as this on behalf of their customers.

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Thanks Rick. Last time I called in they don’t answer phone.

Open a Peplink Support Ticket and the support team will call on your Peplink Partner to deal with it.

Hmmm. If your Peplink Partner (not Peplink) did not answer the next step would be to enter a ticket here. Before doing so, download a diagnostic report to be attached to the ticket (preferably while the “event” is in progress) and also turn on remote assistance.

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How hot? Do you have a temp gun? Or can you tell from the admin panel?

These things can run hot, its usually normal.

Where are you keeping the device when its getting hot?

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Just so you are aware, putting hot electronics in a fridgerator could create condensation… and we all know what that does to electronics.

How hot was ambient? Are you in a hot climate? Was it in a cabinet? Was any of it’s function (connectivity / speed) affected?

Thanks for advice. The ticket link was helpful.

Do you mind also sharing some details here?

I’ve also had overheating problems with my Max Transit Duo. It’s in a closed cabinet near the ceiling in a travel trailer. On days that reach about 85F degrees or more outside and if the interior of the trailer reaches 80F degrees or higher, it will overheat and fail (network unreachable via cable or wifi). I have not measured ambient temperature inside the cabinet when it happens, but it’s easy to imagine it being over 100F.

When it fails, the device is very hot to the touch.

I use Speedfusion to bond 2 cellular and 1 wifi (a Mofi4500 connecting to a third cellular) connections. I connect via ethernet and wifi to the Pepwave. I also have the power boosted on wifi. It’s working hard.

So, I power it down, prop open the cabinet, try to cool down the trailer and turn it back on about 10 to 15 minutes later. It begins working again.

I’m a little surprised that it struggles with ambient temps like this since it’s designed for transit vehicles.

I’m going to buy a cooling solution for it and deal with ventilating the cabinet. The benefits of the device far outweigh the issues I’ve had. It has mostly destressed me in regard to getting online while on the road.

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I think my MK2 gets too hot some times too. Its located in a weathertight cabinet in a protected compartment on a boat. On the hottest days it seems to struggle and I see Cellular in particular have issues.

I have an AP AC mini hw2 mounted to ceiling in my finished basement. Ambient temp in room is 72F.

I used a infrared thermometer we use for checking kids temp. It read 109F at about an inch or so away in the middle. Assuming it’s accurate enough for this.

I was told it’s normal and meant to dissipate heat.

109 isn’t hot enough to burn though, so I suspect if yours is causing a burn then definitely not normal.

Following up. I purchased 2 80mm fans, sat them on top of the Pepwave with the air being pulled away from the router. It’s really helped. The router has been stable ever since.

I bought these. They have nice rubber feet and use USB for power.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XNLSB9M?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details

I bought two of these and tie wrapped them to the unit. They help considerably. Heat Sink Yes, I bought heat transfer goop but decided not to use that in case the unit needed to be sent back under warranty. We are traveling up the Mississippi River road and its really hot here. Unit is staying almost cool…

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Maybe Peplink could manufacture and sell a clip on MAX Transit Heatsink… that would be cool.

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And as a fan to keep the cabinet cool I got one of these: Cabinet Cooling Fan. The Transit heat sink is right behind it. This one is their less expensive version with a manual switch, high, low and off. They have other models, that have temp settings that really weren’t very expensive, but I had a lot of other things to get prior to getting on the road for our 6 month trip. -Bill

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Having this same issue… extremely hot. Currently sitting on a desk in my travel trailer and I can’t hold my finger to it for more than a second. Unfortunately we are experiencing a heat wave right now so external temps are 100+ and internal temps are about 87. Haven’t experienced failure, but noticing lag and hang ups that were evident before. Might try that heatsink + fan combo…

This also makes me wonder… could I attach a 12v fan and run it to the 12v connector on the MAX if I was powering the max with 12v?

Yes you could.

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Give this a try… https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NVLMZNT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

If its sitting on your desk you could buy 4 of them and affix them to both the top and bottom for optimum cooling. :grinning:-Bill