360 Camera Accessories

Insta360 One R Overheating? How to record for OVER 3 HOURS with the “Mad Max Mod”

Insta360 One R overheating? Use the Mad Max mod
Insta360 One R overheating? Use the Mad Max mod

Is your Insta360 One R overheating from long videos?   I tested out what I call the “mad max mod” and found I could record for up to 3 hours.

A few weeks ago, I posted how a user was able to increase the recording time for his Insta360 One R 1-inch mod by using a heat sink.  I’ve now tested that heat sink, not just with the 1-inch mod, but also with the 360 mod and the 4K wide mod.

Insta360 One R 1-inch mod with heat sink
Insta360 One R 1-inch mod with heat sink

I used this heat sink, and this thermal tape.  For the 360 mod, I found it was possible to make the heat sink invisible to the camera when using the vertical battery.  Unlike the 1-inch mod, I could not attach the heat sink to the back of the core unit otherwise it would be visible to the 360 mod, so I placed it beside the core (the side with the standard battery interface) and I attached another heat sink to the 360 mod, to draw the heat away from the one attached to the core.  It is possible to attach another heat sink to the top of the 360 mod and to the other side of the 360 mod as well (both are flat surfaces).

The double sided thermal tape I used left no residue.
The double sided thermal tape I used left no residue.

My tests were indoors at around 72F with no air conditioning and no fan.  I set the camera to screen auto sleep on, and I used the Sandisk Extreme Pro Micro SD.

TEST RESULTS

Here are my test results:

  • 1-inch mod, 5K video:  57 mins. 10 seconds.  This was even longer than the time  The camera turned off by itself.  It felt hot.  The heat sink will not appear in the video even in Ultrawide setting.  The video was in a single file.
  • 4K mod: 1 hour, 18 minutes, 6 seconds.  Turned off by itself.  Ran out of battery.  Will not show up in the video even in POV+ and Flowstate turned off.  The video was in a single file.
  • 360 mod + vertical battery: 46 mins, 44 seconds.  Stopped recording but did not turn itself off.  The camera ran out of battery (when I tried to start another recording, it said low battery and shut itself down).  The first 30 minutes was one video, then it created a new video, with around a 2 second gap between them.
  • 360 mod + vertical battery with USB power (charging while recording): 3 hours 4 seconds.  With a 128GB Sandisk Extreme Pro card, the camera stopped recording because it ran out of space.  The camera did not turn itself off but it was hot.  The One R created six 30 minute videos with around a 2 second gap between each video.  By the way, there was zero drifting, and no change to the sharpness of the video.  I should also note that the vertical battery still had a full charge afterward.
Insta360 One R records over 3 hours 5.7K 360 video
Insta360 One R records over 3 hours 5.7K 360 video

Can you remove the heat sink?  Yes, easily.  The tape I got is easy to remove in one piece and leaves no residue.  The tape is not reusable, but if you get a roll of tape, you’ll have plenty of tape to reinstall as often as you would want.

WHERE TO BUY

Thank you very much for using these affiliate links to support 360 Rumors at no additional cost to you so I can do more tests and reviews.

About the author

Mic Ty

28 Comments

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  • Hi Mic …did you try a shorter heat sink (7mm maybe!!) on the back of core mod in the regular setup with the 360 mod … will it work and also be invisible ..??

  • won’t you get better cooling by just removing the internal battery and leave battery door open in order to help with heat dissipation ? ( investment is now limited to external battery cost with the added benefit of longer battery life)

  • This article is misleading. You will not be able to use the heatsink on the 360 mod with normal configuration (how 99.9% of people use it). It will only work in vertical mode. It can be used with the 4K or 1″ mod in normal configuration.

    • Hi Todd. I specifically stated that you need to use the vertical battery for the 360 mod to use the heatsink. I’ve now bolded it.

      “For the 360 mod, I found it was possible to make the heat sink invisible to the camera when using the vertical battery.  Unlike the 1-inch mod, I could not attach the heat sink to the back of the core unit otherwise it would be visible to the 360 mod, so I placed it beside the core (the side with the standard battery interface) and I attached another heat sink to the 360 mod, to draw the heat away from the one attached to the core.  It is possible to attach another heat sink to the top of the 360 mod and to the other side of the 360 mod as well (both are flat surfaces).”

    • I was able to do it just fine with the extended battery. My camera was shutting down after taking 15-20 360 HDR bracketed shots, it was pathetic. With the mod I was able to take 540 photos (30 x 9, raw+) in a car that was over 100f before my iPad decided it needed to cool down lol.

      You don’t NEED the vertical battery but it is one of the only ways to get a heat sink flush on the One R core.

      https://i.redd.it/iza05lofcl951.jpg

  • Aloha Mic Ty, Thanks for this post. Very interested in getting an Insta360 One R 360 and a 1-inch to do some long (multiple hour) continuous documentation of trails (running & hiking). So having the traditional configuration with the mounting bracket for additional stability and keeping it as rainproof as possible is also going to be important.

    Same question as Maha Mousa, how much of the heat sink was showing in the 360 mod with it on the front face/same surface as the lens? Could you have possibly used a shorter heatsink without compromising too much on it’s effectiveness? Found 14x14x6mm but not 25x25x6 or 7 or ? to make it short enough?

    Would it be possible to perhaps modify the 25x25x10 heatsink by shortening the fins closest to the lens progressively so they don’t show in the image capture?

    Lastly, is there enough heat coming from the battery itself to be worth finding or modifying a heatsink to stick on the half/side away from and not directly under the lens?

    Hopefully between a combination of all that and the latest firmware overheating would no longer be an issue.

  • I’m wondering IF water proof isn’t a necessity could one potentially take one or more heatsinks and modify them, perhaps with a dremel, to fit exactly the space the battery takes up inside the mounting bracket and then use an external battery source? In theory, this would remove any heat the battery is producing up against the mods and provide additional heat sink surface to draw heat from the mods away as well? Any thoughts on this out of the box idea?

    Any idea how rain resistant it would be, or could be made, using an external battery through the USB charging port? I don’t need waterproof but since the weather can change so quickly or be so different up in the mountains vs down in the valley where I start a hike/run it can be raining for parts but not all of a trail run/hike.

  • First of all thank you Mic for your testing effort! But actually reading such an article is a sign of very poor product design. It is not the customer’s job to find a way to use a product in proper way. Especially for this price.
    For ages I have been looking for a decent 360 camera. But issues everywehre. And I am not willing to give any vendor any money for the latest devices. Overheating? Loosing footage? Poor support? And serious software issues no longer seem to be considered a problem but a feature. It’s rediculous!

    PS: Sorry for the rant but I don’t get how an industry really can work that way. Pathetic…

  • Well Howdy Mr Mic Ty .
    Have you tried this heat sink and thermal tape with the Kandao Qoocam 8k camera ?
    Any improvements .The camera has thermal focus issues with heat .
    Thank you Sir

    • Hi Saint R. I haven’t but it is not going to reduce the temperature enough to make a difference. I still have the original Gear 360 and the only thing that helped me avoid that problem for the Gear 360 was to take a shot immediately after power on, and then power it off between shots.

  • Just ordered all the parts you mention using the links you provided. Unfortunately the bumper was out of stock. I hope they will sell it separately later.

    I’m a little disappointed that I need to do this, but glad you came up with a solution. I bought this for my son’s wedding in about 3 weeks and I’m sure there will be some longer takes. Any suggestions on shooting weddings in 360?

    I really like the modularity of the One R so I am hoping this will be my main 360/sports camera for a few years.

    • Hi Steve. Congrats on your son’s wedding! It’s a bit precarious to use the vertical battery without the bumper – be very careful… I recommend just taking short clips. If you record long clips, it will take too long to edit them and you’ll end up never watching them.

      • Thanks! Sounds like good advice. I’ve been practicing by shooting some pickleball matches which are 15-20 minutes, which seem to be too long. What would you recommend as a good clip length in general?

        I was originally planning to stream the VR but then found out after buying that the Insta360 One R’s live streaming is “coming soon”. I had been looking at so many cameras that I think I got the X (which does live stream) and R confused. Oh well. I doubt many if any have the ability to watch 360 video live anyway. My son does though and wants it captured in 360 for his own memories.

  • Hi Mic, did you try some more experience to share with us. It is so important for me to have long shoots. i need to record 1:30 hs, rest half an hour an then record again 1:50 hours … What do you think?
    Your experience is the only posibility for me to choose the insta360 one R if it dont work I have to go to Gopro max. But I know Insta is better. Can you tell us more about your experiences.

      • I wanted to know if you tried your system again? Your idea is very good. Do you think that I can be calm to be able to film 1:30 break 30 minutes and 2 hours more without problem? because it would be for a job where I can not repeat if the camera turns off. Thank you very much!!!

  • Thank you for the post. Had no end of issues with the One R not being able to record long files and Insta support hopeless. Measured the camera reaching 58 deg.C, not sure if that’s the temp limit of the micro SD card inside. I’m using these heatsincs with some success, very low profile and self sticky.

    http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/1448934.pdf

    Regards

    Lp

  • Overheating could be still an issue in end of 2021 with the One R if you want to record long videos > half an hour.

    I tried Mic’s modification with the attached external heat sink but wasn’t able to reach more then 30 minutes of recording time (vertical battery, 360° dual lens, no cage, indoor, 21° celsius, external ANKER USB power bank to avoid running out of battery).

    Afterwards I tried the ULANZI “boosted” metal cage (for boosted battery version) without the heat sink elements.
    With this configuration the cam was able to record till the 128 GB Sandisk ran out of space.

    At last I also tried the ULANZI vertical metal cage and found out that also with this frame the cam recorded till the 128 GB Sandisk ran out of space.

    From my point of view everyone who wants to shoot longer videos should try a metal cage.
    Seems this is the best solution.

    • When you say “recorded til the 128GB ran out of space”, do you mean it recorded in the 30min loops, with 1 minute gaps in between til the card ran out of space, or was the file a single continuous recording?

      It’s now 2022, are the results still consistent? I would love to get the cage if it works consistently, recording continuous footages.

      THANKS

  • for all this trouble you could just sell the POS and get a real camera that doesn’t overheat and can shoot 1440p48fps for 5+ hours continuously w/ no modifications… like my ELEVEN years old gopro hero 3. . . just sayin…

  • Thanks for this article, it helped me with choosing what to buy. Sadly this isn’t it.
    The heatsink mod, if I could replicate it, would solve the main issue for me which is my need for multiple hour recording (setting in in the middle of an orchestra before starting and only touching it after the concert ends) but the 2 sec gap between 30 minute segments in a dealbreaker for me, cuz one of the use cases is having a continuous uncut video of the conductor which is required for auditions. For this purpose I use a Hero5 and it does okayish but I was looking to replace it cuz not only the final image is a bit lacking in quality cuz lighting isn’t great, recently it just not recorded a whole 70 minutes of a concert and now I have to compensate my client.
    The twin 4k would be awesome if it did that uninterrupted long video which the bonus of being able to get other angles of the orchestra in addition to the conductor angle (a hipotesis I confirmed in another article from this site, thank you for that too) maybe it would still be good for this second purpose (working solo and emulating a multiple ppl camera crew), but it wouldn’t replace the hero5.
    If anyone has a suggestion of how I could approach this kind of recording I’d appreciate any input, I’m really unsure which would be the best camera for this considering I’m using them for a different purpose than they were actually designed, and many have this overheating issue.
    Sorry for this long self centered comment ‘-‘ I may just be thinking out loud too.
    Anyway, thanks for all the content you publish it’s being very informative to me.