Thermal Sensors

[thegatekeeper]

Does anyone have any idea what type of tape they use to stick thermal sensors to hardware?

Here is a picture to illustrate what i mean:

Notice the yellow tape holding it in place, is that some special tape used for these kind of things? And if it makes any difference, i am talking about the thermal sensors that come with the Asus Crosshair motherboard. I want to use them to check my GPU temperature.

 

[michiganteddybear]

the tape itself really isnt that important, as long as it does what its supposed to do, and that is to hold the sensor where you want it.

the yellow tape shown in the pic is some pretty thin stuff, meant for use on the underside of cpu heatsinks and such (NOT where it contacts the core/heat spreader). I myself hate it, because it never sticks for me.

the most important thing to remember when installing a thermal sensor is to make sure you dont compromise the contact area of the heatsink with the device your cooling.

 

[techgeek]

The tape you see on that HDD is called kapton tape. 3M makes it. It is meant for really high temp. We use it in out downhole tools which are rated for 175C. Depending on what you are trying to attach your sensor to, all you might need is cellophane tape. The one nice thing about kapton tape is that it doesn't leave a residue on the surface when it's removed. The disadvantage is that it's not as sticky as other tape, so the surface you use it on must be very clean (no finger prints, or dust). If you are really interested in kapton, just Gizoogle that shiznit.

 

[thegatekeeper]

I actually was only going to use one of the 3 sensors that came with the board to measure my graphic card temperature. I guess a cellophana tape would hold in this case, but where exactly do i attach the sensor to? The main chip? I'm using a 7900 GT from bfg.

 

[michiganteddybear]

the best your gonna be able to do there is to attach it to the heatsink, as close to the chip as possible. you do NOT want anything (other than compound) between the heatsink and the chip, or you will cook the chip

 

[neoprimal]

Wow, this is exactly the info I'm looking for. I've been searching for an hour or so for 'thermal tape, thermal sensor tape, thermal adhesive, etc. etc' lol in hopes of finding the 'tape' used on my temp. sensor cables. Kapton looks about right!

I checked out Kapton tape and now I'm wondering exactly what type to buy, there are many different ones. I also found this other called 'Conductive Grid Tape', that I'm wondering if it would work out for me.

I have 2 devices, 1 uses 4 temp. sensors and almost all 4 strips are without or of very little use now. I either have to wedge them into place or tape over them with regular tape.
The other uses 2 strips and I havent used it in some time because those strips wore out long ago, and I didn't want to put regular tape on as it leaves a residue.

I'm pretty glad I found this thread and hppe that techgeek is still watching/reading. I'm not nec. interested in any high temp applications (like cpu or gpu use) as I really don't want to interrupt the thermal transfer there, I'll be applying them to more than likely all the hard drives, the PSU and on random heatpipes on the mobo to monitor true 'ambient' temps. I MAY apply one to the Zalman 9700 too, just to have that number on the display.

Thanks!

 

[n2microwave]

I was looking as well. Thx for the advice.