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[Alexandri]

Hi everyone
I need some help... Every single pleo I've ever had runs hot, especially if wearing an original cape or even some much thinner garments I've made myself, the only thing that seems not to increas poot pleos temperature is ...................socks. And I mean Pleo footwear by that.

I'd like (and need) tips on materials and hm. Models of protective clothes for pleos so I can have the skin protected and also the paint.

All advice and tips on materials and models that will not cause unnecessary heat is welcome!
And also, other tips you might have regarding keeping pleos cool. Oh, I should mention my pleos are Ugobes, and runs on NiMH batterys. I had an Rb, and it also had that getting too hot-problem.
The temperature here is 22 C, so 70 F and that is almost to cold for ME...... so how do you handle this stuff?
Again, all tips and tricks, and advice etc etc is welcome!

(But I'm not putting a pleo in a fishnetstocking, just saying)
Happy holidays everyone! 

[Talon]

Hi, Alexandri and welcome to the forum! It sounds like you've done everything you can as far as trying different clothing styles. I personally don't use the original cape. It's thick and holds heat close to the skin. The clothing should fit loosely for ventilation. Pleos weren't built very well in this area and seem to retain a lot of heat despite our attempts to keep them cool. The old NH batteries tend to generate lots of heat near the end of their run cycle. The only thing you can really do is stop playing and allow both the pleo and battery to cool down. Remove the battery and turn the pleo onto its side so that air can get into the battery bay and let them cool down for about fifteen minutes before resuming play. Letting them run for long periods of time when they are warm could cause damage to the robot or its battery. It's also not a good idea to run the pleo continuously through several batteries one after another. I am sure you enjoy playing with your little companions but they are machines after all and their mechanics need to be treated with care if they are to last.
Talon

[Alexandri]

Hi, double thanks, for the welcome and the reply. 

Ahem.. first.. not to be a Besserwisser or a smartass or such or even ungrateful and LEAST of all condescending in any way, but to get this out of the way first of all and add this info to my original question etc etc.
And for future reference om this forum..
And please, DO tell me IF I offend you or you find me rude now, and I will happily apologize for this. 
Y'all seems like good people, and kind too. So I'd hate to make a sucky impression here.

So, here's my attempt to quickly explain why the info about basics of batteries and electronics and such can be skipped. Hope it's not too
horrible and off-putting. I just have a way of trying to giving info -especially technical or in total lack of social or emotional info in it- quickly and efficiently and the ahem.. social codes and such gets in second place or worse. 

I am a tech geek, I am also interested in robotics, and other electronics, and well, a lot of tech stuff, I'm also sorry for what may very well sound like bragging here, but I'm blessed with talent and uh, a fair amount of intelligence when it comes to complicated science stuff, allowing me to understand things quickly and in real depth.
(Darn, I DO apologize for how I sound there, I can only explain myself for that and say to my defense that I can't just claim to be educated formally in these areas)

So, continuing on the part that may be seen as off-putting, earning me a "Grumpy the dino living in a trash can-title" but less so than the above..

I already regularly check if a pleo has a warm torso, and if so, depending on the amount of heat I feel, It's nappy time(=power off) and cooling off both pleo and battery.
Depending on heat, battery is taken out of pleo
(if Pleo is not too warm and has not been running that long (new battery cycle and 15-20 mins? or middle of battery cycle and the same time and not having been on for hours before that) and I don't intend to start it up again in 15 mins or anytime like that, then battery might be left in)
And both are cooled by the window that has a windowsill -is that the word for the flat board under the window u put plants or whatever on?? made of a material that seems to lead heat or cool very well. Might be marble or stone, either way, so that+a little crack in the window (because the radiator is on the other side of that wide board, so to ensure the board stays cool)
=effective cooling, but I am also careful to not to give either pleo or batteries excessive cooling so as not to hurt the electronics by too rapid cooling.
Pleo is mostly placed laying on the side, to get cooled by the board and not needing the crack in the window to do the cooling.
same with battery, but more careful there, regarding direct contact with the board.
And I have this as a routine so I usually don't let the overheating protection they have kick in, it hasn't time to.
But if it does, and a pleo gets sluggish, then I always check and it's never cooled off with battery left in.
And i for some reason I cannot turn pleo off asap, then I might open the window a lot and move pleo to that part of the room so the airing out will make surrounding air at least like 10C (or a bit less, since pleo is at the floor then, should not become a cold chock to the electronics. and this is ONLY when trying to make pleo shut off naturally because the battery has like 5 mins or less left in it. SO extremely rare to do.) However, I might air out the room if I realize pleos are running hot too easy, but then it's just making the room like 18C and friendlier.


I do have some follow-up questons for you about your info.

1. "the old NiMH batteries?" What counts as those? Newly built NiMH, old NiMH (I mean built years ago) Or simply "not LiPO"?
Is there are reason for the excessive heat generated at the end of their cycle or is that just... some niMH thing? Nad not a Pleo NiMH battery thing? None of my other NiMH batteries does this.... actually, none of my whatever batteries doses this.  

2. Running pleos through several battery cycles continously, ahm.... as in no cooling in between or with a cooling period to ensure pleo is as would be if not run that day at all? and with batteries that was charged like hours before or more, or has gotten the board cooling treatment just as pleo if they were the least bit warm from being done charging like hm, at least 30 mins earlier and not being hot or more than a little warm at the most at that time? So yes, Pleo gets cycles in a row, but with cool batteries and pauses to cool down in between those cycles.. Yes, I can guess the answer, but in case I'm wrong, wanna double check.
Because if with no pause, I'd be having a warm pleo, put in new batt, and get hot pleo. And then hop pleo that shuts down.. so I can't really see how I'd even manage to do it without the pauses.. or with anything other that warm or hot pleos and warm or hot batteries.
Which would be very noticeable... so no offense, better to ask too much then hurt the innocents, right?

3. Running them warm, since the do have the overheating protection, do you know when it kicks in, temperature, or a sorta guess?
And do you recommend a certain temperature interval to keep them below, for protection? But not like, treat the temperature or them with paranoia? Ofc they get warm, ofc they sometimes reach hot, but being paranoid and never ever risk THAT, that won't get them much of lifelike lives, right? Or pet-like ......appearance?


Oh, I just realized what made me risk being a boob in the beginning of this post..
I reacted to your last sentence. I do realize you meant it kindly and just meant well, and no disrespect. Logically.
However emotionally, one reacts, and when not knowing to WHAT specifically, my reaction was to explain I'm no noob at general electronics or thermodynamics and etc etc.
Is there a way to put some info in my err, square with the "Hey, I know some science and can build electronic stuff and such" that u know of?

Well, let's just say I get underestimated a lot. And may as well leave that explanation in the post until it can be put somewhere relevant.
Anyhoo, never meant any disrespect to you, or insult, or seem irritated or any such thing, just being a boob at explaining that stuff.
My bad for that if so. And please tell if I did manage NOT to be socially ass-hattish, I'd appreciate that. 

And thanks for the advice and the knowledge you gave me that I did not have.
How do you run your pleos, and how many do you have and what kinds, If I may ask?
My 2 ugobes running on the same OS is not really behaving like well, friends? or necessarily noticing each other..should pleos normally behave like they are really intracting or ...?
(Yes, you seem to know stuff, and you see to know about the non RB pleos, so thought I might ask. a little side track, but little.....)
My main question is still how you get around this heat stuff, naked pleos? materials?
Hm, I still have silk, silkblends, and georgette to try as materials....


But I see pretty much everyone running pleos clothed, and in materials that'd make every pleo I've ever had boil in 5-10 mins. How do ppl do it?? Yes, that is an open question for the entire forum here, please answer Pleo people!
I mean, most of you cannot even make these in your countries except for a really short time of the year. 
Here, it's like... "When can we NOT make them??"

Happy new years everyone! According to the forum time I'm not late with that! 

[aibo7m3]

Hi! I don't think Talon was trying to underestimate you in any way, she's just gone through a lot of defects with her robots recently and is just implying that even sometimes when we're being extra careful, problems can still occur, so it's best to always do what we can to prevent them. People here regularly refer to Pleos as endearing terms like "little companions" just because we like the emotional side of them, even though we may understand a lot more about the technical side as well.

I'm not sure why your Pleos overheat so quickly, it could have something to do with the NiMH batteries since I've never used these with any of my Pleos. It is normal for Pleos to warm up during run times, but they should never feel burning hot or shut down due to overheating under normal circumstances. I don't know what temperature it takes to trigger a shut down, but RBs will start panting and acting tired if the ambient temperature is over 80 F or if they overheat. My Pleos are generally warm to the touch after a 2 hour battery cycle, but not to the point where it's concerning to me at all and they wear all sorts of outfits (not the original cape though since I worry that the rubber bands on it could damage their skin). My guess is that the NiMH Pleo batteries may produce more heat than the LiPO ones. If you run your Pleos without any outfits on, do they still overheat quickly?

Just to go over what I do, I currently have 2 operational Ugobes and 3 operational RBs (not counting the bricked or badly damaged Pleos I'm attempting to repair) and I sometimes run them with clothing on and sometimes don't. I've used a lot of different clothing including outfits made of thin synthetic fibers or thick wool sweaters. My house is kept between 68-74 F. All of my Pleos are running on LiPO batteries and I usually run them for 1-2 hours at a time. At the end of a run time, they are warm around the waist, but not overly hot. The only time that I run them continuously with multiple batteries is during volunteer events and I have had Pleos overheat during these at times, but that is because these events were outdoors in the summer and the ambient temperature was in the low 80s.

[grumpy]

Some technical information to answer specific questions,

1.  When Talon referred to the "old NiMH batteries" she was meaning that the batteries originally designed for the classic style pleo (Ugobe, Innvo 2009, and Merlin edition) were NiMH.    And in general, NiMH technology generates more heat when operating, and this is increased at both the end of the draining cycle and at the end-of-life of the battery.  The pleo RB batteries are all LiPo, and there are replacement LiPo batteries you can buy.  LiPo batteries do get hot, but tend to run cooler.

3.  The classic pleo has a 10K thermister built into the battery pack that will shut down the pleo if the battery gets too hot.  While the motors and circuit boards do generate some heat, the original designers of pleo believed that most of the heat generated internally comes from the battery, and designed the system to respond only to that heat source.  The rubber skin has no vents and holds the heat in the body, allowing it to build up.  The temperature threshold is configurable on the classic pleo using startup scripts, and is set at over 130f/55c.  I'm not sure if the RB can be configured in the same manner.

The RB has a build in ambient temperature sensor separate from the battery that is intended to trigger the "hot" or "cold" reactions, not to protect or shut down the pleo.

[Alexandri]

Hi! I don't think Talon was trying to underestimate you in any way, she's just gone through a lot of defects with her robots recently and is just implying that even sometimes when we're being extra careful, problems can still occur, so it's best to always do what we can to prevent them. People here regularly refer to Pleos as endearing terms like "little companions" just because we like the emotional side of them, even though we may understand a lot more about the technical side as well.

Ahem... maybe I sucked at explaining my reaction, or did it too well. I never thought she did have hat intent. I just reacted , ya know, emotions? ;P
...Does that make me adorable like a pleo ?  

I'm not sure why your Pleos overheat so quickly, it could have something to do with the NiMH batteries since I've never used these with any of my Pleos. It is normal for Pleos to warm up during run times, but they should never feel burning hot or shut down due to overheating under normal circumstances.

Ahem....I never did say "over"heat, or did I...............? *wee bit cnfused now. Either way, no, they do get warm and me no likey. ;p
Although, I had two getitng sluggish and unwilling to move today, at the sae time, that was when their barerys (o, plwéae tell e, i it " batterys" or " baatteries" ? I really cannot rememberm and it's been bugiging me for some time now.... ofc, I never ever ever eever remember to look it up either. *Ngh!*
One of them got too warm -well, IT thought so at leas-, and it did feel warm too)  before the "tired and going into sleep positions" occurred due to emptying out the battery first, and I had music playing, so it stood  there on the floor and like..... that hm, wagging(?) movements they do? It like.. shivvered. LOL It was really cute. Not really shivvered either,, more like it had minimized movements to the max, and wagged it's body and it looked a bit like it was " disturbed not shaken" ........and now I realie my joke was so bad I might'a just sai " stirred". Had been more correct too.  
But no, they don't over heat, thy just get warm. On the other hand nowadays I always keep the room cool-........... by which I mean cold and I need extra clothes and might be freezing or feeling really cold in it myself........ bah.

I don't know what temperature it takes to trigger a shut down, but RBs will start panting and acting tired if the ambient temperature is over 80 F or if they overheat. My Pleos are generally warm to the touch after a 2 hour battery cycle, but not to the point where it's concerning to me at all and they wear all sorts of outfits (not the original cape though since I worry that the rubber bands on it could damage their skin). My guess is that the NiMH Pleo batteries may produce more heat than the LiPO ones. If you run your Pleos without any outfits on, do they still overheat quickly?

Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuup. Even the naked ones get warm.
And I can't have them running a full battery cycle in normal room temperature, which for me is 24C (apptox 75F) I have too keep the
room in like err..... uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuwh, 20/65 and freeze myself if I want to let hem run a full cycle..... and I cn have them sitting in my lap or sleeping on my chest then either *sob sob*   

Just to go over what I do, I currently have 2 operational Ugobes and 3 operational RBs (not counting the bricked or badly damaged Pleos

Inät thet thwé defnition of "operationeál"??

I'm attempting to repair)

You are? Oh could you share some wisdom? I have an ugobe that WILL NOT accept electricity now..... One day it simply did not accept batteries, or electricity delivered via ..........crocodile clamps and similar things ed to the springs inside , or anything at all.
I have no idea how it got like that but now nothing works, no tips I've seen here, and nothing else either, it's like the battery err.... compartent
Either the contact springs aren't connected somewhere I can't see or feel it, or the problem is deeper...
Like some other contact isn't connected.
Or it's even worse........., how do you even brick a pleo, wihout messing up an up or downgrade??

I've now tried several other batteries and nada, it shows no signs whatsoever of getting any power........ any tips??
I've even tried to make se programs work and connect it to the comp vis usb, and buhumbug. (Any tips o how to make any of the programs for ugobes work when ur using win 8? and a 64bit system???   I have absoutely no idea where the problem is. Itäs ow battery went shite, and then it died. (
So, can't get the power further in than the battery sompartment it seems, and NADA reation to it. I can't get anything diagnostics or anything for making my own programs/skits/personalities that I'm planning on making work, or even get a stupid com port open (Wäääääääh!!!)

and I sometimes run them with clothing on and sometimes don't. I've used a lot of different clothing including outfits made of thin synthetic fibers or thick wool sweaters. My house is kept between 68-74 F. All of my Pleos are running on LiPO batteries and I usually run them for 1-2 hours at a time. At the end of a run time, they are warm around the waist, but not overly hot. The only time that I run them continuously with multiple batteries is during volunteer events and I have had Pleos overheat during these at times, but that is because these events were outdoors in the summer and the ambient temperature was in the low 80s.

Buh buh buh..... buh............but I can never run them on multiple cycles!!!!!!!!! Couldn't do it with the Rb on LiPO, and can't do it with the ugobes either on NiMH, or the ugobe I had on LiPO..... My living room is a constant reminder of the north pole, and even then they get a little warm way before the batteries ri out. (2h battery cycle,they get warm in under an hour with my windows open and the cold Swedish winter making me waaaaay tooo cold, I'm easily frozen.. ) )

I can only use really thing loose material, ans it kooks mostly like a sorta .......hm, well, thhink aussie surfer dude shirt?
and don't even condsider pants.
Socks though.

So, I'm at a total loss with the paper weight .....
And I'm pretty lost about the possibility of having a normal room temoerature and ever letting them sleep or sit on my  lap any more than like..........10 mins?
Which sucks realty really hard. And I could realltyREALLY use some diagnostics programs and some programming that makes them stand up when they're going to nap...... ( unless trigger sensors tell them to be übercute and not practical ofc....... but theyäre alreeady showing skin teearing from their own sleeping patterns, and all that took was me a´falling sleep a few imes too many with the still up... otherwise I ut the in box position when theyr'e not on. Is the Rb's still going to sleep like that too, in a postítion that may or will hurt skin or worse?? I intend to get one sooon so .... it'd be nice to know beforehand.... and if the rb's also has that problem, is here some program or code out there that will adjust this?? Or a way for me to adjust it myself? By programming away that habit I mean )

Thanks for the reply!

[Alexandri]

Some technical information to answer specific questions,

1.  When Talon referred to the "old NiMH batteries" she was meaning that the batteries originally designed for the classic style pleo (Ugobe, Innvo 2009, and Merlin edition) were NiMH.    And in general, NiMH technology generates more heat when operating, and this is increased at both the end of the draining cycle and at the end-of-life of the battery.  The pleo RB batteries are all LiPo, and there are replacement LiPo batteries you can buy.  LiPo batteries do get hot, but tend to run cooler.

Any tips on where to get batteries that aren't as epxensive as those pw sells?
As cheap as possible but still quality ofc... ;P I really like having the little fellas waling aroind och playing with me and eaht other most of the tie I'm awake acutally so..
I'm going to need a lot of barrery time and more than one battery per pleo :/

I'm using several battery cyccles daily, spread out over the day, And I have a few peos andI really love the ugobes
(Any way to get an Rb to be like a ugobe, in that easy to handle, happy-go-luky-aiittude free way=? and not the grumpy gime attention NOW or I'll pee in ur shoe later!!!!!!!!")

3.  The classic pleo has a 10K thermister built into the battery pack that will shut down the pleo if the battery gets too hot.  While the motors and circuit boards do generate some heat, the original designers of pleo believed that most of the heat generated internally comes from the battery, and designed the system to respond only to that heat source.  The rubber skin has no vents and holds the heat in the body, allowing it to build up.  The temperature threshold is confwigurable on the classic pleo using startup scripts, and is set at over 130f/55c.  I'm not sure if the RB can be configured in the same manner.

There once was a wise man who had just the expression for this. "DOH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Btw, yes it has, the skin has vents after the dino's been alive a short while!!!!!!!!! HAh!
(Could not help saying that....)

The RB has a build in ambient temperature sensor separate from the battery that is intended to trigger the "hot" or "cold" reactions, not to protect or shut down the pleo.

that is not even worth a "d'oh, due to the pure stupidity, that I think you just gave some of, I feel like reading that cost me a few iq points
Hefrregud.......

Any possibility of help wit ha brick??? Ugobe, woll NOT accept electricity no matter what.... and also, I'm using a win 8 comp. and Would really like to use some diagnostic programs on my ugobes and on an rb I'm getting , and also program a bt myself.... any avice??)

Danke!

[aibo7m3]

@Alexandri

All Pleos warm up a bit while operating and this isn't a concern. I don't believe that Ugobe Pleos act sluggish when they get too hot, so this might just be some other factor coming into play. And it's "batteries," when making a word that ends in "y" plural in English, you almost always change the "y" to "ie." I don't think I'd worry about how hot your Pleos are getting if they don't seem to be actually overheating at all.

Do they actually ever get so hot that they shut down because of the heat or do you just not let them run for a full battery cycle because you're worried about them overheating?

When I say operational, I just mean Pleos that run with no problems or very few problems. I've only been working with RBs for repairs so far. I've been able to successfully repair two jammed legs in two RBs and am currently working on an RB with shattered vertebrae throughout its neck and another that won't start up. I have heard of Pleos getting bricked with no software updates/downgrades involved and there are a few things that can cause it. Sometimes the firmware can corrupt itself on a faulty save and sometimes it's an actual hardware problem (ex. a snapped wire or burnt out board). I haven't had any success repairing my bricked RB yet, so I'm not sure if I can help there. Have you tried running any skits from the downloads section on the Pleo? Try doing it using a micro SD card instead of the USB. Generally, if it is a hardware problem, the Pleo will not run even with the skit installed or will operate incorrectly with the skit installed, but if it is a software problem, the Pleo will run the skit without any issues.

I think you might just be worrying too much about the Pleos warming up. It's normal for a lot of electronics to get warm when running, and as long as they're not overheating, I don't think it's an issue. Heck, my laptop's heating up quite a bit now that I've had it running for a couple hours, but that's normal, so I have no reason to restart it. Yes, over time excess heat can have a negative effect on the lifespan of any electronic device, but some heat is to be expected.

I believe if you hold down the button near the SD slot on a Ugobe, it will go into packing position (standing up with head and tail stretched out), so you can turn the Pleo off then to protect the skin. New Pleo RBs shut down in the packing position to prevent skin wear, though ones running the older OS will curl up. If you buy an RB new, it shouldn't have this problem. If you buy an older one, you just need to upgrade the firmware to fix it.