I was wondering how thermally conductive is potting compound, I was planning on doing an outdoor access point installation (but do not want to spend the outdoor access point money).
The CPU temperature with no heatsink can reach 65-70C. my plan is to install the router in a weatherproof enclosure and then simply have the antenna sticking out of the enclosure, then using power over Ethernet to connect the SP to the switch as well as have it suspended on a steel cable in order to cover a large area.
I have not worked with potting compound before, but my plan was to remove the router's internal components from it's original case, and then mount it into the weatherproof case. then after that, attaching a small heatsink to the CPU, and wifi radio RF shield (the hot components in the wifi radio are connected to the RF shield using thermal pads). After doing all of that, I would like to cover those areas of the device in potting compound (about 3-3.5cm thick), and then thick a thermal pad on the top (at which point when the weatherproof enclosure is closed, the enclosure will act as a heatsink where it meets the potting compound.
Only issue I am unsure of is if the potting compound can conduct enough heat away to keep the router's CPU and wifi radio from overheating (I really want to avoid getting an outdoor unit as they tend to cost nearly 5-7 times as much for similar transmit power as a router that is designed for indoor use. (600-650mw)