CM5 active cooler on the HackerGadgets adapter board
The adapter board's PWM fan header runs a Raspberry Pi, Waveshare or EDATEC CM5 cooler; printed back covers make the room.
What it takes
- Purchase required
- Disassembly
- 3D print
Difficulty 2 of 3 — moderate.
Details
HackerGadgets' adapter board exposes a PWM fan connector compatible with fans made for the Pi 5 and CM5 (it runs at a fixed speed on a CM4). Owners pair it with an official or Waveshare active cooler and one of the printed covers designed around it — DRC's passive-cooler back, the EDATEC-cooler remix on Printables, or LordRelic's Rear Armor for the AIO v2.
Fan-speed control on the CM5 has its own thread.
Links
Open at HackerGadgets adapter boardRelated mods
A 40-pin FPC ribbon from the mainboard's GPIO connector to a breakout board gives a fan its 5 V and ground inside the case.
Remix of the passive-cooler back that gives an EDATEC active cooler its height when the CM5 sits on the HackerGadgets adapter.
Two layers of 0.5 mm thermal pad and a small aluminium heatsink on the CM5 SoC, held with thermal tape — about 10 °C cooler under load.
A CM4 socket protection adapter lifts the CM5 so a 0.5 mm pad reaches the back shell instead of the thick stock pad.
Replace the ~4 mm stock pad, which is sized for the A-06, with a thinner high-quality pad or paste that matches the real CM4/CM5 gap.
Replaces the metal back with a printed cover that holds a 30 mm fan, a heatsink and a flat 10,000 mAh pack in place of the 18650s.