diff --git a/.claude/skills/steam-frame/SKILL.md b/.claude/skills/steam-frame/SKILL.md index db1b715..93e5b2b 100644 --- a/.claude/skills/steam-frame/SKILL.md +++ b/.claude/skills/steam-frame/SKILL.md @@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ desktop or panels. | Mac GUI over all of this | `README.md` → Frame Control | `scripts/frame-ui.sh` | | iPhone/iPad app (server runs on the Frame, `FRAME_LOCAL=1`) | `docs/iphone.md` | `ios/`, `ui/local-bin/ssh` | | Frame unreachable, Wi-Fi dead, Steam won't start (doctor runbook) | `docs/frame-doctor.md` | — | +| Power draw, heat, fan, battery wear, quiet-mode plan | `docs/power-and-heat.md` | — | | Recovery images, factory reset, boot loops | `docs/recovery-and-images.md`, `docs/how-the-frame-works.md` | `~/Downloads/steam-frame-recovery/` | | Test without the headset (the Frame OS image's own sshd) | `tests/frame-container/README.md` | `tests/frame-container/frame-image.sh` | | What's still unverified | `docs/open-questions.md` | — | diff --git a/docs/open-questions.md b/docs/open-questions.md index b85b31e..8086b94 100644 --- a/docs/open-questions.md +++ b/docs/open-questions.md @@ -165,3 +165,6 @@ Astra (xhigh), 2026-09-28. something awake on the LAN has to send the packet (for example the EdgeRouter's `etherwake`, already used for lxso2, or the Mac). +- **Staying on instead of sleeping:** what draws power and heat while idle, the + controls, and the step-by-step plan are in + [power-and-heat.md](power-and-heat.md). diff --git a/docs/power-and-heat.md b/docs/power-and-heat.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..56c24a6 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/power-and-heat.md @@ -0,0 +1,175 @@ +# Power, heat and what you can control + +What the Frame spends power on while it's on, where the heat comes from, and +which controls exist. Everything here was **read** on the Frame on +2026-09-29 (BUILD_ID 20260925.6191901). Nothing was changed. Numbers under +load haven't been measured yet. + +## Sensors you can read without sudo + +| What | Where | +|---|---| +| Power per rail (W ×10⁶) | hwmon `max34417_10`: `vph` (whole system), `s1c`, `s3c`, `s6c`. `max34417_12`: `apc0`/`apc1`/`apc2` (CPU clusters), `nsp1`. `max34417_1a`: `gfx` (GPU), `nsp2`, `bob`. Each `powerN_input` has a `powerN_label` | +| Board temperatures (m°C) | `/sys/bus/iio/devices/iio:device0/in_temp_*_input`: battery, left and right display, heatsink fins, fan exhaust, Wi-Fi, flash, 40-pin connector, nRF radio, PMIC and charger die | +| CPU, GPU and modem zones | `/sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone*/{type,temp}` (per-core top and bottom, `gpuss-*`, `nsp*`, `video`) | +| Charger input and charge current | `iio:device0/in_current_pm8550b_{iin,ichg}_fb_input` (µA) | +| Battery | `/sys/class/power_supply/max1720x_bat_7-36/uevent` (cycle count, health, current) | +| Fan | hwmon `slg4ax46073v`: `fan1_input` (RPM), `pwm1` (%) | +| Proximity (worn or not) | `/sys/bus/iio/devices/iio:device2/in_proximity_raw` | +| Why the fan ramped | `journalctl -u deckard-fan-control` (`C3 temperature of 95.36 greater than max 95! Setting fan to max speed.`) | + +The right display thermistor reads −16 °C, so it's absent or broken. Ignore it. + +## Idle baseline (2026-09-29 08:05) + +Conditions: +- On the 12 V USB-C charger, battery 100%, 5 cycles. +- Headset off-head, SteamVR in standby, backlight 0. +- Steam, SteamVR, the tracking service and one Chromium (Mac view) running. +- `pauseCompositorOnStandby` = false, set by another session this morning for testing. + +30 s average: + +| Rail | W | Notes | +|---|---|---| +| `vph` (everything) | **4.71** | | +| CPU `apc0+1+2` | 0.61 | 91% idle overall | +| GPU `gfx` | 0.25 | GPU at 366 of 903 MHz | +| NSP `nsp1+2` | 0.08 | Neural and DSP processors | +| `s1c` + `s3c` + `s6c` + `bob` | 1.01 | SoC, memory and peripheral supplies (which rail is which isn't documented) | +| Unmetered remainder | ~2.8 | Cameras, display link, Wi-Fi, fan, sensors, conversion losses (inferred) | + +Temperatures: + +| Sensor | °C | +|---|---| +| CPU cores | 40–45 | +| Board (heatsink, Wi-Fi, flash) | 34–37 | +| Left display thermistor | 46 (the warmest) | +| Charger IC | 37 | +| Battery | 23 | + +The fan ran at about 8,350 RPM at `pwm1` 41. + +What was running while idle (`top`): +- The compositor was at about 14% of one core. +- Steam was at about 7%. +- The tracking service (XRService) was at about 4%, and still had 4 camera nodes open (`/dev/video0,3,9,13`). +- vrserver and gamescope were at about 3% each. + +## Why it's warm while "doing nothing" + +- **The compositor keeps rendering in standby** when + `power.pauseCompositorOnStandby` is false. The default is true. Check + `~/.config/openvr/config/steamvr.vrsettings`. +- **The tracking cameras stay open in standby.** XRService holds them so + tracking resumes instantly. +- **The fan never goes below 40% on the charger.** That's by design in + `/usr/share/deckard-fan-control/deckard-config.yaml`: + `fan_charging_min_speed: 40`, against `fan_min_speed: 30` on battery. + Charging, including topping up at 100%, heats the charger IC and battery + area. +- **The display link stays up at backlight 0.** The DSI connector reports + `dpms=On` while the backlight is 0, so the panels are dark but still driven. +- **Heavy load reaches the throttle limit.** On 2026-09-28 at 22:09–22:12, + cores C3, C5 and C7 hit 95 °C and the fan went to max. The cause wasn't + investigated. It came around a Steam restart after the reboot. + +## Controls + +No sudo needed: + +| Control | How | Effect | Caveat | +|---|---|---|---| +| Steam idle sleep | `scripts/keep-awake.sh`, `system_idle_suspend_{ac,battery}_sec` | When it sleeps | Sleep has no remote wake | +| Compositor pause in standby | `vrcmd --set-settings-bool power.pauseCompositorOnStandby 1` | Stops rendering while off-head | Other sessions toggle it for testing, so coordinate | +| Screens-off delay | `vrcmd --set-settings-float power.turnOffScreensTimeout ` | Backlight off sooner or later | Default 5 s | +| Stop the whole VR stack | `systemctl --user stop steamvr.service` | Cameras, tracking and compositor off | Also stops the gamescope VR session and Steam (seen 2026-09-28), so panels and Mac view go too. The restart cost hasn't been measured | +| Background apps | Close Mac-view Chromium, stop Lepton containers (`podman`) | Less CPU and memory | Mac view needs relaunching | +| Brightness | Steam settings | Panel power while worn | — | + +Needs root (reset at reboot unless made persistent): + +| Control | Where | Effect | +|---|---|---| +| CPU governor and max frequency per cluster | `/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policy{0,2,5,7}/scaling_{governor,max_freq}` (`powersave`, `conservative`, `schedutil`, …) | Caps CPU power and heat | +| Take cores offline | `/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpuN/online` | Fewer active cores | +| GPU max frequency | `/sys/class/devfreq/3d00000.gpu/max_freq` | Caps GPU power (it hurts VR smoothness when worn) | +| Fan curve | The service reads `/usr/share/…/deckard-config.yaml`, which is on the read-only rootfs. It could be overridden with a systemd drop-in pointing at a copy in `/etc` | Quieter fan while charging, but hotter parts | +| Charge current | `pm8550b-charger` `constant_charge_current` (1.0 A, max 1.2 A) | Writability unverified. There's **no** charge-limit or end-threshold file, so the battery sits at 100% on the charger | + +None of these have been tried yet. + +## Plan: leave it on, but cheaply + +Goal: the Frame stays on the charger, reachable over SSH, drawing as little +power and making as little heat, fan wear and battery wear as possible while +nobody wears it. When someone puts it on, everything comes back quickly. +Sleeping isn't an option until remote wake works (see +[open-questions.md](open-questions.md#remote-wake-2026-09-28)). + +Rules for every step: +- Change one thing at a time. Snapshot the setting first, measure 5 minutes + (`vph` plus temperatures and fan), then restore it unless it's being kept. +- Freeze the Steam and SteamVR health-check trackers first + ([frame-doctor.md](frame-doctor.md) §4). +- Anything that could leave the Frame unreachable, and every root change, waits + until someone is home to recover it. +- `power.pauseCompositorOnStandby` belongs to another session's testing. Ask + before touching it. + +### 1. Measure (read-only, safe remotely) + +- [x] Idle baseline off-head on the charger (above). +- [ ] A sampler script (`scripts/frame-power-sample.sh`) that logs `vph`, the + CPU/GPU rails, key temperatures, fan RPM, the proximity sensor and the + charger current every few seconds to a CSV. Every later step uses it. +- [ ] The same baseline worn, idle in the home space. +- [ ] Under load: Mac view streaming, and one VR game. +- [ ] On battery (unplugged) to separate charging heat from everything else. +- [ ] Find what caused the 95 °C spike on 2026-09-28 22:09–22:12 (journal and + process history around the Steam restart). + +### 2. Settings without sudo (one at a time, measured) + +- [ ] Compositor pause in standby (after asking the owning session). +- [ ] Shorter screens-off delay. +- [ ] Stop `steamvr.service` while off-head. Measure the saving and how long it + takes to come back, since it also stops the gamescope session and Steam. +- [ ] Close Mac-view Chromium and stop idle Lepton containers. +- [ ] Steam's "never sleep on AC" (`system_idle_suspend_ac_sec = 0`), keeping + the battery timer. Confirm the displays go dark. + +### 3. Root settings (at home, with approval) + +- [ ] CPU: `powersave` or a lower max frequency while off-head. +- [ ] Fan: a copy of the fan config with a lower charging minimum, through a + systemd drop-in. Only if temperatures in steps 1–2 leave headroom. +- [ ] Battery: check whether charge current is writable. There's no charge + limit, so the fallback is a Home Assistant smart plug that lets the + battery cycle between roughly 80% and 100%. +- [ ] Decide which root changes to make persistent (drop-ins in `/etc`, which + survive SteamOS updates, unlike `/usr`). + +### 4. A quiet mode + +- [ ] Put the kept settings behind one switch: off-head for N minutes → quiet + mode; on-head (proximity sensor) or a Frame Control request → normal. +- [ ] Run it from Frame Control / keep-awake, not a hand-edited setting, so it + can always be undone. +- [ ] Add a doctor check that reports whether quiet mode is on and that it + restores cleanly. + +### 5. Remote wake (at home) + +- [ ] Charger wake: during confirmed sleep, plug in, unplug, and switch the + charger's AC off and on, one at a time. +- [ ] Controller-button wake. +- [ ] RTC dark wake (root timer that wakes, checks for queued work, sleeps). +- [ ] Re-test WoWLAN after each SteamOS or kernel update. + +### 6. Doctor script + +- [ ] Turn [frame-doctor.md](frame-doctor.md) into `scripts/frame-doctor.sh`: + read-only checks by default, fixes only with a flag, and **ask** fixes + never automatic. Add the sensor reads from this page.