Electrical help needed (TEC Thermo Electric Cooler)

moon47usaco

moon47usaco

Well-Known Member
I have a design in mind to use a peltier module to cool my res using a water block on the cool side and either another block on the hot side or a heat sink... The mechanics of the device i will be building i can handle...

My problem is that i do not know how to power the TEC properly...

I tried to power it with the adapters i use to power my pc fans but i burnt it out in less then 5 minutes... Obvously it is not rated to handel that type of power consumption... Duh... =0

Any one with better knoledge of electricity how can i power this lil thing...

I was thinking about ripping a power source out of an old pc case and using that but i would still be totally unsure of what i am doing... Do i even need that much power... Is there something more efficient i can use to power the TEC... ??

If the PC power source is my best option how would i go about modifying it to run only the TEC... ??

40mm - 168 Watt
Model CP1-12710
40mm x 40mm x 3.3mm
Operates from 0-16 volts DC and 0-10.5 amps
Operates from -60 deg C to +180 deg C
Each device is fully inspected and tested
Fitted with 6-inch insulated leads
Perimeter sealed for moisture protection
Click to expand...
 
BigBudBalls

BigBudBalls

Well-Known Member
moon47usaco

moon47usaco

Well-Known Member
Thanks for that tidbit but i dont think that gets me any closer to solving my problem... =]

I need the specs for a "Sony Vaio PCV-RZ34G" power supply... It has a part number mjpc-300a2 made by NMB... I will try to email them for the spec sheet but it is a long shot...

Or if any one could explain what all these wires do and witch one i should tap into to get the desired power and current... ??

Or how do i test wich one will give me the desired amps... The volts should be easy to test for but how do i use a multimeter to check amps... ??
 
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WalkedOnTheMoon

Active Member
dude your best bet is to find a 400w or so pc power supply and rig it to be on all the time... check out the individual specs on the 12V rail
 
moon47usaco

moon47usaco

Well-Known Member
Ya i took a 300w power supply out of a sony viao...

I have no idea what to do with all the wires thought...
 
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WalkedOnTheMoon

Active Member


short the 2 red connections shown in this picture, this will turn on the power supply.



that is how you connect the peltier to the power supply
 
A

Audone

Active Member
hey moon how did that set up work for you. I had the same idea to cool my rez of 10 gallons.

I might try putting a 2 inch vacuum hose coming up from the lid of my rez and connect that to the suction side of my lite cooling fan to see if the airflow will cool it down a bit as well.

My babies are growing ok but i think if i get the temp down to the optimal range my O2 wont be a limiting factor in growth. after that i am going to move on to co2 :blsmoke:
 
moon47usaco

moon47usaco

Well-Known Member
I am having trouble getting the block to cool the tec enough... It was hard finding a block that would cover the whole module... I found a large block but it is not as effective as i need it to be...

It did bring the temps down but not to where i wanted them to be...

I am going to build my own block this next semester... =]
 
BigBudBalls

BigBudBalls

Well-Known Member
moon47usaco said:
I am having trouble getting the block to cool the tec enough... It was hard finding a block that would cover the whole module... I found a large block but it is not as effective as i need it to be...

It did bring the temps down but not to where i wanted them to be...

I am going to build my own block this next semester... =]
Click to expand...
TECs are a bit funky. They do better at keeping a temp then lowering one.
For your block (I'm guessing the cold side), if possible use copper. Conducts heat better then aluminum.

Keep the hot side as cold as possible too. The cold side is proportional to the temp of the hot side.

For the cold plate. As smooth as possible. Use thermal conductive grease or adhesive to fill in the little surface imperfections. A little goes a long way. Too much will hinder heat transfer.

Try to have as much surface area on the cold plate (hot plate too)
Good luck.
 
havocdb

havocdb

Well-Known Member
You are using a shit ton of energy for what little cooling you are getting. tec devices are pretty cool, but they aren't well suited to this particular configuration. you can engineer a system that will work, it's just a major PIA. Over the long run, you will be better off buying an aquarium chiller. it's more reliable, and automated =/
 
moon47usaco

moon47usaco

Well-Known Member
@BigBudBalls

Copper on the clod side (the side that will go into the rez) is a big no no... It will corrode from the nutrients and will mix bad copper into the rez... =[

I plan on using titanium once the prototype is proven to work... Until then anodized alum is the best metal to use with the nutrient (cold) side...

@havocdb

water chillers are WAY to expensive... 400 bucks to do what i want is way out of the park... Plus it is more fun to design my own... =]
 
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lorenzo08

Well-Known Member
true true. you have to worry about corrosion in cars and water cooling computers too, but at least with those you can use anti-corrosion coolants. that is a nice peltior you have! I'd run it off a strong power supply, at least rated at 15 amps 12 volt. anything less and you'll burn it out.

if you only need to lower the water temperature by maybe 2 to 4 degrees, you can do some research on evaporative cooling. shower head at the top of a 4 foot pvc pipe with air blowing up it and water collecting at the bottom. works great for computers. maybe have to use a heat exchanger in a setup like that to keep your good nute water from evaporating at a few gallons a day, or tainting the water with dust. it's a very efficient system and doesn't use much power.

or.. just put a fan constantly blowing down into your res. that can help more then you think too, just not as much air surface area on the water.
 
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