Peltier cooling... anyone know about this?

[gerrymoore]

I have a largish plastic 'cool box' which relies on ice packs to keep the temperature down. I was thinking of using - Thermoelectric Peltier Refrigeration Cooling System Kit Cooler - from EBAY which is a 12 volt (but 6amp) device to cool. Wondering if I could adapt this onto the cool box to go in the car boot and keep things cool via a 12 volt supply?? Or even in the house as a 'wine cooler' in our back lounge off an 8 amp 12 volt battery charger ...save all the trips to the kitchen to top up the wine during a film!! Small fridges are so expensive and I only need this now and again....

 

[Cuthy246]

I have a largish plastic 'cool box' which relies on ice packs to keep the temperature down. I was thinking of using - Thermoelectric Peltier Refrigeration Cooling System Kit Cooler - from EBAY which is a 12 volt (but 6amp) device to cool. Wondering if I could adapt this onto the cool box to go in the car boot and keep things cool via a 12 volt supply?? Or even in the house as a 'wine cooler' in our back lounge off an 8 amp 12 volt battery charger ...save all the trips to the kitchen to top up the wine during a film!! Small fridges are so expensive and I only need this now and again....

View attachment 298433

This is pretty much how the car coolers work so no problem with using one. Just make sure that it is well sealed to the cool box

 

[hotponyshoes]

I messed about with some of those trying to make a rapid chill tank.
They work very well but, as you have noticed, draw a large amount of power.
The down-side is that all they do is shift heat from one place to another.
They work on the temperature differential so although if you give them enough power they will pull the heat out of something quickly and push it into a heatsink, once that heatsink warms up they slow down/stop and only transfer heat as fast as the heatsink can get rid of it.

Work fine in small temporary things like car fridges but I think the reason they are so often used for them is because they are reversible so it's easy to turn it into a warmer as well as a cooler.

For something used for longer (if you don't need the rapid initial cooling) like a house fridge then you may as well just fit the heatsink plus whatever you were going to use to cool the heatsink and forget the peltier.

For what you want to do then it might be ideal to stick onto a cool box for the car.
I don't know if I would want the noise of that and a 6amp power supply in the lounge whilst trying to watch a film though.
Unless you are watching Titanic again I would think a normal insulated ice bucket should keep a couple of bottles of wine cool for at least a couple of hours.

Or buy a lazy-boy recliner with the can cooler built into the armrests and stick your wine bottle in that.

If you are anywear near me I have got a few little wine fridges knocking about.
I supply vets with car coolers as well if you want a proper one!

 

[gerrymoore]

Thanks HPS ..... just a bit far from you to collect .....might just stick to the cool box and ice packs..... wine doesn't last too long anyway!!

 

[CompoSimmonite]

Just buy a 12 coolbox ? I've got two - a large one (that served as a fridge when mains item died and awaiting new to be delivered) and a small one that is around third of the size. Both work quite well but best if used together with ice packs

 

[TechnicAl]

Aldi coolbox (mobicool) 40 quid at the moment.........spot on....mine must be 10 years old and when we are in the caravan its on constantly for 2 to 4 weeks at a time.........keeps beer and wine nice and cold.....sometimes freezes it.

 

[Neilj]

I took one of the car coolers (from a Ford Galaxy) to the south of France years ago on a lads surfing holiday, it kept our beer cold despite the 30 Deg temperatures. Nothing more sophisticated than an insulated plastic box with a Peltier unit on the lid, it had an external fan to keep the heatsink as cold as possible. The more insulated the box the better. Possibly a bit overkill for around the house but certainly useful in a car if you're driving around and want things to stay cool.

 

[JMS1972]

Just don't leave it running with the engine off

 

[julianthegypsy]

Word of warning. Do not use a peltier coolbox in a car unless the engine is running. They will completely kill the battery in a couple of hours. Peltier/seebeck technology is quite fun to play with.

 

[julianthegypsy]

Just don't leave it running with the engine off

Beat me to it!

 

[Neilj]

^^^ what they said

 

[KemppiFrog]

I have one just behind my desk here. As above, works reasonably well, but a bit power hungry. Limited temp drop, but enough to keep things cool when traveling or on a camp site with mains available (it has a mains pack included) No chance on the boat, not enough spare power. The fan is noticable, so put it outside at night when kipping on the camp site.There are little compressor fridges with frugal power requirements, but more ££££.
The Kangoo has a 12v socket in the boot area already.

 

[Barking Mat]

They're ok, but a 12v compressor fridge is loads better.

I too have one in the shed you can have, but postage would be too expensive.

 

[TechnicAl]

They're ok, but a 12v compressor fridge is loads better.

I too have one in the shed you can have, but postage would be too expensive.

I had one until the pipes started leaking and nearly killed us all

 

[roofman]

Ive just bought 2 Coleman extreme cooler boxes from the Great Outdoors...The extreme range keeps cool for 3 days ime sure that would outlast a movie and wine

 

[TechnicAl]

I had one of their big ones, 12V, 240V or Gas......it was Ok until I filled it......then I couldnt pick it up.

 

[roofman]

I had one of their big ones, 12V, 240V or Gas......it was Ok until I filled it......then I couldnt pick it up.

make good benches too

 

[Kram]

TEC coolers work on differential, they really need the hot side watercooled to be worth while as air heatsinks cant shift heat quick enough. If you add a refigerated chiller into the watercooling loop you can then get silly temperatures like -60c They were used a lot, 20 years ago for computer geekery.

However I like my drinks room temperature, cant stand cold beer as pubs serve it.

 

[hotponyshoes]

TEC coolers work on differential, they really need the hot side watercooled to be worth while as air heatsinks cant shift heat quick enough. If you add a refigerated chiller into the watercooling loop you can then get silly temperatures like -60c They were used a lot, 20 years ago for computer geekery.

However I like my drinks room temperature, cant stand cold beer as pubs serve it.

When I was messing about i managed to get -20 but that was using a glycol ice slush to cool the heatsink.
Easier ways of doing it I think...

Some of the better car fridges have a cutoff so they don't kill the battery.
They will pull 10a though so they don't run for long without the engine on.
Although the better ones are normally well insulated so they keep stuff cold for hours even switched off as long as you don't open the lid too often

 

[julianthegypsy]

When I was messing about i managed to get -20 but that was using a glycol ice slush to cool the heatsink.
Easier ways of doing it I think...

Some of the better car fridges have a cutoff so they don't kill the battery.
They will pull 10a though so they don't run for long without the engine on.
Although the better ones are normally well insulated so they keep stuff cold for hours even switched off as long as you don't open the lid too often

I've mucked around with sending these into reverse. Put the hot side on a woodstove, put a water jacket on the cold side with a 3 watt pump run through a household radiator and lit the stage at a small offgrid festival. I've managed to get 2 amps at 14 volts and charged a car battery too. As I said, fun things to play with!