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Petlier cells

Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2012 7:20 pm
by rhooie
I follow your videos on youtube and have just finished a solar garden light to make a battery charger. But what I wanted to ask was about Petlier cells. I came across a small refrig that used a petlier cell to cool it. It didn't work and I determined the circuit board was bad as I needed 12 volts and only had 1.3. So I stripped it for parts and believe everything is good except one fan.

Then this morning I was watching TV and saw a group of students that had what I thought as a great idea. They made what is similar to a solar oven and mounted the petlier with heat sink in the middle. The oven then floated on water. So they achieved the heat on one side through the solar oven and cooled the other side with water by having it float. So I was thinking of trying this. I don't have a lake or pond, so I would have to use a wading pool. I might have to supplement cooling by running the water through a radiator with a small 12 volt pump.
$6.99 on ebay
TEC1-12706 Thermoelectric Cooler Peltier 12V 60W
Model number: TEC1-12706
Voltage : 12V
Umax (V) : 15.4V
Imax (A) : 6A
QMax (W) : 92W
This at max power would put out 92 watt theoretically, if you can maintain the needed temperature differential. This would be a lot cheaper than a solar PV panel. I would run it through a normal charge controller to maintain voltage. Do you know anything about these petlier cells?

Re: Petlier cells

Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 10:09 am
by techman
That sounds like an interesting idea. I do know that Peltier elements can produce power. Apply heat to one side and heatsink the other side and you should see a potential difference (voltage).

I would certainly try it first by holding the Peltier near a candle (not too close so you dont get soot on it). Put a volt meter on the leads and see if you get any output. If that works, then move on to building your large scale project.

A large pond or lake would be best. If you use a wading pond make sure it is not influenced by the weather.

Please let me know the results.

Re: Petlier cells

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2013 6:39 pm
by Solar98632
You may not be aware of this but , NASA's Rover uses something similar to this in its mini nuclear fusion engine running that thing.

The Nuclear rods heat the surroundings, they didn't go in to great detail, but they have used the design of the Peltiers to drive the unit. This is relatively a new field.

What is cool is that they can produce extreme cold, or extreme heat.
It depends what side you want to use.

getting power from them can be tricky and one might want to think of "Boost Circuits" like those in a solar lamp.
They are relatively cheap to. One can also build Air conditioners, Heaters, beverage warmer, beverage cooler, and a great deal of other things. Some have benn brave enough to even chill there CPUs with these things...erg...

Re: Petlier cells

Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 10:32 am
by techman
I made the world's first patented water cooling system for computers long ago. Sadly I did not have the money to fight the patent wars and sue the companies who copied the idea and mass produced them.

I used Peltier elements to super cool a Pentium 75 and run it over clocked to 120. That was unheard of in those days. Was exciting. I had a faster processor than was on the market at that time.

Never tried to get power from one, but may try it soon.

Re: Petlier cells

Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2013 10:56 am
by mr bugsier5
if you instal one of these 12 volt cels on your barrelstove (on the side to inprove the flow of cold air on the heatsink), it.s possible to charge the bat's with 4 to 5 amps or so via a regulator (solar), do not overheat them!, aply heat on one side , and cold air to the other , and it wil work using the heat of the stove , it's silent and works nice! (the sell sets already made for this purpose on internet somwhere!)
use a few off them with a mppt controller to increase rendement. ;)

Re: Petlier cells

Posted: Wed Nov 06, 2013 12:30 pm
by techman
How much did yours cost?

The ones I have seen are very expensive.

Since my wood stove is burning nearly 24/7 now it would be a good choice to have free energy constantly.

Re: Petlier cells

Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2013 7:53 am
by mr bugsier5
techman wrote:How much did yours cost?

The ones I have seen are very expensive.

Since my wood stove is burning nearly 24/7 now it would be a good choice to have free energy constantly.
it didnt cost me a dime, :mrgreen: i scavanged it out of an old beer cooler , the sell them here in holland as a home beertap :P , a smal cooler to put a 5 litre beer can in it (pressurized) it had a nice big 15x15cm element in it,cooling element already connected , i placed it on my oilstove just as a test and it worked nice , for as far as y rememered was around 1or 2 amps at 12 volt.never used it after that, but in your situation every amp you can scavenge is better than nothing!, and just as solar, its quiet! :roll:

the more i watch your videos the more id like to tinker again with this stuff! :D

grts Richard

Re: Petlier cells

Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 10:09 pm
by techman
I have been thinking about buying one of those coolers at a garage sale to scrap out for the parts.

True, you only get about an amp max if you have a good setup. But again yes I can use every bit I can get now.

Re: Petlier cells

Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 8:23 am
by mr bugsier5
techman wrote:I have been thinking about buying one of those coolers at a garage sale to scrap out for the parts.

True, you only get about an amp max if you have a good setup. But again yes I can use every bit I can get now.
.

send you a pm ;)

, tho's peltier elements work fine, some boxes have even bigger elements in it!

new ones here in europe will go for about 7 euros, but there are a lot of these things on the scrapheap, scavenge wat you can! (maby even one in the forest store near the camper who knows!

grts Richard

Re: Petlier cells

Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 1:20 pm
by techman
Sadly none of those out in the forest mall but I keep watching at garage sales for cheap ones. The new compressorless fridges have them inside too.