TECs sure can be fun!

[Rhith]

Since I have a stack of TEC's sitting around I was tempted to do that! I would just use my computer PSU and run each one at 11-12V.

 

[danielbriggs]

Great Rhith!

Post your results!
But watch your voltage rails on the PSU, there is usually a sticker that says how many amps it can dish out for each rail. Should be fine though unless you have a few 100 Watters!

I like putting a drop of water on one, freezing it within 5 secs, reversing the polarity, then boiling it off!  ;D

 

[a_pyro_is]

As was said above, it's important to limit current and temperature, not just voltage to a TEC in order to not cook it.

 

[disma]

Ever tried actually getting out of a computer supply what it says on the side? good luck! these things suck! I had one I was trieng to run my 17 watt diode with and it said on the side "5v at 35 amps!" YA RIGHT! It couldnt do 9 amps without smoking! LOL! ;D
I dont know how they come up with the ratings on these things, but they arent even close to what they can actually do. It would be very cool to make dry ice though!

Max

 

[danielbriggs]

If you have a decent PSU, like an Tagen, it should be as stable as anything. Then again, who in their right mind would use a £80+ decent PSU for messing with TEC's!

 

[disma]

hmm, well, I have tried 3 diff ones to run that diode, all three maxed out at 9 amps! one actually ran for 4 sec before smoke came out the fan vents! ;D ;D The rating must be for instantaneous surge or something, eather way, I never got close to the 27 amps I needed.

Max

 

[charleytown55il]

if they require 12 volts, just use a car battery. they can dish out a few hundred amps with ease.

 

[danielbriggs]

Sounds about right, I'm guessing for a 350Watt PSU.

But 27 * 12 = 324 Watts

And there is no way you'll get that out of a PC PSU <700Watts min! unless you go fix something up a with a dual rail psu.

In case you didn't know, the final wattage sticker they slap on is an addition of all the max wattages from each of the voltage rails. Eg. (20A x 5V) + (10A x 12V) + etc. etc. = 400Watt PSU.


Also, why would you need 27 amps @ 12V for a 17 watt diode???  :-?

 

[disma]

I was trieng to achieve 27 amps at less than 2v. I decided to start with trieng for 8.9 amps since I had a nice big resistor!10watt .56 ohms. the psu was labeled as bieng able to deliver 35 amps, at 5v and smoked at 8.9 amps! the psu was labled as 450 watt! lol! not EVEN able to deliver 9 amps?! ;D ;D ;D I had a .56 ohm resistor in the 5v line, I used all the +5v wires togather, checked them with vmm, so as not to strain one output. as soon as I swtched in the resistor, (4 sec on the last one) it started to overheat.

this is:
.56 ohms load,
5.0~ volts supply, 44.64286 watts!
8.92857 amps were expected from this... which it almost got to.


anyway, my point was that trieng to get whats labeled on these is imposible.

Max

 

[Rhith]

 

[Gazoo]

I would say the pic is self explanatory..lol

 

[Rhith]

no water was added either! that was just condensation freezing

 

[Rhith]

Penny, meet your maker!

 

[danielbriggs]

Lol!!!

Has anyone got a phase change cooler? I mean the old Prometeia or Vapochill ones?
These compressors were made to cool CPU's to well below -30 deg C

They made 4-5GHz overclocks possible!!!

I wonder how may mW's we could squeeze out of a diode at -30?!?!? ;D ;D ;D

 

[MarioMaster]

lol i mess with them as a hobby, rhith has already seen this so i'm hoping this won't be a total threadjack