Help!! I think my peltier died!!!

[Nutcase99]

First off here is what happened, the moxel connector that connects to the power supply well it got all brown and the wire leading to the peltier was also brown I think that it fried the moxel connector (dont ask me how). Well is the peltier dead as well? Why do you guys think this happened? If you want I can post pics of what happened.

Here is what I have tried so far I went out and bought a new moxel connector and soldered it to the wires coming off the peltier well I pluged the rig back in and nothing... the cpu starts overheating and I wasn't overclocking the chip either. I am running a Celeron II 566mhz (normally at 850mhz), an Abit BM6 motherboard, Ummmmm if you guys need to know anyhting else I can tell you. Oh yeah the Power supply is a 250watt power supply do you think that would fry the moxel connector? I mean I dont think it would because if anything was going to die with overload it wouldnt be the connector it would be the power supply itself.

 

[Viperoni]

Because the power supply couldn't give enough VOLTAGE, it sent too many AMPS down the line and that's what fried your molex connector/pelt

 

[dkozloski]

Viperoni, I suggest that you get a book on basic electricity and do a little reading on Ohm's law.

 

[pm]

Peltier's are fairly bomb-proof. They are hard to kill and tend to last a long time. I have no idea what happened, but it looks like you pulled too many amps through the wire and the wire got too hot. What's the rated voltage on the Peltiers (17V? 12V? 9V?) and what power supply wires were you running to it (12V and 0V? 7V and -5V?)? How long did you have this system set up with the Peltier?

Did you watch out for condensation? It is possible that condensation caused ice build up and then when you shut the computer off, the ice melted and then you turned the computer on and the standing water caused a short circuit through the Peltier. Are the hard disks and CDROM's still working?

Viperoni, DK's got a point. A lower voltage from the power supply would not lead to higher current.

 

[Nutcase99]

PM: I might have been pulling too many amps but the Peltier is 1 year old why would it die now? And just the molex connector? I don't know what power supply wires were running to it whatever came with my peltier is what I was running. I bought the rig its an Alpha, A peltier, and a fan all ready to go. I had the system up for a LONG time before it started locking up and I opened the system to see what is wrong well guess what the molex connector was dead.

I figured out that the peltier is fine and I have it running again but why would the molex connector die! That's what is confusing me.


I did watch out for condesnation and there wasn't any. Plus condensation would be below the chip or on the processor itself and there isnt any. The molex connector is a ways away from the peltier itself. The HD's and CDrom and everything is working fine I am on that computer now. Do you guys think I need to upgrade the power supply? Right now its a 250watt but I have alot running off it. I have 2hds, a burner, a cdrom, a hd cooler, soundcard, TNT2, peltier, fan, an extra case fan, ATA100 hard drive controller card, a modem, an ethernet card, thats all I can think of right now.

 

[pm]

<shrug> I personally have no idea. It seems strange. Aside from my condensation idea - which wasn't too bad a hypothesis in my opinion - it's that at one point you maxed out your 12V connection on your power supply (through a combination of running everything at once - HD's, CD's, etc) and this caused a voltage spike on your power supply which didn't hurt anything else, but increased the amperage on your Peltier to the point that your wires started burning. Which seems unlikely, but it's possible.

Still, it sounds like no harm done...

If you really want to track this down, open up the case, find all the components on the 12V supply line (should be the Peltier, systems fans, CDROM and HD's and possibly the motherboard), add up all the max current that they need (should on the devices) and then compare it to the rated max current of the power supply on the 12V rail. This should be listed on the PS. If you even start to get close to the number (<10% difference) or exceed it at all, then replace the PS with a 300W or 350W. If not, then I'm out of ideas.