How to setup a Peltier correctly

[soho]

Hey,

I recently bought a 72watt peltier. I plugged it up and I felt the thing get ice cold and then really hot... it was only plugged up for a few seconds so I see the power of the peltier.

Here is what I have...

72 watt peltier
2 pieces of foam
1 copper coldplate


What I need to know is how to setup and layer the foam, coldplate, peltier and fan so that it stays cool, collects the condensation, and doesn't catch on fire. Any helpful links are appreciated.

thanks

 

[Ulysses]

You might take a look at this or this. Also look at the info at Swiftech

 

[soho]

Thanks good look out....

Anyone else have any practical experience with peltiers?

Looking for good and bad stories about using peltiers. I am especially concerned about moisture....

Jay

 

[soho]

Dirty rotten filthy double post!!!!

 

[pm]

I've never had much of a problem with moisture. If you are running it from the 12V (12V, GND) supply, and are having a problem with condensation, consider wiring it into a 10V supply (+5V, -5V), or 7V (+12V, +5V). Be careful to check the ratings on your power supply before doing the 10V one though... most can't handle the amperage.

The single biggest problem that I've had is the case heating up too much and causing other components (memory) to fail. Peltiers put out a huge amount of heat and if your case isn't well ventilated (and often even if it is), you can watch the case temp climb well above 170F - I've seen it happen in mine.

The only other horry story with Peltiers that I've heard is fan-failure on the heatsink which ended up frying the CPU, so get some monitor program (ie. MBM) and set an alarm on the fan to warn in the event of the fan RPM dropping below a specified limit.

Good luck and have fun.

 

[CAMS]

Swiftech link (see other post) has all the info and pictures on how to seal to prevent moisture. Condensation must be prevented not collected.

You will also require a good power supply for one pelter (300watt min, 400 watt preferred) and a top quality air heat sink or better a water heat sink.

Note: if you attached a cheap heat air cooler heat sink the TEC could overwhelm it, running your CPU hotter than plain air cooling. Though it is not likely you might want to consider some type of CPU Fan failure warning/shutdown or the TEC could have a meltdown. Motherboard monitor 4.18 or a hard wired kit can do it.