I've just bought a peltier module to fit inside my ( next to useless) built in cool box. I know they use a lot of juice and will only have it switched on when the engine is running or hooked up but have a couple if questions if any one has used one... I aim to put a digital controller/ thermostat external somewhere to the cooler , to switch it on/off and they and reduce the amount of time it's running , I could do with a recommendation if anyone has used one or I'll just take pot luck with the ones on eBay ( loads of them) Also, is it OK to switch the peltier and fans off at the same time or should it be staged to keep the fans on till everything's cooled down? I'm guessing the cooler heat sink does the cooling down when all power is shut off at once? I've just had it rigged up on a bench with a 7.0ah battery and its amazing how cold it got, ice on the heat sink within two minutes in a warm shed!
My very simple experience is using a peltier to build a stove top fan a few years ago. There's a lot of heat involved in a multifuel stove so I bought one from fleabay from the seller in USA/Canada who claimed to be a direct competitor to the market leader, Coframo. It
The one I bought was a cheap Chinese job £10 and to be honest if any of the components fail they'd be pennies to replace individually. I'm going to install the module first to make sure it does what I expect it to before sorting out the control side of things..
You will not need a thermostat unless the insulation of the coolbox is amazing. It will just eat battery unless you can isolate hot side from cold side and fit a massive heatsink both inside and outside the box. Typically peltier modules manage a drop of 20 degrees C. It outside is hottter than 25 degrees C on the external heatsink the module cant cope with being a fridge.
The unit I've bought does have a massive heat sink on the the warm side, a smaller one on the cold side , I'll chuck it in the cool box 'as is' and see what it does initially
Got it fitted tonight, no control, just fuse in - fuse out for now, need to put a grill over the fan to protect it but...it works, very quiet in operation and cooled the box down noticeably after 10 minutes .. Sods law I can't find my multi meter temperature probe to get a temperature ... Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk
I seem to remember looking at using these years ago in a PC build. Don't they suck a huge amount of power? In fact I think most of the thermo electric coolboxes run this kind of system Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
Yup these are what cools the normal electric cool boxes and the same units in reverse for stove top fans. I have recently found that they are popular in hotel fridges as well. Hilton put the fridges in a cupboard with no vent. End result is a very hot cupboard and the contents of the fridge around room temperature. Make sure it is well ventilated for it to work effectively! Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk Edited for correction.: Just investigated the hotel fridge some more and it appears to be an absorption fridge. Still useless given the lack of ventilation around it I need to get out more....
It's exactly what the Coolboxes use and yes they have a large power draw. I have often wondered how much better they would be linked to a thermostat and mounted in a decent insulated box.
Apparently its around 5 amps, I might just test it tomorrow, its not a problem as I only intend to use it when the leisure battery is on charge. Its cost me just over a tenner to stick it in the already fitted cool box.. No brainer really , it will only be used for keeping the odd beer or milk cold on shorter trips.
It draws in air from under the bed...which does mean it will be next to useless when the propex is on
I think you should guess from my lack of updates Not great to be honest , it cooled the box down but that was on a relatively cool day , I doubt it would stop milk from turning into lumps on a warm day...so I'm ripping the cool box out and turning it into a basic cupboard.. I'm not saying a better peltier or better insulated cool box would work though
