Another one of those TEC powering questions

[strokeside]

If I had an 80W TEC that was rated at 16.4V @ 8.5A, and fed it 17V @ 8.8A, would it be an 83W TEC? Can you over-drive TEC's to increase their max. wattage transfer?
If so, by how much do you think, assuming you have adequate heat removal for the hot side?
Or would they just melt or pop or die or something?

[fletch]

um i dont know about the exact numbers, but TECs are touchy. overpower them just a little too much and they get hot. on both sides. burn things. not good. heheh this happened to one of my friends, needless to say he stopped using that real fast ;->
try to give it the recommended power

[strokeside]

I was just wondering, in case I got 17V when I add the 12V and 5V lines together as the positive for the TEC.
Most likely will be running it at 12V.

[Fanman]

I doubt a 3 watt overpower will be a big deal, but to be on the safe side, I would do a test run without the CPU under it first. Just throw your HSF or waterblock on the TEC and power up. If it gets cold, throw it on and watch your temps like a hawk for the first while.

[zinx]

as far as voltage, for 16V danger den suggests power between 12-16, no less, no more. As far as amps, the pelt will only pull what it needs, if it says it's an 8 amp pelt then it will only use 8 amps, even if you can supply 10 amps. There are some weird things about pelts. I think if they run the best at 75% of compacity for 16.4*.75=12.3, but if you can vary your volts then try different levels and see which works the best.