pelt wattage

[ocean]

:eh?: How does one verify the wattage of a pelt? Just want to make sure I got what I ordered.

[Monaco]

take the pelt's voltage, and multiply it by how many amps it draws. Ad presto, there is your value in watts.

W=V*A :)

[Miss_Man]

Can try measuring its thickness as different pelts have different thickness, and compare it to specs.

[ocean]

Thanks for the replies.
The deal is, I have a pelt and I need to determin it's wattage rating . It was advertised as a 156w. 15.1 volts, and 18.5 amps.
As you can see 15.1x18.5=279! Doh! I'm missing something here.
I don't know how to get the thickness specs either.
What can I do to tell the difference between a 118w pelt and a 156 w pelt?

[Monaco]

hmm, that is pretty weird! I've never seen one that high, biggest I've seen personally is 156W. Maybe you got some kind of uber-pelt?:)

Or maybe they gave you some wrong info? The amperage rating looks pretty high to me. Where did you get this bad boy?

All pelts look the same to me, the only difference I can see is the specs on the box. I wouldn't be able to tell a 72w from a 156w by eye alone.

[ocean]

I'm thinkin' that the specs are bogus.
If I run this thing at 12v, that should be 124 watts right?
And I should be able to measure 10.3 amps no?
Idunno, When you guys order tecs, do you just take the vendor's word for it? What if I put all this crap together and it does not do what it's supposed to because I got a 118w tec instead of a 156w tec?
Or I am ignorant of the method used to describe the spec of tecs!
hehheh

[UserName]

pelts are rated accrding to there cooling capicity, not what it takes to power them. your 279 could be a 156 cause it will cool 156 but take 279 in power to do so.

are there any identifying marks on the pelt?

[ocean]

No, no marks. I just want to verify that it is 156.
The math just works out to 279
Soo.......I'm thinkin' somethings wrong with my thinkin'.

[muddocktor]

Originally posted by UserName
pelts are rated accrding to there cooling capicity, not what it takes to power them. your 279 could be a 156 cause it will cool 156 but take 279 in power to do so.

are there any identifying marks on the pelt?

It's got to be as he says. I just checked what my 120 watt pelt is supposed to do and using it's rated voltage and current(24.6v & 7.9 amps) I come up with 194 watts.

[Monaco]

I second UserName. They may have marked the pelt with it's absolute electrical values, not it's heat transfer values. Pelts are really inefficient.

The efficiency of a pelt strongly depends on your power supply, a crappy PSU will not be able to push a strong pelt very far, so it will look like you have a weak pelt when really you have a strong pelt and a weak PSU. So we kinda just take their word for it:)

[UserName]

I know theres a great pelt /TEC site by a manufacture out there.

you got to search for it

The way i guess at it is
if muddocktor ain't fooling
120/194 = .61 "cooling ratio" or efficency
156/279 = .56
118/279 = .42

i can belive .56 at bigger pelts are less efficient, but not .42

the real question is can you trust the vendor? Ask them who they get them from and go to there web site and find out how to tell

[ocean]

Monsterman,
You mean if I were to sell you a 156w pelt you would just take my word for it?
What if I snuck you a 118w pelt instead?
You put the project together and it doesn't perform as expected.
Now what?

[Monaco]

Now I'm screwed:D

seriously tho, I got a ton of crap here that would let me test it and find out exactly what it can do. But most folks don't have a good calibrated bench PSU and a good multimeter , they find out when they bake a chip

I don't personally use pelts anymore at all, they were always more trouble than it was worth for me, never could get to work perfect. Straight H20 for me:D

[UserName]

I guess i'd ask the vender how he tells them apart. He's got to know so he don't send expensive 156's to 118 order's. right?

[muddocktor]

I bought mine from a reputable vendor(dangerden) and it is a Tedist Drift 1.15 potted pelt. As far as telling 1 from another, I don't know. I don't remember seeing any markings on the pelt.

[ButcherUK]

No markings on my TEC - it's 220W, 23.8A @ 15.1V. This gives a power consumption of 359.38W at 15.1V and "cooling ratio" of 0.61.
As UserName says the 156W is the Qmax or max cooling power of the TEC. Consumpion will be higher, the only way way to check really is too hook it up, then work out a guess from that. Also 120Ws are commonly 40mm TECs whereas 156s are usually 48mm which might help.

[Colin]

Go to Danger Den (http://www.dangerden.com) or TE Distributing (http://www.tedist.com) and compare your pelts measurements with the specs. You will need some calipers to measure the thickness.

[ocean]

Soooooo,
The consenses is it seems, that there ain't no easy way!
Although doing a little more research ala Colin isn't all that hard is it?
Thanks for the help fellers, I did learn about "cooling ratio" though.
On the other hand, how hard could it be to build a calorimeter to test tecs"
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Nahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

[Monaco]

On the other hand, how hard could it be to build a calorimeter to test tecs"

LOL:)

Or you could just get a good bench PSU, that will be easier I bet:)

[ocean]

:beer: Got it!
I build the bench , get the bench PSU, buy all the other misc. crap I will need, and then and then look for an apartment 'cause the "old girl" will surely throw me out by then!
HEH HEH !

:D

Thanks Monsta Dude!

And what kind of "clippers" will I need anyway Colin?
Toenail,fingernail?
Sorry, I'm kind of punchy.
I got a Micrometer and a ruler around here somewhere.....
Just to find them........


:cool: