- Joined
- Oct 10, 2012
- Location
- Secret lair
This is one for the TEC specialists as my TEC knowledge is rather basic 
upfront: i KNOW this can NOT be used to house/cool a PC... it just does not have the power/capacity
So, for completely different reasons i stumbled upon this Coleman cooler
http://www.coleman.com/product/40-q...ectric-cooler/3000001495?contextCategory=8570
Coleman claims this thing can drop to approx 40 °F below ambient in about 3 Hrs
This on itself is not fantastic to start with, but is acceptable to cool your beer when "on the move"
By digging deeper, i found this thing runs nominal 4 Amps at 12 volts
Given that most likely at least 1 Amps "goes to" the fan(s)... i deduce this uses a 40 Watt (or rather 36 watt) TEC
Am i right?
Now, i KNOW this cannot handle any heatload over 30 W - just like any (mini) fridge is unable to handle that... so it would definitely NOT be able to handle a +500 Watt PC ... although you CAN fit a PC inside
But the concept is sound:
Use a hermetically sealable insulated "box" , sandwich a few decent TECs between (huge) heatsinks
for example: http://www.wisefull.com/goods-158-工業系統用散熱片-01.html
put fans on both sides.. cool the box, dump the heat into the environment
But what are we looking at then?
To drop a +500 Watt heatload to (below) ambient on the cold side i suspect needing multiple TECs ... AND i'll probably have to deal with +1500 Watts to dissipate on the hot side... which probably means watercooling ... which probably means custom waterblocks (+ a MO-RA rad)
Any ideas/suggestion on the TECs? Or ideas in general?
No saying i'm going to build this... just kicking the tyres a bit
But if it can be done wihtout need too much complicated expensive custom parts, i might give it a go.
And yes, i know that A/C would be more efficient to build a cold/chill box... but that would be overkill, unless someone can point me to a small 2000 BT/U A/C unit.
UPDATE: To clarify: i dont want to run a chilled water loop; i know how to do that - basically hang a rad outside the window in winter... no, i basically want to stick the WHOLE PC into "cold storage" ... which "solves" a lot of headages with routing & condenstation.
upfront: i KNOW this can NOT be used to house/cool a PC... it just does not have the power/capacity
So, for completely different reasons i stumbled upon this Coleman cooler
http://www.coleman.com/product/40-q...ectric-cooler/3000001495?contextCategory=8570
Coleman claims this thing can drop to approx 40 °F below ambient in about 3 Hrs
This on itself is not fantastic to start with, but is acceptable to cool your beer when "on the move"
By digging deeper, i found this thing runs nominal 4 Amps at 12 volts
Given that most likely at least 1 Amps "goes to" the fan(s)... i deduce this uses a 40 Watt (or rather 36 watt) TEC
Am i right?
Now, i KNOW this cannot handle any heatload over 30 W - just like any (mini) fridge is unable to handle that... so it would definitely NOT be able to handle a +500 Watt PC ... although you CAN fit a PC inside
But the concept is sound:
Use a hermetically sealable insulated "box" , sandwich a few decent TECs between (huge) heatsinks
for example: http://www.wisefull.com/goods-158-工業系統用散熱片-01.html
put fans on both sides.. cool the box, dump the heat into the environment
But what are we looking at then?
To drop a +500 Watt heatload to (below) ambient on the cold side i suspect needing multiple TECs ... AND i'll probably have to deal with +1500 Watts to dissipate on the hot side... which probably means watercooling ... which probably means custom waterblocks (+ a MO-RA rad)
Any ideas/suggestion on the TECs? Or ideas in general?
No saying i'm going to build this... just kicking the tyres a bit
But if it can be done wihtout need too much complicated expensive custom parts, i might give it a go.
And yes, i know that A/C would be more efficient to build a cold/chill box... but that would be overkill, unless someone can point me to a small 2000 BT/U A/C unit.
UPDATE: To clarify: i dont want to run a chilled water loop; i know how to do that - basically hang a rad outside the window in winter
... no, i basically want to stick the WHOLE PC into "cold storage" ... which "solves" a lot of headages with routing & condenstation.
Last edited:
