What's up with peltiers?

http://www.dangerdenstore.com/home.php?cat=30
Some time ago I heard they were a lot more expensive..
Thanks

Thats just the peltier itself which is fairly inexpensive. Add in a PSU to run it, specialized waterblocks, and a watercooling loop then it gets expensive.

How much would cost a psu for it? Would it work an usual psu?
What kind of waterblocks and loop? Thanks

You would probably need a stand alone PSU for your TEC.A regular unit will do if it has a beefy 12V rail. Most people prefer a stand-alone unit like the Meanwell (there are several other options, but this is quite common). You would probably require about 15-20 A for a 200+W Pelt.

Best PSUs to use for pelts are industrial grade single rail PSUs that are adjustable between 10-20v and usually somehwere around 15A minimum.

The Meanwell S320-12 is a popular option but its $90 unless you can find one used.

delta107 said:

http://www.dangerdenstore.com/home.php?cat=30
Some time ago I heard they were a lot more expensive..
Thanks

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Well alot of people burned down their house and lost enough hardware so the hype is over.

Also the cost is not in the initial investment, its in the power bill the pelts rack up.

The water cooling and seperate psu also tacks on $200-300.

Bottom line is phase change refrigeration baised cooling is actually cheaper in the long run and the run is not that long as the power costs are going up not down and setting fire to your house is never cheap.

Pf.Farnsworth said:

Well alot of people burned down their house and lost enough hardware so the hype is over.

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who?

Well my friend for one. But I have seen quite a few posts back in the day about overheating pelts in thermal runaway taking out the proc in a rather pyro-violent way. Either way the way pelts behave in thermal runaway if overheated (for whatever reason) is not uncommon knowledge. I personaly never melted any chips but then again I kept my pelts of of them. I have done a few "fun" experiments in the garage though, and decided I will never put one in my computer. A pelt falier by FAR holds more destruction then any other cooling method.

Hmm sounds like your friend, really screwed up his pelt setup then. Thats one, any more? especially ones with pictures?

Its also interesting that while saying pelt failure holds more destructive power than any other cooling method you hold a potential bomb to be the highest standard of cooling.

I have run a pelt block on my GPU on and off for a year now and guess what the worst thing that happened was my 6800nu was coldbugged and I formed some condesation on it(BTW this was with a pelt running at 30w anything more would cold bug the card).

Pelts are only as unsafe as you make there setups to be. a pelt is basically a couple of Cu plates in a with a ceramic cover. Its only going to fail if you cook it(ie undercool it) or a lead becomes unsoldered.

Well my friend for one. But I have seen quite a few posts back in the day about overheating pelts in thermal runaway taking out the proc in a rather pyro-violent way. Either way the way pelts behave in thermal runaway if overheated (for whatever reason) is not uncommon knowledge. I personaly never melted any chips but then again I kept my pelts of of them. I have done a few "fun" experiments in the garage though, and decided I will never put one in my computer. A pelt falier by FAR holds more destruction then any other cooling method.

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Not using some type of thermal protection is a dangerous design, and that applies to more than just Peltiers. If you run a compressor without a thermal circuit breaker and it jams for long enough, expect highly catastrophic results. (And you can guess what happens when it eventually gets hot enough to melt the solder and send bullets of molten solder in an unpredictable direction, not to mention the phosgene gas that would be produced.)
Peltiers are only as dangerous as the engineer who designed the system.

He did screw up, but that’s just the point, those mistakes are costly, and people do make mistakes.

Compressor jamming is highly improbable where as an overheated pelt can happen because of many very common problems; failure of a pump, failure of the fans, leak in the loop, bad contact with block, etc. Those being rather common in comparison. Usually compressors fail rather peacefully. I don’t know why you are referring to the phosgene gas as what comes out depends on what you put in it. Also a lot of the compressors have thermal cutouts by default.

But it all comes down to what we have seen here over the years. I don’t have pictures to show you of failed pelts but I have seen people with failed pelts and ruined hardware on various boards, you can believe me or not up to you. And the bottom line is you don’t need to see any because 1) you know what happens when they overheat. And 2) you know that any of the many things I mentioned above and more can cause failure of cooling of a pelt and cause it to overheat.

On the other hand I have yet to see or hear or personally experience a jammed compressor or a compressor that failed violently. And you are somewhat right when you say pelts systems are only as good as the person that put it together, but that’s the problem. Not everyone is as good and the next guy and people make mistakes. I rather not loose my computer or my house to a mistake like this. I can make an argument and say ammonia cooling is safe if you know what you are doing but ask around people on xs that work with it for a living and see if they will recommend you play with it at home cooling your pc. Some mistakes have a very high price.

I don’t really advocate pelts should never be used. But most new people don’t really fully grasp the possible consequences so its always good to make these things clear.