Got 24 volt 12 amp Power Supply, How do i work it? :)

[lonlyintelguy]

Ok i dont know if i did a bad thing but i saw a 24 volt 12 amp powersupply on ebay and was like "Ah, i could use that later when i get my water cooling peltier setup going" Its an Acopian VA24H1200M-230 which on the Acopian web site sells for about $500, i got it on ebay for $70.

well today it finally arived and i opened up the box and was like !good lord its huge! (something im sure u guys have all heard before in one way or another ) its 11x7x5, yeah im getting a 21"(H) x 16.5"(W) x 21.75"(D) sever case house it all.

Small problem though, um how do i get it to work? Im not an electrical engineer & its not like a normal powersupply where just plug into the wall and presto it works. How do i find out the watts output on this thing so that i dont overload the pelt and also where can i find monitoring equipment so i can see just how much juice is flowing through the lines to the pelt? Building a water cooling case is no big deal for me but im a total noob to electricity... which is why im begging for anyones knowledge on what and how they got working thier peltiers powersupply for a 172W DRIFT 0.8 Potted w/ Imax = 11.3 Amps, Qmax = 172 Watts
& Vmax = 24.6 Volts

Specs on the PS

Its got 7 leads labled in this order from left to right
1. out +
2. sens +
3. sens -
4. out -
5. ac L
6. ac N
7. and a funky little circle w/ a upsidedown T and 2 lines under it.

Theses are the specs:

Nominal Output Voltage 24 volts
Adjust ± V .5
Output Current Amps. at 40°C 12.0
Output Current Amps. at 55°C 10.5
Output Current Amps. at 71°C 9.0
Regulation Line* ± % .005
Regulation mv ± % .005
Ripple RMS .250

 

[Diggrr]

That's a sensing power supply, thus the extra bits to hook it up...no problem.

Out+ and - are kind of obvious...hook these to the pelt (+red) (-black). AC L&N are line and neutral, alternating (wall plug) current.

The power cord to the wall goes to these, Black (Brown) to the L (line) and the White (Blue) wire to the N (neutral). If your chosen cord does not have colored wire, the wire going to the larger of the two plug 'blades' goes to L (line), the other to N (neutral).

You can measure the output voltage on the +/- leads of the power supply using a voltmeter or multimeter, using the DC setting at the proper voltage setting.

If you can't get any voltage to read, you can connect the sens+ to the out+, and the sens- to the out-. This should make it give full power output, but only after trying the first way...some power supplies need voltage on the sensor lugs to "energize" the +/- outputs...one of mine do this, it's a way of puting an on/off circuit on it.

Be carefull touching the contacts...never do anything without unplugging it first...those amps in DC will not let you go or make you jump like AC will, you'll cook till you're done!!!!

Be safe, and enjoy!

 

[Diggrr]

Here's a quick picture I snapped of my sensing psu hookup.

The jumper wires are white with the red arrows, and the solder lugs are circled in yellow.

Hope this helps, bud!

 

[stool]

Once you determine your output, there are two screws just to the right of your hookup. The bottom one is VCourse adjust, the top is VFine adjust. You should be able to finetune your voltages from these.

 

[lonlyintelguy]

tx guys for the information

and stool you read my mind, i was just about to ask how to lower the voltage a bit because i would be right at the max delta of peltier. I checked on my power supply and i see only one screw to adjust... but i guess that will do...

Anyone know how many watts the average 24 volt 12 amp power supply puts out? Im planning on getting a 172 watt pelt from TE dist.

 

[Diggrr]

24volts X 12amps = 288watts.

I'd look at that as a high end, it's always a good idea to leave 10% of it's capacity unused, so it runs cooler/lasts longer.
One more thing, you'll have to look at the actual power consumption on the pelt (amps), I believe the watts rating on them is indicating how much heat it will move, not how much electric it takes to run it.

For instance, the DRIFT-0.8 from TE Distributing is a 172watt peltier, but uses 277.98 watts when running at full voltage of 24.6 volts.
If you ran it at say 22 volts, then the wattage would be lower as would the amperage it draws...so adjusting your power supply downward is a pretty good idea. You do have a very good power supply, so it should take that 277 easily, there's just more comfort in running it lower. (as well as less heat to remove )