Mini DIY Peltier/TEC Fridge Prototype - Learn From My Mistakes 

Great vid ,thanks. I've been very interested in these Peltier devices for some time,but now,with this video ,I feel I can proceed with using them in a couppla projects I have in mind. BTW, I respect the way you answer all the posters' questions with such patience and helpful advice;. ....yes, I guess I'm trying to say it's great how you keep your cool ;). Doh.

I had this idea but I never did it... I was really happy to see that someone else did it! Well done my friend!

This isn't a waste of time. You approached it scientifically, made proper measurements and headed towards a working model building on your experience. And best of all you saved us from having to go through the build to get the results. 8^) Thank you. I've just ordered 5 X 60 watt Peltier Effect devices and am waiting for them to arrive so i can have a play too. Bottom line for these is that the efficiency is dreadfully low so it has limited applications. I might sit my beer on one to keep it cold or some other novelty use.

Great video! Thank you

I have a insulated 3 cu foot insulated foam cooler and I am running the slightly smaller cold sinks with 60mm fans and I can't seem to get it down to 60. I am getting a 4 degree difference at best. I am not sure if I need a bigger cold sink, or stronger fan. I am getting a HUGE amount of condensation which completely sucks out the energy.

Thnx a lot mate u helped me complete my project.......

Watching this has given me a grate idea ! I'm going to build one of these except mine will have a tin or a aluminium box interior inside, with tin or aluminium shelves and I will not use any fan's on the inside, the hole interior will be the heat sink, witch will pull the heat out of the metal interior. I will then cover the tin or aluminium box exterior with this R-rated insulation that " Mr Tpengineer " has mentioned then I will cover that with a nice wooden cover, stained with some nice mahogany stainer with some thin rubber strip around the door's skirt with some of that R-rated insulation on the interior of the door and using that Ocky strap to keep the door closed I think this will work best. Thank you for posting this " LD Sreliance " I would never have thought to use those computer CPU's heatsinks like this .

Thanks for the video, GBYAY

sir have you build a hybrid air conditioner and heater using peltier module? I want to put a temperature controller for this.I'm a graduating student of electrical engineering here in the Philippines,pls reply thanks

The problem isn't necessarily your insulation. It's just how peltiers work. They have a rated delta T. (temperature difference) They can only go so far below ambient. Most can go 30-40 below ambient with really good insulation and proper current. (some don't pull their rated current so you have to bump voltage up to get the right current draw, assuming you have sufficient cooling on the hot side) One way to overcome the weak delta T: use a cascade. Use two peltiers to cool the hot side of your first peltier. Lets say your peltiers have a delta T of 20 degrees, and it's 70 degrees in your garage. One peltier will only get your box down to 50 degrees. But if you add a block of aluminum on the hot side that's large enough to fit two more peltiers on the other side, you can use two peltiers to cool that side down to 50 degrees (20 cooler than ambient), so now the cold side of the first peltier can get 20 degrees colder than that, which would be 30 degrees. You might ask why you'd need two peltiers on the hot side. That's due to how inefficient peltiers are for cooling (they're better at heating). One wouldn't be enough and you'd barely gain anything. You might even lose efficiency stacking 2 peltiers. But if you have two to cool the hot side of one, you can get pretty good temp different over ambient. Prepare to dump tons of power into the thing, but it's doable. Best power source is a computer power supply. To turn a computer power supply on, you short the green wire and any black wire together. (just hook any black wire to to a toggle switch, along with the green wire, and that will switch the power supply on and off) Then use any black wire as negative and any yellow wire for 12v. Those computer power supplies can usually do anywhere from 20 to 100 amps on the 12 v rail. Plenty for what you're doing. Definitely way less efficient over just getting a normal mini-fridge with a compressor and refridgerant, but there are benefits (no moving parts, can tip it over without any problems, etc). Also, just as a neat fact, laboratories use cascaded refridgerators to get well below zero in test chambers. They use refridgerant style cooling instead of peltiers but it's the same principal.

I'm trying to build a bag which can be heated in one section and cooled in a separate one. Do you think a peltier device would be suitable?

heyy i liked your video and i appreciate the way you reply to all the questions, i am currently working on water condensation using thermo-electric coolers to produce fresh water, the TECs would be powered using solar PV panels, could you advise me on how feasible would it be to do so, as both PV panels and TECs have low efficiency. also if you performed calculations before choosing your peltier device could you tell me how did you initially determine your required "Q" value?

Im still working on a similar setup. Maybe you can help me out. I have 2 Peltiers at 6 amps a piece. On one of the small Styrofoam coolers(26 cans +ice) about hal the volume of yours. They are set up perfectly, sealed with metal tape, with no gaps. My problem is they will only drop the temperature about 22-25 degrees F. Ive read that they are intended to drop the temp by 40 degrees. They each have a hot and cold fan, high performance thermal paste on both sides, and i run a blower at the fins just to help remove heat, and i still only get about 25 degrees drop. I need to get close to the 35-40 degree point. Do you have any suggestions?

I'm glad I found your video and you shared your experiences. Plan to do something similar,but put a coleman cooler fan unit into an 1920's ice box refrigerator. I'm thinking I need at least three units... what is the temperature Data logger called. Would like to get one. Thanks

How did you decide or design the thickness of the plywood (wood ) as a insulated Material

What camera do you use?

what temperature did you reach?

Hi, I'm trying to do something very similar and have built a cooling device using exactly the same parts. I'm trying to connect the fans directly to a power supply (12V) but can't get the wiring properly to make them work. I thought I could only connect the yellow and black to the power supply and ignore the blue and green, but this is not working with this CPU cooler. Any advice? Thanks!

what is the "ton of refrigeration" of a multistage peltier module??

very nice vid, thanks

I would like to enclose the bottom of my us general tool cart,insulate it and turn it into a "fridge ". This video is one step of my "research ". Thanks.

with a more sustainable power supply how cold were you able to get it?

I made my own fridge consisting of polystyrene sheets, duct tape, nails, rubber bands, paperclips, and an old towel. The dimensions are 15.5" x 13.5" x 15". To cool it I'm using a 12705 40mm 42.5W peltier that I removed from an old wine refrigerator, the existing heat sinks from the fridge and I'm powering the peltier and my own fans using a modded computer PSU. Specifically the +12V rail. After some testing and a few modifications I achieved a maximum low temperature of 6.9°C(44.42°F). Not bad for a box made out of foam sheets and duct tape. I found that putting cans of soda in it and coming back the next day chills them perfectly.

hello, how much time can you run the refrig with those lead batterys .using 4 batterys in parallel.sorry for my english, god job!!! from Argentina.

I would try to turn off the cold side fans after the fridge reached 60°F. I think the cold side fans are dissipating a few watts of heat that demands all of your TECs cooling performance at 60°F.

Should've put the peltier units on top. since cold air sinks and hit air rises, the unit would be colder inside. Do like the pros do on high-end fridges; where the compressor assembly is on top.

Just checking to make sure anybody and everybody realizes that these are heat pumps, So If you are feeling a Very high temperature of around 98-110 degrees Fahrenheit, you need to either decrease the power consumption to the most efficient point of the peltier, or get a bigger heatsink, or both. If you not run the peltier at the voltage that it is rating for, It will still be very inefficient, but not quite as bad as how much power that your wasting now. If you reduce the voltage lower than what you are using now, less current, less wasted heat which means Hot side stays cooler by about 7 degrees or so which means cold side gets colder. A more powerful computer fan will help as well. Hope this helps and please keep posting videos about this. :D

I'm making a similar refrigerator for my school project but I'm also planning to use the hot air to make a heating chamber. Can you let me know if its possible and approximately till what temperature will the heating chamber reach with two similar Peltier modules used by you?

Which battery do u used here

were you able to fine tune the system to where the temp will stabilize? If you did, what Peltier device capacity would you recommend to maintain a constant temp around 55F for a 2 1/2 cubic inches box?

where did you bought those fans? Thanks

Great video, love it. I'm using my mom's broken bread baking machine as a case. I see you're using foam board, like I do. Would it be better to have aluminum foil on the inside? My foam board doesn't, but I don't know if that would help as isolation.

an array with low amp peltiers is actually a very good idea. Think permeating heat as it is a sponge. Evolving this idea and you can use a sponge like cooler like a radiator pumping a liquid in it to get a better cooling surface to the air.

are you going to make another video on this test?

On the wiring harness there are 4 colored wires which ones are the ones that power the alpine fans

I think its time the US joined the rest of the world and get to using the metric system. Great build btw. Recently fixed my water cooler and was planing on doing a mod to create a working fridge in the bottom storage compartment.

Could of used a old mini fridge shell vs building something out of the wood, plus it's already insulated? Also could you hook this up to a computer power supply to plug it into 120V outlet? Just some thoughts LoL 🤔🙂 Thank You very much & have a wonderful day!! All the best, Ron.

Hello I need your help, I want to construct a fridge cooler similar to yours just that mine would be larger 90cmx51cmx56cm( enclosure) . how many of your peltiers will be needed to cool it to 20-25 degree Celsius? please reply thankyou!

how many times require to cool 1lit bottle 5degree centrigred?

Respected sir. I want to make a air conditioner using peltier unit . i buied TEC1-12705 unit. i want to make it hybrid like it can work as cooler in summer and heater in winter .sir plz help.? looking for ur reply.

My question is will the heat side burn the wood? Or should I put some kind of barrier between the wood and the hot heat sink?

Hi may I know what is the power consumption of your pletier?

Hi, thanks for sharing; You can put whatever low efficiency fan on the hot side, but not on the cold side. Because you are adding heat load into the space you wanted to cool. Say 12V X 0.4A X 1.2 factor = 5.76 watts of continuous heat load per fan is added into the space. (Refer to ASHRAE under Heatload motor and fan inside airstream) (Basing on ambient of 33 deg.C, for example) Based on your construction and applying quick rule of thumb, approximately 15w/m2 of construction + initial heat sinking, I would say 10W of ambient heat load added into space. So, 5.76 X 2 nos + 10W = 21.52 watts / 0.1 (eff. of peltier) = 215.2 watts of peltier cooling (at required delta T wanted) is needed. if outside is 33 deg.C and you want inside 15 deg.C inside, delta = 18 deg.C, basing on the peltier 12710, you would need 215.2/60 = 4 devices. Use 5 devices running at 10A continuously for faster cooling effect and quick measurable results. one video showed the peltier freezed in a very short time, that's because he didn't put a fan on the cold side and very small area. (Peltier freezing water in 3 sec! (-21'C)) Suggestion: you don't need so many fans on the cool side, that's too much air flow, would you try putting 5 peltier, with 5 fans on hot side and only 1 fan on cool side. I think that would produce quick measurable results for you. Good Luck and thanks for sharing.

cool video man, i did some too on my page, definitly screwed up the first time. youll see why .

If you run it at lower power the heat needed to be dissipated is lower and in turn allows the TEC to keep producing cool air longer., When you apply the MAX or to much power, the difference between the hot side and the cool side begins to get closer to each other and negate some of the cooling effects, unless you end up using a larger heat dissipating system, and by the time you do that it gets expensive.

Hello LDS, great video by the way. I notice that on you most are using air to cool the peltier. Why not use water? Split the device down the middle to have separate water chambers. The cold side the water can be pumped through tubes to cool the fridge and also some of the pipe could also be used to remove the heat from the other water chamber. Only one power supply, sealed system, water is better at removing heat. Could this work?

Nice project, what about security? if short circuit can get fire when nobody is at home or near , that is another point to solve too.

Hey I've been working on my own prototype of a cooling device like yours. My only issue is getting the wiring right and I was hoping you could either make a video or reply with steps on how to wire it correctly. I'm using your same products. Thanks!

hey i have a question what is the price of TE used between fans and the price of each???? if anyone knows please tell me ????

Cool! no pnun her. Thid metod could be good to repurpsr an existing old unit as a shell.

question for ya, for 5 tecs, what cfm would you recommend for the cold side?

link for previous video to build the module

i Use a insulatet Box. And I have reached a temperature of 4 C° (39,2 F°)

nice idea if you want to do it right you need some insulation and some plastic inside insulation in plastic is cheap can't you install that later

Can you show how to connect up the wiring for the heatsink fan and thermoelectric device?

in my scenario, I am unable to get less than 17 degree C (outside temp is 29 to 34 degree C). i used an amazon box an used the thermocol to wrap that up . used 2 layers of it to prevent the air leakage. Please suggest me where is the issue peltier used: TEC 12706power system used: 500 watt smps (able to give 11.23volt to 11.00volt max dc after the peltier is on)box size : 1 feet x 1.5 feet, cooler used: Cooler Master Hyper 103 Essential CPU Air cooler

Anyone tried putting a wet sponge on the hot end? It should lower ambient temperature with good air flow. Thinking for regular cool box if any one wants to experiment I’d be interested in the results

hi lds, koudos on your experimenting , i have a couple suggestions that have worked in real world lab equip. for many years that you might not be aware of. 1. lithium grease for contact between the module and the fins is the best for heat transfer. aluminum fins are ok for a computer cpu but you need copper, easy enough to make with copper flashing, just make a rectangle flat base and make u shaped fins attached with soldier easier than it sounds and lastly the one thing most dont think of is a cascade ..using lower wattage.. stack the modules to suck the heat out. i would want modules with the largest footprint and lowest amp draw... good will intended and wish you luck

love the videos, thanks for sharing ...can i suggest one thing i don't know if anyone else mentioned... cold air sinks, right? so put the chillers in the door and set it on it's back so it becomes like a chest freezer/fridge and you don't lose all your cold air when the door opens... all the cold stays in the chest when you lift the lid :) make it a coffin type deal LOL cold as death :)

lol. Very true. I wish you luck. This is theoretically possible, its just plain difficult.

How can you close this box without letting cool temperature come out?

suggestion. Instead of a box, if you used a tetrahedron, a pyramid, or a dome, the torsion currents would help it retain the cold. The problem with a box is heat rises to the top, and cold sinks. And so you have an uneven temperature depending on the location of an item in the box. But use a dome, and there are natural torsion currents that form, spinning the cold all around it.

we specilized in cooling fan,peltier module Wish to build a cooperation with u

I have a question. Why not use a Styrofoam ? The box must still be insulated .

Very nice. I'm planning to install a Peltier cooler in my SUV and that's how I found your video. I think what inspectyerbooty said about the sinking cold air.will be quite useful. I think I should make holes on the board inside the cooler. It may lead to more uniform heat transfer inside. And also less mass inside the cooler means less heat inside the cooler. It may not be very significant but I guess every little bit can be helpful. Do you think it will be harmful to the battery if I install it in a car? Thanks for sharing the video.

what is the minimum temperature it reached

Much easier to get a broken fridge, take out the compressor an' all, and cut a hole for the cold heat sink. Looks a lot better too! Also cascade Peltier elements to get a better delta T.

Use an ice chest Igloo to perfect your design. Throw a cryosterling sealed cylinder in it has well! Novartis

Watching the Peltier videos I haven't found anybody yet who tried to optimize these things. There is a very close relationship between applied voltage, the internal characteristics of the module and heat removal. If you're off that number, it works even less efficiently. When I was developing an individual drinks cooler I computed that, with the module that I had, I had to put an 8 ohm resistor in series with the cooler. Despite the fact that power was being wasted by the resistor, I got much better cooling. Obviously that was a "fix" - you don't want to have to put in a resistor, which means that you have to have a power supply that exactly matches your cooler's requirements or a cooler exactly matching the power supply. The rating on the cooler package means nothing, however. Mine said 12 volts, but the optimum voltage was just under ten.

You need to insulate the bottom of the cooler. If you sat your cooler on top of a board of the insulation it will hold the cold air longer. Peace

Hello I am building a peltier device to cool a dog cage and it is my thesis .. I can't qute figure why my peltier doesn't cool as much has yours

Where can i buy the Heatsink fan and thermoelectric device that can ship to Singapore?

The knots on your first plank looks like 2 owl faces and the the other knots in the 2nd plank looked like ET.Thanks for the info, will try it.

where are your DC fuses?

My knowledge of electricity is somewhat limited, so I may be wrong. I had just watched this you-tube clip called: Solar Powered Fridge Freezer! - 30w off grid refrigeration -Freezer holds gallon jugs! (ice blocks!) by desertsun02 before I watched yours. If desertsun02 is misleading us can you help me understand where? I am planning on setting up a van for traveling and need to know more about running a fridge on solar and if it's possible or not. He does say that you need a big inverter to get it started, but once it's started it should only take 30 watts per hour. Is he wrong?

It will be colder if you put wholes in the shelf

have you had any follow up success since this project was first started? :)

Esta rre cheto

hello I am Brazilian and I wonder how many centimeters has wide box

I will make a peltier fridge but I don't have foam but I think aluminum tape will do fine

What wires are what on fan i have the same ones

plug it into the wall?

You need to insulate the two heat sinks from each other where the TEM is not. You do not want any heat transfer from one to the other. This is where you have your greatest temperature difference. Heat rises so you want to try and design hot heat sink side up so heat will flow away from cold. Check temperature of hot heat sink you want that as close to ambient temperature as possible. Make sure no heat from hot heat sink is blowing on to your frig. Inside the box you are trying to warm that cold heat sink to ambient temperature of the interior. You may want to play with fan direction also. Keep trying remember HP started in a garage.

I don't see why this would save money in the refrigerator sense? I guess this would use 120 watts if he had two 10A units (which is pretty low). How much power does a air compressor consume? Then you have to add a circuit for temp a cut off sensor? Seems like a lot, plus it didn't preform that well, assuming these arn't 100% efficient so that 120watt estimate will probably go up if he needs a 3rd unit. Would be cool to put a few lower power ones on my cars factory inter cooler (larger coolers cause more lag) and heat sinks on the hot side without fans (since driving will blow air through them). But that would probably be a waste of time and a headache trying to wire it to a battery and what not.

i can't follow ur video sir, it's jumping

those pieces of wood look like alien eyes.

it would actually be better to have passive heatsinks on the cool side and just massive heatsinks + fans on the hot side.

Please make a video building a peltier frig. using a 15-amp to 30-amp peltier instead of using a 6-amp or 10-amp peltier device. Thank you. Please watch RU-vid video titled: DIY Solar DC Direct without battery !!! The 3 common methods. / Video Channel Name: Solarduino, and share your thoughts about which of the 3 common methods could be used for solar powering a peltier frig without a battery or solar charge controller. Thank you.

In case no one else has said it, 11.2v is pretty much dead flat, if you leave a battery at that voltage for long, you'll seriously damage or kill it. modernsurvivalblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/battery-state-of-charge.jpg 11.51v is 10% from dead flat. 12.1v is 50% depth of discharge (DOD) which is pretty much the maximum you ever want to take a lead acid to if you want it to last, even at that, if it's done regularly, you'll lose about 25% of it's estimate life. also of note, is temperature batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_heat_and_harsh_loading_reduces_battery_life "As a guideline, each 8°C (15°F) raise in temperature cuts the life of a sealed lead acid battery in half. A VRLA battery for stationary applications that will last 10 years at 25°C (77°F) would only live five years if operated at 33°C (92°F). The same battery would cease after 2½ years if kept at a constant desert temperature of 41°C (106°F). Once the battery is damaged by heat, the capacity cannot be restored."

Very creative, but unless you need to run your "ice box" upside down or on it's side (that you can't do with a compressor fridge) why waste your time building a box that draws 240 watts continuous when you can buy a mini fridge that actually makes ice using only 30 watts average. Save yourself 210 watts of energy x 24 hours or 5 KW per day

gan gou gupercool?

this is not mine . just a example www.ebay.com/itm/Thermoelectric-Cooler-Cooling-Peltier-Module-30W-White-/171174356836?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27dac96764

pel-tee-ay

A pwm should save some power

News about it?

Fala português

The answer in this application is to keep the efficiency high, and i wouldnt recommend running the peltier units at their full rated voltage.

why didnt you just buy an actual cooler from the store and modify it to hold the heatsinks & Peltier module?

blah blah blah, just get a willow esky (size of your choice) ,, and cut out a hole in the lid and stick the peltier module (heatsink) in the measured hole. :) but enjoyed your video nontheless......you gave me some ideas, thankyou!

Why not just put spacers and use nails on one side to act as a hinge...