The cost to make the cooling unit is about $50. The system is based on thermal electric cooling. The chip is called a peltier cooler. When you energize the chip with 12 volts one side of the chip will get hot the other side will get cold. If you put a heat sink on the hot side and move the heat the cold side will get colder. You can actually freeze the water by increasing the voltage to the chip. If you have any questions please ask!
I installed one on a lowes five gallon cooler, took about 20 minutes. Very impressed with the results, It took about 8 hours to go from 81F to 60F and was still dropping, Little to cold so i bought a thermostat and installed it to the iceprobe. Been working awesome ever since.
So you put a Water CPU Heatsink on a loop with another pump and some hose and stuck it in a cooler? Is that right? I'm not trying to over simplify that, I think this is fantastic. Am I seeing that right, is that what you did?
Can you share all the parts that you used and a schematic of how to hook everything up. Please explain it in a way that a 5 year old would understand if you can. Thank you.
Nice vid Mike! I am getting ready to add this to my RDWC system. Current temps are 73.5. Hopefully it will cool it down into the mid 60s. It is a 37.5 gallon system... I will post the results on here and on my channel. Thanks for the vid!
Bump! I was making one of these til i realized it was aluminum. My crop can not have aluminum contact. Would like to hear some feed back years later on this setup.
Pretty cool setup! I wondering how fast salt build up would happen in the water block from fertilizer salts I mean in pc cooling it would be different as it is a closed loop and distilled water. I bet a 240 rad with 140 fans and use two water blocks with 2 pumps would be killer for 30 gallons and then run the radiator outside of a grow tent to get rid of the heat.
You are a life saver my friend. I have been looking for an effective and inexpensive solution to retail chillers that are cumbersome for the small scale hobbyist.
Hi Mike, Am Deepak from India, Can you advice this is sustainable for hydroponics or its durability for peltier model. How much time we should run for cool Water...thanks in advance.
I'm working on a similar setup at the moment, however, the aluminum waterblock seems a bit scary for me. Have you tested this with plants and a nutrient solution? In theory both the aluminum and copper should be leeching metals in your nutrient tank if the ph is under 7, i'm just wondering if it's enough to harm the plants
I have with the aluminum water block. Now it wasn't over a long growing season but it was used. When I was done I did look it over really good on the inside to see if the metal was eating away. The inside still looked brand new now if used over time who knows what could happen. That's why I dropped this project and went another route. If you check out my other videos (my garden tower 2014- cooling my reservoir in 100 degree weather- 110 outside and my temp is 73) you will see I'm able to keep my reservoir temps down in the 70's during the day and 60's at night just using an inline fan. The setup in an evaporative cooling system. It woks great the only down fall is you have the check your nutrient levels daily and top off. This was a better solution to my problem in keeping my temps down while using my tower outdoors. This will work indoors too.
+Mike Walker +Matiss Balodis What if you were to run the chilled water through a separate circuit? That way, a heat exchange would take place, but no metals would leech into res, and res water would not eat up aluminum block either.
You can use a copper water block and not have to worry about leaching. I've tried a few different ways and this one way more efficient at keeping Temps cool.
Mike, I have read about the peltier coolers, and what I have understood is that once you connect it to a power supply, one side gets cold and the other gets hot. But my question is, can you maintain the temperature of the cold side and(or) the hot side by changing/maintaining the input current. Basically can I maintain the temperature of the cold side to say X degrees or the temperature of the hot side to Y degrees, by manipulating the input power? If so, could you please help me out in understanding how I can achieve that?
Great idea , I`m thinking I could use this in my GOU water loop to cool it even more , I have lots of the peltiers and a few unused Cpu heatsinks , would just need to get a water block . thanks for the vid ..
sir 1st question are you running it continusly or cut it off. 2nd question chip is 12v if I give it 24v or 15v will it get colder or damage plz reply sir
I want to make these in difrent sizes .. i have maybe 30 fans of difrent sizes.. nnee to source parts at a good rate .. and what part #. Make and or updated parts .. thanks
So that's an 18gal cooler and it's about half full of water and you got temps down to like 12c? I'm looking to keep like 10gal under 20c year round (indoor) so I guess I should get a 4 or 5 amp power brick for my application? thanks
how many gallons can 1 of these chips cool to 68 degrees. i have 4 5 gallon buckets connected to a 5 gallon control bucket. so a total of 25 gallons. if i were to cool the temp in my control rez how many chips u think i need?
2 questions. 1 - did you build any kind of thermal cutoff for this in case the water gets too cold? 2 - if not, are you running it 24x7 or cutting it off for periods during the day?
I have not put a temperature switch in. be I will tell you this, there have been a few people putting a dimmer switch in between the fan and controlling the speed to keep it at a certain temperature and been having success with it.
I built this off your video about six months ago or so. It's been working excellently the entire time, that is until recently. One day my water was at the usual 60F, the next day the water was at 80F. I tried troubleshooting..replaced the peltier, replaced the power supply, cleaned the water block out, etc. I even got two new peltiers and am running them stacked now with plenty of power being delivered to them. Still not working. Any ideas what could possibly be wrong? I feel like I've tried everything.
Picapacapopo check your fan. when they start going bad the RPM'S of the fan start to drop off and don't move the air fast enough. I would suggest using a fan with hi RPM'S. and if the temps get to cold for you you can wire a dimmer switch between the fan and power supply. But do it gradually. It will take hours to see a temp change.
Thanks for the reply. I think you hit the nail on the head. Going to try something different this runaround...watercooling the hot side. I'm going to set up a smaller, poorly insulated reservoir next to my cooler and run water from it through a water block on the hot side of the peltier. I'm thinking the atmosphere/ground will cool the hot water reservoir down faster than the peltier can heat it up.
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Catherine J. Wooding then you have to feed the fish and worry about their health which could be a headache, cheap dry Hydroponics Nutrients is much much cheaper and easier
Hey mike, excellent idea. Ive been watching your vids...my application for this tec will be to cool an aquarium(between 10-20gal) how can i calculate the voltage needed to bring the tank down from about 73 degrees to around 63 degrees...or how could i integrate a temp controller to shut the cooling once optimum temp is reached
If the coil is made from aluminum no. A good way to find out is get a magnet and if it doesn't stick to it its aluminum. If it does stick to it you should be ok. Copper is OK to use too.
I'm building a water chiller for a dwc hydro system and plan on using 2 peltier chips mounted with the water block sandwiched between 2 heat sinks. I have a power supply from an old computer I was thinking about using for my power source.
+Kapok6 I was lucky enough to find a 12 volt power supply. You can use a power supply from a desktop computer if you make a modification to it. There are plenty of videos on how to hack a desktop power supply.
+Mike Walker yeah, I watched a few. I just wasn't sure if I could use a 19v laptop supply on a peltier chip if it is meant for 12v. It seems the 12v cords I have been able to find don't have high enough amps.
I am needing to cool a 55 gallon tank in an area that reaches 89 degrees.. will one of your units work for my application ? I would like to have my res temp around 65 degrees. Will one of the units work or will I need to use multiple units? Thanks
No it will not work. I have ran a bunch of tests on this unit and I can not get to work outdoors. The heat outside prevents it from working properly. If you go to my recent video I have been working on something that does work outdoors. I waited for the temp to get in the 100degrees area and I'm able to keep my reservoir at 73 degrees. I used evaporative cooling. With this setup I'm able to keep my reservoir temps in the 60's to 70's range. Down fall is you loose about 3 gallons of water. A day.That might be a better solution for your setup. Check out my video and if you questions feel free to ask.
Mike Walker alright I am in a rom. with lights on it gets to 84ish but lights off it goes down to 76ish. My tank stays around the same temp of the room. I was using dry ice but too costly.. Now I am using a deep freezer with hose coiled up in it and two holes for water lines to go through. it works ok but still doesn't get the water temps below 70 or in the mid 60's. I would be intreasted in using multiple units that you built for my tank. I think that will bring down the temps to where im looking for.. Would you be willing to build me 5 of the units and if so how much would you charge me? Thanks..
Heavy You can buy the units on amazon.com type in iceprobe in the search box . The unit is made by coolworks. If you do order get the one with the power supply. But I'm going to suggest that you do a little research. It may be cheaper for you to look for a aquarium water cooler. You can control the temps with it and probably cheaper than buying 5 of those units.
ok ive seen those. I was digging the one you built with the pump that way I didn't have to put a hole in the side of my water tank. I am in the low 70's using tmy deep freezer. but would like to get to in the low 60's
