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Tank cooling gizmo?

565 views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  Nordic 
#1 ·
We had a brief discussion on tank cooling which set me up to spot this item. I had not seen a semi-DIY solution that I liked but this seems reasonably cheap for doing the KISS method without a lot of thought or effort.
I'm not at all sure about the quality of the build as it looks a bit crude with the screws but I might guess it works fine. Then I'm sure the directions are making it a bit easier than fact. They say, "connect the pipes and it is ready". I'm kind of thinking those wires need to be connected?
Enjoy, if it your cup of tea?

On the auction site at $15.78 plus $1.59 shipping?
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Water Cooling Fasteners Cold Acquisition System DIY Semiconductor Refrigeration
 
#2 ·
There is a simple answer to this...however it is beyond my skills to give you one. You would need someone with a much better working knowledge of thermodynamics that what I have.

I can point you to the basics here. You have to figure how much cooling that can actually provide and apply that to ambient vs desired cooling of a set amount of water.

BTW that is a Peltier based system rated at 72W of consumption. I don't know how much of that power is used to run the cooler and how much to run the fan. I wouldn't imagine that fan really uses that much, but like I said, I only know enough to be dangerous. I've been trying to figure out much of the same questions to run a liquid cooling system for my motorcycle jacket. I'm sure you know how hot it gets down here in Texas!
 
#3 ·
Oh, it's simple enough. Just not as simple as the ad would have us believe! Since they mention only connecting the pipes, I'm thinking they are doing a bit of fudging, wouldn't you?
It seems to be a bit of a habit with a fair number of the Chinese import things. They tend to advertise it is the best thing ever, even when it is obvious that it is just a pile of pot metal they are calling a "precision" needle valve.

A fair and honest seller might include something about adding a power supply and connecting the wires. But then it was never meant to be a quality answer, just cheap and easy.
 
#4 ·
That's the peltier type device I mentioned the the DIY thread.

You can find smaller wattage devices for your tank. You do need to supply 12v to the peltier device (it's the wires between the fan and the water block) and similar to the fan. A used computer power supply should do it.
They are cheap devices and pretty easy to use but you'll also need a thermostat so you don't freeze the inhabitants. The thermostat will turn it on and off accordingly so it's not on all the time.
 
#5 ·
I think it was your post that I was thinking about. I thought this might be of interest to anybody that didn't have the junk wine cooler to salvage and it does have the fan and such all set. sometimes it isn't the work of doing something but the shopping that goes into figuring out what parts will fit together. that lead me to think this might be cheap, handy thing to get the fan, cooling fins and water supply without having to think or shop very much.
specs say 78Watts so at 12 VDC, that puts it out of lots of the small plugin (wall wart?) type power supplies. Online converter say it comes out to be 6.5 amps.

I just had to choke to get past the clunky looking screws! It kind of looks like a product from my scrap box!
 
#7 ·
Buy a secondhand bar fridge off craigslist. Drill a hole on either side with a bung to attach your pipes, coil as much of the pipe up inside the fridge as you can fit... connect to thermostat, and Bob's your uncle.

Always put at least a 50% additional ability to a wall wart, so if you need a 50W buy at least 75W, for the 76W peltier I would use at least a 100W. The capacitors in these units can have a 20% tolerance either side of rated voltage, and the transistors have minimal heatsinking to save money. Buying a barely fit unit just lends to the thing burning out in a few months like a cheap phone charger.
 
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