So, my aquarium is too hot and i need to cool it somehow. I saw some youtube videos of making cooling systems with peltiers and cpu fans, and i tried to do it myself, but the peltier doesn't work.
The question is if i'm doing something wrong, or i have a defective peltier?
The palteir is glued to a cpu fan (Allpine 11 pluse), and the temp of the peltier is about room temperatuer and is see no chnage over time.
What is the problem?
Here is a picture of the paltier (dirty with thermal past):
here is a photo of the Transformer lable (12V 5A):
here is a pictuere of the connection between the pelteir and the Transformer:
The system: two fans snadwiching the peltier and a aluminum "water block":
The water block is the aquarium water? Then why is there a fan on that side?
I hope it's a tiny aquarium because you won't get much cooling at all out of that setup. If the air temp is less than the desired aquarium temp then you will get better cooling without the peltier.
Are you sure your power supply is working? The datasheet for that element says 57W at 50 degrees hot side. That's a bit too close for comfort, I'd say. You might well have blown the fuse.
Bear in mind most peltier elements have a rather large inrush current.
Those twisted wires shown in the third picture are totally inadequate for the current the Peltier cell draws. Use something like a "chocolate block" connector. Then check the voltage you are supplying to it with a multimeter.
What do you think:
How many degrees may your construction be able to cool down the water in the aquarium?
You are adding how much electrical energy [Watt] to your system?
Efficiency of a peltier element in cooling mode in percent?
How much cooling power [cooling Watt] do you then get in the end?
How many degrees will the water cool down?
Cooling down 0.1 degrees or what?
What you are doing in aquarium cooling is pure nonsense!
With your equipment: Throw away the peltier element and the Arduino, keep the CPU fan.
Create a construction like that: Direct the CPU fan that it blows the air to the water surface.
Result: The moving air will evaporate water. The more water evaporates, the more cooling you get in the aquarium.
The only thing with such an evaporation cooling is:
You will need to refill the evaporated water in your aquarium regularly.
To prevent that the concentration of dissolved salts raise, you better do not only refill water, but do a partial water change when refilling.
Hi;
Why is your aquarium to warm, usually they are too cold?
How do you aim to get the water in contact with the cold side of the peltier device.
Do you have a DMM to help monitor your circuit?
If the water is too warm simply because the room temperature is too warm, liquid cooling won't work. It depends on a temperature differential between the CPU and the environment. It's not a heat pump.
I've seen guys use Tecs to get water into single digits c. Don't let these guys tell you you can't use them to cool the water. Your best best is run aquarium water through a water block that's attacked to the cold side of the tec. Then get a cpu heatsink to put on the hot side. Then think about getting a larger one.
If your aquarium is too hot, and it is a heated aquarium, then adjust the thermostat of the heater.
If your aquarium is too hot because the room which it is in is too hot, then get air-conditioning.
If your aquarium is too hot because the room which it is in is too hot, and you can't get air-conditioning, then your peltier scheme is doomed to be completely ineffective. Peltier devices are very inefficient. But, what is critical for your scheme, is that the minimal amount of heat that the Peltier device succeeds in removing from your aquarium water, will immediately flow back into the aquarium from the air in the room through the glass of the aquarium, which has a huge surface area compared to the few centimetres squared of the peltier device.
Succesfully using a Peltier device to create a temperature well below ambient depends on two things: (1) The mass or space you are trying to cool must be quite small. Not a situation that would apply to an aquarium. (2) You need to effectively prevent heat from flowing back into the cooled mass or space from the surrounding environment. That requires insulation. Something you cannot effectively achieve with an aquarium.
