bad Pelt ???

[skycrane]

ive got a 2266w pelt from DD that i was going to cool my water with. how long does it take to get a noticable difference on the temps of my pelt?

ive hooked it up to my OCZ 520 ps for a few min and i could not feel any differece in the temps of the 2 blocks on my pelt

i used a dmm to check the ohms of the pelt and it reads as open?? in other words there is an infinate resistance??? [ man i hope that is the right way to say it....]

so after that i went out to my truck and rigged the pelt to run off the batteries... needles to say nothing got cool :( is my pelt broke, or have i just messed something up ?

thanks for the help guys

[STEvil]

sounds broke...

[Butcher_]

It's toast.

[snipper_cr]

At first i was going to mention since you are using an ATX power supply, did you put a load on your 5 and 3.3 volt rails? Even if you didnt you'd still have some current going through the pelt, enough to notice.

As for time, its almost instantly. Depending on the cold plate and thickness but even with the really thick one i have its only a matter of 1 or 2 seconds before it getse cold.

[Him]

I have a pelt, and it is taking longer and longer to reach full effect. It works eventually, but after a couple of minutes. The first time I used it was on my buddies car battery, and that worked so fast. I think it has alot to do with amps when it comes to those. It is normal for it to take a few to reach it's full effect. After all, temperature changes take soem time. They are not immediate.

[skycrane]

thanks guys, ill give it another check and see. Hopefuly its not broke, i just got it in the mail a few weeks ago from DD. ill try and just hook it up to my car battery for a few minutes and see what happens

[Him]

Dont go to Dangerden. Get them on Ebay, hella cheaper. Just do a search for "Peltiers". Mine cost $15, with shipping included. Thats pretty cheap.

[skycrane]

thanks him, i give ebay a shot and see what they have ;)

[Stocky]

DoomedPC.com do them cheap, and also have an ebay shop. Good customer service there I tell thee. :)

[Him]

I noticed yesterday that my Pelt is sucking as well. I had it hooked up for about 10-15 minutes, and there was no temperature change whatsoever. One side started to get kinda cool, but then went right back to ambient temps. They use just so much damn power, I think I have it under powered. I'm using a 3amp transformer, I'm thinking it's just not enough. When I first got it, I plugged it into my buddies battery on his car and within seconds one side got super cold (for a few seconds) and then warmed right the hell up, to a super hot point.

[craig588]

without cooling the hot side will overwhelm the cold side.

You're right, 3 amps is not enough.

[Gray Mole]

15min??

You don't want to run a pelt without cooling the hot side for more that a second

It IS instant, and withing seconds can be irrevocably damaged, and if it's an open circuit, is no good

if you test a pelt, usually to determine the cold side, it shouldn't be connected but merely touched for less that a sencond, and you will feel the hot and cold side very quickly.

I've never tested how long it takes to destroy a pelt because I didn't really want to destroy my pelt, but I wouldn't connect one longer than 2-3 seconds unless the hot side is being cooled unless I wanted to go looking to buy a new pelt

Gray

[Him]

Oh, so your saying I destroyed my pelt? Huh, that sucks. Oh well, I'll ust buy another one. I was wondering why it would take progressively longer each time I used it. But it's not a circuit in there, it's just two peices of metal. So how could it be destroyed?

[STEvil]

theres about 500 mosfets on the pelt actually...

[Him]

Oh WHAT? 500!!! I thought MOSfets were b ig, how could they all fit in there? I think I will dissect mine tonight and see whats in it.

[STEvil]

might be closer to 300, my bad ;)

[Him]

Oh man, damn right it's your bad. 300, thats a cry from 500. [/sarcasm] :p

Since mine was dead, I cracked it open last night. It looks really cool on the inside, similar to an evaporator on a phase change system. Lots of dust, and I am relatively certain it was mostely lead and mercury and other harmful things. But it looked cool notheless, and was a b!tch to open!

[gkiing]

Oh man, damn right it's your bad. 300, thats a cry from 500. [/sarcasm] :p

Since mine was dead, I cracked it open last night. It looks really cool on the inside, similar to an evaporator on a phase change system. Lots of dust, and I am relatively certain it was mostely lead and mercury and other harmful things. But it looked cool notheless, and was a b!tch to open!

I pulled one in half once by trying to get it off the bottom of a heatsink. It is actually nothing like a phase-change (refrigeration is the proper term) system, it uses many electrical junctions to create a temperature difference when electricity is passed through it.

[Him]

Yeah, I pulled mine apart. It was NOT easy! I had to crack the ceramic, and mutilate the hell out of it to get it apart. I got some big peices though, and it gives a nice idea of what it is like on the inside. I would say it is very akin to a lego platform. You remember you would get those green platforms to build your legos on? I would say it is much like that, except squares instead of circles.

@gkiing: Did you wash your hands afterward? There has to be massive amounts of lead and mecury in those things. I found a warning about USB cables on the packing once, telling you to wash your hands after touching them because it is known, only to the state of california (:rolleyes:) to cause cancer, and to wash your hands after handling. If they tell you to wash your hands after dealing with a USB cable, wonder what the hell they recommend when you open one of those things.

[Him]

Yeah, I pulled mine apart. It was NOT easy! I had to crack the ceramic, and mutilate the hell out of it to get it apart. I got some big peices though, and it gives a nice idea of what it is like on the inside. I would say it is very akin to a lego platform. You remember you would get those green platforms to build your legos on? I would say it is much like that, except squares instead of circles.

@gkiing: Did you wash your hands afterward? There has to be massive amounts of lead and mecury in those things. I found a warning about USB cables on the packing once, telling you to wash your hands after touching them because it is known, only to the state of california <:slapass:> to cause cancer, and to wash your hands after handling. If they tell you to wash your hands after dealing with a USB cable, wonder what the hell they recommend when you open one of those things.

[Him]

I pulled one in half once by trying to get it off the bottom of a heatsink. It is actually nothing like a phase-change (refrigeration is the proper term) system, it uses many electrical junctions to create a temperature difference when electricity is passed through it.

I know it's nothing like a phase change system, I just said the inside of the pelt looks like an evaporator, or at least the design I have. Pelts dont use any collant or anything, they use metal and electricity and a nice thermoelectric process.

[STEvil]

Him - if there were mercury or lead in/on my USB cables i'd promptly take them back and demand a refund.

Absolutely no reason for anything other than aluminum/copper/gold/silver to be found in/on a USB cable.

[gkiing]

Yeah, I pulled mine apart. It was NOT easy! I had to crack the ceramic, and mutilate the hell out of it to get it apart. I got some big peices though, and it gives a nice idea of what it is like on the inside. I would say it is very akin to a lego platform. You remember you would get those green platforms to build your legos on? I would say it is much like that, except squares instead of circles.

@gkiing: Did you wash your hands afterward? There has to be massive amounts of lead and mecury in those things. I found a warning about USB cables on the packing once, telling you to wash your hands after touching them because it is known, only to the state of california <:slapass:> to cause cancer, and to wash your hands after handling. If they tell you to wash your hands after dealing with a USB cable, wonder what the hell they recommend when you open one of those things.

I was trying to get mine out sandwiched between to air cooled heatsinks and just ripped the two halves clean apart. This was an older peltier and the edges were open. They do not contain mercury, but there may be lead and tin present. The junctions are usually copper plated with tin/lead. Try scraping the surface off one and you should see copper.

[Him]

I always forget I have mine ripped apart and laying on the table in my room. I cover it with paper so my fans dont blow around any lead or nothing, but when I lift that paper up I see it and kinda freak and then immediately forget about it. I'm gonna scrapesome, see if I can find soem copper. Alot of those junctions broke though, and fell off, and I found no copper.

[Him]

Him - if there were mercury or lead in/on my USB cables i'd promptly take them back and demand a refund.

Absolutely no reason for anything other than aluminum/copper/gold/silver to be found in/on a USB cable.

I was told that there are lead bits on the outside, and that is why they have the warning. I was called a moron for not knowing that. God, do I hate people. This came with my buddies' MP3 player, and it had the warning in the manual in regards to the USB cable. Known only to the state of California. Everything is known by the state of California to cause cancer, including, but not limited to, chewing gum!

[_HL4E_HalfLife_]

someone show a pic of the insides of one of these i wanna seeeeee!!

[Him]

i still have it chilling on my table, but I havet recharged my camera (I am so damn lazy) so when I do I will take some pics and post them.

[_HL4E_HalfLife_]

i still have it chilling on my table, but I havet recharged my camera (I am so damn lazy) so when I do I will take some pics and post them.

good make it snappy lol.

[STEvil]

popped my 80w in half tonight since it was dead (for good this time).

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=34704&stc=1

[Bergo]

hmm, surprised they come apart that easy, I thought they were tough little things? and @ gkiing: when you said "the edges were open" on your old peltier, did you mean you were actually using an un-potted peltier o_O doesn't seem safe :P

[wdrzal]

never operate a pelt without a heat sink on the hot side or you will ruin it.

[alexio]

never operate a pelt without a heat sink on the hot side or you will ruin it.

For testing, can't you turn it on for a sec? Or is there another way to determine what's the hotside and what's the coldside?

[wdrzal]

a fews secs shouldn't harm it ,but they do overheat quickly, also make sure when you buy one that it is edge sealed or the moisture will ruin it.

[alexio]

I have one :toast:

226w

Just waithing for the material to make my waterblock, copper drill press and some other stuff.

[wdrzal]

For testing, can't you turn it on for a sec? Or is there another way to determine what's the hotside and what's the coldside?


reversing the polarity switches the hot side to cold side and visi-versa.

[alexio]

I know, I'm not that stupid :D

But thanks anyway, I will just turn the pelt op for a sec to feel what's the coldside.