Joining 12v + 5v = 17v?
 

....or pufff!! there goes the psu.

Hi guys!

I have two PSU on my case right now. One powers only my MOBO and video card. The other one the rest of my system.
If I get a 12v line from one and a 5v line from the other one, and combine them to power a TEC. What would happen? A) I blow up both PS. B)Nothing happens C) TEC is powered up to 17v.
I thought about using the two PS because I didn't think it would work using just one (12v + 5v from the same PS). Or will it?

If the above is a horrible mistake. How would I go about powering a 172w 24v TEC between 15v-18v max (which is what I have read to be the best compromise) using my two current PS's?

I'm planning to buy an X800XT PE and modding/Overclocking the living crap out of it :p . For this I have decided to go to TEC for the first time.
I think I'll do "OK" with a MCW50-T modded to 172w pelt using this guide

This is the water setup I'm using right now:
- White Water
- MCW20
- MCW50
- 1/2 Clearflex
- 2-342 heater core (2" shroud on both sides)
- 4 Panaflos 120mm L1A push/pull (1 extra for burners)
- Iwaki MD-15RLT (shrouded)
- Lian-Li Pc 70 case (very moded)


Thanks in advance for any help that you can give me.

Check out the watts the -5v line can supply.
Hmmmm, not really up to a TEC now is it?

You are right. I'm just not very experienced at this.

Is there a way I could do this?

I found this very good article here. Maybe it will help somebody else too.

But I still have a doubt after reading the article.
According to the article I should rig my PS's in series to get 18v. But I would have to disconnect the ground of one of the PS in order to get it to work. Would that affect the rest of the devices connected to that particular PS?

For example, I have one of the PS hooked up to the MOBO and VID card. If I disconnect the ground on that one, will it affect the MOBO and VID?

The author of the article doesn't specify if he used his modded PS's as stand alone units for TEC use only or if he used it for the rest of his system also.

If you're planning to use them in series you should use them as stand alone units - using them with a mobo etc. will likely cause them to be grounded with respect to each other via the mobo and defeat any series linkage you're trying to do.

So, do you guys think this would be the most reasonable thing to do?

I also found this info now:
Does this mean that if I mod this PSU I can get the 12v line up to 15.6v without a problem? Could I power the TEC @ 15.6v with this single PSU?

there is no improvement in temps by going over 12V in my experience. 12V seems the optimal for those "max 15V" peltiers.

I wouldn't go over 12v anyway.