PSU for TEC
 

im wanting to use a 226w and an 80w TEC.... will this PSU be enough if i just hook up the TECs only...


http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...103-478&depa=0

no one knows?

Simple math tells us that you will need 306Watts, that powersupply can handle a load of 550Watts. I don't see why you posted, if you can figure it out, i don't think you should be playing with a TEC

Need more information. What are the voltage and current ratings for your TECs?

If you are going to spend that kind of cash you will likely be better off buying a power supply made for that unit.

You can get the item shown in the link below from Danger Den. It is also available at many other locations. This is also nice as it will fit in a drive bay. Many people use these and seem to like them. I was originaly going to use a tec on my xp 2500 but when I started researching power for the module and all that I decided to switch to water chilling. That said, I still think pelts are great and wish you good luck!

http://www.dangerden.com/mall/Pelts/psu.asp

Like I said you may find this cheaper somewhere else as it is $118 at DD. I have purchased items from DD and was pleased with their relatively fast shipping.

oops.. I saw you also want to power an 80 watt as well. Hmm. Perhaps you could power it with an old psu if you have one, or take a chance on using your PC supply for the 80 if it has enough juice. I have powered an 80 watt with my generic 480 watt supply. This includes my PC as well. Didn't have problems but if you have a better supply then me this is worth a try. Of course running the 220 from this wouldn't work at all. When I was doing some initial testing I hooked a 172 watt pelt up to a 450 watt Raid Max PSU and the 2 fans on the raid max bogged down like crazy. This was with no load other then the pelt. These things require a lot of current.

Oh and Nark, you should post more over at Hard OCP forums as they have many pelt haters that talk smack and frequently state how you will "shoot your eye out" if you play with a pelt and your PC. Some people like to take risks and if you can't answer the question then don't. I am tired of all the flaming that takes place every time someone mentions the word pelt.

Building a peltier power supply is actually pretty simple.
http://www.overclockers.com/tips1054/index07.asp
PSUs for PCs are not good for peltier cooling as they are designed primarily to keep voltage from fluctuating and have good rails for very quirky silicon stuff. They are not designed to run 300+ W of peltiers off the 12v rail, especially since the amperage drawn from the PSU will probably kill it. Also, much of the power created in a PC PSU goes into rails not suitable for peltier stuff. I know a large portion of the amperage for my antec true 430 goes into the 5v line, where it is needed in a AMD computer.

If you want to save the hassle of building a powersupply and throw your money away for nothing, go for the pre-built one at dangerden.

woah, actually if you want to throw your money out the window, build the ps in the link you give. It's a complete POS, 32,000uF ain't enough imo and using only caps for the filter is a dumb idea at best. If you are to build a linear ps, here is a better one . Keep in mind, linear psu have an efficiency of around 50%, often less, (as opposed to 70-80% for switching) so what you save buying or making one, you will pay on your electric bill.

That may be a little too complicated for a guy who doesnt know that you cant use a PC PSU for peltier use.

really, you can put as many caps and as big caps as you want, so it is not like you cant tweak the design.

Remember, you dont have to have very refined current for peltiers, they are pretty simple to supply current for.

thanks everyone... im going mean well..

lol


:)

Good Choice, Like they say you can use a PC power supply but this isn't as easy to stuff into your case. (assuming you already have one installed).

I would like to save as much money as possible and so instead of getting a 226w for my GPU which is exciting but rediculous, (I saw the article on it HERE I am going with a 226w (from DD) for my CPU, and a smaller peltier for the GPU.

Would it work to get an 80w and hook it up to the 450w PSU that also runs my P4c 2.4ghz CPU, a DVD drive, a 52x CD Burner, two 80gig 7,200rpm HDDs, and an nvidia 5600U?

Would a normal PC CPU work for an 80w Peltier? Would a middle-of-the-line 250w PSU do the job for a 120w or 172w peltier?

I plan on putting the 226w pelt on the basic meanwell that DD sells just because it will be on my 2.4ghz processor first, and later this summer it will be on a 3.4ghz P4 so I dont want to risk anything. The 5600U is only worth 70-80 bucks so it isnt as big of a deal.

Not a trivial question, and one that remains unanswered. Total wattage is not the only factor of importance here. I'm having no troubles running twelve 72W pelts off of a cheap and tiny 250W power supply...but they are 15V modules, and I am running them at 4V.

What you guys need to know is the voltage and current your unit is specced for, so you can estimate what the current draw is at the voltage you will be running it at (not a linear relationship!). Then you see if the power supply can supply that many amps to that voltage rail. If total current draw is less than what the unit's rated for at max, (and the mfgr didn't BS the ratings), you're golden.

If you're considering hooking up pelts to the power supply that's also running the other stuff (motherboard, hard drives, etc), there's a bit more to think about. The total possible power output of the supply is probably less than the sum of what it can provide on each rail. Also, a big draw could cause the voltage of a rail to droop a bit. The 12V rail could drop to 11.5 or 11V if the power supply is particularly crappy, causing instability. Or it could be rock solid. Hard to predict. In my experience with power supplies, you get what you pay for.

ok wow

1.) that first power supply, the 550w one, needs loading on the 5v rail AFAIK

2.) you need to learn a bit about pelts...they don't care very much about ripple current. IIRC, 6800uF was enough to keep the ripple within the manufacture's specs...there's a thread over at OC where I did the math, it's called peltier chiller cores, do a search

Yeah, dont worry too much about the quality of the PSU. I'm tinkering with running a 172 watter from an old 300W AT PSU and it seems to do the job admirably.