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mdwest

mdwest

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I love DIY projects... but.. I freely admit.. I suck at them....

that said... I need some help...

Ive been thinking about installing a thermoelectric cooling system in my DIY cabinet humidor.. we keep the house between 68-72 year round.. so I dont know that its absolutely necessary.. but I thought if I could do it for minimal cost.. it would be nice to try to keep the cabinet at 65...

I started looking into thermoelectric cooling units.. there are HUGE price differences.. and HUGE differences in performance in the different units I've found...

and to be truthful.. I dont even really know what I am looking for in terms of how much capability the thing needs to have, etc..

Ive got about 6'x2.5'x1' of space that needs to be cooled... the cabinet has a thin glass front.. and is a little bit leaky (the seal could be better).. Keeping steady RH is not an issue though.. its not bad leaky.. and Im running 2 small active humidifiers in there (an Oasis XL and a Hydra SM)... Its also super packed with boxes, trays, etc.. so there is not a whole lot of dead air space to worry about...

So... help me out here... how large/powerful of a unit do I really need? and other than the thermoelectric unit and some sort of thermostat.. what other components are necessary?

Ive seen everything from this little Peltier model that looks like its probably designed for a desktop computer... thats less than $40...

http://www.adafruit.com/products/1335?gclid=CLWlzZPE6r0CFUNo7AoddG0A4A

to this oasis unit.. that is also pretty compact and looks like it would fit in a cabinet humidor just fine... that is $2500....

http://sscooling.com/products/oasis/oasis-160-190/item/oasis-compact-air-cooled-liquid-recirculating-chiller-for-medical-laser-diode-ccd-camera
 
skullnbones

skullnbones

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One thing I was going to do was call or email Avallo. They sell the Accumonitor, why not the TE unit they use for their cooled cabinets. The obviously have more experience than I do about cooling a wooden cabinet. Why not ask? I was just waiting until I get the actual dimensions of mine before I called.
 
mdwest

mdwest

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let me know what you find out from those guys.. if buying a TE unit from them is an option.. I'd be all over it...
 
skullnbones

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I did a little more searching today and it's not looking good for me. Came up with a couple options that are considerably more than I had anticipated spending.

First was the Habitat Monitor system that Goble recommended. Two cooling units and a controller Est. $700


Second was the 4 unit design and controller from Aristocrat's Est. $1600


Aristocrat uses custom built Peltier units that only carry about a 4 degree difference between the hot and cold side. Most of the *bay type units are much smaller and are built for CPU boxes and run closer to a 30 degree variance. From what I understand this lager variance doesn't affect much until you start running it close to the dew point (65-70 degrees) but once you hit the dew point it will start to build up condensation. Not sure if that makes any sense, I'm sure I didn't explain that as well as it was explained to me.
 
mdwest

mdwest

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Hmmm.... back to the drawing board... based on the above...

I thought I had this figured out.. found a decent peltier unit on ebay for about $30.. and a decent Fahrenheit temp controller for about $15.. was actually coming in here to see if I could get some recommendations on power supplies.. and see if someone a little more electronics savvy might know how to actually wire all of the stuff together...

but.. Im guessing they are CPU type units now (need to do more research).. and probably worthless..

I wonder about one of the small coleman thermoelectric coolers? theyre small.. and dont have temp controllers.. but.. Im guessing if they get cool enough to get beer cold.. they could probably keep my cabinet to 65 (my house is never cooler than 68 in the winter.. but never warmer than about 72 in the summer.. so it shouldnt have to work to hard).. Ive seen some of the plug in colemans for less than $100... I wonder if we could just rip those units out, attach a temp controller some way... and be done with it...

I really dont want to pay $100 for a cooler just to rip it up... but if I could have a temp controlled cabinet for a $115 investment (add in the cost of the temp controller).. it would be worth it..

thoughts anyone?
 
mdwest

mdwest

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http://www.target.com/p/wagan-7-l-personal-fridge-warmer/-/A-11859873?reco=Rec|pdp|11859873|ClickCP|item_page.vertical_1&lnk=Rec|pdp|ClickCP|item_page.vertical_1

I wonder if I could just yank the unit out of this thing and make it work...

its already got temp control built in.. and supposedly can get down to 32 degrees...

granted my cabinet is A LOT larger than the unit it is designed to cool...

but I only need it to get temps down about 5% cooler than standard room temp....

hmmmmmm....

might be worth $50 just to see if I can make it work..
 
Jesse

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That's interesting, I wonder if I could use that for my bottom portion on my cooler that isn't working right.

I'm watching you mdwest.
 
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