Peltier cooling tips or thoughts?

[GzeroD]

I'm wanting to put a peltier chip into my rig with my new cooling loop (H240x + the 320 Rad from my H320) and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations or tips for how too go about it.

 

So far I have a 350W Drive bay power supply with a single 25 Amp 12v Rail to power the peltier and the controller but I still need to order the actual peltier I'm going to use. (I'm thinking something between 150w and 250W with a copper shim between it and the cpu die)

 

I plan to use a temperature controller like this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/12V-LCD-Digital-Temperature-Controller-Switch-Thermostat-Temp-Sensor-40-120-/331414992041?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d29df74a9 With a automotive 30Amp relay because I have some and this is only rated at 10A.

 

Also I know ill need to insulate my mother board so that the condensation coming off of the cold side of the peltier wont kill my board. I was thinking of using liquid electrical tape or an acrylic lacquer to insulate the board but I'm not sure which would work better. (It is a brown PCB mother board so looks are not of any concern,)

 

This is only all only going to cool my de-lidded i5 3570k which is a pretty horrid overclocker to begin with. I understand it is super overkill; this is strictly a "because I can" project.

 

Does anyone have any ideas or tips for me before I start ordering other parts?

[Jerakl]

>Doesn't know what peltier is

[W-L]

>Doesn't know what peltier is

 

It's a dielectric that gets hot on one side and below freezing on the other.

 

 

I'm wanting to put a peltier chip into my rig with my new cooling loop (H240x + the 320 Rad from my H320) and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations or tips for how too go about it.

 

So far I have a 350W Drive bay power supply with a single 25 Amp 12v Rail to power the peltier and the controller but I still need to order the actual peltier I'm going to use. (I'm thinking something between 150w and 250W with a copper shim between it and the cpu die)

 

I plan to use a temperature controller like this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/12V-LCD-Digital-Temperature-Controller-Switch-Thermostat-Temp-Sensor-40-120-/331414992041?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d29df74a9 With a automotive 30Amp relay because I have some and this is only rated at 10A.

 

Also I know ill need to insulate my mother board so that the condensation coming off of the cold side of the peltier wont kill my board. I was thinking of using liquid electrical tape or an acrylic lacquer to insulate the board but I'm not sure which would work better. (It is a brown PCB mother board so looks are not of any concern,)

 

This is only all only going to cool my de-lidded i5 3570k which is a pretty horrid overclocker to begin with. I understand it is super overkill; this is strictly a "because I can" project.

 

Does anyone have any ideas or tips for me before I start ordering other parts?

 

As for a hobby project I guess you could if you really wanted to, it's going to be a fairly big undertaking since you will need to insulate and waterproof the board from condensation, as an alternative if you do it right plasti-dip will also work since it's a removable rubber spray that has insulating properties. If you do decide to do it definitely do updates would love to see it's progress. Also just a note in your controller it is an AC 10A controller not sure about the wiring but it may not be compatible with DC power.

[FoxHound]

If your running it all the time you should have a conformal coating on all the boards, Something like this Link.

[GzeroD]

If your running it all the time you should have a conformal coating on all the boards, Something like this Link.

 

Excellent; that looks near perfect for what I want to do. I'm kind of hoping I can find a black one so I don't need to look at this brown PCB any longer.

[Ghost]

Bear in mind the "H240x + the 320 Rad from my H320" will have to dissipate the heat from your over clocked CPU + the 250W from the peltier. To insulate your motherboard you could use petroleum jelly with foam, which is what is used for LN2 cooling. Be sure to protect the socket from water.

 

Relevant thread: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?125155-Motherboard-preperation-and-installation-using-a-LN2-DI-unit-the-clean-and-easy-way

[FoxHound]

Excellent; that looks near perfect for what I want to do. I'm kind of hoping I can find a black one so I don't need to look at this brown PCB any longer.

 

 

you'll need something in the socket as well(I beleve that the LN2 overclockers use petroleum jelly), this will prevent shorts in the socket. Do not conformal coat the pins on your socket.

[GzeroD]

Bear in mind the "H240x + the 320 Rad from my H320" will have to dissipate the heat from your over clocked CPU + the 250W from the peltier. To insulate your motherboard you could use petroleum jelly with foam, which is what is used for LN2 cooling. Be sure to protect the socket from water.

I was just going to use a bit of silicone caulking to water proof the area between the cpu and the edges of the socket. Would petroleum jelly work better for making that seal? (the cpu is delidded but I still have the intel heat spreader if keeping the default cpu retainer hardware would be a better at preventing a short)

[FoxHound]

I was just going to use a bit of silicone caulking to water proof the area between the cpu and the edges of the socket. Would petroleum jelly work better for making that seal? (the cpu is delidded but I still have the intel heat spreader if keeping the default cpu retainer hardware would be a better at preventing a short)

 

Any air in between the socket will precipitate when its really cold, so you want to limit as much air near these connections as possible, Si Caulking will not prevent this.

[Leonard]

Fire hazard, condensation maker and ugly.

[GzeroD]

Fire hazard, condensation maker and ugly.

Fire hazard?

[GzeroD]

Bear in mind the "H240x + the 320 Rad from my H320" will have to dissipate the heat from your over clocked CPU + the 250W from the peltier. To insulate your motherboard you could use petroleum jelly with foam, which is what is used for LN2 cooling. Be sure to protect the socket from water.

 

Relevant thread: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?125155-Motherboard-preperation-and-installation-using-a-LN2-DI-unit-the-clean-and-easy-way

I am currently using sheets of Foam board and a sheet of hard plastic to keep the Delidded CPU in place and prevent me from over-tightening the cooler. Do you think I could I just cut and stack more sheets of foam board so they reach the cold end of the peltier possibly sealing them so water wont get in? or do you think I will need a solid piece of foam?

[Leonard]

Fire hazard?

Yes...have you ever seen how this thing works....wires all loose like a PSU without the cover......fire hazard!

[GzeroD]

Yes...have you ever seen how this thing works....wires all loose like a PSU without the cover......fire hazard!

Yes I have seen these work.

 

Ahh. That wont be an issue. I have some experience with wiring. From home wiring to light industrial wiring (going to a Vocation high school is finally paying off ).

 

Also a PSU without a cover is not a fire hazard as long as you have everything is assembled neatly and correctly.

In any case the 5.25 Drive Bay PSU i will be using has a cover; and after I make sure everything works too my liking all the wires will be soldered in place and shrink wrapped.

[Leonard]

Yes I have seen these work.

 

Ahh. That wont be an issue. I have some experience with wiring. From home wiring to light industrial wiring (going to a Vocation high school is finally paying off ).

 

Also a PSU without a cover is not a fire hazard as long as you have everything is assembled neatly and correctly.

In any case the 5.25 Drive Bay PSU i will be using has a cover; and after I make sure everything works too my liking all the wires will be soldered in place and shrink wrapped.

What do you plan to do for the condensation? Most people use Vaseline but know that with anything you use there is still a high chance of the condensation get in contact with the PCB and then killing the board and other components too. 

[GzeroD]

What do you plan to do for the condensation? Most people use Vaseline but know that with anything you use there is still a high chance of the condensation get in contact with the PCB and then killing the board and other components too. 

since Ghost mentioned it I planned on using Vaseline only for under the CPU and some foam surroung the area up to the cold end of the peltier to limit condensation on the top of the board. I plan on putting a layer of spray on acrylic coating or nail polish on the entire front and back of the board.(except the ports, slots, and areas where heatsinks are mounted)

 

I don't see any need to worry about other components  like psu and ssd/hdds because they will all be in the back half of the Air 540 I'm using. If necessary Ill put some water tight insulating foam lining the dividing wall to prevent condensation on that half.

[Leonard]

since Ghost mentioned it I planned on using Vaseline only for under the CPU and some foam surroung the area up to the cold end of the peltier to limit condensation on the top of the board. I plan on putting a layer of spray on acrylic coating or nail polish on the entire front and back of the board.(except the ports, slots, and areas where heatsinks are mounted)

 

I don't see any need to worry about other components  like psu and ssd/hdds because they will all be in the back half of the Air 540 I'm using. If necessary Ill put some water tight insulating foam lining the dividing wall to prevent condensation on that half.

Sounds good....good luck and some pics or a short video would be great once you get it all set up and running.

[GzeroD]

Sounds good....good luck and some pics or a short video would be great once you get it all set up and running.

Ill try too. I don't like taking pictures of things in progress because I work like a slob (cable management and such) and really I wont be prettying it up until I know the setup works. 

 

So far I found a well priced peltier (245W at design voltage; only around 200W @12v) on Frozen CPU that looks like it will meet my needs.

and this http://goo.gl/n3GJ12 (direct ALIExpress link wont work) controller is just the right size to embed into a 5.25 bay cover to control target peltier temperature. That is if I can find a compatible flat thermometer probe for it.

[Leonard]

Ill try too. I don't like taking pictures of things in progress because I work like a slob (cable management and such) and really I wont be prettying it up until I know the setup works. 

 

So far I found a well priced peltier (245W at design voltage; only around 200W @12v) on Frozen CPU that looks like it will meet my needs.

and this http://goo.gl/n3GJ12 (direct ALIExpress link wont work) controller is just the right size to embed into a 5.25 bay cover to control target peltier temperature. That is if I can find a compatible flat thermometer probe for it.

I shop at frozencpu all the time but Aliexpress scared me until they recently launched on the Asian stock market, now i think i will try them out soon. 

[GzeroD]

I shop at frozencpu all the time but Aliexpress scared me until they recently launched on the Asian stock market, now i think i will try them out soon. 

It is a lot like a less regulated amazon market place. Processing times can be very long (20 days or more) so its probably not a good place to go if you need something soon. I try to stick with rated sellers.

 

I'm looking at that one because I can order several of them for a few dollars and try and customize one to use a different display and input. 

I'm thinking it would look cool with a momentary toggle switch handeling + and - Temp and a momentary button switch for the set button.

my only issue is that I have never worked with any seven segment displays so I don't know how too chose a compatible one so I might just be stuck pulling one off one of the extras and using it (would prefer to get a green or blue display)

 

Anyone happen to know if the percentage at the end of a  NTC THERMISTOR  is just an accuracy measurement or if its more important?  I can find plenty of 1% flat/semiflat probes but a direct replacement for the 0.5% these controllers come with is proving harder to source.

[GzeroD]

Well Plans need to be adjusted. The drive bay power supply I was getting from my brother has 2 12v Rails than can put out a total of 30A not 28 over a single. I now need to find something that will do at least 20A on a single rail and fit into the other side of my Air 540.

[GzeroD]

Update: I found a new power supply 12v 30A that should meet my needs quite well. Ill just need to remove the 5.25 drive cage and put it in it's place as long as it its not too long. Otherwise Ill have to keep it external for a while.

 

Ordered:

The Power Supply: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D7CWSCG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The Peltier: http://www.frozencpu.com/products/2408/exp-01/245W_Potted_Peltier.html?id=RekIYc9a&mv_pc=145

The temperature controller (Got it from amazon because I'm wicked impatient and all this chat made me move up my time table): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GWFK7FA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

A flat temperature probe: http://www.frozencpu.com/products/24797/cab-1964/EK_Temperature_Probe_Cable_-_2-Pin_EK_Cable_Temperature_Probe_10k_NTC_100cm.html?id=RekIYc9a&mv_pc=146

The conformal coating (Overclockers.net said urethane would be fine): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000IC7ZQ2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

More swiftech cooling additive concentrate: http://www.frozencpu.com/products/2104/ex-liq-02/Swiftech_Green_UV_Reactive_HydrX_Coolant.html?id=RekIYc9a&mv_pc=147

 

Hopefully Ill be able to get the hardware Ill be using to mount the cooler and the foam board and insulation this weekend at Some local shops. That should give me all I need to start the project.

[Benji_w]

Keep us posted because I would like to maybe, just maybe use one on my AMD chip  :lol:

[Ghost]

Keep us posted because I would like to maybe, just maybe use one on my AMD chip  :lol:

This is really not a sustainable way of cooling a CPU. The amount you will pay in terms of power to keep the CPU cool is ridiculous. Its like running an extra 200W heater in your room constantly, no matter if your PC is idling or not. If you control the output it can be used, but again, you have to deal with the peltier's heat on top of your cpu's heat. Peltiers have been used in commercial coolers before. The Coolermaster V10 comes to mind. If you want a long term, sub-room temperature solution, look into phase change coolers.

 

[Benji_w]

This is really not a sustainable way of cooling a CPU. The amount you will pay in terms of power to keep the CPU cool is ridiculous. Its like running an extra 200W heater in your room constantly, no matter if your PC is idling or not. If you control the output it can be used, but again, you have to deal with the peltier's heat on top of your cpu's heat. Peltiers have been used in commercial coolers before. The Coolermaster V10 comes to mind. If you want a long term, sub-room temperature solution, look into phase change coolers.

 

Haha now that is a blast from the past! I nearly bought one of those! I was unaware however it had a peltier inside it.