Sally 4th try

[nothim]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3LMnqsl ... r_embedded

what does it mean : cut on?
and how can it be set on a timer?

does it mean that at a specific time each day , it will start and after a few or many hours it will stop aswell ?

how can this be done?

what do you need , the cheapest way?

the clip is amazing
i reckon only the music cause the electronic part shortcut what 's left of me brain.
at the beginning , when he connected the wires with the heatsink fan -----you have to take(connect) only one of the yellow wires, and a black one too?
why did he bridged the pins at the 24 pin connector? what is that for?
if you use this device in a humidity room , for cooling the environement, you just have to leave the device inside there for cooling the air, but what is going to happen with the hot air from the heatsink?
is it not going to stay there aswell 'neutralising' the cold air?
do you have to leave only the peltier cooler side inside and the rest ( heatsink and fan) outside the humidity tent?
how many of this devices (peltier, heatsink, fan, power supply) do you need in order to cool a one cubic meter space if outside are around 35 celsius or more ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrZX8Y49xMY

http://tim.cexx.org/?p=320

[Ulmdorgr]

"Cut on" doesn't mean anything. If you use it in a sentence it means you cut something. Like, "There was a cut on how much money teachers will get this year." That means the budget was reduced.

The cooler is constant, unless you set up something more complicated.

[DanG]

That video is awesome seriously. I got the fan to work using a computer power supply! I just need to cut the wires and solder them together. I only need the peltier and a decent heatsink cooler and i'm good to go

what does it mean : cut on?..........why did he bridged the pins at the 24 pin connector? what is that for?

I think "cut on" in the video means the electricity running through the powersupply. So when he said to bridge the pins in the 24pin connector to make it cut on, he means you need to do that so the fan and peltier will get electricity. This is only if you have a powersupply that doesn't have a switch. If you have a powersupply that has a switch then you no longer need to do that bridging in the 24pin.

and how can it be set on a timer? does it mean that at a specific time each day , it will start and after a few or many hours it will stop aswell ?

The timer is simple. Just plug the power supply to one of these and set your the timer:

Electronic timer

tesco-te7-7-day-electronic-timer.jpg (9.9 KiB) Viewed 10075 times

The timer that i can get in our local hardware store can be programmed to the minute and it is possible to switch them on and off upto 7 times a day. But if you want don't want the hassle of timing everything just buy one of those thermostat.
A good one that i'm looking to buy is this:
Temperature Controller of Thermoelectric Cooler Peltier
It'll keep the temperature constant throughout the day!

For a electronic noobie like me i had to learn via trial and error. I was like "am i ready to get electricuted" everytime i splice wires haha.

at the beginning , when he connected the wires with the heatsink fan -----you have to take(connect) only one of the yellow wires, and a black one too?

Nothim, the heatsink fan must be connected to the (yellow or red) and black wire of the powersupply. You could just insert the bare wire in the pin and it'll work. I did it last night and fooled around with the wiring. I think i've short circuited the power supply after i place both wires in the yellow wire slot.

if you use this device in a humidity room , for cooling the environement, you just have to leave the device inside there for cooling the air, but what is going to happen with the hot air from the heatsink?
is it not going to stay there aswell 'neutralising' the cold air?
do you have to leave only the peltier cooler side inside and the rest ( heatsink and fan) outside the humidity tent?

Hope this brings light to you:

Peltier10.jpg (35.36 KiB) Viewed 10075 times

The idea is to have two heatsinks to make the cooler efficient. One heatsink is for cold side(inside the box) the other heatsink (hot side) is outside the box.

how many of this devices (peltier, heatsink, fan, power supply) do you need in order to cool a one cubic meter space if outside are around 35 celsius or more ?

Ideally you only need one peltier and powersupply. two heatsinkfan for hot and cold.
For a cubic meter you need a peltier chip that has a large wattage. The higher the wattage the stronger the cooling. just keep in mind that the pc power supply can only supply 12v and 250watt peltier chip is usually 15v. You won't be able to maximize the peltier chip.
I bought a 130w chip, i'll let you know how it goes.

[DanG]

Low tech cooling. A little joke but with some imagination it's feasible for sally growing.

[nothim]

ok, thank you all for the answers, i have got a few questions still.

what do you mean , there is no need of the bridge connetion if you have a power supply with a switch?
what is a switch at the power supply? do you mean the red switch for transforming 220 v to 110 v?
how do you set the power supply? if we have 220 v , shall i leave the power supply with the red switch pointing 220 v and what about that bridge, shall i still link those two pins at the bridge...?

regarding the heatsink, ---from the photo ---i notice that the warmer side is outside with the heatsink and the fan aswell, and it supposed that a heatsink is inside the box for the cooler side ----do you still need the heatsink for the cooler side ? if yes, what for, and how do you link it? i can not figure out how you are going to link the heatsink for the cooler side.

the temp controller----- the one that you ordered ------ where do you connect that too? is it going to be powered by the supply ? and is it like a probe going inside the environement for checking the temp, and the whole temp controller box will be ouside somewhere?

from the photo-----what is the sealed tube(with a plastic cap on)for?

i notice a sealed polistyrene box, how are you going to check on the plants?

the idea is awesome , at least for someone going to venture to experiment it , it would be cool to use those power led aswell

http://www.ledgrow.eu/diy.html

[DanG]

what do you mean , there is no need of the bridge connetion if you have a power supply with a switch?
what is a switch at the power supply? do you mean the red switch for transforming 220 v to 110 v?
how do you set the power supply? if we have 220 v , shall i leave the power supply with the red switch pointing 220 v and what about that bridge, shall i still link those two pins at the bridge...?

The switch is the on and off switch. You'll notice that some power supply doesn't have that feature:

w/o on and off switch

with on and off switch

power_supply_unit_1.jpg (35.78 KiB) Viewed 10069 times

Set your power supply based on your outlet's voltage. Ours is 220 so i set the power supply at 220.

regarding the heatsink, ---from the photo ---i notice that the warmer side is outside with the heatsink and the fan aswell, and it supposed that a heatsink is inside the box for the cooler side ----do you still need the heatsink for the cooler side ? if yes, what for, and how do you link it? i can not figure out how you are going to link the heatsink for the cooler side.

You don't really need the heatsink for the cold side, it'll just make the cooler more efficient because a usually a heatskink has a fan attached to it and it'll help regulate the air inside the cooler.
How do you link it? If you are talking about connecting it to the power supply then it's the same as the fan. Follow the colors, yellow on yellow, black on black. If your talking about how it'll hold together, the heatsink has bolts on it. If they don't fit then drilling a hole and screwing them all together will do the trick!

the temp controller----- the one that you ordered ------ where do you connect that too? is it going to be powered by the supply ? and is it like a probe going inside the environement for checking the temp, and the whole temp controller box will be ouside somewhere?

I haven't ordered that controller but i will next week.
The wires of the peltier chip and the heatsink fan will be connected to this:

back of temperature controller

That temperature controller has a wire probe that will measure the temperature in the box while the whole device is outside.
The controller will probably be connected to the computer power supply, i can't confirm this yet but i speculate that that will be the case.

from the photo-----what is the sealed tube(with a plastic cap on)for?
i notice a sealed polistyrene box, how are you going to check on the plants?

That photo was just an image i got from google image search. I don't know what that plastic cup is for and my plan is to use my styrofoam box that has a hole/window cut on it.

LED would be cool but we have sunshine all year long lol

[nothim]

thanks for the super answers!

yes that is what i meant--- download/file.php?id=425&mode=view

how it will hold together----i understand now-----and in between you have to have a shield to avoid the heat coming in , right? what material will you use for that taking in consideration that are two layers in contact with it, one is burning hot and the other is freezing paradise lol , did you think of something?

the temp controller is power by the computer power supply , i notice at the back of it that it says DC 12-24 v ---from the clip you posted, the guy said that you can only obtain DC from a computer power supply

yes---the led idea not so good idea for you lucky you

please when you set everything, post photos on how you linked the wires at the digital temp controller ----

awesome project

[DanG]

how it will hold together----i understand now-----and in between you have to have a shield to avoid the heat coming in , right? what material will you use for that taking in consideration that are two layers in contact with it, one is burning hot and the other is freezing paradise lol , did you think of something?

High quality thermal grease! You can get that at any computer hardware shops Also the heatsinks should stabilize both heat and cold so that won't be a problem.

the temp controller is power by the computer power supply , i notice at the back of it that it says DC 12-24 v ---from the clip you posted, the guy said that you can only obtain DC from a computer power supply

I have an idea to how i'll do this but it's tough to say when i don't have the device yet. I'll figure it out when i get the digital controller. But if you are curious to my idea then i'll just strip the wire of the power supply and connect it to the back of the controller. Pin 5&6.

Pin 5 & 6: Connect to power supply (DC 12V or DC 24V). Pin5 is + and Pin6 is -.

please when you set everything, post photos on how you linked the wires at the digital temp controller ----

Yes i will! And i'll make it a newbie friendly one because i'm also a newbie with electronics. I'm learning by doing lol. I got nervous last night when i experimented with the wires haha.

[nothim]

here: how it will hold together----i understand now-----and in between you have to have a shield to avoid the heat coming in , right? what material will you use for that taking in consideration that are two layers in contact with it, one is burning hot and the other is freezing paradise lol , did you think of something?


i was talking about the humidity tent: what will that wall of the humidity tent be made of? (the separation wall where you are going to set the device to)------i know about the termal grease, btw, are you gonna use that on the cold side of the chip aswell?

did you have a thought on how to build the greenhouse to keep the temp much longer in without engaging the device too often, and also to be resistant to the heat from outside and in the same time to let the minimum requirement of light for the plants to pull it through?

also , members please come with ideas on that one !

[DanG]

I'm going to put some thermal grease on the cold side too. That's how the peltier will stick to the heatsink because it's also a paste.

The greenhouse will be the styrofoam i use now. The plants are doing fine as of the moment so i don't see any problem with using it for the cooler. The sun is really bright this month and i can see that the sunlight can pass through the 1 inch thick styro so the small hole could be sufficient. I'll look into it when i get the peltier chip because i still don't know how low the temperature can go.

Down the line i'm probably going to modify a spare aquarium over here. I'll insulate it with styro on all sides except the front glass so i can still view it and sunlight can go through the plant. It'll be like the one in the instructional video.

The techniice is said to help cool the refrigerator so i'll place all four in the cooler while the peltier is running. Those ice packs will store coolness hence the cooler will be more energy efficient.

I have thought about this a lot

[nothim]

nice idea with the ice packs in too

[DanG]

Just making the most of what i have!
This whole project can actually be used for winter heating as well. Just reverse the polarity and viola! A very expensive heater

[DanG]

Day 69:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected] ... 377987052/ or
http://flyingketchupbottle.multiply.com ... /41/Day_69

They are doing great in the chilled environment

As for the peltier cooler i'll probably assemble the kit this weekend.

[DanG]

So i managed to construct the peltier cooler. I got the temp down to a constant 21.5'C while outside is 30'c. Not bad.
Everything went smoothly except for one stupid mistake. And that's silicon sealant fumes will kill any vegetation. Plant 1 is in bad shape. All leaves turned brown but the stem is still green so she still might make it. Ah terrible! I transfered all of the plants to another styro. The other 3 is doing okay, will monitor them closely today.

Solution: I'll let the peltier cooler run on a separate styro for the whole day so the toxic fumes will run out.
Another man's stupidity is another man's knowledge. tsk tsk.

[Ulmdorgr]

Indeed, off-gas from computer parts and any heated chemicals, like the thermal paste, will cause problems in unventilated areas. ='( Maybe you can separate the cooler from the plants with a sealed layer. I.e. put the cooler under the styrofoam container.