Peltier elements in cool terrariums

[Ray]

I think one of the difficulties is heat transfer from the air to the Peltier cooler. A terrarium is not as well sealed as a fridge or wine cooler, so the cooler will need to do more work.

I suspect that a finned aluminum "heat sink", with fan drawing the air through the fins would work.

[FairyInTheFlowers]

Originally Posted by Ray

I suspect that a finned aluminum "heat sink", with fan drawing the air through the fins would work.

This sounds quite interesting, Ray, would you mind explaining further? I am considering building a plant stand in my basement for some cool growers, but the in-floor heating might pose a problem in the winter, so I am interested in any way possible to cool it down.

[King of diamonds]

For a cooler there needs to be as much air traveling across the element as posible. this means that more Ir.is.cooled.at once, thus cooling the tank more.effectivly. a heat sink is a series of metal plates thate effectivly increase the surface area of the element by a large amount. combined with a fan to draw air past this makes sure the maximum amount of air is cooled.

heatsinks are common on many electronic devices, usually as a method of cooling, the most common source for sinks of this size are computor processors. they often have large heat sinks and these can be bought easily and very cheaply on old computors. your local recycling center will likely.give them to you for free or for a few dollers each. the sink is passive. Computer fans are also ideal as they are very cheap and small enough to fit on to the front.

Little elctronic experience is required, just hook the fans up to the same power supply that the elements are running off (an old computor power supply works great for this too)


hope this answers your question. sorry for any spelling errors, posting from my phone