Now that we're seeing those 12 volt camper coolers turning up at garage sales and thrift stores (I found one for $2.50), here's a neat little idea for turning it into a customizable mini-fridge powered by a USB port!
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Signing UpStep 1: Taking out the Peltier/Heatsink Unit
You'll basically just need a phillips head screwdriver and thin socket or needlenose pliers to take apart the heatsink and fans, which will allow you to remove the unit from the cooler. Now, you might ask why you'd want to do this and not just use the cooler. The answer is because most of the time when you find one of these the case will be cracked and the cord is missing, but that's not a problem...
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1.) where can I buy a cheap peltier cooling unit? or the 12V camper cooler (coz I really can't get how you stick that to the unit... explain please? sorry. I'm such a rookie...)
2.) how to make the fridge light up when you open it? (which is better lights when closed doors or lights when you open the door? please explain how to do this too)
3.) can this fridge be cool enough that the can (or bottle) be cold enough to drink lets say if you place a room temperature can inside? and can it be cool enough in less than 5 hours? (I read your comments to get insights)
Please help guys.... Thanks in advance! ♥♥♥
5V is fine for powering a fan (well duh you can get USB powered fans comercially). I am not sure how much current a USB port can handle.
Too be safe I would buy a cheap USB Hub with its own power supply and power the "fridge" off of that. It may or may not be as reliable but since it is powered off the hubs power supply you won't fry the power on your computers usb. I have two notebooks that have fried power on their usb ports (data connectivity still works but you need external power on the device, such as a hub).
For temp control couldn't you build a switch with some resistors to regular the current going into the module? Also, for a desktop hack perhaps you could wire the module directly to the power supply on the computer by routing the cable through an expansion slot. Of coarse with that you might get two effects. Firstly you might end up with a freezer rather than a fridge, and two the heatsink will could get extreamly hot. In that case you would def need some additional cooling.
Thanks for this instructable it has given me some ideas. Such as building a custom case (perhaps using styrofoam as an insulator) and a brand new module. Such as this one http://store.qkits.com/moreinfo.cfm/QK66
Just a thought on efficiency. Since heat rises and cool air draws downwards, wouldn't it have been more efficient if you places the peltier device on top where the heat would flow up and away from the cooler surface and the cold side would coll downwards onto the bottle of water?? Basically a similar concept as placing your icepack on top of the goods you want to keep cool in a cooler.
Although, I have one complaint, you are making a cooler out of another cooler. Although the one that you made was much more awesome than the original cooler.
I would suggest directing readers to a website online where they can purchase a Peltier cooling unit without needing to have an old cooler laying around. I found one on ebay, but there are also a few on amazon.
http://www.sciplus.com/category.cfm/subsection/16/category/155
At first I went for USB, it barely cooled the peltier.
So instead I now use 12V from an old computer power supply and I used the original double sided motor and fans to blow air over the big hot heatsink and the smaller cold heatsink.
However, it doesn't seem to cool very well. If I measured correctly, the temp drops 1C over an hour time. In the meantime the hot air coming from the hot heatsink is 5-10 degrees higher then the air in my room.
Did I do something wrong, is my peltier unit faulty or what?
The air blown through the cold heatsink is recycled from inside the fridge itself so it's not like I'm constantly blowing warm air back in.