Just for a laugh :D

[rrjwilson]

My mini firdge has gone up the duff and having some spare peltiers and a 360W psu means I thought it would be fun to "pimp" it from 40W to 120W

Of course with some cutting, banging, crashing and swearing it sees temps only just below ambient because the cooler is cast aluminium and tiny. More heat away from the hotside means lower temps coldside and because the thermal load is negliable because its a fridge I can get closer to the 69dT quoted. I have 18A of 12V goodness and 120W TEC so how do I cool the hotside instead of using the crappy aluminium thing, I hear you cry.

Coolermaster Aquagate R80. A "self-contained" watercooling system powered by a fan connector.

Bought some 5 years ago for my Athlon XP based shuttle it has been sat doing sod all since i upgraded 4.5years ago So now, in the timely tradition of OC3D where cooling excess is necessary I'm smacking, cutting, filing and soldering this bugger together just for poo and chuckles.

It wont be the perfect peltier system but with no thermal load it should kick the crap out of what it used to do. I will update with pictures when the dremel is charged

 

[AMDFTW]

cant wait to see it fella

 

[Pseudonym]

Good man. This is exactly what we need more of.

Happy modding

 

[thestepster]

cant wait to see this mate should be great

 

[killablade]

This one should be worth watching

 

[Ducky Spud]

Haha, at first I was thinking "oh, here goes anothe guy wanting to use a fridge to cool his pc", but are you actually just trying to make a really cold fridge/freezer by watercooling the pelt? Thats a quality idea if Ive got it right hahaha

 

[FarFarAway]

TTIUWP tbh

 

[mrapoc]

awesome....front page plz if it works out

 

[rrjwilson]

Ok so before I put up the photos of the peltier that was so brittle it snapped upon removal and the smegtastic build I thought I'd put up links to the parts so people can see WTF I'm bodging.

Coolermaster Aquagate R80

12V/240V Mini Fridge (mine is red and at least 8 years old)

Also being used are an old shuttle PSU (yes, the standard one) and 136W peltier from the ever reliable eBay.

Now peltiers bought from reputable manufacturers come with datasheets so you can work out what is need for the best operation mine of course did not. I have plenty of juice on the 12V rail to do 136W but I doubt the 136W is rated for 12V as most peltiers are max rated at 14-18V. I'm guessing it should hit about 80-90W at best but thats ok given its in the fridge and not seeing a heatload.

 

[rrjwilson]

Okily dokily. Here are your pictures (Kempez ).

This modification is about as difficult as braiding (time consuming only) so most will be able to do it without even a slight problem. Peltier maths and physics are all over the web so what I will say is that Vmax and Imax are what the ratings are done at so if you use less your output will be less.

My peltier is 136W if that is 12V rated (doubtful) then I need 14A to supply it properly (I have 18A). If as I suspect it was rated at 15.4V then I only need 8A so I'm well clear. The watercooling takes 3A in total (including fan) so I'm still within my PSU limits.

To connect the fan to the power supply you need to know what to connect. 3-pin fans you must connect the Red wire to your +ve, the Black wire to your -ve and the yellow wire is the RPM sensor so leave it alone. 4-pin fans you must connect the Red wire to your +ve, the Black wire to your -ve, Yellow wire is the RPM sensor so leave it and the Blue wire is a control wire for PWM signal control of the fan so leave this too.

The Aquagate pump/block has a 3-pin fan connector so do the same to it as above.

Peltiers have red and black wires, they do produce better effect when used as red to be +ve that is why they wire them that way. When using them for the seeback effect this can change but we ain't doing that so don't care. Once again Red wire to your +ve and Black wire to your -ve.

So far so good and easy, this next part you will actually have to try for. PSUs have all the information you need so you can do everything easily. Leave the PSU for a few days disconnected to allow it to discharge.

*POWER SUPPLY UNITS ARE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS DOING THESE MODIFICATIONS ARE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. I AND NO ONE ELSE ON OC3D ACCEPT LIABILITY FOR ANY DAMAGE, HARM, DEATH FROM DOING THESE MODIFICATIONS.*



In this picture you see the PSU PCB with all the outputs labelled nice and clearly. We only want the +12V, PS ON and Gnd so the rest can be cut off or desoldered. The PS ON wire allows you to switch everything on or off, you can add a switch or just solder it to the Gnd.



In this picture you see my wires connected to the +12V (Red) and Gnd (Black). 10A wire and 18A possible so two wires are used to create the connection from PSU to accessories. Notice two wire on both +12V and Gnd that is because there is 18A going through the entire circuit (YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED).



In this picture you see the power connections simply soldered to everything Everything that is +ve is together and everything that -ve is together. Now the only point I will stress is that before you seal you peltier down, check which way it needs to be. Power it up for 2-3 seconds then turn it off and feel (with one finger) a surface, if you luckily chose the cold side to touch well done put that side against the inner part so the chamber is cooled, if you got a stinging burn (no worse than soldering iron) sorry thats the hot side so put your cooling parts on top of that. Technically peltiers need about 200lb/in2 of pressure for optimum but as long as its tight it will work respectably.



My masking tape radiator holder.



The brittle shit peltier that clearly burnt out.

When i find my temp gauge I'll post a temp in this post. I used to get cold stuff but no dew or frost so here is hoping.

 

[rrjwilson]

Whilst putting bits away I just found this



80mm dual fan, 1400-3400RPM, 21.8-41.7CFM, 22.6dBA, 0.75A (0.6A more than supplied fan)

Its like coming home a finding your Mrs is dressed "appropriately"



My fridge shall be frosty and I shall not want

 

[Ducky Spud]

Loving it!! So it works well then, just no proper idea of the temps? Should be good for a few nice chilly cans when gaming or whatever

 

[rrjwilson]

Not an clue on temps before or after the mod but my fish tank temp sensor should work

Gotta by cans yet but my glasses are proper chilly ready for drinks

Edit:

I added Arctic Silver on the peltier this afternoon. After 6 hours of "chilling" I looked inside and saw dew *Hazarr* but no I poked the dew it was ice. Epicness. I would presume the temps are approaching 0 (maybe 5C). I will have to find appropriate bolts for the Dual Tornado beast thingy and see what frosty things it can do.

 

[rrjwilson]

Ok so I have installed the Dual Storm fan and 22.3dBA is clearly the minimum as its like a jet engine

The DS has a pot connected which allows me to speed it up or down. My fishtank thermometer is in it now too so I can do give temps.

Here is the picture of the fan attached

Testing will be done by auditory increments and at least 6 hours without adjustment to allow temperatures to stabilise. Test room is its "natural" habitat which is next to the boiler room, has the predominance of radiator piping for the entire hose under it and is half the volume of the only thermostated room in the house. With a window open, a tower fan, behemoth computer and mini fridge the ambient temperature at this moment is 30.8°C. Results will have be listed as speed, ambient, fridge, dT

Minimum 28.9°C 4.9°C 24.0°C

Medium 30.2°C 3.9°C 26.3°C

Maximum 31.9°C 4.3°C 27.6°C

 

[rrjwilson]

As you can see the fan speed did help the situation but the volume increase from medium to maximum is not worth the extra 1.3°C. Its like gentle breeze to lawn mower next to you so it shall be set to medium from now on (or at least until find a way to attach a 120mm rad )

Oh and also slightly worried that this room is where I sleep and its ~30°C :O

 

[rrjwilson]

Woke up this morning to see 0.8°C on the display so checked the external temp it was 29.8°C and that is on the medium fan setting. Im starting to like this It does take a while to cool back down though once opened.

 

[rrjwilson]

Well the fridge has been going fine for the last few days and with temperatures dropping outside the temperatures are dropping of course inside. 22.4°C this morning and the fridge was reading -4.9°C so I decided to crack open a Pepsi and thought you'd like these photos. Its not just ice on the peltier metal but inside Pepsi



Watercooling a fridge clearly works \o/ for the OC3D way

 

[rrjwilson]

I was telling my Mum about my watercooled mini-fridge (she bought me the original way back when) and she turns up with a brand new one the next day The new one is white with carry handle and after leaving them both on next to one another the difference is clear. Aside from the new one having a badly balanced fan making it annoying they make the same amount of noise. If I can find some some plugs I have a spare PA120.3 Dual cooling FTW

Ambient 27.8°C

WCd 1.3°C (136W peltier)

OEM 9.4°C (40W peltier)

 

[Pseudonym]

This is so good.

Could you reorientate the fridge so the door opens upwards (like a chest freezer). If so, you'll keep a lot more cold in when you open the door.

 

[Speedy624]

I'm thinking of buying a fridge, cutting some holes in the casing and placing my whole PC inside. Don't know how that would work but pretty sure the temps will drop considerately.

Nonetheless I admire your imagination.