Advice on buildong peltier cooler

[floreatfocuser]

Hi am looking to build peltier cooler for my dsi pro, but wanted to build a temperature switch so that It cools down to a set temperature and then stays around that level. Woud make dark frames and condensation easier to manage.

Anyone got any ideas as to how to do this?

Andy

[iceman]

Hi Andy.

A few members have done peltier cooling units - not for DSI's, but for mirrors.

Anthony (Bird) has his all computer controlled. The first step is to monitor and log the temperature so you know what it's doing. Bird built his own temperature logger that feeds into his laptop. He then built the peltier units to switch on and off controlled by his software program which will turn on or off at the desired temperature.

David Pretorius has a manual temperature sensor (indoor/outdoor dick smith unit), and a manual peltier unit, turned on and off by hand. again, cooling the mirror.

I believe wombat_in_space has made a computer controlled unit similar to Bird, but I don't have any details.

Hopefully those guys will fill in the blanks. Dave got the peltier and fan units from a dick smith travel fridge.

[[1ponders]]

Andy, have you had a look here at Webcaddy (http://webcaddy.com.au/astro/adapter.asp)? You might pickup a few ideas. Check out the Click for More Information (http://webcaddy.com.au/Outback/default.asp)page

[centauri]

Puchase one of the thermometers like the one below from Jaycar.
Open the unit up and utilise the alarm output line to drive a SSR or similar that turns on/off the peltier device.
Because it has a high and low alarm setting it can be designed to regulate the temp pretty well.
Could even be used to heat (for dew heater) by reversing the peltier voltage.

[floreatfocuser]

Thaks for info, have looked at webcaddy but things are too expensive.

Like the idea of fridge cooler, had been looking for something like that, thought maybe aquarium temp controller but the wron way round.

Would be interested in how wombat_in_space / bird have managed to control from laptop.

I have looked at parallel port controller kit from DSE but dont know how to write code for it in DOS


Andy