Inside a faulty Aldi dehumidifier.

[@Romanamon]

Clive, when I was researching dehumidifier designs for my thesis project about 6 years ago, your video on a white version of one of these was incredibly useful and I cited you in my research. That video was such a great help to understand how these things functioned, thank you!

[@millomweb]

Seen such like Clive vids but wasn't aware of them being thermocouples being used in reverse !

[@bdf2718]

@@millomweb The Peltier and Seebeck effects are two faces of the same coin. You can put electricity through two junctions to get a temperature difference (Peltier) or maintain those junctions at a temperature difference to generate electricity (Seebeck). You can use the same pair of junctions either way. In practise, thermocouple junctions are small so they have low thermal mass and quickly reach the same temperature as whatever you're measuring, while thermo-electric coolers are large so you can shift a lot of heat. But, if you're feeling perverse, you can use either of them to perform the function of the other (just not very effectively).

[@thomas316]

At moments of madness in the world your little corner of the internet is harmonious and peaceful Clive. Keep up the great work! 🙂

[@hotlavatube]

He should have sent a second package with a 5 gallon bucket of milk.

[@hugovangalen]

Poor Clive will get much bigger with all those feeders sending food :-)

[@peterg.8245]

Mmm 🤤

[@Kuessemir]

I just LOVE thermocouples, so simple yet so intriguing...from peltier dehumidifiers to radio-isotope thermoelectric generators.

[@Vladimir-hq1ne]

Dehumidifier so huge that he's got his own proper name, Christopher 😂

[@johnpossum556]

At least he has a full name unlike people named Topher like that kid from the 70s show. poor bastards with only half a name. 🤣

[@NZ2Pepper]

But does hit have its own ZIP code??

[@williamarmstrong7199]

@S Hol then clean it so it can be called ex-smelly bastard. Cleaning kits for cars Aircon systems work fine.

[@IanTindale]

I’ve got exactly this. Except it’s white. And was bought from Maplins quite some time ago. Exactly the same melty behaviour occurred too. One day just before going to work and leaving it on all day as usual I, for some reason, just decided to reach down and feel the pluggery area, which felt alarmingly hot. I pulled the plug out, but what happened instead was molten plastic formed strands leaving one of the pin sockets still attached to the connector, the other came with the cable side! Some time later after putting it aside, (and as Maplin had gone) I fitted a fairly hefty barrel jack arrangement drilled above the molten socket area. I took the molten socket out and left it vacant. It worked quite well for a long time like that, but we never (at my wife’s insistence) ran it unattended. I recommend nobody runs this model unattended, it’s clearly a fire risk. The thing no longer works for other reasons. It’s out in the shed, where I expect it will heal or see the error of its ways one day when I bring it in again.

[@andygozzo72]

the connector was obviously not suitable, 5amp or so is also a bit much for the common barrel type, as most only have tiny contact area on the outer surface,

[@blackadder4590]

Well done Clive, you can read my native language quite well! Thumbs up! Greets from your Dutch fan!

[@Error42_]

So based on those specs this dehumidifier works best in the amazon rain forest...

[@fillg]

There would definitely be plenty of humidity to pull out of the air. :)

[@bruceluiz]

30ºC with 80% humidity - as comparable to a car with a bloody pot full of hot water in it just making a big bloody mess

[@simonruszczak5563]

Big Clive says, no. A solar powered shed would be no good, too much tree cover.

[@RobertCondonSunnyTurtle]

I have found even when it is humid and warm that this type of device don't really work well. At around 30° and 80% humidity the most I was collecting was 15ml a week. Dosen't really have an effect in a room of any size. Maybe a cupboard would work but a jar of DampRid works better and doesn't consume 25W.

[@maciejklasa6783]

Or a bathroom after a long shower. That's what we use it for and it actually works: not even condensation on mirrors. Not very useful for rooms though.

[@SaberusTerras]

For those those playing at home, if you give a TEC electrical power to change temperature, it's the Peltier effect. If you use the opposite, it's the Seebeck effect.

[@markjohnson7887]

Clive, it's cute that you think that's a big dehumidifier. The ones sold in Canada hold at least 10 litres and have a compressor like an AC. :D

[@misterhat5823]

This is a placebo dehumidifier. I doubt it could lower the humidity of a closet by 1%.

[@johnpossum556]

@@misterhat5823 LOL! Maybe it is a dehumidifier for smurfs?

[@SeanBZA]

Doubt you could post it though, while this one will fit into a parcel dimensions and mass.

[@bigclivedotcom]

It's big for a peltier unit. My normal dehumidifiers take out litres of water and are plumbed in to drain it automatically.

[@markjohnson7887]

@@bigclivedotcom I figured that's what you meant after I posted it, but decided just to leave it. lol Oh, speaking of peltiers, I came across a liquid cooling system for a CPU that uses two peltiers to cool the liquid. The were attached to a massive aluminium heat sink which attached to a rad, etc. It was very odd.

[@JohnnyX50]

I did my first repair using your techniques, I knew watching your fabulous videos would pay off :D I bought a peltier de-humidifier off Amazon for my front room. The room has an exposed narrow vertical beam of stone in the middle of the window ( its a normal 2 bed terraced town house). The stone has been plastered over but in winter the cold penetrates the stone and draws condensation to the window and bottom of the double glazed units. I was sick to death of buying those granulated dehumidifiers, they filled up over a week. Long story short, the one from Amazon is of a good build quality but wouldn't do its job. I took it apart, nice 'full' switch, Led's work, button works, multimeter out, voltages on input 12V, 12V at stages on board, 5V at microprocessor, erratic voltages at transistor output to pelitier. Looked at it under a magnifier lens and solder looked bad. Re-flowed solder on tranny, it works! I put the unit about 4 inches from stonework and leave it on when I am at home. It collects enough water to get nearly to its tripping point (there is a float inside the collector) every 3 days or so, about 400ml (it has a 1 litre tank). It depends how cold outside and whether or not I put the heating on in that room. The rooms floor is boarded over a cavity. These houses are built on raw compressed sand and vented at floor level to the outside, under the floor. So I guess that room is always going to have musty damp air. However I must say this unit has eliminated almost completely the smell and no condensation has appeared on the windows, or more importantly the stone since using the unit. I was buying those granulated dehumidifiers at a rate of 1 to 2 a week at a cost of 69p each (pound shop). That unit will never cost that in electric per week and it runs from a wall wart, which gets quite warm but not worryingly hot. I guess for me, this electric unit is a cheaper option and there is nothing to throw into land fill every week. I wonder if anything can be done with the liquid from the granulated units as I imagine it would be very salty stuff, maybe use as a weed killer lol :) Sorry for such a long comment and, as ever, many thanks for your vids and much love, J x

[@RaduRadonys]

Why not use a compressor one? It's way more efficient so way more cheaper to run.

[@quietusplus1221]

How did you like that giant piece of "Speculaas"? It's very Dutch indeed.

[@bigclivedotcom]

I had to ration it out over a week.

[@swiftfox3461]

Dude your voice is so relaxing. I just listened to this video in the background while doing something else, without even watching.

[@theoldbigmoose]

Clive, the Bob Ross of electronics!

[@fumanchu4785]

@@theoldbigmoose I like that slogan! :D He should sell T-shirts with that!

[@RobertCondonSunnyTurtle]

I live in Australia I tryed a very similar device to try and remove some of the dampness in my poorly ventilated bathroom. I found that in a relative humid and warm environment it to be completely ineffective about 3ml collected per week and in consumed 25W. The solution was a box fan to blow into hallway after showers where it is better ventilated by open windows and air conditioning.

[@frasermoo]

You're probably better off setting fire to your money rather than buying rubbish like this.

[@Spacemonkeymojo]

I live in Melbourne and my room has been around 25-30c recently with about 60%-70% relative humidity (if my sensors are correct), so near optimal operating parameters. This dehumidifier seems to collect about a full tank of water every 2 weeks approximately in my experience.

[@rhiantaylor3446]

The fan is not just to keep the hot side tool "to avoid damage". These TEC devices will achieve a given temp reduction (say 18degC) so if you want the cool side to be cold enough to condense water out of damp air passing over the fins, you have to keep the hot side cool too. I have a TEC-based 12v portable fridge and that works the same way - the inside can only ever get a fixed temp reduction on the air passing over the outside hot fins.

[@davelowets]

Right... These things can only produce so big of a temperature differential between the hot and cool sides. The cooler you keep the hot side, the cooler the cold side can get.

[@boonedockjourneyman7979]

You make the simple stuff fun and educational.

[@elco_os9355]

It is nice to see that there are other fans from the Netherlands as well. So Clive, if you ever going to visit Holland, please let us know so we could bring you typical dutch stuff like drop, speculaas, pepernoten en stroopwafels.

[@tncorgi92]

It's just fun to say stroopwafels.

[@brendonwood7595]

I had similar melting of a connector like that on a 12V fridge. I found an XT60 a much more suitable replacement as a connector.

[@lumpyfishgravy]

I had no idea Peltiers were based on thermocouple technology. I suppose I read "solid state" and my brain substituted "semiconductor". Thanks, Clive. They might be inefficient, but (in generation mode) were allegedly used during WW2 to power spy radios. This mechanism powers many small space vehicles including Voyagers 1 and 2. They're also useful in the classic cooling mode for chilling sensitive front-end amplifiers well below ambient temperature, where all the K's matter.

[@bigclivedotcom]

I think they are silicon based. I may have mixed a couple of technologies up because I recall taking one apart and it had zig-zagging wire bonds.

[@davelowets]

They're based on P-N junctions, just like typical silicon components.

[@BRUXXUS]

Peltiers have fascinated me for years. There's some fairly recent research into creating much more efficient TECs, which I hope become more mainstream. Another cool patent I've seen recently is that AMD may be using ultra thin TECs between CPU and memory chips to help transfer heat better once they start 3D stacking their chips. Super neat!

[@stepheneyles2198]

Cool the CPU and warm the memory chips? That's interesting, never heard of it before...

[@CaffeinatedTech]

Yeah I was wondering what they were going to do about heat with the 3D chip stacking.

[@johnpossum556]

Thermocouple technology is amazing. I'd like to see a more efficient one that converts heat to energy. Stanford Ovshinky, father of Nimh and much great tech, had hopes to make a cigarette sized box that could be dropped in to a camp fire and power a color TV. I've got some good ideas what one could do with such a device to revolutionize our society.

[@SeanBZA]

Probably the thin TEC's will be used to transfer heat to an intermediate thermal transport layer, so that the chips themselves are cooler, but the heat from the inner layers can be transferred by something with better thermal conductivity than silicon, though you are constrained, as it has to have a very similar thermal expansion as silicon to prevent you shearing the chip off of the attachment point, and most kovar alloys are pretty poor thermally compared to copper, but better than silicon. Or have one top and bottom to cool the chips actively to the heat spreader and the chip carrier, with a larger surface area. Probably hot processor on top, and memory underneath, with a lot of die space lost to the interconnections.

[@markiangooley]

CaffeinatedTech forced chilled water through little channels was considered thirty years ago for such things...

[@J500ANT]

I have a very similar unit, and had to return the previous one as the plug (as you've shown) started to melt! I have to say it's a fairly effective, I leave it running next to my laundry airer and it'll fill its tank in about a week.

[@andygozzo72]

the connector they used was obviously not suitable for the current,, luckily its only low voltage,

[@Talmiior]

How efficient would the peltier dishes be using them like solar panels? Maybe coat one side with a paint that is really good at absorbing solar radiation and put a heat sync on the cooling side, maybe using some water in a closed loop, relying on the heat of the water to pump it around? I'm curious how much power that'd generate compared to solar a solar cell

[@bigclivedotcom]

They'd not generate much.

[@Talmiior]

@@bigclivedotcom ahh, was worth the thought experiment at least... might try it anyways for kicks n giggles.

[@Lykaotix]

I'll definitely keep an eye out for dehumidifiers in the future! It's one of the few household electronics, so far, that I haven't ventured to tear down. Maybe the wife won't mind if I open up the one we have later...lol

[@jetjazz05]

I have a similar small unit, opened it up and replaced the fan with a noctua one. Went from being able to tell it was on in the next room to needing to check it visually every few days because even when I'm right next to it I don't know it's working. Great upgrade!

[@kataseiko]

I like these solid state ones though. They are quiet and you can dry out your bedroom all day and night. I have inherited the cabin from my grandfather and had to throw out most of the furniture because of the moisture and black mold. I put one of these in almost every room and two in the kitchen and run the whole thing off three large solar panels. Granted, I have added a few more electronic components, but this stuff has kept my cabin dry throughout the year for three years now. I wouldn't want to miss it.

[@youtubkeeper]

2:30 - 30 degrees is definitely warm, but note that in some parts of the world, that might be a normal indoor temperature. Over here in Australia, that would still be on the warmer side, and we'd probably put on the air-conditioner by that point, but high 20s indoors are pretty normal temperatures during summer. However, point taken about the performance being based on "ideal" situations that are not going to be common in much of the world.

[@TheFaxMachine69]

You done hit 600k! Congrats clive!

[@raymondmucklow3793]

A few years ago, you did the video on the drum dehumidifier, I looked for them online I couldn't find any, none that would say upfront anyway.

[@bigclivedotcom]

They may just be in Europe at the moment. It's maybe a good thing, since they're still evolving. The early ones had reliability issues due to their complexity.

[@stepheneyles2198]

@@bigclivedotcom evolving or 'revolving'? As they're drum-based I suspect the latter...

[@markiangooley]

In the USA it’s drum humidifiers to convert hot, dry air into moist cool air, mostly. In dry climates, not here in Florida...

[@AngDavies]

Being fair 30 degrees centigrade at 80% humidity sounds reasonablw for a clothes drying room/airing cupboard where you might put a dehumidifier to speed up the drying of clothes.

[@andrewness]

I have one of these models. Vaguely remember that the manual advises against doing this kind of thing.

[@hamjudo]

This device can probably dry as many as 4 socks in a single day. That is two whole pair.

[@hamjudo]

@Mason Bee it claims it can do 400 ml in a day, but reviews report less. Let's assume 200 ml/day, thus 50 ml per sock. My best, warmest socks for working outside in the winter almost certainly hold more than that after wringing them out by hand. I was thinking more of generic inexpensive adult sized tube socks.

[@stulop]

I have one of these in a small room used as a wardrobe about 10x6. It's been going for many years and no mouldy cloths.

[@SunDancerGE]

You say "from Lidl" but the title says "Aldi" ... .oO

[@bigclivedotcom]

Yeah. I often mix the two up because they are very similar shops.

[@daanwilmer]

@@bigclivedotcom Glad to see I'm not the only one.

[@joshm264]

Well LIDL was made after one of the founders of Aldi left

[@webfreezy]

@@joshm264 There were and still are always two ALDIs - Aldi Süd (south) and ALDI Nord (north) in Germany founded by two brothers. LIDL was not founded by one of the ALDI brothers.

[@johnpossum556]

@@joshm264 I thought I heard they were brothers and then split up to compete against each other. I love my aldi's, in fact I was just eating corned beef I had bought there while I watched this video.

[@robertsmall1715]

Hi Clive, KZbin showed me a old vid of yours where you stripped a similar model on October 2014. Keep up the good work fella

[@Robvdh87]

Your Dutch isn't bad at all Clive ;-)

[@tncorgi92]

Congrats on 600k! Time to blow up something to celebrate.

[@mcomiskey7]

I vote parliament..

[@Chris_the_Muso]

Seconded

[@tncorgi92]

I was thinking along the lines of another chocolate rabbit.

[@stepheneyles2198]

15:42 BC 2018 - not that old, only four thousand and thirty-six years! :-D

[@petehiggins33]

Before Clive?

[@cmyanmar13]

4037. There is no year 0.

[@paulwyand6204]

I had one on my sailboat and it was great in a locker that got bad condensation, dried it right up. But they won't work on a very large space. I did run a full sized compressor one too during the New York winter, helped keep down condensation on the whole boat. Ah the fun days of shoveling three feet of snow off of your boat deck!

[@The_Ruffian]

Your method of explaining, and exploring new systems/designs are very similar to my own 😅 I had watched your video months ago for the white dehumidifier, and a friend sent this to me tonight because I was talking about TEC units. Keep up the good work in educating and exploring!

[@CommanderZx2]

I've had a few of this style of dehumidifiers and I've found that they always break down after a few months. I eventually got myself one of those desiccant dehumidifiers instead and it works so much better.

[@SeanBZA]

If you look how the inside of the water chiller looks after a year you would not drink that water. Sludge and white residue from the poor quality extrusion that is dissolving aluminium into the water, plus the lovely coat of bacterial slime covering all the inside of the tank. At least the refrigerant types are designed for the most part to be serviced, and also use a non corroding inside tank, with the hot water side being stainless steel, though also with an element that is not replaceable separate from the tank. Curse is that they use no copper pipe either, all steel brake lines, which rust from the outgassing from the foamed in place insulation, so it is not easy to repair once the pipes rot through. Lost a few fridges to that, you can only see the leak once you have removed the inner lining, and that is kind of destructive.

[@mrb692]

SeanBZA Did you reply to the wrong comment?

[@zorgatron8998]

The "reverse" effect of thermocouple junctions is employed by RTGs, Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators. A mass of Plutonium 238 undergoes alpha decay, generating a significant amount of heat on one side. The other is heatsinked to radiate into space typically. Notable uses have been the Mars Curiosity Rover (MSL), the two Voyager probes, and the Apollo ALSEPs left on the Moon. There have been Soviet lighthouses using them as well!

[@tin2001]

Clive calls 30 degrees sweltering hot. Meanwhile I Australia.... I was looking at my local weather forecast earlier, and thinking how good it is that we're cooling off with a maximum of just 32 in the next week. 😂

[@LeePorte]

It's all about what you're used to. In the UK we consider 20 to be a good summer

[@DreStyle]

I call 19 blazing... When it's not raining.... That always seems to be happening when I'm working outside 😂

[@LeePorte]

@@DreStyle I need to get the garden sorted, been trying for 4 months now. It'd be easier just to have a pond.

[@justsayen2024]

I've always wanted to know how it worked. never heard of that little device, Thermal electric cooler very interesting.

[@LarsPantsonFars]

I believe that power supply is a number 4 on my toaster, lightly crispy and just a dash of black on there. Perfectly toasted!

[@BaronMichaelDeBlone1066]

I have had one of these for several years in my storage room which used to get very damp and even mouldy especially in winter on one wall which has the cold water pipe running along the skirting area. Pretty much cured it all year round by two to three years ago. Just wipe down with cold water as insurance against fungal build up every few months or so as the walls also dry quickly now, no sweat. One thing I noticed a few years back which may have coincided with the improvement was that the noise has greatly reduced. I wonder if I didn't connect up quite snugly enough on original installment and it could have been ready to overload. I think it is a design flaw resulting in the tick and cross symbols. There is no noticeable 'click' to inform you that it is absolutely 'in'. I have an Epson printer with similar connectivity. Sorry to hear yours and others have been faulty but in full working order these are little beauties.

[@anononomous]

I think it's worth noting that if the net heat generated is useful (i.e. in addition too or instead of simple electric space heating) then all types of electric dehumidifiers are 100%+ efficient.

[@Tullerion]

30c sweltering hot lmao, here in Australia, 30c is our winters!

[@madmanmapper]

In Chicago, that's like a mild summer day where you don't bother turning on the air conditioning :P

[@evanleebodies]

If you've got one of these then save the condensate, it makes for a pretty clean distilled water substitute ideal for irons etc

[@milmaxleo7268]

Yep great for irons, just don't drink it!

[@BaronMichaelDeBlone1066]

Great, thanks for the tip. I have one of these exact same models several years old plus an iron hardly used (also from Aldi) so near perfect timing to make a small life change.

[@markmarkofkane8167]

It still amazes me that an electric current can cause a cold side on just a connection to another conductor. I always believed it would cause heat due to resistance. I only learned of peltier cooling a few days ago.

[@DavidBoycePiano]

In 1986, when domestic dehumidifiers were quite a new thing on the market, I bought a Toshiba DryMINI compressor dehumidifier. Quite heavy, and more foursquare in design than today's units, it has a mostly metal body (measuring 230mm by 340mm by 47mm high). It was expensive at the time, £200, as they were not in general distribution and I got it from a specialist heating/electrical place. It's rated at 199W, 1.5 Amps. I wanted it for my room at the time, which was on an exposed corner of the building, no cavity wall insulation, no central heating and single-glazed metal-frame windows. While there was no water ingress from outside, moisture-laden air from elsewhere in the house condensed in there, and things were getting mildewed. I installed the Toshiba DryMINI, and kept the draught-excluded door shut so that only the air in that room was processed. I decided to measure the water extracted. In the first 48 hours of operation (not running it at night, in case it sucked all the fluids out my body and I awoke in the morning a desiccated corpse), the DryMINI extracted TEN PINTS (5.68 litres) of water from the air in the room. I was impressed. And I am still impressed today because 34 years later it is still going strong! The fan has become ever so slightly rattle-y because the bearings must be a little worn (but the machine has always been incredibly quiet in operation). So, hats off to Toshiba for a durable product! I am a huge believer in dehumidifiers for here in the West of Scotland.

[@bigclivedotcom]

You may be able to get a new fan motor if it's an older product that used standard components. It may even just be a loose blade on its shaft adaptor.

[@DavidBoycePiano]

@@bigclivedotcom Thank you for those suggestions! It's only the very slightest rattle. If and when it gets worse, I will investigate the options you suggest.

[@JasonJohnson-yu8zf]

I have exactly the same one down in the cellar. I have to turn it off every so often because it actually freezes up into a big block of ice on the front

[@simonlovett151]

Unless the technology evolves I can't see the point of wasting 60 watts to barely condense any water, and what you do condense from the air in the average room will be replaced by drafts/doors opening in the space you are trying to dry. I have got good results from 600 watt portable condenser units, great for drying laundry indoors in a small room in winter when you have the heating on anyway, work out cheaper than a tumble dryer. In reverse mode, Peltier devices are great for generating electricity from camping stoves, etc, to generate power to charge a mobile phone when camping - charge while you cook.

[@jetjazz05]

Actually the compressor based units do put out a bit of heat. When mine's off it emits 32c air, when it's off but the fan is still running it emits around 18c. This is with ambient temp of 23.

[@bigclivedotcom]

When the water is condensed out of the air it actually gives off heat during the transition.

[@joefarr3304]

In my humble opinion, companies add too much thermal compound to their heatsinks. The compound is there to smooth out any irregularities and tiny pits in the metal so increasing the surface area of the metal parts when pushed together. The conductivity of a good thermal paste is around 8.5 W/mK but it's 205 W/mK for aluminium so the compound actually acts as a thermal insulator when too much is used.

[@Yrouel86]

If the devices are mounted properly with enough pressure any excess paste would be squeezed out and not be an issue really. Of course if the thermal paste is conductive one should pay attention to that. The major issue is not that they put too much but that it's usually the cheapest compound they can get away with with predictable results

[@SeanBZA]

@@Yrouel86 As well surface finish, that ceramic is pretty much going to be nearly perfectly flat, but that fly cut plate is as rough and ready as if it was just extruded, just with less bowing. you would need to have a better finish, and lapping of the surfaces, to get decent heat transfer, which would only need a single match head of paste to cover the whole surface adequately. All the white on the aluminium is just showing all the hollows and poor finish.

[@tonymulhall9573]

Love your videos Clive,you explaine them in great details.Thank you.

[@rogerhargreaves2272]

Thanks Christopher for you contribution & thanks Clive for taking it apart. So it was the single shot thermal cut out that killed it. I’ve been fascinated by Peltier plates, there is one in my stove fan to drive the motor. I’m pretty sure Clive has done a video on these devices in the past. 👍💯

[@bigclivedotcom]

The cutout was fine. It was the power connector that failed.

[@chrishartley1210]

I have a cool box based on the same principle (but with a fan on the cool side too, as you were expecting) and it is really quite effective but probably not very efficient electrically. 240v or 12v, which is useful for pre-cooling before going away. Over 10 years old and still going strong.

[@Anvilshock]

15 % efficient at best.

[@StarkRG]

Clive: based on an ambient temperature of 30°C, which is *absolutely* sweltering. Australians without air conditioning: Uhh, I mean, you're not wrong, but also that's just the lower limit of what we'd consider "hot". It's when it hits 38°C that you really start suffering.

[@huldu]

That reminds me of an old CPU heatsink in so many ways, even the dried out thermal paste.

[@shaunewing8973]

every time i take apart a TEC. compound always crispy. always change for ne. these also are great for making voltage when hot or cold, I've made a bank of these for power in my cabin

[@alexogle8950]

The dryness of the thermal compound is not a problem. The grease that makes it 'wet' is not the effective heat transfer material, the white metal oxide is. So long as the surfaces are tightly bound, do not move and do not have air pockets between them (all true with that screwed-together housing), then the compound works effectively. Interestingly, there is an exhibit in the Toronto Science Museum that has interlaced metal prongs. You place your hand on them and press a button: one set of prongs goes ever so slightly warm. Press the button again and the other set of prongs goes slightly cold. Press it one last time and both prongs go to their slight temperature offset, but because skin senses temperature difference it produces quite a shocking but safe burning sensation. I used Peltiers in a humidity control chamber, some years ago, to set the air temperature and that of a small container of water. Since %rh is a direct function of those two temperatures, we could create a consistent and fairly accurate %rh for checking calibration of sensors. The only trouble was the I²R losses in the Peltier limiting the lowest temperature of the water bath and that eventually the thermal cycling lead to a leak in a prototype that peed water all over the control board and corroded it in no time.

[@barrymcnicholl4140]

Big Clive, can you please make a video about soldering iron temperatures?

[@julias-shed]

I run one of these 24/7 in my workshop. The fans wear out eventually so I retro fit a ball bearing type fan and a another year or two out them.

[@tarstarkusz]

30 degrees is a beautiful day where I live. That's only 86F!

[@michaelmeyer9665]

Wow now I know how those electric coolers work!

[@retropalooza]

I'd really like to see a new mre and a metal detector wand.....new series...dinner and a schematic

[@thesteakman8107]

XT60 connectors are my favourites for this kind of retrofit

[@davelowets]

Yep. Those and EC3 work great

[@stevelloyd5785]

I've had a very similar dehumidifier with the same sort of plug exhibit the exact same problem. The connectors are crap, so I hard wired it.

[@obviouslytwo4u]

I love how you show us every function of a device that we are never going to buy simply because its broken and you tell us at the end of the video it's just a piece of junk lol. Classic

[@crimsonhalo13]

In Canada, plugs like that tend to max out at 120v 7A. If that one was running twice the voltage at 5A, I can see why that might be an issue ...

[@rhysdavies8947]

This Peltier element setup is exactly how these cheap 12V car fridges work also. Pretty cool concept applied there.

[@maxine_q]

So theoretically you could convert this into a 12V fridge, if you wanted to. Don't know how much they differ in price though, or if it would be worth it.

[@chriswhitehead6095]

Normally electrical items come with a 3 year warranty, why not return it?

[@Spacemonkeymojo]

This is true, at least in Aldi Australia they give 3 year warranties for these. I know because I have my receipt and it says 36 months.

[@ianbertenshaw4350]

I use a home brewed arduino controlled version to keep the condensation on my lathe under control but didn’t think of adding a thermal cutout on the hot side , i did fit one to the cold side to stop it freezing up so i may have to modify the unit and my sketch and fit a hot side cut out . Thanks for the excellent video Clive !

[@syedshabirahmed6132]

plz share the idea [e-mail]

[@FerralVideo]

I bought a box of raw Peltier plates. Why? For fun, of course! Running them with the cold side exposed and the hot side properly cooled will result in substantial ice very quickly. One is a very large one that I haven't figured out an effective way to keep it cool when running at full power. It's a powerful one. IIRC it's like 200w. Even computer grade heat sinks allow it to get uncomfortably hot, and I don't want to blow it up. I've also got a peltier mini-fridge and a peltier drink cup cooler. The latter can also build substantial ice on it if I don't have a drink sitting on it while set for full power. These things are just so neat! :D Also, use computer-grade thermal compound to replace the goop they put in there. It's what I use, but I also work on computers a lot, so have a lot of it. It'll improve transfer efficiency. You can also get compounds designed for low temperature operation, or for ultra long service life.

[@morelenmir]

Nothing like a nice piece of Trim on a Sunday morning.

[@davelowets]

8:59 I'm not sure either... I don't see a need for a decoupling cap, or any smoothing there?? 🤷🏻 Maybe just force of habit? 😆

[@SeanBZA]

Best at 30C, well that would work by me then, as it is 29C indoors, and 60% RH at the moment at 10PM. But the fan does something similar, and with lower power use as well, though the RH is not changed, but it feels cooler.

[@benholroyd5221]

I believe a dehumidifier basically acts as a heat pump, pumping heat from the moisture in the air, into the air proper, added to that the inherent inefficiency of the peltier adds more heat. So no, I wouldn't want this in a hot climate.

[@Kelsdoggy]

Fascinating What’s the disk and drum one that you mentioned at the end Clive? Would love to see a video on that dehumidifier

[@robertgolding5398]

they are desiccant type lookup dry it out .com they sell them and have a good explanation of how they work. i have 3 of them in a very damp Cornish House. they pull around 3 litres of water a day out and work at low temperatures.

[@shanejohns7901]

I wonder what the cost would be to provide enough of these to provide a single adult human with enough drinking water for one day per day of operation? I would think that a well would probably be more cost effective. But I would be curious to know by how much? Both a well and a Peltier dehumidifier could be rigged up to pump their products into storage tanks, and could conceivably both run 24/7. But if you needed to pack up and move to a new location frequently enough, sinking a new well on each move could be tedious.

[@bigclivedotcom]

I doubt this unit could provide enough drinking water in a day, even in ideal conditions.

[@davelowets]

The well would be the solution

[@frankowalker4662]

Those Peltiers are bloody clever devices.

[@jamescollins6085]

Clever, but terribly inefficient. I can't think of any use for these that a compressor couldn't do better.

[@zombie_pigdragon]

If you still have this around, could you measure the temperatures at around 13:54? I'm curious just how well it can cool the air, given how inefficient it is but with the report being "painfully cold."

[@bigclivedotcom]

I would expect the net result of this unit will be warmer air after the cooling and heating.

[@sonixthatsme]

Lekkere speculaas pop. The big cookie is called an speculaas doll. And it is very good.

[@throttlebottle5906]

the capacitor is likely just to dampen noise from the fan/s going back down the power supply cord.

[@BenJamin-en3jb]

Just being curious, would the noise make it past the power supply unit? I noticed the fan runs quite a bit after the switch has been released - maybe it's intentional to keep cooling the hot side for a few seconds after the peltier has been shut off.

[@MarkParkTech]

re-subscribed to your channel. Apparently your channel was one of the ones that youtube dropped my subscription for a while ago, and I have so many you got missed when I was putting them back. Anyway, I should be getting your channel updates again :D

[@matambale]

Heat sink, and a cold sink, or would that be a cold source?

[@MightyRude]

That thermal paste looks very familiar It's the same ceramic based thermal compound that caused the red ring of dead with the xbox 360 the blue light of death with the PlayStation3 and made 2000-2008 PC's very slow and noisy

[@goku445]

makes sense

[@_DSch]

The paste was normal, it was the gpu being badly designed that bricked those consoles. Also back in the day (pre ryzen) amd chips ran so fucking hot that even the expensive paste was dry in 1/2 year.

[@MightyRude]

@@_DSch The consoles were never really bricked, it was just a case of scraping off the hardened thermal paste and replacing it with a standard thermal paste and the problem was fixed.

[@_DSch]

@@MightyRude early consoles might have worked but still failed again later on. You basically extended the timespan for the death a little bit. Reballing or reflowing also never fixed the issue. On the PS3 Sony hacked the consoles in for repair so that the gpu from the slim is compatible to the fat. They would never do that if the chip design was not faulty.

[@fornsphin]

Wouldn't that fan work better if it was spinning the right way? Just turned around so it would still pull the air the right way?

[@superdrummergaming]

I have almost the exact same model but even larger. Works well for being so much smaller than a standard dehumidifier.

[@sergeant5848]

My dehumidifier sits on the wall. Runs off a 240v compressor. Has Hi/Med/Lo controls. Self empties too unless the bugs decide to build their nest in the drain pipe. Great in the summer when the temp gets over 30C !

[@davelowets]

Yep. An A/C unit makes for a great dehumidifier.

[@lostjohnny9000]

We had a Land Rover 'fridge for our secret office milk stash. It was a super-insulated toploader armrest design. It always had a beautiful white crystal of frozen dense ice covering the TEC.

[@savneetsinghrairai6823]

I bought Peltier plate n mount it on pc heat sink the other side become cold after a while it was frosted with ting water drops freezed...I amazed to se it cooling...12v 60amps it was rated looks it has two 30amp plates but how are they placed....

[@neomaster341]

I had one exactly like that in white from Aldi, it worked excellently up until the point the plug melted and it didn't anymore.

[@andygozzo72]

bad design, the connector was obviously not suitable

[@jasonmonk7336]

Any good ideas for, say, someone with a penchant for solar power who has got a very mouldy shed?

[@tin2001]

Something like one of these just plugged straight into its own dedicated solar panel? Just beware that they'll still run OK with voltage dropped down, but go over about 13-14v for too long and it'll roast itself. Pick a solar panel close to the Peltier element rating (even if you get mostly cloudy days).

[@bigclivedotcom]

A computer style ventilation fan to create airflow through the shed? (With matching grill at the other end.)

[@davelister796]

ha ha. I thought of Julian Ilett too. ... But I bet Julian's fan will be just fine. Although he does like to tinker. He might enjoy using his Arduino Temp/Humidity remote sensor , to log and plot out the data of Fan alone vs. Peltier Dehumidifier.

[@petertr2000]

@@bigclivedotcom That's what I always planned to do. Even a fan at the bottom pointing in, and a fan at the top pointing out - to minimise the amount of wiring etc. Small panel on the roof and job done. Airflow is what you need for a shed, not dehumidification (in most cases)

[@richsmout550]

Hi, you didn't happen to note what the thermal fuse was did you? I have a one and the fuse has gone so trying to replace it but some of the text has worn off!

[@dr_jaymz]

I have the maplin one. The fan needed changing. Otherwise we use it a lot.

[@dr_jaymz]

Also yes, the psu broke.

[@Biomaterials_Science]

Just had a look at my one inspired by this. The microswitch for detecting presence of condensate holder is missing, although there is a space for it and a wedge on the container that both do nothing. Is this another dodgy fix for a problem? I can't imagine saving a microswitch would make enough difference to be worth it for profit.

[@dpyles9396]

Love your vids Clive! Question please - What is your go-to cable stripper for the rubberized jacket on the better mic cable? I would think you've had more than a little experience with mic cabling!

[@bigclivedotcom]

I often nibble delicately round it with a pair of side cutters.

[@ethankrambeck8425]

@@bigclivedotcom same but sometimes I use what i got if I dont got any I just rip it out of what ever its in

[@ZilinaSK]

These mini peltier based dehumidifiers are a complete waste of time, money and electricity. Buy yourself a proper compressor based unit and see the difference.

[@frogz]

.........tell that to people like me who use a 200 watt atx power supply to powerr 1 to chill a single can!

[@phil955i]

Or better still a dessicant wheel one, because the compressor ones don't really work in room temps. below about 12 degs. C, whereas the dessicant ones do.

[@scottfirman]

Yes, non repairable

[@Alexander_l322]

Hell yea! Mine only uses like 160watts and it fills its tank in 24 hours, no mouldy weed for me! :)

[@francistheodorecatte]

phil955i yeah, I had to put a dessicant wheel dehumidifier in my attic to cut down the 80%(!!!) RH it gets up to during the winter otherwise. fun stuff happens when morons seal up an old house built with fireplace heating in mind...

[@aigomorla]

You cant use standard PC paste, or a thermal pad because of how cold TEC's can get on the cold side. The hotside, you could use something more efficient (AS5, Thermal Grizzly), but not the cold side. The white stuff, is aluminum oxide paste (AS Ceramique type), which is better than the grey stuff for sub zero temps. This is why when you see people benching PC's with LN2, they use white paste and not grey. Unfortunately as you noted, the white stuff does dry out a lot faster then the grey stuff. Also the wonderful thing about TEC's is you can run them on PWM, to make them somewhat efficient. That is probably the best way to run a TEC and maintain a pretty competitive CoP against a phase compressor chiller.

[@micromem]

Could a peltier plate have usefulness in cpu cooling, rather than water cooling? Perhaps at a lower voltage as to not completely freeze the cpu (if possible). I assume water will still be collected and need to channelled out?

[@elevatoroperator2021]

No peltier coolers are not powerful enough

[@Anvilshock]

People always seem to fail to understand the difference between heat and temperature. Yes, people have attempted Peltier cooling, and with absurd expense, also achieved it. It's not just reaching the temperature, it's also removing the heat at the rate it's generated to KEEP the temperature. Peltiers are notoriously power-hungry and inefficient, and they also produce a significant amount of heat on their own, heat that needs to be dissipated in addition to what the cooled part produces. Water cooling produces negligible heat (at the pump) and is capable of taking away large amounts of heat that can be dissipated cheaply somewhere else, simply by running the coolant pipes somewhere else. Peltiers are only preferrable if you need to reach temperatures significantly lower than ambient and when you cannot have moving parts.

[@teknoguy2002]

The thermal paste will often dry out, but it usually takes some time. So long as it's not disturbed, it's usually still relatively effective. Once you remove the heat sink though, you'd definitely want to clean it off and re-apply some thermal paste to the unit before re-assembling it.

[@stg45]

15mm 01 : yes there is a thermal cutout in case the fan shot down and the peletier overheat ..