DIY Thermo-Electric Generator! Generate Electricity w/candles! run lights, radios, fans! Peltier Pwr

DIY "Candle Powered" Thermo-Electric Generator! generate electricity from heat! (using Peltier chips). unit produces enough electricity to run low voltage lights, radios, fans and more! all shown in the video. great for general "off grid" use or for emergencies/power outages. so far I've run lightbulbs, lighting panels, radios, fans, clocks, buzzers and motors. almost sounds too good to be true, but it isn't. fun little project to make with some good solid practical uses. items needed: 2 Peltier chips, 3 tealights, and a large heat sink (along with a strip of copper sheet metal and a flat stone brick). it's wild how simple it is.
Note: I experimented with several different designs of the generator to get the best output voltages and currents needed to run many common low voltage items. some footage of that is included in the video (showing how i got to the final design). as always, remember to share, like, comment, subscribe and everything else! 🙂👍
🟢 btw, walmart sells the tealights cheap ($3.87 for 50 or $4.97 for 100). super good deal. the Peltier chips, heat sink and copper (24 gauge) are from amazon. brick is from home depot.
🟢 links to my videos about the "lighting panel" and the homemade fan are listed below.
The "Lighting Panel" video • How to Make Powerful L...
The Homemade Fan (with orange blade) video • Homemade Fan! ~ The D...
note: the unit as designed will run almost anything in the 3 to 4.5-volt range.
(so almost anything that runs on 2 or 3 'AA' or 'AAA' batteries will work).
**charging batteries is also possible with this unit (will be a future video)

[@techtinkerin]

Making the wasted heat into light is a pretty useful idea👍😎

[@desertsun02]

i'm thinking of making a second unit, then i could have one running a light and the other running the radio (or fan). good in a brief power outage.

[@techtinkerin]

​@@desertsun02definitely worth more attention, people have used candles as light for hundreds of years so to make them emit tons more light is pretty amazing tbh. Great stuff! 😁

[@pistolwhipped7714]

@@desertsun02 can these be put into boiling water , as in a thermos and make it a power supply? just an idea

[@ladygracesparkles]

Your channel was the very first channel I subscribed to on KZbin, you always have great content. 👍

[@desertsun02]

hi and thank you!

[@JonnnyStorm]

honestly this idea is pretty lit 🔥

[@Mr.Grumbdy]

Great work as usual . I really like your videos .

[@desertsun02]

thank you 👈

[@21degrees]

Thumbs up again...Great Job.

[@X02switchblades]

This can be extended to use with a woodstove, say you're in a cabin in the woods and the only source of energy is wood!

[@jesuschrist1501]

brother keep going... just keep at it bro. this is the future, keep exploring this idea. i'm getting off on this brother, you don't know how much i am lol. you're getting really close to the next future of generators.

[@jamesevans225]

As usual your videos are inspiring. So I am thinking about using this to charge batteries at night using long burning kerosene lamps. I'd use solar during the day. This idea solves my problem with laptops and cell phones in use running out of power at night by keeping their batteries topped off. I know I'd need more chips wired in series to get enough voltage.

[@townbell2248]

Thank you so much for so sharing this!!! :)

[@desertsun02]

You bet!

[@PraxisPrepper]

Cool video.

[@desertsun02]

hi and thank you!🔥🔥

[@fishyerik]

Have you tried using evaporative cooling for the cool side? The amount of power you can get out depends largely on the temperature difference, so having an open aluminium container with water that evaporates for cooling could improve performance significantly over just a dry heat sink. Also, most peltier elements really doesn't like too high temperatures. How high temperature they can take without damage varies a lot, but cheap ones are typically much more sensitive to high temperatures, than more expensive ones made to withstand high temperatures, like those typically used in those stove top fans.

[@patriotjc]

I love this

[@desertsun02]

it's one of my current favorites too. i like it so much that i've recently started working on a larger unit. the larger unit can output 3, 6, 9 or 12v and can be powered with many different types of fuel. i've tried things like ethanol, isoprophyl alcohol, vegetable oil, olive oil and cricso so far and they all work great. now i just have to film the video.

[@1realtruthrightnow742]

Roofers are furious.

[@desertsun02]

you mean because I'm using their "copper roof flashing" for this?

[@1realtruthrightnow742]

No my man, was just a joke related to the stupid youtube ads. All good.

[@mnight207]

Love all your videos. Ideas on cooling down off grid or SHTF?

[@desertsun02]

make sure to check the channel. i've got dozens of off grid air coolers (many if not most run on 12v, solar or batteries too) 🙂👍

[@mnight207]

@@desertsun02 Thank you. Have you checked those 12v mini splits?

[@desertsun02]

hi. yes i have seen those. very cool.

[@townbell2248]

I have tried doing the leds like the ones you assembled on the breadboard but I am not sure where the +/- of the led goes. Im still learning

[@jonnygrowlately]

ALSO, copper price is about to break new records btw.... expected to reach $15k per ton😎

[@Squentinquentin]

I’ve always wondered if you could make a peilter chip solar panel . I’m personally limited by funds to try it but I would think with a large enough black surface area and chips you may rival a silicon panel

[@GEAUXFRUGAL]

Ask me hybrids should have a way to make steam powered generators from the heat or the exhaust.

[@MichaelR58]

Impressive video thanks for sharing YAH bless !

[@desertsun02]

hi and thank you! 🙂🙏

[@townbell2248]

I have a couple heat sinks from a couple broken electronics I took them out of

[@Wayneburg]

Could these be used against the skin to use body heat to power a wearable air conditioner?

[@alariaesculenta8177]

This is great ! Any way to store this energy into a battery ?

[@desertsun02]

thanks! absolutely, you can. i talked about it briefly in the video but you can easily charge AA and AAA batteries with this (in just a few hours). the unit could also be doubled in size to get about 6v then you might be able to charge a 5v lithium battery. i may make a separate video on charging batts.

[@techtinkerin]

Yep, blow out the candles haha.. or use the power to charge a battery but it loses some energy so this is why blowing them out would store the energy.👍

[@odinowlfather]

Peltier chips in a metal sun box heater

[@sistergoldenhair2231]

Dimensions of the copper plate please. Would more layers of copper increase the heat output? Going to make this. Thank you.😊

[@desertsun02]

hey, that's great you're going to make it! the copper piece i used is 2" wide, 1 1/8" high and about 4 3/4" long. i noticed on amazon that they sell 2" wide, 2.5" wide and 3" wide strips of this copper (12" long). that would probably be the way to go. you can easily cut it with tinsnips. i usually buy the copper in bulk but you never know what sizes they will send you when you buy in bulk.

[@k.g.4074]

What happens voltwise if you put those peltier chips on a hot wood stove?

[@desertsun02]

hi. it should work on stove but you'd have to be careful not to overheat the chips. the tealight setup is 'self-limiting" so it never gets too hot (it's about as hot as you should run the chips). they could handle a little more heat but not much.

[@TheHuntermj]

Would thermal paste increase efficiency very much?

[@desertsun02]

in this case it wouldn't matter much because everything is very flat (and you have the weight of the heat sink to compress it all together.

[@townbell2248]

How do you test the peltiers with a multimeter to make sure they work? A couple of the ones I bought came cracked. Ugh :(

[@desertsun02]

hi. you can just set the multi-meter to volts (i set it on the 20v setting) and then take a reading by touching the leads on the meter to the leads on the peltier chips. i've never gotten any cracked ones but i've heard it can happen.

[@townbell2248]

@@desertsun02 Thank you I’m hoping they will still work!

[@townbell2248]

@@desertsun02 I tried it on continuity and it beeped but the numbers were all over the place

[@thehazelnutspread]

Is there really a difference between a TEC & a TEG besides how they are hooked up? They look exactly the same and I'll bet they are interchangeable

[@desertsun02]

hi. it's basically the same thing. some claim that TEG is made a little tougher or more rugged but i've never noticed any difference. you can definitely just use the standard TEC peltier chips like i did for this project. the 12706 is the way to go. works great! i've used it now for 30 or 40 hours total and it's going great. a solid 3v hour after hour with no problems. one quick tip: if you decide to make this project be sure to use the 12706 peltier (not a larger peltier like a 12715). i've tried those more powerful peltiers and they actually produce LESS electricity (a lot less in some cases). Apparently, they are good for producing more 'cold air' if you're using the peltier for that purpose (but not for making electricity with heat).

[@toyotaprius79]

Goddamn

[@GEAUXFRUGAL]

Truck driver will throw away Coleman $100 e fridge. They contain a diode that is usually good. Almost anything that adds or removes heat by reversible electric is done with pelter diode.

[@TroyTime02]

Hey Desertsun02. Great stuff as always. On my channel, I have a video showing a simple hack to get an old cell phone to play fm radio with 1/4 of a watt. Also, it can play videos for just 3/4 of a watt. It looks like your 3 candle set-up could power it. You should check it out if you get the chance . It is called how to turn a $6 droid x2 into a super low power file player. I'll definitely be replicating your set up here. I already have the copper from your previous videos and I have the TEGs on hand already. Cheers! :)

[@desertsun02]

sweet! i've already got some more peltiers on order too (for upcoming projects).

[@drdaveaz967]

Subscribed - looked like some interesting videos on your channel. Will definitely be browsing through later!

[@des2610]

What dis Voo Doo magic you doen here???!!!

[@desertsun02]

it almost seems like magic

[@ruthannmarie7119]

Whats a heat sink ?

[@desertsun02]

it's bascially a big piece of metal that 'sinks' or draws the heat away from the top of the peltier chips. the more heat you draw away from the top the more power you get out of the chips

[@6BlackWings]

1 watt of power. Call the news.

[@broder1929]

WHY SPEND ON PELTIERS,BRICK, to runLED LIGHT- when you can just use the candle? Hilarious 😂😂 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 I'll forgive because most vids superb Please make a steam turbine 👍👍👍👍👍

[@desertsun02]

this way you get both the light of the candles plus "lightbulb light" or "lighting panel" light. the light from those has much broader coverage and can fill the whole room or rooms with light. plus unit can run fans and radios etc... both great to have in "off-grid" conditions 🙂