DIY Air Conditioner with Peltier modules

Hello guys!
Can we build an Air conditioner unit with Peltier modules? Yes, but is it any good? Today we will find out.
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12703 peltier module: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_9xMJvx
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[@rpbajb]

The cutting precision of your construction is impressive. I wish my projects looked as nice.

[@alpha_pixel_]

It is cnc cut

[@woodzyfox4735]

I cant even get my 3d prints this nice >_>

[@Gambiarte]

The most honest video about peltier conditioners I've ever seen. Excellent job!

[@MitsuZer0G]

10:45 Sorin: I turn the PC and lights off because I don't want a heat source in this room Also Sorin: switches on a 200 W power supply to "cool his room" 🤪😂

[@3v068]

If his power supply is extremely efficient, the heat generated would be nearly negligible, it would be better than a 12v wall socket adapter or other common power supplies.

[@webdev217]

Yeah takes heaps of power.. better put the power source outside the room you want to cool!

[@shamancredible8632]

200 watt power supplies won't normally significantly affect room temperature.

[@fluxcapacitor]

Neither a 4W LED light bulb

[@napoleonwilson3912]

Thank you for being honest about your results. Your cat is also a welcome addition.

[@LifeGeneralist]

Great attempt and goes to show why Air conditioner companies still use compressor based coolers

[@WayneBain]

I love your helper. I had one for 14 years that was involved in every project I did, he just had to be with me when I was working on my hobbies. Alas, time took him away and I miss the heck out of him. I like the way you explained the "real world" effects of your experiment. Too many people would do the same experiment and claim it cooled the whole room by 20 degrees. Great job.

[@tonyc7352]

I watched the whole video, didn't think I would but impressive, fair and lots of detail.

[@jamess1787]

"cardboard is a *sheet* insulator" Well done Sorin! 🥁

[@321tryagain]

Even after doing the work to select the best peltier TEC, you still prove that peltier devices are not very good for cooling unless you have free electricity.

[@manjulawijerathne382]

planned for this project but dropped it after seeing your video. Thanks

[@GemunuJayasinghe]

Very helpful explanation . Sir , thank you so much for sharing your technical knowledge . I am from Sri Lanka .

[@anuththararukshani8370]

I like how you keep the thermometer at the place where the cold air comes out. Other youtubers put it inside the heatsink and trick us.

[@panna8902]

Excellent experiment, i appreciate your interest and patience, you are really great 👍❤

[@DJBriers]

Thank you for an honest and really enjoyable video

[@melliniumgorx1926]

As always i absolutely enjoy watching ur videos brother 🎉😊 keep up the good work

[@user-nk6mq7dn8u]

Great project to cool an outdoor cabinet with electronics.

[@annapl1]

planned for this project but dropped it after seeing your video 👍

[@kn3148]

Very funny & honest report of your project!

[@ZubairKhan-vs8fe]

I always enjoy your videos and learn alot. Please make more videos for us

[@wavysoundz1]

I loved this video! Thank you so much!!

[@glasseffect]

This would definitely save hours, efforts and power for anyone thinking of making ab air conditioner out of peltier modules. Its enticing, but impractical. Thanks for sharing!

[@bubbleboy821]

I'm not so sure that this can be deemed impractical yet. There are many ways to improve this. And he didn't do it at the same power scale as a typical window AC unit. I'd like to see this done with 900w-1,000w worth of peltier modules, intake from the inside instead of from the outside, the power supply outside, and possibly more insulation.

[@glasseffect]

@@bubbleboy821 Yes, it's enticing, but, the wow factor ends there. The returns are unremarkable.

[@jessemoura9984]

​@@bubbleboy821Se vai usar tanta potência assim 900w a 1000w é praticamente o consumo de um ar condicionado, até mais na verdade, um ar condicionado split é por volta de 750 a 900w

[@Spaceman694]

ah, i found this channel again when i needed it the most

[@pindrixsechon6311]

I'm just discovering your channel ( thank you, youtube algorythm ! ) and I really enjoyed this video, you just got a new subscriber, congratulations !

[@neroprojekt]

I had the Cardboard all years to output my non-stationary AC. As outside protection i used the Gold/Silver emergencycover to reflect the IR-radiation. With Ductape it was realy strong :)

[@Netsuko]

One easy way to make the carboard a better insulator would be to glue aluminum foil onto the outside surface so it reflects more sunlight instead of soaking up the sun. If you also add a layer of styrofoam between the cardboard and the aluminum it should be pretty effective.

[@joannes1945]

That video was informative and entertaining. Thanks.

[@jamesfranklin5541]

From one electronics dork to another - Thanks! I have a design to make one of these for my sailboat - very informative - you have a new subscriber

[@MrHaggyy]

If you build get good peltiers with a propper datasheet. Those modules move heat depending on voltage or current, but as any component it produces heat with the square of the current. Some even work in both direction so you could build a closed loop AC control like in your car.

[@sam3317]

this kzbin.info/www/bejne/rneUYmaXitGNndEsi=JkJaNttzaZXlGb-O is a better idea for a yacht a/c, I've built one for mine, it's really effective.

[@jayatissadon3583]

Very helpful explanation. thank you.

[@troy3456789]

Great video. They work, but they require many design considerations since they are so close to each other.

[@babylonfive]

They technically work, but not well. As he showed, an amount of modules to actually cool well would be closer to 20, and that would use over 2000W. Further, Peltier (Seebeck) modules put the cold and hot so damnably close to each other that the insulation of these disparate areas is very difficult -- perhaps that's what you meant? Better design will not make a solid-state aircon work any better or more efficient. That's why there aren't any commercial units of that type.

[@TyrianHaze]

@@babylonfive Better design would make a solid state aircon work better though. It's the whole point of engineering to play with he variables to make things more efficient.

[@VaGab]

Tot corect si drept. Multumesc pentru dimostratia. Salut V.

[@Yaboidosh_]

Finally a honest Peltier AC video! I feel if you got more airflow on the outdoor heatsinks there may be better results

[@chrisbritton8326]

I enjoyed your video and I subscribed. I believe there are other diy projects or builds that can cool a room for less energy/watts. I like how you make your videos. Very interesting.

[@Guishan_Lingyou]

Fun video, and honest about the results. I'm guessing there is no way to make an airconditioner better than a commercial one or someone would already have developed it as a commercial product. But who knows?

[@marsrover001]

"better" is subjective. The high pressure pumps and gases are certainly the easiest. But another channel has done experiments to find effective cooling using a chemical liquid based system. It's quite large but very efficient.

[@MrHaggyy]

It depends. Industry uses peltiers in combination with compressors. The compressor get's you roughly down, the peltier keeps your room inside 1 degree. But you need more modules and get the current per module down as P=R*I^2 creates a lot of heat inside the module.

[@MiguelDeMarchena]

The only youtuber that i blindly push like before watching video and never had disappointed me, Great job master Sorin.

[@abdultairu]

Heating or cooling anything aren't cheap, I respect this guy's honesty (at 12:59 mark). One can play around this all you want, but if you need real cooling, get a proper air conditioner.

[@michaeldiso9842]

Great project! I do think, you can improve temps on cold side by installing more and better fans on the hot side, more airflow is better. So is with the cold side too.

[@Ratified_inc]

This is a great video to teach people about how a peltier can work. I don't know if it's been mentioned but if you moved the fan you had cooling the hot side to pull cooler air from inside it will make the cold side colder, the info I found is if you want the cold side to be cooler put a bigger heat sink on the hot side as the more heat you can pull away the cooler the cold side gets. This could be a mk2 version where you put a water cooler on the hot side, if you put a water block on the cold side I would make sure the coolent has antifreeze.

[@bazrazin1]

a 90w peltier has a btu of just 100, a 200 ltr fridge of 150w gives a cooling of 450w & is 1800 btu , the efficiency of refrigerant based heat pumps is more than 100, probably this is the reason no one is ready to make a ac based on peltiers.

[@donkyboy]

Check the ThermoTEC™ 170 Series - 5500 BTU Solid State Thermoelectric Air Conditioner

[@theJackWise]

Brilliant. Thank you

[@tejasvpatel83]

your all projects are great, but, mostly i like it when your all time available supervisor comes in picture with your company :)

[@jw3843]

Great video. Water to air is definitely better on power. Especially with usb powered fan and water pump.

[@alkareem2u]

The cool side should have one air input, one air output. Creating the airflow in one direction, also have the car type vent on the exit side. Use a better insulation in between the cool side and the hot side. One peltier module will drop the temp with about 17degrees in a 25 liter coolerbox. Wich is an enclosed space. How many liters does a room have? :) nice thinking though.

[@asimmatt5563]

Thank you for speaking true!

[@johndevries7122]

Interesting video and I think the idea behind your prototype is good. What I can think of so quickly after seeing your video is that the exhaust fan has too little capacity, also the fan on the cooling side. I would also recommend making a double separation between the hot and cold side in this DIY box. Try that first before purchasing more peltier. Let us know if the difference has increased. Succes, greetings from a 28 degrees C. Rotterdam.

[@johnsonlam]

Fun project.

[@gaurav-jr8zk]

finally i can make my own ac for my sciece project oh wait i had a fight with my firend about making a fridge not an ac because it is less efficient seeing your test videos i noticed that 12703 peltier module gives highest coolness even makes ice if i had used these peltier module in my fridge i could even make a freezer or make it water cooled i gotta send this video to my friend now

[@ljbarcalla1068]

If use air for cooling the hot side maybe you extend the intake using flexi hose and position in lower and shaded area. Then extend also the exhaust using tube away from the intake. Thanks for making this project I learned a lot.

[@santoshbansode697]

Really interesting and informative videos and thanks for making this video ``````❤❤❤❤❤

[@electrodacus]

The hot side ventilation is super restrictive. Remove all the case around those hot side heatsink's an use 3 fans. Also reduce the voltage to about 6 maybe 7V to the peltier for increased efficiency total power consumption will be around 30W including all the fans. Then all you need to do is multiply this by around 10x and you will have a decent enough room air conditioning. So 40 peltier modules each around 6 to 7W with a COP of around 1 thus about 280W of cooling power likely just good enough for that one room.

[@zeropoint-1041]

thanks for straigt up honesty, a relief from all the BS youtube pushes

[@wellseewho]

Dude! It's all about temperature differentials. You must "pre-cool" the hot side first in order to let the peltier device to work more efficiently. Things you can do, for example, keep the hot side away from the sun, use water cooling, etc. Also, calculate the BTU. Your room might have bad insulation so your west facing wall can be very hot to begin with. You didn't make a good air conditioner doesn't mean the theory is bunk.

[@marcelb.7224]

Very nice Omule!

[@matthewwalker6621]

If you run the vents through the floor it will work a lot better, I have seen a unit like yours used with pipe running three foot under the ground and it worked fantastically

[@dreezy100]

thanx for testing it out.. I see fake videos and it looks nice, but in your video, i can see the actual results.. Thanx

[@immanueldorai]

I loved your cat's action supplementing your project as a partner.❤

[@amaldeep1182]

Honest video about peltier

[@iosifferencz5432]

Ca sa aveti rezultate bune la climatizare trebuie neaparat sa izolati termic pe interior 1 peretele exterior 2 geamul .Dupa care faceti iar test+grafic+vedeti cu termoviziunea situatia si mai izolati soprafete ce radiaza caldura.Elementele Peltier au randament f mic=energofage. Multumim pentru calitatea prezentarii❤

[@rainbowcomputers212]

good explanation. thx

[@tophlaw4274]

a fun & informative project as always, Sorin. I'm curious if using a radiator would help with the efficiency of your build... so the peltier modules heat liquid inside a tank/reservoir instead of air, then the liquid would be pumped out to a radiator which will transfer the cold to the air & the warmer liquid returns to the top of the reservoir to close the loop. > Also, instead of venting the hot air horizontally, it would be better if the pipes were right over the heat sinks pointed upward with the fan repositioned to the bottom so natural air convection can pull more heat off the hot side. > Of course, the power used by the additional fan that pulls air through the radiator may offset the cooling gains with even more power consumption... but I'd be curious to see if this is a viable alternative. cheers & looking forward to your next adventure with your assistant Chichi!

[@Sorin_DIY]

Hi. With water cooling it will probably be a bit more efficient. But it will become more expensive. In the end it still needs more than 4 Peltier modules. So the water cooling needs to dissipate 200W of heat or more.

[@tophlaw4274]

​@@Sorin_DIY right... good point. :D I wish I had enough of a handle on fluid dynamics & heat transfer to make the calculations but in the end it would end up costing a lot more than traditional cooling systems or heat pumps. > btw, perhaps an idea for a future project: a DiY heat pump cooler using hobbyist parts & household chemicals (so no industrial refrigerants)... cheers & thanks for the insightful response! PS: say "meow!" to Chichi for me :D

[@Enderkruemel]

Best build i did see for a long Time... Also try to get an old used aio pc cooler for cheap. Make those tubes longer and its working a lot better. Also try to use an better 15A (12715) ore 20A (12720) peltier module, rather than more cheap ones. Its more efficient that way. I use an 20A one, the biggest that fits on the aio pump unit, and an 200mm x 300mm Aluminium heatsink on the cold Side freezes without an fan. With one it gets my room about 4°C colder in one hour when im in my room. Also my powesupply is Inside. But i have an small room that is also very good insulated. Maybe that helps also. I think also your heatsinks are way to small on the hot Side. Peltierelelments can only cool effective about 10-15°C below the Temperatur of the hot side.

[@Golliyo]

Great Video!

[@bummers]

Amazing project, I'm impressed! You may also want to put the heat radiator end on the outside of the cardboard? The line of the peltier modules should be the divider at the window cardboard itself so that no heat from the heating end escape into the room. Would be good if you do another video with this configuration? Thanks!

[@shaikaijaz0]

Finally you got new subscriber bro🎉

[@michaegi4717]

I also do some DIY with Peltier elements. For sure I will watch your other videos about this. I would like to build a fermentation box for sourdough. This is to be kept at a constant 28°C. The Peltier element must therefore be used as a heater for most of the year. I hope to be able to heat a small box with two elements. To reduce the current, connected the elements in series and double the voltage. First experiments suggest that I can run the elements at about half the rated voltage, which should boost the efficiency.

[@raututeodor5625]

I will use those peliter to make a cooler for a laptop. A stand that makes cold enough air to be sucked in be the laptop fan this way increasing the laptop cooling. Especially gaming laptops that reach 90 degrees or more.

[@joedirt1965]

I've read of high efficiency peltier modules but I don't think their commercially available and I bet still less efficient than a compressor. Commercial peltier AC units are/were sold for industrial applications were they can be installed in any orientation (upside down on a ceiling).

[@SAI_LINGESH]

Instead of using heat sinks for the hot side of peltier module, you can use liquid cooling techniques!, It will be more effective than your current made prototype. Thank me if I am right 👍🏻

[@sambarton202]

Impressive, maybe an improvement if interested window panel painted white on both sides with spacer 3rd layer to create a place for reflectix between. Would help in absorbed thermal from outside, oil base white paint is water proof

[@TirajAdikari]

As always came to see your Kitty Sorin :)

[@scaramonga]

Clever stuff!!

[@artgonzales5548]

amazing craation bro.

[@zr2ee1]

I remember being fascinated with these after getting my first mini fridge. Really cool physics but they drew a ton of power and were easily heat saturated. At best they had a temperature gradient between the sides of 40 degrees. Hopefully the technology has progressed but compressor systems are simply more efficient

[@mueffe1357]

With this smallish cooler... It's better to cool a smaller area like under a blanket rather than the whole room.

[@tobiwonkanogy2975]

im getting basically free solar every day and its getting kind of warm . ill do very similar but with pc cooling tower and minor box change for foam but this is very smartly done.

[@MrHaggyy]

Peltiers have a datasheet which tells you how you get a low temperature vs how to move heat most effectively. At 12V your cold side most likely suffers from the heat generated in the module. Somewhere around 5-7V should be more efficient. Then you can scale up the numbers of elements, probably 6-10x. And that's why they are never used for air conditioning. A compressor or an condensor move much more heat in a much cheaper package. Peltiers are cool if you need precise temperature control, extremely cold temperatures or you can afford the huge ones with proper Isolation between hot and cold terminal.

[@gatecrasher1970]

am going to try watercooling with raw sea water for my boat with a car radiator when summer comes

[@junky360]

Looks effective, I wonder if running the chambers with a low pressure fan configuration would help achieve better thermal efficiency?

[@averagestudent4358]

Fit the cool side behind a bldc pedestal fan , give proper duct out to hot side with a mini 12v fan which leads to a window frame as seen in portable AC's also add water cooling for the hot side. Don't intend to cool the whole room instead sit besides the fan and it should provide enough cooling near the main fan.

[@pickledmangoes]

Thank you.

[@masterimon6668]

That is so cool 😎

[@stevenA44]

Liked the video, love the cat. Also, I bet I have more of those CPU coolers than you do!! LOL I scrap old computers for parts like those, the fans, CD/DVD drives, and all sorts of other stuff. I like building things just like you do.

[@nick8231]

One thing that will help is have a more powerful fan for the outdoor and variable speedfan for the indoor with a much powerful power supply that is capable of giving enough power to it

[@radjeck9346]

Can I rent the cat ? I need a Checker for my food 😮 . " Cool " project . Pls more of this kind 😊

[@AaronSchwarz42]

You could spitz yourself with a bottle of distilled water, then stand in front a low speed fan, or sit, and the evaporating water will steal heat to chill you off efficiency / Peltier coolers like this are only about 4% electrically efficient as coolers when used in such solid state compact fridges and similar / cheap for sure, but not efficient / I am reminded of early gasoline engines //

[@garymucher4082]

The fact that Peltier modules are constructed so close together makes it almost impossible to get their individual effects separated from each other. And therein lies the hard problem. If you can make some type separator to keep one side from influencing the other, than you may have a successful build. JMHO But nice project all the same...

[@historyisfake9153]

They need to invent new things as its silly how much power they take. Ur video was the first and it was a great experiment xx

[@samohraje2433]

One thing- you should try to power the outside fan with a little bit more voltage with DCDC step up converter to increase an air flow through the heatsinks. This will deffinitively help a lot. The maxximum temperature outside in your country is probably 35c so when the heatsinks has 40c ( only if they are cooled enough ) the temps of the cold side will be somewhere around 10-12c, with fan enabled, maybe 20 at worst. And last but not least, i will add not one but all 3 fans outside and left the side holes open to help hot air escape much more easily. This is only my opinion what you could've done better. 200W of " cooling " is enough to cool 20m2 room 2-3 degrees lower as it is outside. But i will be using more than 4 modules, maybe 8 or 12 to get 600W of cooling and i will add one big fat alluminium heatsink to the hot side and maybe 4 fans to keep every TEC in a outside temperature range. And for the cold side i will also add one big allu heatsink and one 120mm fan. Outside fans will be also 120mm with DCDC set to 14V instead of 12 , more airflow, more cooling on the other side

[@Sorin_DIY]

Yes, these upgrades will definitely improve the cooling. This video was my first attempt at building an air con with Peltier modules. I will build a new and improved version with more Peltier modules, bigger heatsinks, bigger fans, better window panel (maybe with the window semi-closed). But it will take time to order all the components and build it, so it will probably be ready next summer :)

[@stamantheshaman]

@@Sorin_DIY Just use the same one, but have fans blowing (pulling and pushing air- 4 total fans) from the sides and use 2 hoses to get/excaust the air from outside while keeping the window mostly closed

[@paw1gaming]

You should make a swamp/water cooler tutorial. These things actually cool air and they don't consume as much energy.

[@wagnonforcolorado]

Swamp coolers are good for certain areas, and don't work in others. When humidity is low, the evaporative cooling works well. However, if you live in a humid region, the evaporation of the water is low, and you don't get much cooling.

[@thejnickable6]

I watched this video last night before bed, and I dreamt that I built one of these, for my house, but it had like a hundred Peltier circuits and instead of air-cooled heatsinks, I used water blocks that were cooled by circulating water from the swimming pool. The "air conditioner" was run from solar power. I woke up before it got dark in my dream, so don't know how it worked at night. I never saw a massive battery bank to handle such a huge amperage draw. If I ever get back to that dream, I'll let you know how it turns out and whether it burns down the house.

[@martinesproduction]

Thanks Sorin for experimenting again with Peltier panels. I was always fascinated with Peltier modules, but never had opportunity to solve the heat issue properly and keeping energy consumption low compared to other already available devices on market. Thanks to heat pumps (also small ones), there are plenty of choices out there for heating or cooling and their prices are also dropping. Therefore, Peltier panels probably will stay forgotten for another 100 years :) Maybe you could do an experiment with a little solar panel (I know a lot of ampere would be needed and easily it can become unreasonably expensive project) and a small heating module made of Peltier panels for winter. This way it could be completely green solution, if feasible.

[@BarbaroR4]

Nice video.

[@greggv8]

The hot side of the box should be well insulated, ideally it should be entirely outside. The best heat sinks would be from early BTX style desktop PCs. They often had a kilogram or more of metal in them.

[@MrHeraldx]

wow this is cool I was always curious how it will turn out if i make something like this.. the question is how about the humidity absorb from the room? I would love to see an upgraded version of this. Huge Thumbs up

[@Raress96]

Nice! I am wondering if there is some mini compressor w evaporator etc on Alliexpres for making something more efficient

[@RandoniumTJ]

That was a really nice build and a pretty honest video... But hate to break it to you, when it comes to cooling a room, Peltier modules are useless as shit... you would need at least a panel of 200 Peltier modules side by side on a grid, let alone the hassle of cooling the hell hot temperatures it would produce on the other side and the astronomical power it would draw... Peltier modules are just fine for some niche applications, or at most, a portable mini refrigerator... Since you're so passionate about using Peltier modules to cool your room, what you can try next, is to build a water based room cooler, where the water chamber is cooled with Peltier modules, instead of ice or dry ice... I hope a grid of 10 Peltier modules, and a well insulated heat exhaust system will do the trick... Best of luck...

[@owenmcpro]

i deffinetley watched those videos, i decided to make my own cooler with peltier but more of a personal cooler instead of a room cooler

[@mohammadosmanbushra9884]

On thing you need to consider, the outside of your model, may recirculate the hot air, try to put elbows for the hot air to be discharged far from the fan sucking area.

[@Sorin_DIY]

Yes, I thought about that, it needs some longer pipes.

[@VideoNash]

thanks

[@manuelvaldez6783]

Espectacular

[@cactus3796]

great video disproving lies! thanks