Thermoelectric wine cooler drying and curing - DIY

refriedbeano · Aug 10, 2023

I looked into the thermoelectric dehumidifiers for a minute but couldn't find anyone selling the actual units on ebay. And some preliminary research into the mini dehumidifiers looks like they are barley able to register the effect. But these things are working for you?
If there is a great interest in these conversions I could provide some direction for a plug and play unit.

Hollatchaboy · Aug 10, 2023

refriedbeano said:
I looked into the thermoelectric dehumidifiers for a minute but couldn't find anyone selling the actual units on ebay. And some preliminary research into the mini dehumidifiers looks like they are barley able to register the effect. But these things are working for you?
If there is a great interest in these conversions I could provide some direction for a plug and play unit.

Yep. The dehuey works great

refriedbeano · Aug 10, 2023

Hollatchaboy said:
Yep. The dehuey works great

So do you know if it would work even if you don't put the dehumidifier inside? I think I heard ya'll are using thermoelectric wine coolers, so maybe you don't even need it?

Hollatchaboy · Aug 10, 2023

refriedbeano said:
So do you know if it would work even if you don't put the dehumidifier inside? I think I heard ya'll are using thermoelectric wine coolers, so maybe you don't even need it?

Not sure about that, but I'm not willing to risk it. I know the dehuey works though, cuz I can hear it click on, rh drops, then it clicks off, rh rises.

pahpah-cee · Aug 10, 2023

The shitty Dehum is perfect for us in this scenario. Not only does it strip moisture from the air it also adds heat. The heat causes the fridge peltier to go into over drive trying to cool the fridge back down. This is why I tell people the fridge does 90% of the work. The Dehum just guides our RH down.

if you look for the cannatrol patents they mention they use a heating element. They aren’t using dehums, just using heat and the fridge peltier.

Hollatchaboy · Aug 10, 2023

pahpah-cee said:
The shitty Dehum is perfect for us in this scenario. Not only does it strip moisture from the air it also adds heat. The heat causes the fridge peltier to go into over drive trying to cool the fridge back down. This is why I tell people the fridge does 90% of the work. The Dehum just guides our RH down.

if you look for the cannatrol patents they mention they use a heating element. They aren’t using dehums, just using heat and the fridge peltier.

Ok, that makes sense, cuz I noticed the temp rise when the dehuey is on. I did notice water dripping from the fins, so maybe the dehuey is doing a lil bit?

pahpah-cee · Aug 10, 2023

Hollatchaboy said:
Ok, that makes sense, cuz I noticed the temp rise when the dehuey is on. I did notice water dripping from the fins, so maybe the dehuey is doing a lil bit?

Totally! It does help. Typically with a peltier you want those fins on the outside of the enclosure. This would mitigate the heat. In our case, we will use the heat to our advantage. I like to think it’s an improvement on the cannatrol design which is only adding heat.

when you first load up your fridge the Dehum does pull a lot of water out. the more moisture in the air the more efficient those peltier style dehums are. If you try to use it in a dry environment they’re crap and don’t work.

Vonkins · Aug 10, 2023

Hook Daddy said:
It needs to have the ambient temp to pull from to cool the heat sink fins, without that cooling it will quickly overheat. In fact without the heat sinks the thermoelectric coolers overheat in a matter of seconds, wrapping the entire thing in insulation is a recipe for disaster IMO. If you can get the room to 78f that should be ok, esp. if you try Cannatrols settings of 68f to dry at which should still work very well, my room reaches 80f at times with no problem.

I never planned on wrapping it entirely. 3 sides for sure and possibly some on the back. I have to look at it 1st. I'm very creative and a diy kinda guy. Being a journeyman wireman and doing electrical work for 20 yrs in all sorts of industrial environments has taught me a few things. Spent 5 yrs at a nuclear plant building a unit.

Vonkins · Aug 10, 2023

I love building things, especially electronics. I built my leds in my flower and veg room. Flower room has 20 cxb's and veg room has 12, all on 6x48 inch heatsinks with 2 cooling fans each and dimmable

Hook Daddy · Aug 10, 2023

refriedbeano said:
So do you know if it would work even if you don't put the dehumidifier inside? I think I heard ya'll are using thermoelectric wine coolers, so maybe you don't even need it?

No, without the dehumidifier it will sit since it’s insulated, and eventually risk bud rot quite fast, it will hold the temp so no dehumidification, just rot. The dehumidifier sucks out the humidity and at the same time forcing the cooler to run, together they lower the rh quite well, which is what we want.

Hook Daddy · Aug 10, 2023

Vonkins said:
I never planned on wrapping it entirely. 3 sides for sure and possibly some on the back. I have to look at it 1st. I'm very creative and a diy kinda guy. Being a journeyman wireman and doing electrical work for 20 yrs in all sorts of industrial environments has taught me a few things. Spent 5 yrs at a nuclear plant building a unit.

Not trying to say anything about your knowledge or experience. I myself have have been around a bit. If you can effectively increase the insulation of the cooler it may help, I just doubt you can get anything much above the factory without more work than building your own unit. I am playing with ideas myself, but insulating the Koolatron is not easy and not one of my real considerations. Just saying.

Vonkins · Aug 11, 2023

Hook Daddy said:
Not trying to say anything about your knowledge or experience. I myself have have been around a bit. If you can effectively increase the insulation of the cooler it may help, I just doubt you can get anything much above the factory without more work than building your own unit. I am playing with ideas myself, but insulating the Koolatron is not easy and not one of my real considerations. Just saying.

Your good brother. I value others opinions. Seems like it'd be pretty ez. Cut 3 pcs 1 inch wider and longer than needed. So when front and sides are installed everything will be nice and square. I'm still not sure about the back insulation. Gotta check out the back of the unit 1st. Mine is still n the box.

Vonkins · Aug 11, 2023

Hook Daddy said:
Not trying to say anything about your knowledge or experience. I myself have have been around a bit. If you can effectively increase the insulation of the cooler it may help, I just doubt you can get anything much above the factory without more work than building your own unit. I am playing with ideas myself, but insulating the Koolatron is not easy and not one of my real considerations. Just saying.

So I noticed where u drilled ur hole there's a vent. How many of those are on the back. I'll just install insulation and cut a square out wherever a vent is.

Hook Daddy · Aug 11, 2023

Vonkins said:
So I noticed where u drilled ur hole there's a vent. How many of those are on the back. I'll just install insulation and cut a square out wherever a vent is.

There’s actually lots of venting and filters on the back, as well as the rear of both sides. The problem I see is that a TEC works by generating heat on one side and cold on the other, it’s basically a series of solid state transistors. The hot side is in the back with the fans and heat sink. The issue is that a TEC will only generate a difference of about 20f, so insulating the box better will allow it to run a bit more efficiently, but it still will not make it get colder. From everything I’ve read on TECs the only way to make them run colder on the one side is to dissipate heat more effectively on the hot side. I think it would be more efficient to increase cooling to the rear with more air flow like larger fans or a bigger heat sink. Not saying it will hurt anything to try and see what happens, just giving my best guess as to the results. Here’s a couple pics of the rear and side vents.

The rear with vents and filters for the fans

Here’s the side with vents as well

refriedbeano · Aug 11, 2023

pahpah-cee said:
The shitty Dehum is perfect for us in this scenario. Not only does it strip moisture from the air it also adds heat. The heat causes the fridge peltier to go into over drive trying to cool the fridge back down. This is why I tell people the fridge does 90% of the work. The Dehum just guides our RH down.

if you look for the cannatrol patents they mention they use a heating element. They aren’t using dehums, just using heat and the fridge peltier.

Do you have any idea that you could just plug into the existing circuit board and turn on/off the fridge unit with an arduino? For me it'd probably take me one afternoon to have something up and running. All you gotta do is grab on the power wires for the peltier units and plug it into a relay, throw in a moisture/temperature sensor, and adjust all the settings from the arduino IDE.

Vonkins · Aug 11, 2023

Hook Daddy said:
There’s actually lots of venting and filters on the back, as well as the rear of both sides. The problem I see is that a TEC works by generating heat on one side and cold on the other, it’s basically a series of solid state transistors. The hot side is in the back with the fans and heat sink. The issue is that a TEC will only generate a difference of about 20f, so insulating the box better will allow it to run a bit more efficiently, but it still will not make it get colder. From everything I’ve read on TECs the only way to make them run colder on the one side is to dissipate heat more effectively on the hot side. I think it would be more efficient to increase cooling to the rear with more air flow like larger fans or a bigger heat sink. Not saying it will hurt anything to try and see what happens, just giving my best guess as to the results. Here’s a couple pics of the rear and side vents.

The rear with vents and filters for the fans

View attachment 5317131

Here’s the side with vents as well

View attachment 5317132

I'm not trying to get it colder. I just want it to be able to maintain whatever temp I choose regardless of ambient temp. Just like u said efficiency is my goal

Hook Daddy · Aug 11, 2023

refriedbeano said:
Do you have any idea that you could just plug into the existing circuit board and turn on/off the fridge unit with an arduino? For me it'd probably take me one afternoon to have something up and running. All you gotta do is grab on the power wires for the peltier units and plug it into a relay, throw in a moisture/temperature sensor, and adjust all the settings from the arduino IDE.

What are you going to use as a dehumidifier? It will turn itself on and off without a controller, there’s one built in to the cooler for temp. And it took only a couple hours for me to build so why would it take you a whole afternoon to plug it in to a relay? I don’t get where you’re going with this. What are you trying to make? This is to dry and cure weed, not keep wine chilled.

Hook Daddy · Aug 11, 2023

Vonkins said:
I'm not trying to get it colder. I just want it to be able to maintain whatever temp I choose regardless of ambient temp. Just like u said efficiency is my goal

Ok, I was simply trying to point out the the principle behind peltier cooling is they drop a certain amount from ambient temp. No amount of insulating the cool side will change that. Even the Cannatrol states that ambient temp is a necessary factor in placement. I am hoping it will help to some degree and look forward to seeing what it does all the same.

pahpah-cee · Aug 11, 2023

refriedbeano said:
Do you have any idea that you could just plug into the existing circuit board and turn on/off the fridge unit with an arduino? For me it'd probably take me one afternoon to have something up and running. All you gotta do is grab on the power wires for the peltier units and plug it into a relay, throw in a moisture/temperature sensor, and adjust all the settings from the arduino IDE.

You don’t want the fridge peltier to ever turn off. It should always be running to maintain temperature and prevent massive fluctuations in the environment.

having the Dehum hooked up to an arduino that sloped the dry slowly down to your final point while never exceeding a set temperature would be the clutch move.

refriedbeano · Aug 11, 2023

Ok, so I'm not sure exactly whats going on. So you have a big ass petlier to cool the fridge and a small one for dehumidification. And since the petlier isn't a dehumidifier, it just changes the temperature like the big one, so I figured why not attach an arduino to the main unit and just use that? Maybe the big unit isn't exposed to the inside environment of the cooler? I mean before you send everyone out to buy dehumidifiers, you should test out the simplest solution, which would be to just use the main unit.

Thermoelectric wine cooler drying and curing - DIY

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