TEC device troubleshooting [it's broken]

Chen

Carnivorous Plant Addict
Yes, work light on means both the fans and TEC are on. For example, if DT = 18°C and the current MT is 22°C, then work light should turn on and the device should cool the MT to around the DT before shutting off. If DT is higher than MT, then the work light should be off. At the time the device began to malfunction, the water was heating up after passing through the water block. I should note the device only allows for a "cooling" setting even though it utilizes the peltier effect.

Regarding the TEC's surface temperatures, I will retry measuring it after my thermal paste arrives. I only ran the TEC for a bit on top of the heat exchanger with the fans running because there is no thermal paste between the two components.
 

Lloyd Gordon

Cactus micrografter newbie.
Staff member
Peltier units can stop working. You may be able to buy a replacement. However it sounds like the circuit board isn't working either. It may be more expensive to fix the chiller than get a new one.:(
 

Chen

Carnivorous Plant Addict
It probably is more expensive to fix than replace. I was hoping I could get a replacement board from the manufacturer but I can't seem to find them on Aliexpress if I search "Geekteches". I bought this unit off eBay since it was faster shipping than importing from China. I will still salvage and reuse the parts while looking around for a new chiller replacement.
 

Lloyd Gordon

Cactus micrografter newbie.
Staff member
If the Peltier works or is replaced, you could run the chiller on a timer. You could adjust the on/off times to get it running efficiently and safely. It does seem like the circuit board is not workable. It would take a lot of fiddling to fix it. It would be probably be a lot easier to make a new controller. You could use an elementary thermostat circuit and make it fancy with bells and whistles later if you wish.
It looks like the chiller doesn't even have a temperature sensor on the Peltier.
If I made a chiller, I'd have temperature sensors on both faces of the Peltier, one for overheat shutdown and one to shut it down if it's not cooling. Electronic control is cheap, Peltiers aren't.
 
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