i found this link in my inbox, courtesy of j. peterson. we’ve posted a peltier beverage cooler before, but i think this one deserves mention as well. it hasn’t had the finishing touches, so it’s not as pretty yet. however, this one does come with a digital temperature readout. more importantly, it’s big. you could countersink a couple of these babies into your dining room table and start living the 21st century good life, as imagined way back in the mid-1900s.
just think, your home of the future, complete with soda-cooling, plate-heating countertops and a kitchen computer.
This is definately a “hack”. Spaghetti wiring and all, but still kind of cool.
Just be sure that you want heated arm-rests. Peltiers are extremely inneficcient.
good “hack” though
Now all I need is $400-$500 to install that soda fountain…
one more bastard son of a kegerator and i go postal…
Neat, but — If you scrounge, you can pick up a pretty good yard-sale deal (mine was free) on a Coleman/other “electronic fridge/heater” for car/home – the box of foam& cover had gotten crushed, but the pel system was fine, complete w/ 4-lb wall wart for home use. Fans for inside-outside were gonners, but I figure, unless some deterioration has occurred, a bigger, fan-cooled heatsink for the “hot” side and, if I can afford the tech, coupla coiled heatpipes for the cylander to hold the consumables ought to do the job, provided I *don’t* throw the switch the wrong way and cook the can beyond pressure retention point.
Biiig question – has anyone succeded in making a real heat pipe? Looks simple – looks are decieving. Of course the real trick NO ONE has ever solved, and we’re talkin Nobel solid state physics, is building a Pel that separates the hot and cold surfaces by n feet of wire another hey looks trivial job for a real Jack Hack…..