DSLR cooler - fridge polarity question

[michaelmorris]

Whilst on a tip run the other day a spied a mini fridge sitting on the concrete.  'A DSLR cooler' I thought, and quickly bundled it into the boot of my car.  

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/1225516.htm

The fridge came with no leads.  It has inputs for 230v and 12v inputs an on/off switch and a warm/cold stitch.  I found a suitable 230v flex and plugged it in, set it to cold and hey presto - it works! .  The temperature inside the fridge fell to 4oC in less than 30 minutes.

At the moment I have no way of powering it by 12v so I can't test that this input works.  I have a few questions relating to this.

 - Is the fridge likely to get the temperature down to 4oC if it runs on 12v?

- if yes, will it be significantly slower at reaching this temperature?

- If I get the polarity wrong when wiring it up to 12v, could I damage  it?

Thanks

 

 

[Cornelius Varley]

12 minutes ago, michaelmorris said:

Whilst on a tip run the other day a spied a mini fridge sitting on the concrete.  'A DSLR cooler' I thought, and quickly bundled it into the boot of my car.  

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/1225516.htm

The fridge came with no leads.  It has inputs for 230v and 12v inputs an on/off switch and a warm/cold stitch.  I found a suitable 230v flex and plugged it in, set it to cold and hey presto - it works! .  The temperature inside the fridge fell to 4oC in less than 30 minutes.

At the moment I have no way of powering it by 12v so I can't test that this input works.  I have a few questions relating to this.

 - Is the fridge likely to get the temperature down to 4oC if it runs on 12v?

- if yes, will it be significantly slower at reaching this temperature?

- If I get the polarity wrong when wiring it up to 12v, could I damage  it?

Thanks

 

 

1. Its a fridge so should work at 4°C at 12v

2. No idea

3. The mains 12v adapter appears to be polarised so it might get warm instead of cold if you get the polarity wrong 

[michaelmorris]

3 hours ago, Cornelius Varley said:

3. The mains 12v adapter appears to be polarised so it might get warm instead of cold if you get the polarity wrong 

Thanks.

Is there any risk of this cooking the peltier cooler?

[Cornelius Varley]

19 minutes ago, michaelmorris said:

Thanks.

Is there any risk of this cooking the peltier cooler?

Probably not. Peltier devices can work either way depending on the direction of the current https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_cooling .

[saac]

Could you disconnect all but the fan and check the fan rotation to determine the correct polarity - I suspect the fan should rotate such that it expels air from the unit.

Jim

[nightvision]

Open it up, it will have a PCB that likely requires the 12V volts to be connected correctly,  Look at the 12 volt connector and trace the wires or printed circuit tracks until you find a polarised capacitor on the board, this will indicate which way to connect the 12 volt supply.