12 volt coleman cooler how does it work?

[NathanL]

They use a peltier cooler and do work, it takes a while to cool down however. Most people expect to plug it in and have stuff cool down instantly. I use the peltier cooler out of one on a box about 6" x 6" x 8" to cool down a digital camera while doing astrophotography and I can get it down to 20-25F on a 90F night "IF" I leave it on for 2 hours to reach that temperature.

If you want to use the same thing in something else you can search ebay for peltier coolers of varying sizes and put them in anything.

You can read this PDF that will tell you how long it will cool and how much it will draw on a battery at what temp in a nice chart for the 16quart cooler. I imagine the 40quart one is exponentially a bigger battery drain.

http://r1.coleman.com/Manuals/3000000540.pdf

Personally unless you have it plugged into your car while traveling it's not going to work because they are a big draw. Get a good cooler or build a better cooler and you can keep ice for up to 5 days even down here where it hits 100F during the day if you keep it shaded. Or get a refrig that will run off propane.

I personally use a yeti cooler but that would definetly blow your budget out of the water but it's great when offshore fishing or elk hunting and can keep 2 quarters of an elk on ice for up to 7 days or keep ice out on the gulf for 3-4 days easily in 90-95F heat. I wouldn't spend that much on a cooler just to go "camping".

[Forrest747]

I saw Harrison Ford make an ice machine in the jungle. I am sure we can strap something like that on the back of a trailer.

[Rick G]

This type of refrigeration is absorption like the old monitor refers of the twenties, but these don't use ammonia.
There the same as a RV refer.They heat a gas in side a coil. The same principal as any A/C or refer unit. High pressure , high temperature , low pressure low temperature. The refrigerant passes through a restriction which lowers the pressure and thus the temp. There using a heater instead of a compressor, to get the pressure differential.

[Nobody]

This type of refrigeration is absorption like the old monitor refers of the twenties, but these don't use ammonia.
There the same as a RV refer.They heat a gas in side a coil. The same principal as any A/C or refer unit. High pressure , high temperature , low pressure low temperature. The refrigerant passes through a restriction which lowers the pressure and thus the temp. There using a heater instead of a compressor, to get the pressure differential.

Ummmm, not exactly. Thermoelectric refrigeration (& heating) is nothing like compression or absorption units. Thermoelectric modules consist of a series of small cubes composed of Bismuth/Tellurium alloy (most common) sandwiched between two surfaces (usually ceramic), with other electrically conductive materials also in the sandwich. Applying DC current to the cubes causes heat transfer from one ceramic surface to the other, cooling one side & heating the other. Changing polarity will also change the direction of heat transfer, thus a single unit can be used for either heating or cooling. There are no moving parts except for a fan to help dissipate heat from the hot side of the module.

I have a small thermoelectric 'refrigerator/warmer' that I've had since the late 1980's. It was made by Brinsdon Corp. & only has a capacity of approx 17 12oz cans. It does cool pretty well as long as the ambient air temp stays under about 85*f. I've also used it to carry hot dishes to pot lucks & such by just turning the plug connector upside down. It does pull quite a lot of current (paperwork says about as much as a single auto headlamp, however much that is ) so I don't use it except when the engine is running & I always try to pre-cool/heat it before use as well as only adding pre-cooled/heated items. I also have an old 5amp 12vdc power supply from Radio Shack that I wired a 12v lighter type outlet to which I use to power the unit when I have 115vac available.




This is the 'business end' of the unit. Just turn the small rectangular plug upside down to switch from heat to cool

[suckerpunched]

I thought about one of those but as trying to keep it simple I've been using a reguler cooler with two 2 L bottles of frozen water in it. It has kept my food cold without the mess of melted Ice on two or three day trips.....plus it's always more drinking water when melted....but I don't take alot of food that needs cooling, mostly spam, taters, beans, and smoked sausage....probably another reason I sleep alone...
TC

[NathanL]

This type of refrigeration is absorption like the old monitor refers of the twenties, but these don't use ammonia.
There the same as a RV refer.They heat a gas in side a coil. The same principal as any A/C or refer unit. High pressure , high temperature , low pressure low temperature. The refrigerant passes through a restriction which lowers the pressure and thus the temp. There using a heater instead of a compressor, to get the pressure differential.

As mentioned no it's not. It uses a Peltier Cooler. I have taken them out of a coleman cooler to use in smaller enclosers to keep digital cameras cool while doing astrophotography with 5 minute plus exposures.

This is what they look like, in addition to the peltier cooler itself they have a small fan attached similar to a small computer fan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_cooling

This technology is far less commonly applied to refrigeration than vapor-compression refrigeration is. The main advantages of a Peltier cooler (compared to a vapor-compression refrigerator) are its lack of moving parts or circulating liquid, and its small size and flexible shape (form factor). Its main disadvantage is that it cannot simultaneously have low cost and high power efficiency. Many researchers and companies are trying to develop Peltier coolers that are both cheap and efficient. (See Thermoelectric materials.)

A Peltier cooler can also be used as a thermoelectric generator. When operated as a cooler, a voltage is applied across the device, and as a result, a difference in temperature will build up between the two sides.[2] When operated as a generator, one side of the device is heated to a temperature greater than the other side, and as a result, a difference in voltage will build up between the two sides (the Seebeck effect). However, a well-designed Peltier cooler will be a mediocre thermoelectric generator and vice-versa, due to different design and packaging requirements.