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Old 02-14-2012, 09:03 AM   #9 (permalink)
mans
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Quote:
Originally Posted by serialk11r View Post
That 136 watts is how much power you can pump into it to make it act as a horrendously bad heat pump. If you wired it in reverse, you'd probably see only a few watts come out.

The 62x62 one you linked is 180C max temperature, again, useless. It'll produce at best a few watts.

Like I said the commercially available ones that are any good at producing electricity are rated up to 300+ and cost a fortune.

They're working on developing better materials that should increase efficiency a good bit, but don't expect that to show up on the market anytime soon. There are TECs that can run at 700C or whatever but they're probably not for sale to the general public, and probably cost a crapload, not to mention still have poor efficiency. Efficiency is a concern because loading the cooling system significantly will be a problem.
I just ordered some of the $5 ones.
any advice on a good way to test them for electricity production?
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