HI,

I've been reading the threads here about fixing thermoelectric wine coolers. Very informative, but it seems I have a bad TEC. Everything powers on OK. I tried applying some voltage with an AC-DC brick to the TEC and one side got hot, the other side cold so I thought it was OK. However when I put everything back together it doesn't get cold on the cold heat sink.

I measured 12V on the TEC input with the unit on, and about .35 amps flowing through the TEC. This seems way too low. Would you agree my TEC is probably bad? It is 50x50mm, but I'm not sure about which one to order as a replacement. It has no markings on it at all.

Thanks

John

 

Update:
I found a couple of 8 ohm 50 watt resistors. I started with 2 in series and hooked them up to the output of the fridge that goes to the TEC. Was pulling about 750mA. Tried just one for a bit and it was delivering ~1.4A. So I think this confirms that my TEC is bad.

 

It sounds like it may be bad. I hate to say it but you may have damaged the TEC, since it did work when you first tested it. A partial failure, where it can get cold on one side but not really work, would be a surprise.

My guess would be a 12720.