Heated/cooled cupholders
by minig646 » Sat Jul 02, 2011 11:05 pm
Has anyone successfully retrofitted heated/cooled cupholders to their solara? I've been toying around with the thought and wanted to bounce a few ideas around for those with some electronics experience.
I've been learning about thermoelectric coolers, which are plates that get either hot or cold depending on the direction of the current running through them. My first thought was refrigerating my cupholders. My idea is to tap into the cigarette lighter fuse and position two thermoelectric coolers under my cupholders and throw a SPDT switch in there. It seems like a sound idea, but I have a few concerns-
1. Current draw- I believe our cigarette lighters use a 15 amp fuse. Depending on what else is plugged in, will 15 amps be enough to power the cooler? If not, could I just substitute a 20-25 amp fuse?
2. Heat dissipation- I only really want the cooling. If I used a SPTT switch, I guess heating AND cooling would be possible. I'm only worried about the hot side under the center console overheating, melting plastic, or worst of all, starting a fire. Do these devices get hot enough for that?
I'll be doing some more research before attempting this, but if anyone has any thoughts, I'd love to hear them.
I've been learning about thermoelectric coolers, which are plates that get either hot or cold depending on the direction of the current running through them. My first thought was refrigerating my cupholders. My idea is to tap into the cigarette lighter fuse and position two thermoelectric coolers under my cupholders and throw a SPDT switch in there. It seems like a sound idea, but I have a few concerns-
1. Current draw- I believe our cigarette lighters use a 15 amp fuse. Depending on what else is plugged in, will 15 amps be enough to power the cooler? If not, could I just substitute a 20-25 amp fuse?
2. Heat dissipation- I only really want the cooling. If I used a SPTT switch, I guess heating AND cooling would be possible. I'm only worried about the hot side under the center console overheating, melting plastic, or worst of all, starting a fire. Do these devices get hot enough for that?
I'll be doing some more research before attempting this, but if anyone has any thoughts, I'd love to hear them.
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minig646 - Regular SolaraGuy Member
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- Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2009 10:27 am
- Location: Philadelphia, PA