Could use some help with cooling

[yardape6]

A freind and I are attempting a project of putting a computer in his truck. We are going to be using a shuttle mini PC. THe problem I am trying to figure out is cooling. The fan isn't the problem. Its the air. We live in Foley, AL (yes people in the south know what computers are). After a few hours of being in the sun a a car Heats up significantly. The air is too hot to dissapate the heat. I was thinking about some kind of mini A/C unit if that exists. I wanted to shoot cool air into the case without having to wait for the whole truck interior to cool. Also humidity is a factor and A/C unit would reduce humidity also. Does anyone know of a device like this??

 

[Quetzacoatl]

Hmm, there's a couple options you could do, although a fan with a high enough CFM rating would be able to cool it. You could look into a peltier type cooler, which generates below 0 temps. Svol knows more about that than I do though, so you might want to PM him. You could also consider a watercooling setup with a radiator and 120mm fan combination. Another option is to use a setup similar to Koolance, and use refrigerator coolant, although that can get expensive.

Soon enough, Intel will make the i845s...imagine dual channel Sdram...*shudder*

 

[keller2343]

yup, i think its too hot down here to run it normally(i leave in mobile (- the inside of the truck could easily reach 120 deg. Fahrenheit(48 degrees Celsius).

also i would worry about the inside of the computer condensing if the hot case was shot at by cold air.

and might i ask why you are doing this, or just for the thrill.

 

[yardape6]

Yeah, thought it would be more fun than practical. Some one did suggest a peltier(sp?) cooler.

 

[Quetzacoatl]

Yep, although i'm no expert on it. Another THG veteran here, Svol, knows a lot more than I do on that kind of cooling

Soon enough, Intel will make the i845s...imagine dual channel Sdram...*shudder*

 

[Victory]

Well Hoffman Enclosures do offer mini air conditioners but they're quite expensive, heavy, run on 12 or 24 V. We use them on the PLC's we use in our robots when we send them to warm places like Mexico. I've never looked at the smallest unit they have available, but it'd we worth a look. Other than that, peltier or water would probably be your best bet. Problem with water is that it will absorb the ambient temperature, so eventually it'll warm up sitting in a hot vehicle until it's rotated properly(think of a bottle of water left in a vehicle). Anyhow, good luck.

Save heating costs on your home, overclock your PC!!!

 

[Black_Cat]

If you can run a duct off of one of the existing AC ducts, then just cool it using the truck's AC.

To start press any key. Where's the "any" key? --Homer Simpson.

 

[lhgpoobaa]

Yeah, when the interior of a car/truch gets to 50C, thats really too hot for conventional cooling, and may also be excessivly hot for other components like hard drives as well.
Water cooling or an AC unit would be best.

How about mounting your computer in a modified bar fridge?

<b>I'm THE THGC Strumpet! Hear me Roar! *Squeak!* </b>

 

[Schmide]

Just get the <A HREF="http://www.via.com.tw/en/Products/eden.jsp" target="_new">eden</A> system. Sure it's a bit slower but it puts out like 5 watts of heat. The board has almost everything you would need for DVD/audio/TV. You may have to get a hardware decoder for <A HREF="http://www.tomshardware.com/video/02q2/020621/index.html" target="_new">Divx or high end DVD compatibility</A>. Games would be a bit lacking but most would play OK. You could probably put the thing in a small metal box under the seat. What are you using this CPU for?

Complicated proofs are proofs of confusion.

 

[yardape6]

Just for fun. I was going to put a video card with a tv out on it so that i could plaug it into <a href="http://www.mobilevideo4less.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=MV&Product_Code=ID70W">this</a>. I wanted to run winamp visuals for mp3's. And watch movies. All not necassary but I was looking for a project and this could be fun to play with.

 

[Schmide]

Clicky
<A HREF="http://www.mobilevideo4less.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=MV&Product_Code=ID70W" target="_new">http://www.mobilevideo4less.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=MV&Product_Code=ID70W</A>

Check out Eden with the RealMagic Divx card. The board and chip cost about $140. It has TV outs and the RealMagic Divx card has remote control hookups. Just add DVD/HD/RAM/OS and you could have a solution. The Eden is designed to run without a heat sink. You may have to add one for harsh environments like your truck. Look into it.

Complicated proofs are proofs of confusion.

 

[Schmide]

Oh yeah. Check out <A HREF="http://www.mini-itx.com" target="_new">http://www.mini-itx.com</A> to get an idea of what people are doing with this platform.

Complicated proofs are proofs of confusion.