Click here for images of the B&W Quickcam Peltier cooled
Click here for TouCam Linearity Information
The ToUCam Pro SC2 in a Refrigerated Box
New 3/20/2002
Cloudy nights made me do it! Water cooled peltier webcam!
Every water cooler needs a heat exchanger. I made this out of 5mm aluminum
plate and a heatsink from a 486 trimmed down to fit inside a 1.25 inch
PVC pipe cap used as the waterblock cap.
This is applied to the hot side of the peltier.
Here is the assembled unit. Seen are the waterblock, hoses, inlet=1/4inch,
outlet = 3/16inch. The outlet must be made 1/4inch also, but did not have
the adapters around.
Here is the camera and scope with water source. a five gallon bucket with a
Hagen powerhead model 301 as the pump and latex tubing.
One great thing is add ice to the mix and down goes the
temperature! Currently running at -6C with ambient = 23C.
Here is the camera head mounted on the scope
Here is the main board of the ToUCam Pro.
The white things are small spacers to hold the board
away from the case when it is mounted.
The case open without the camera mounted
A closeup of the previous heatsinks, coldfinger and an outline of where the peltier
is mounted between the heatsinks. The previous external heatsink is rated for
up to a Tbird 1gig, the inside one is rated for up to an AMD K6-2 500.
The peltier is from www.allelectronics.com part number PJT-1.
30mmx30mm 3.9amps/15.4volts/33.4watts.
I am running it at 12volts, roughly the 75% sweet spot.
A image of the temperature probe. A Radio Shack thermistor.
The probe is placed on the top of the chip on the back of the ToUCam circuit board.
Click here to download a GW/Qbasic program to calculate temperatures from resistence readings from the probe
The program is calibrated for two thermistors I own,
they are both close in the temperature/resistence response curve.
Use the 'C' option to use my calibration, or mod the source for your own.
The camera in its new home. The location of the temperature probe is indicated.
A picture of the camera from the front with the camera mounted.
The refrigerator box all closed up.
And now for the credits:
The following picture shows a reflection in the optical window of the
camera that took all these pictures, a Vesta 690k!
A diagram of the camera case
Does it work? Yes!
Click here for results of cooling
Click here for experimental darks