Centre console heater/ cooler

[Oblivion]

So I saw this pop up on facebook a while ago. It was a guy in Taiwan selling what seems to be a the centre console with a heating and/or cooling unit inside. Seems pretty cool, was this a factory option or has it been added as an aftermarket thing?

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[Nick Mann]

Never seen that before!

[Tony_T]

Would be an aftermarket Peltier effect unit. They're very restricted on how much heating or cooling they can do, and they're very hungry on battery power.

[Oblivion]

Never seen that before!
Neither have I!


Would be an aftermarket Peltier effect unit. They're very restricted on how much heating or cooling they can do, and they're very hungry on battery power.
Oh I see, thought it might be nice to keep drinks warm/cool during long drives /Steeringw

[Tony_T]

Yes it would be fine for that, don't leave it going too long with the engine turned off if you want to be able to start the car again. Peltier effect devices can only give a certain amount of heating or cooling over the ambient temperature, they're not like a fridge which can cool to a fixed temperature. Here's a quote snipped from Wikipedia:
A camping/car type electric cooler can typically reduce the temperature by up to 20 °C (36 °F) below the ambient temperature.
And another:
In refrigeration applications, thermoelectric junctions have about 1/4th the efficiency compared to conventional means (they offer around 10–15% efficiency of the ideal Carnot cycle refrigerator, compared with 40–60% achieved by conventional compression-cycle systems
and finally:
Its main disadvantages are high cost and poor power efficiency.

[Oblivion]

Yes it would be fine for that, don't leave it going too long with the engine turned off if you want to be able to start the car again. Peltier effect devices can only give a certain amount of heating or cooling over the ambient temperature, they're not like a fridge which can cool to a fixed temperature. Here's a quote snipped from Wikipedia:
A camping/car type electric cooler can typically reduce the temperature by up to 20 °C (36 °F) below the ambient temperature.
And another:
In refrigeration applications, thermoelectric junctions have about 1/4th the efficiency compared to conventional means (they offer around 10–15% efficiency of the ideal Carnot cycle refrigerator, compared with 40–60% achieved by conventional compression-cycle systems
and finally:
Its main disadvantages are high cost and poor power efficiency.

Wow that pretty inefficient! Probably not worth the hassle huh :P