So I recently got into the whole beer and wine thing, and decided if I really wanted to be professional about this, I needed a temperature controlled cellar right? Well the problem was that I didn’t want to spend any money on it, so here is what I did to make my own for minimal cost. Keep in mind much of the stuff I was able to scrounge up in my room or through various other sources, but a resourceful person such as yourself should be able to do some scrounging as well.
First order of business is how to keep the box cold. To accomplish this feat I used a Peltier Junction. To learn more about what this is exactly check out the Thermoelectric Effect. Luckily I was able to procure a device that already had a heat sink on one side, so all I had to do was apply thermal grease, and rubber band another head sink (stolen from an old computer) onto the other side. So now when power is applied one side of this will get hot and the other cold, guess which sides faces into the box?
Next up is the microcontroller. My buddy had recently given me one called an Electric Imp. This controller is neat because it is wifi enabled and connects to a cloud service, so with this I can monitor and control my fridge online (I can also modify and upload new code online). Here is my code
via Hackaday
Electric Imp – What is the electric imp? In essence, the Imp provides an easy, integrated way to connect almost any hardware device both to other devices and to internet services. It’s more than just a WiFi card, or even a WiFi module with processing built in – it’s an integrated platform that deals with the drudgery of connectivity, allowing you to concentrate on the application instead of the mechanics.
Great! Of course, if you had my mother and she saw that picture, she’d tell you to pick up your dirty clothes and put them in the hamper!