This guide helps you with connecting sensors, fans and displays to our TEC Controllers.
Peltier elements, sensors, fans, power supplies—find more information about the design process and system components in our system design guide.
Contents
- How to Connect Temperature Sensors
- How to Connect a Fan
- How to Connect the TEC Status Display
- Peltier Elements in Parallel or in Series
- How to Order a TEC Controller
How to Connect Temperature Sensors
You can connect two temperature sensors to each channel of a Meerstetter TEC Controller. The first is the object temperature sensor and the second is the optional heat sink temperature sensor. The sink temperature sensor is always a NTC sensor. The object temperature sensor can either be a Pt100, Pt1000, NTC or voltage sensor depending on your application requirements.
Pt100 and Pt1000 sensors allow higher precision, thus 4-wire sensing technique is used. Because of that these sensors are often called 4-wire sensors. For measurements using NTC sensors, 2-wire sensing is used. The TEC Controller is therefore configured for a certain configuration (2-wire or 4-wire).
Case Pt100/1000 sensor: 4-wire configuration
Four wire sensing means that four wires are used to connect the sensor to the four pins of the TEC Controller. (It doesn't mean that the sensor itself has four pins, it has only two.)
Case NTC sensor: 2-wire configuration
Two wire sensing means that only two wires are used to connect the sensor. Only two pins of the TEC Controller are used to connect the sensor.
We suggest you to use our assembled, ready-made cables for your sensors. The sensor has to be soldered according to the schematic specified in the cable specifications listed below.
- TEC-1089 and TEC-1090: CAB-6154 specifications (PDF)
- TEC-1122 and TEC-1123: CAB-6155 specifications (PDF)
- See download section for a list of temperature probes
If you use your own cable for example to connect a NTC sensor, make sure the wires are twisted.
Since the TEC-1091, and the TEC-1092 (in combination with the EVL-1093) have screw connectors, temperature probes can directly be connected and no cable is provided.
How to Connect a Fan
If the fan has the same supply voltage as the TEC Controller, it is recommended to connect the fan GND directly to the TEC Controller GND and the fan VCC direct to the TEC Controller VIN. The fan's PWM input signal must be connected to GPIO3 or GPIO4 of the TEC Controller, because only these two TEC Controller outputs can generate a PWM signal. The fan's frequency output signal can be connected to one of the other GPIOs. Please set the correct functions for the PBC signals (FAN PWM and FAN Tacho. See the corresponding TEC Family User Manual; chapter "GPIO1 – GPIO8 Control Signals").
How to Connect the TEC Status Display
You have to connect the OLED status display to the X11 display port of the TEC Controllers. For the TEC-1091 the connector X4 is used. For the TEC-1162, -1163, -1166, and -1167 X13 is used.
Settings in the Meerstetter TEC Controller Software ≤ v5.10 are available in the tab "Advanced" > "Display".
From version 6.00 of the Meerstetter TEC Controller Software settings can be made by choosing the "Display" Button at the main window.
Possible settings can be found in a corresponding TEC Family User Manual; chapter "Display Kits".
Peltier Elements in Parallel or in Series
It is possible to use Peltier elements thermally parallel and electrically parallel or in series. According to your setup, you have to set the parameters in the service software properly.
The following formulas apply, where Y the number of Peltier elements in parallel.
Imax = ImaxPeltier * Y
dTmax = dTmaxPeltier
Examples:
2 Peltier elements electrically in parallel: Y = 2
2 Peltier elements electrically in series: Y = 1
Two times 2 Peltier elements electrically in series and these circuits in parallel: Y = 2
Connecting the Peltier elements electrically in series is preferred to avoid differences of the currents in the parallel branches.
How to Order a TEC Controller
Please refer to the TEC Controller product page for an overview of available products for your temperature controlling application.
You can order in our webshop or by email. To process your order as fast as possible please specify the following information.
Configuration:
Please refer to the last page of the corresponding datasheet or to the hardware configuration overview for different configuration possibilities.
- Temperature measurement configuration [NTC, Pt100, Pt1000, VIN1]
- Connector type [SCREW, PIN] (TEC-1091 and TEC-1161 only)
Forwarder:
Please indicate in your purchase order your preferred forwarder such as FedEx, UPS, TNT or DHL and your account number. Otherwise we will ship the goods by FedEx.
Adding your company's VAT number (UID number) if available to your purchase order will accelerate customs clearance.
For larger quantities please contact us using the product inquiry form to request a quotation.
All information necessary for the order process is available in a respective document (PDF).