It took me a liitle while to do this but I found a CHEAP and easy way to convert a Poppery II to a cooling tower. My first attempt cost me a motor but thinking deeper and going over past "homeroast" postings gave me some new ideas.
Poppery II's use a 24V 1.7amp DC motor. Initailly I unhooked the primary heating coil but found the temps still to hot for FAST cooling. I tried to find a DC converter to run the fan motor but only found units with 1/2 the power needed. Past "poster/s" suggest using a Radio Shack Transformer instead. I was going to do this but I recently came accross a unit from a
HP computer printer, namely the 500-600 series of printers for home computers. It's actually a Transformer that puts out AC @ 24V and 2 amps, a near perfect fit! It has four wires; blk,red,white,green. I used the red and blk cause they give 22V. I connected these to the two motor wires and unhooked the heating coil wires. Success! I get about 80-90% of the power from the motor and it is a great cooling tower. The good part is that the Transformers are easily found as separates in the same Thrift stores as the poppers are found and it cost me $2. They are big, black and heavy as a brick if you have not seen one, and are called "Power Module 1" and are 5"L:2.5-3"W:3"T.
Another idea came to me based on a previous "poster" who suggesting using a dimmer-like device to control the fan speed and thus the roasting temps. in a Poppery II. I am going to try using a model train transformer if the voltage ratings are adequate, and see if it acts as a good variable control for the fan.
GerardFF
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