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Thermal Management

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General question. The location I live in is very hot, and it does not help that the control panel boxes are out in to open and being hit with direct sun for over 10 hours a day and the fact they are stainless steel. So my question is what type of thermal management to you like the best. I bought a Hoffmen vortec cooler to try out on a project and it work's for have the day and then heats up and failed to cool the Panel, thus caused remote i/o problems. I bought this unit because it said it had 900 BTU's of cooling and compaired to a A/C unit with the 800 BTU's of cooling, the cost was more than half for the vortec cooler Than the A/C Unit. Thanks for the help.

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Hoffman has a download with thermal management software that may help you size your cooling needs. http://www.hoffmanonline.com/product_catal...5&CatId=375 Hope this helps

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I usually buy a thermo electric unit (www.melcor.com is one name). Reason being that A/C units aren't very rugged from what I've seen. The thermoelectric models seem to last almost forever as long as nothing tears up the fans. That being the case, 900 BTU? That seems awfully small for your typical panel. Vortec units? Is that those compressed air things? I've managed to ice up a panel with one but as far as thermal efficiency goes, they are terrible. Compressed air is NOT a cheap utility.

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Thanks Paul, I will check those out, and yas as I have found out the Vortec Coolers are garbage.

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Pfannenberg has sizing software also and there product is very good!

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Painting the enclosures white and also using sunshields help with outdoor panels. Surprisingly painting stainless steel enclosures white will lower the internal temperature of a panel by a substantial amount.

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