Finally the episode I've been waiting for!
Been thinking about making a large TEG over a year now, the idea came when I realised that the temperature difference between room temperature and outside winter tempearature in Finalnd is around 40-50 C . So I was thinking to make a large seebeck panel (at least 50x50cm) out of many 40mmx40mm peltier modules found cheaply around Ebay, between 2 aluminum plates, stick one side of the panel to the chimney and other side facing free towards the outside cold air, maybe some insulation around the panel to keep each side at each own temperature.
From a quick test with one of the modules (TEC1-12706), using just my hand pressed on one side and the other side just sitting on a small CPU heatsink (around 20C ambient temperature), I was able to get 170mV and 40mA, measured with my Fluke 287 so I'm sure it's pretty accurate measurement, even though last calibration was in 2008.
So a few questions since I haven't played around with the modules many times.
1. Can they be connected in serial/parallel?
2. If they can be connected both ways, what would actually be preferable, connect them in series to get the desired voltage or connect them in parallel to get high amps and run it through a step-up circuit to get the desired voltage (Vout of the TEG 12V)?
3. Is it better to use even larger modules, are they more efficient?
Thanks for all the amazing videos Dave!!!