Mini Fridge, X-treme Geek USB

• USB Powered Fridge
• Works on All Platforms
• Stores & Chills one 8oz Can of Soda or Juice!

If you spend any time sitting in front of a computer, the idea of USB powered mini fridge probably has some appeal to you, especially if you are far from a regular refrigerator and a plug-in-the-wall Mini Fridge is for some reason not an option for you. No doubt the thirst-suffering keyboard-slave inventors of this little item thought they had an instant winner on their hands, but they were done in by cheap materials and science.

The science problem is worth dwelling upon; the sad truth is that hot plates will ALWAYS work MUCH better than cooling plates for a reason in addition to the fact that hot plates can make use of the waste heat from electrical resistance (either directly or as a byproduct of the Peltier effect) while cooling plates must dissipate it:

convection.

Hotter fluids rise and colder fluids fall, thus a container of any liquid placed upon a hot plate will quickly become uniformly heated while a similar container of liquid placed upon a cooling plate will get as cold as it is ever going to get at the bottom while the upper layers won't cool much at all. That's why the instructions for this item say to use 8 ounce soda pop cans even though the product was obviously originally designed for 12 ounce soda pop cans; doing so removes what will always be the warmest 1/3rd of a 12 ounce soda pop can.

It is no accident in my opinion that later (?) models of this product Portable USB Cooler and Warmer 2-in-1 come with a switch so it can be used as a hot plate as well, which function can at least be presumed to work.

There ARE ways to fight this, but doing so would require spending more on materials. aries2110, one of the top reviewers of this version of the product: Dream Cheeky USB Fridge shows what might have been by installing a stronger fan (for dissipating waste heat) and taping some insulation to the inside, reporting a significant increase in cooling. The less handy can try setting it in front of a desk fan and putting a can insulator upside down on the can. I also noted some additional cooling but nothing approaching "refrigerator cold".

Basically, about all it is good for IMHO is SLOWING the warming up of a previously refrigerated can of soda pop more than just setting it on your desk will. I picked mine up on clearance, and I suggest you do the same,...

if you even want to bother with it.

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