Aqua Computer Aquaero Owners thread

Cenedd · 3 Jan 2022 at 22:26

Should be fine as long as the Aquaero is only seeing the rpm signal from one fan. It'll work if it sees all of them; it'll just be a randomly fluctuating useless figure given for the rpm. Also worth making sure all the fans are the same - fair assumption they're all spinning the same with the same input that way.
You may not need the molex powering the splitter as the Aquaero can supply enough power by itself.

Damob9k · 3 Jan 2022 at 22:35

Cool, that's what i thought, thanks chap.

Yeah the cable i already use doesn't have the 12v pin the the main header, so no power is drawn from it, and yeah the rpm return signal is only from 1 fan so the signal is clean.
It's an Akasa cable i've been using for a number of years with Speedfan and now it's running off one of the headers on my Asus Prime X570 and using Asus Fanxpert with no issues, so I think it will work the same.

I'm ready to pull the trigger and typically none of the main water cooling suppliers have all 3 parts I want !! Although the only part that's not available is the mounting bracket, which i'm sure i could 3D print something !

Thanks for your help again

sparkymark75 · 3 Jan 2022 at 23:44

I've got the fans and temp sensor setup in Aquasuite via my Quadro. How do I setup an alarm so that it warns me if the water temp reaches a certain temp?

alexkyriak · 4 Jan 2022 at 23:20

A question I presume is an easy one but: I assume I could use a 3-way PWM fan splitter cable, and connect it to a Splitty9 header? Not that I want to connect lots and lots of fans to a Splitty9, more that using a 3-way splitter cable improves cable management. Thanks

Cenedd · 5 Jan 2022 at 09:20

As long as it doesn't draw more than the header is rated for it should be fine. The Splitty will correctly handle (ignore) the tacho line even of the 3-way lead doesn't - unless it's connected to the first port and then the cable would need to be correct and only split the tacho line to one fan.

alexkyriak · 5 Jan 2022 at 09:59

Thanks @Cenedd . Basically, the diagram will be to have 5 banks of fans, split across 3 radiators. Appreciate this may not be an efficient use of Splitty9s, but I want to minimise the cable runs, so having the splitter cables helps a lot with this. I wanted to also maintain individual control over each radiator fans, per radiator.

Do I even need the Splitty9s? Ie, can I run a cable splitter to a cable splitter? At the least I guess I could lose that third Splitty9, and connect direct to the Aquaero.

Mcthommo · 5 Jan 2022 at 13:36

I use a couple of splitty’s to group my fans for ease of control- I have 6 fans on each splitty on single channels on my AE6 and reducing cables is a a bonus

Cenedd · 5 Jan 2022 at 14:54

You could definitely lose the bottom splitty as it's only 1 in 1 out. The others will depend on the total power draw of the fans. You need to make sure the total isn't more than the Aquaero channel can handle (30W unless extra cooling is installed). You also need to make sure the wires can handle the total load. Fan wiring tends to be quite small (22 or 24 AWG) so the total load could be higher than the wire is rated for. Depends, of course, whether you're running some monster Delta focused flow beasts or low-noise power-sipping fans. You can find a guide to ampacity ratings here and a convertor from watts to amps here

alexkyriak · 5 Jan 2022 at 17:19

Thanks, am using EK-Vardar X3M 120ER D-RGB fans all around. Power Draw: ~2.16W (0.18A), so looks like per channel about 13W maximum for a bank of 6 fans.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ek-w...tal-rgb-500-2200-rpm-fan-white-fg-00d-ek.html

Cenedd · 5 Jan 2022 at 18:27

You should be fine then on pretty much any wiring I've seen used - even down to 24AWG. Though thicker is preferable if for no other reason than it becomes delicate when it's too thin.

alexkyriak · 5 Jan 2022 at 22:43

Thanks @Cenedd . Would an Octo be better than the 3 Splitty9s? I had read that an Octo isn’t as good as Splitty9s in the event the system crashes. If this happens, do the fans stop, or do they default to full RPM?

Cenedd · 5 Jan 2022 at 23:53

In theory an Octo would give you independent control of eight separate PWM-only channels (plus the four on the Aquaero). I believe you can have two so you could potentially hace all fans separately controlled, reported and alarmed if you wished. I believe you can also connect it to the Aquaero by Aquabus so that the Aquaero can raise alarms without Windows/Aquasuite being involved.
That said, I don't have an Octo or a Quadro so I couldn't give you a definitive answer on that - their could be oddities or foibles that I'm completely unaware of....or it could just be that it needs the Aquaero to handle the autonomous side of it. There are some people on this thread who have one that might be able to answer that better.

ballj · 6 Jan 2022 at 09:53

That's correct - with the Octo you can individually control all 8 fan ports - it supports 25W per channel or 100W total if u need to connect multiple fans to a single port.
It doesn't do some of the more fancy stuff that the Aquaero can do though - no virtual sensor support built in. You can use the software sensors for coolant calculation (water temp - ambient) however the Octo requires the aquasuite running.

@JayGee did a great post connecting the Aquaero and the Octo/Quadro on post https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/posts/34040917/

Cenedd · 6 Jan 2022 at 10:22

Thanks @ballj I had a feeling it had been covered fairly recently right after I posted....but my mind's on many other things all going wrong concurrently at the moment.

alexkyriak · 6 Jan 2022 at 14:25

Thanks @Cenedd and @ballj . that's an awesome post - and obviously thanks @JayGee for writing it! Whilst JayGee doesn't mention it specifically for Octo, a Quadro attached to Aquaero with both USB and Aquabus looks like the best solution, so I assume Octo will act the same way - ie the Aquaero can control the Octo even if the Aqusuite software is not running. Cheers guys.

VersionMonkey · 6 Jan 2022 at 15:23

alexkyriak said:
Thanks @Cenedd and @ballj . that's an awesome post - and obviously thanks @JayGee for writing it! Whilst JayGee doesn't mention it specifically for Octo, a Quadro attached to Aquaero with both USB and Aquabus looks like the best solution, so I assume Octo will act the same way - ie the Aquaero can control the Octo even if the Aqusuite software is not running. Cheers guys.

I think I had a different experience than @JayGee - when I connected my Octo and Aquaero with both Aquabus and USB, I was not able to control the Octo fans through the Octo - the Octo appeared in Aquasuite, but the fan controls were greyed out; if I remember correctly. But once the Octo fans were assigned to an Aquaero controller they operated autonomously.

It also seemed like the Aquaero adopted the sensors too - so I couldn't use the Octo sensors in an RGBpx controller on the Octo either. So I ended up just having them both connected by USB.

As @ballj said, the Octo doesn't need the Aquasuite service running unless you want to base something on a virtual sensor - the Aquaero does simple ones by itself, but the Octo is dependent on the Aquasuite service for anything other than sensors directly connected to it.

Cenedd · 6 Jan 2022 at 16:08

If the Aquaero is controlling, it does indeed have a limit of 4 fan curves (and also 4 RGB controllers) but you can assign multiple fans (or banks of fans) to each controller.

I can throw a third option in the mix - but I can't prove it or give details without plugging in a USB line to my Farbwerk....and I've got flooding preparations to worry about first. On the Farbwerk (the original one, not the 360) there were options via USB to select the outputs to be externally controlled or locally controlled. It could be that the Quadro/Octo offers the same. Found I have previously posted pics so will repost what I have in case it's useful:

Farbwerk config

Aquaero Output config

Aquaero Contoller config

alexkyriak · 8 Jan 2022 at 22:14

Guys apologies if I am being really dense, but, if I am connecting d5 next pumps via aquabus, I understand I need to use the rgbpx port on the pump, but what’s the right connector I need to convert the cable to the standard size aquabus header on the aquero? Cheers

VersionMonkey · 8 Jan 2022 at 22:32

alexkyriak said:
Guys apologies if I am being really dense, but, if I am connecting d5 next pumps via aquabus, I understand I need to use the rgbpx port on the pump, but what’s the right connector I need to convert the cable to the standard size aquabus header on the aquero? Cheers

Checking the AC product page it looks like you need "aquabus cable 4 pins for VISION, OCTO, QUADRO, D5 NEXT", product code 53214.

alexkyriak · 8 Jan 2022 at 22:52

Yeah ok thanks - I was being dense. I’d seen that but somehow misunderstood the product page. Cheers @VersionMonkey appreciate it.