Aqua Computer Aquaero Owners thread

Cenedd · 26 Feb 2016 at 08:26

Harpss1ngh said:
Might even end up drilling a hole in the top of my TJ07 for a Fill Port..or something but I'd need some courage to do that...

If you do, you probably want to get a step drill. Centre punch where you want it, drill a smallish hole with a decent HSS drill and then widen it with a step drill. If you were to get a large HSS drill and do it, you'd likely end up with a triangular hole. Guess how I know!

You can pick up a step drill for around a tenner IIRC from various online sources as well as trade - focused (but open to the public) tool suppliers.

X584EVA: Enjoy. Lots of info in this thread. Plug your cables in before you mount in a 5.25" bay or have colourful language on standby!

Fluke · 26 Feb 2016 at 10:19

Is there a way to run Thermaltake Riing fans on the Aquaero 6? The TT Riing has a five pin connector, I believe the 5th pin is used to power the LED ring.

Cenedd · 26 Feb 2016 at 10:51

By the looks of the picture on Thermaltakes website: http://www.thermaltake.com/db/imgs/pdt/gallery/CL-F038-PL12BU-A_ea96bc590163489f81c96fd4d3dc816f.jpg
It seems that it is a standard 3-pin fan (voltage controlled not PWM) (red, yellow and black wires) with an extra two wires to power the LED. You should be able to run the 3 to the Aquaero header and the two from something else. They're a bit sketchy on the details and show no pics of the plug(s).

There is an RGB version that comes with a controller. That has a five-pin connection. Logically RGB needs four pins: R, G, B and shared ground. That could leave the last pin as voltage control for the fan speed provided the fans do not report back their speed. This is only a guess though as there's no information given. You could ask their support and see if they're not as bad as you'd cynically assume (well, I would but I'm getting to be a grumpy old git!).

OJ46 · 26 Feb 2016 at 11:16

Just found a website testing them here and they're running them off an Aquaero 6, with the LED's dimming as the power is reduced. Guess if you wanted to keep the ring at full brightness you could always cut the cables going to the LED's and run them off a Molex, leaving the fan controlled by the Aquaero

Cenedd · 26 Feb 2016 at 11:36

The riing 12 seem to be just 3-pin fans with the LEDs running off the fan power. They should plug straight into and Aquaero and dim as you reduce the voltage (fan speed). I reckon he's asking about the RGB versions that come with their own controller: http://www.thermaltake.com/microsite/3Riing12RGB/index.html
They're a proprietary 5-pin connection for fan power, speed and RGB LED - hence I'm guessing the wires are Red voltage, Green voltage, Blue voltage, shared ground, fan power. That would give speed control (by changing the voltage of fan power) and control of the RGB LEDs but it wouldn't give tacho reading. I'm guessing that they sacrificed that and use PWM as far as their controller and then voltage control from there...but I could be way off. Stick an oscilloscope on each lead and you'll see PWM waveform or not. Voltage reading for each of the lines would identify which voltages change for speed and which for colours. If it's a standard RGB for LEDs and voltage control for the fan, you could run one off an Aquaero by splitting the header and plugging the fan wires into two of the four pins on a fan header (like a 3-pin fan but missing the tacho) and run the RGB from the RGB LED header (4-pin) as long as the Aquaero doesn't mind the ground being shared between the RGB header and the fan header - I wouldn't think it would as it's likely to be a common ground through the whole unit but it's probably worth asking. If more RGB LEDs need to be controlled, you're probably into the Colour Work add-on

OJ46 · 26 Feb 2016 at 11:59

Ah, that makes more sense, didn't realise they'd gone out of their way to be awkward on the RGB model!

Cenedd · 26 Feb 2016 at 12:03

Well, to be fair, if they'd gone 8-wire (4 PWM and 4 RGB) we'd just be moaning that it made too much spaghetti! You can't please all of us!

tipes · 26 Feb 2016 at 18:11

Well I have just joined the club and bought a 6 pro version. Not going to fit it yet as I am waiting on some more bits to arrive to update my watercooling - so I will probably be back for some help/tips from the experts on here.

Must admit I have wanted one for years, but always resisted because I thought they were too expensive, but now realised they are much more than just a glorified fan controller. I am hoping to control two D5 pumps in a dual loop with this - hope I can do it ok.

Cenedd · 26 Feb 2016 at 19:12

With a 6, you'll be fine. One pump per channel, plug it in and watch it go. Simples. Other two channels for fans (splitters or PWM hub for multiple fans per channel). If you need more fan channels you can either add an Aquaero5 LT in slave mode or just add a PowerAdjust if you want a single extra channel.

I can recommend the heatsink (also available in red) for the Aquaero 6. To be brutally honest, it doesn't need it to reduce the temperatures - well, it might if you're pulling 30W off each of the 4 channels - but it makes it look nicer, provides better labelling of the ports than the badly stuck-on label and it gives it a bit of protection against shorting out the back of it. For £12 it'd be rude not to

tipes · 26 Feb 2016 at 20:49

Cenedd said:
With a 6, you'll be fine. One pump per channel, plug it in and watch it go. Simples. Other two channels for fans (splitters or PWM hub for multiple fans per channel). If you need more fan channels you can either add an Aquaero5 LT in slave mode or just add a PowerAdjust if you want a single extra channel.

I can recommend the heatsink (also available in red) for the Aquaero 6. To be brutally honest, it doesn't need it to reduce the temperatures - well, it might if you're pulling 30W off each of the 4 channels - but it makes it look nicer, provides better labelling of the ports than the badly stuck-on label and it gives it a bit of protection against shorting out the back of it. For £12 it'd be rude not to

Thank you for the help/advice - much appreciated. and do I need to buy special version of D5 pump to work with this. Will order the cooler for the aquero when back in stock. neither red nor black available.

Mark

Cenedd · 26 Feb 2016 at 20:58

I have to admit to being a DDC man and never having played with a D5. Now that you mention it, I do remember people saying that you either have to buy the Aquacomputer version of the D5 (optionally with Aquabus interface) or mod it with a pull-up circuit because the D5 doesn't properly follow the the PWM spec. No idea of the exact details but see post above: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=29131477&postcount=248

tipes · 26 Feb 2016 at 21:30

Cenedd said:
I have to admit to being a DDC man and never having played with a D5. Now that you mention it, I do remember people saying that you either have to buy the Aquacomputer version of the D5 (optionally with Aquabus interface) or mod it with a pull-up circuit because the D5 doesn't properly follow the the PWM spec. No idea of the exact details but see post above: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=29131477&postcount=248

Darn it - oh well have to save the pennies and replace the d5 with Aquacomputer ones. This is getting uber expensive. Lol.

Cenedd · 27 Feb 2016 at 10:35

It seems that some D5s have been fixed and now correctly follow Intel's PWM spec. Apparently newer EK D5s are good. So I'd suck it and see first. If not there are some details of a cheap mod if you can solder: http://www.overclock.net/t/1474470/ocn-aquaero-owners-club/30#post_21956203

tipes · 27 Feb 2016 at 15:57

Cenedd said:
It seems that some D5s have been fixed and now correctly follow Intel's PWM spec. Apparently newer EK D5s are good. So I'd suck it and see first. If not there are some details of a cheap mod if you can solder: http://www.overclock.net/t/1474470/ocn-aquaero-owners-club/30#post_21956203

Hey thanks for that - all is not lost then. I will try my D5 first and see. Might try the mod if they don't.

Mark

Harpss1ngh · 2 Mar 2016 at 13:12

tipes said:
Darn it - oh well have to save the pennies and replace the d5 with Aquacomputer ones. This is getting uber expensive. Lol.

Haha yeah after ordering all the AquaComputer parts so they work with my Aquaero 6 XT it gets pretty pricey. Really really nice components and great German engineering though.

I got a Vaillant heating system with lots of fancy sensors traditional boilers don't and appreciate the design they engineer into these. It also uses a bus system to talk to everything, in fact I got an adapter and connected it to a Raspberry Pi to talk to the bus, much like the Aquaero talks to all the components so I really like it (the Aquaero)

.

Can't wait to play with the Aquaero once I get everything put together!

dragos1977 · 10 Apr 2016 at 17:32

Can the 3 pin fans can be controled on aquaero or do i need only pwm fans.Just to set them to a fixed rpm.

Avathar77 · 10 Apr 2016 at 17:46

Yes, I can set the rpm via LT

Cenedd · 10 Apr 2016 at 18:28

An Aquaero 5 has one 4-pin port capable of PWM or voltage control (3 pin fans) and three 3-pin ports only capable of voltage control.
An Aquaero 6 has four 4-pin ports capable of either PWM or voltage control. It can also handle more power per channel so you can plug in things like 18W DDC pumps.

Control can be a 'fixed value', a set-point or a curve where the fan increases speed either smoothly or in steps with temperature.

Cenedd · 10 Apr 2016 at 18:49

If you only need one (high power) channel, voltage control only and no screen, you can use a PowerAdjust.

dragos1977 · 10 Apr 2016 at 20:56

I'll be using lianli d600 for my next build which will have 12 fans in total some of those that i prefer to be on fixed rpm value.