Aqua Computer Aquaero Owners thread

Smffy · 13 Dec 2016 at 09:50

Cenedd said:
Nope. The PWM headers are complete red herrings. They're not to do with PWM fans or pumps at all and are (if my failing memory works properly) a different voltage entirely. I think they're for lighting.

Best way is to ditch the molex and stick all four wires into a 4-pin fan plug connected to an Aquaero fan header. The 6 has the power to run high-power pumps directly (30W per channel or 36 with heatsink) and it makes the wiring neater with just one cable...especially if you sleeve it.

Thanks bud, sort of annoying because I've got 17 fans to connect also and those are via 3 Splittys... leaving me one spare, unless the control would work bi-wired if you leave out one of the RPM connections? Or maybe the splitty would manage it but I doubt it... guess I could run one off the mobo header and one on the Aquaero.

They are indeed sleeved, probably need to redo them though to the correct colour.

Cenedd · 13 Dec 2016 at 10:29

Splitty9 seems to unpowered so presumably draws all power frown Aquaero. You can't (or definitely shouldn't!) attach two pumps to one Aquaero header so you can't do both off one Splitty9. You could do a pump and some fans but the rpm would make no sense and control would be dodgy.
Are your fans 3 pin or 4? If they're 3 pin, you could add a PowerAdjust Standard connected to Aquaero via aquabus and have a bank of fans on a Splitty9 off that.
Besides, you probably want independent monitoring of your pumps so you can set an alarm if one fails.

Smffy · 13 Dec 2016 at 10:50

Cenedd said:
Splitty9 seems to unpowered so presumably draws all power frown Aquaero. You can't (or definitely shouldn't!) attach two pumps to one Aquaero header so you can't do both off one Splitty9. You could do a pump and some fans but the rpm would make no sense and control would be dodgy.
Are your fans 3 pin or 4? If they're 3 pin, you could add a PowerAdjust Standard connected to Aquaero via aquabus and have a bank of fans on a Splitty9 off that.
Besides, you probably want independent monitoring of your pumps so you can set an alarm if one fails.

Yeah i'm also now realising I need to set them all to fans not aquabus mode which I just assumed meant you get better control with the Aquaero... Someone really needs to create a more logical description of the features on this thing for idiots like me

All 17 fans are 4 pin (13 HD120 RGB and 4 SP120s), probably just going to attempt to use just 2 splittys or have one pump on the Aquaero and one on the motherboard header. The point of having 3 Splittys was the fans are in banks so I could control front/bottom/top together. Will do some more reading I think, clearly i've not got my head around it yet.

Cenedd · 13 Dec 2016 at 11:29

The Splitty in Aquabus mode connects the tacho wires from all the fans back to the input. This is what you'd want if you were splitting Aquabus but not fans.
Some other ideas for you then. You can normally run 4-pin fans off a three pin header using voltage control rather than PWM. Depending on the fan, you may not be able to run them quite as slow. You could do this off a PowerAdjust (about £30)
You could add an Aquaero 5 LT (screenless. About £50) in slave mode which would give you a PWM port rated at 19W (more than enough for fans) and three voltage controlled ports similarly rated. You'd also get another 8 temp sensor ports and a flow sensor port but these are probably less interesting.

Smffy · 13 Dec 2016 at 14:22

Cenedd said:
The Splitty in Aquabus mode connects the tacho wires from all the fans back to the input. This is what you'd want if you were splitting Aquabus but not fans.
Some other ideas for you then. You can normally run 4-pin fans off a three pin header using voltage control rather than PWM. Depending on the fan, you may not be able to run them quite as slow. You could do this off a PowerAdjust (about £30)
You could add an Aquaero 5 LT (screenless. About £50) in slave mode which would give you a PWM port rated at 19W (more than enough for fans) and three voltage controlled ports similarly rated. You'd also get another 8 temp sensor ports and a flow sensor port but these are probably less interesting.

Yeah seems like more thinking required. Thanks for trying to spend more of my money though

Guess with my 20 odd 5.25" bays I could squeeze some more Aquaero's in.

Cenedd · 13 Dec 2016 at 16:32

Always less painful spending other people's money

The screenless 5 LT can just be screwed down somewhere out the way. You could run two completely separate Aquaeros with screens - I believe OJ46 is doing that with one for each loop - but you don't need to. The screen is something you'll only look at when you're setting it up or if there's a problem - maybe that's just me. With the 5LT, you can set it up as a slave to the 6 and effectively have it as port expansion. There does appear to now be a 6 LT now but I don't think it's going to be available this year - even Aqua Computer are saying 21 day lead time - and it's nearly twice the price of a 5 LT.

whiterabbit · 17 Dec 2016 at 20:15

Hi All. Long time lurker!

I've got a couple of questions regarding my aquaero and AC gear. Can I trouble you lovely folk for some help?

1) I am running 2 AC D5 USB pumps in serial with an EK pump top. I have managed to get both pumps to show up in aquasuite and connected to the aquaero via the aquabus only (connected by USB first to assign different bus addresses). Both pumps can be controlled in aquasuite but only 1 of the pumps is reporting information - rpm,Hz, A and %. Any ideas why the other pump is not showing this?

Screenshot below:

AquaC%20D5%20USB%20Pumps_zpsksdb1l3t.jpg

2) I have an AC high flow meter (not the USB one - just has the large 3 pin header. The cable i bought for the flow meter is only 18cm long so I used a 3 pin fan extension so it could reach the aquaero. I connected it to the header marked 'flow', but for some reason it's not giving me any data in aquasuite or the aquaero. Any ideas what's up?

Cenedd · 17 Dec 2016 at 21:21

Evening Whiterabbit. Worth updating Aquasuite I think they're on 2017.3. Probably not related but 2017 was a major new version and there were issues with it at first.

Otherwise it sounds like you've got everything right but a few things to check:

Have a look under Aquaero > System > Aquabus to be sure it's reporting both connected.

Check while connected to USB that the pump's don't need a firmware update (after updating Aquasuite).

Try swapping the aquabus plug from one to the other to see if the problem follows the connection or stays with the pump. One at a time if necessary. If it stays with the pump it could be faulty and Aqua Computer are very good to deal with if that is the problem.

If possible check that the high flow sensor works without the extension. All the Aquaero cables are straight through pin to pin but it's worth eliminating it as a possibility.
The high flow sensors work on a spinner turning with the flow. Make sure you can you hear the spinner turning when the flow is high (pumps on full). If not it could be stuck. No harm in opening it and checking it spins if necessary - once drained, obviously.
Check you're not monitoring the wrong flow sensor - there are two on an Aquaero for some reason...although I'm not sure what the other one is off the top of my head.

whiterabbit · 18 Dec 2016 at 00:39

Hi Cenedd.

I was running 2017-1.2. Upgraded to 2017-1.3 but didn't fix the problem.

Both pumps are definitely connected. I see them in aquasuite and adjust speed. The problem is that one of the pumps does not report speed, power etc.

Tried to connect with USB. didn't work. Also tried removing devices and re-configuring but no luck

I think I have a spare aquabus cable somewhere and will play with those tomorrow. It's a bit late now and everyone is asleep.

Have ordered a 70cm flow cable from aquacomputer so will see if that get's things working. Spinner is turning.

whiterabbit · 18 Dec 2016 at 09:00

Morning, I have done the following:

swapped aquabus cables over at Y splitter. No changes noticed so Y splitter must be ok.

swapped cables over at pump, no change. aquabus cables must be ok.

Put everything back together, turned on PC ans pump 2 was running at 100% speed and had disappeared from aquasuite. Had to reconnect via USB. Turned off PC, removed USB cable, still showing in aquasuite. Still not reporting RPM.

Do you think this is a faulty pump? :mad:

Cenedd · 18 Dec 2016 at 10:17

If you've got a cable that definitely works with one pump and you connect that to the other and it doesn't work, it must be the pump is faulty. Assuming it's powered properly, there's nothing shorting it out and there's no jumpers that need to be set. There's nothing else connected that would stop it working is there - like an rpm cable to the motherboard that perhaps takes the speed data and makes it unavailable to other sources? No idea if/why that should be the case, just speculating.

whiterabbit · 18 Dec 2016 at 17:14

Cenedd said:
If you've got a cable that definitely works with one pump and you connect that to the other and it doesn't work, it must be the pump is faulty. Assuming it's powered properly, there's nothing shorting it out and there's no jumpers that need to be set. There's nothing else connected that would stop it working is there - like an rpm cable to the motherboard that perhaps takes the speed data and makes it unavailable to other sources? No idea if/why that should be the case, just speculating.

Thanks again. I've logged an RMA request with the supplier.

Bone9 · 5 Jan 2017 at 08:53

Hi guys is the 5lt still worth getting? I have no place for the display.

I want to run 6 fans from it and hopefully my ek d5 pump res combo over pwm. Is this possible? Cheers.

Cenedd · 5 Jan 2017 at 09:12

The 5 LT is still good and a bargain. Apart from the screen the difference is that of the four fan headers, only one can do PWM. On the 6, all four do. Similarly, the power per channel is lower at 19W on the 5 vs 30W on the 6. Given the add-on heatsink it seems to be able to take a pump - I always thought it was pushing it a bit but there's a guy recently that's done it and the temps were ok.
The fans should be fine unless they're hideously high powered. You'll need one or more splitters so that you can arrange them in banks - usually grouped by rads. They'll ideally be identical within a bank so that the speed reported by one is applicable to all. A lot of splitters leave the tacho wire connected to all the fans. This will cause problems with misreading the speed. You can easily cut the tacho wire (and insulate or remove it) from all but one if it comes like this.
If you do decide you need the 6, it is possible to remove the screen. There is also a 6 LT but I think it's very new and nobody (even the manufacturer) had stock last time.I looked.

Aberfala · 5 Jan 2017 at 09:33

The 5LT is great but I had issues with mine because the VRM's can overheat if lots of fans are connected to it and run at low voltage, the 6 series don't have this issue.

Bone9 · 5 Jan 2017 at 09:35

That's great thanks. So I'd be best to run the pump from the mb then. Would I still be able to monitor the speed via the aquacomputer software?

So I can get a splitter and run 3 fans on one channel then 2 on another and finally the last single in another? Would it be OK if my fans are pwm but I control then via voltage on the standard sockets?

Cheers

Bone9 · 5 Jan 2017 at 09:36

Mikey C said:
The 5LT is great but I had issues with mine because the VRM's can overheat if lots of fans are connected to it and run at low voltage, the 6 series don't have this issue.

Ah I plan on running 6 fans at low voltage at idle then ramp up under load.

Cenedd · 5 Jan 2017 at 10:09

I'd put the heatsink on either a 5 or 6. The 5 for the functionality and the 6 because it makes it look a lot better and gives the back a bit of protection....as well as cooling it a bit.

Fans can be a wide range of wattages. I've got some from 2.5W to 47W. If it only specifies ampage, you can convert here. Add 'em up and make sure you're within the 19W limit per channel.
If you run fans at less than full speed, it will heat up the VRMs. As long as they are within spec it should be ok. The spec will allow them to run up to about 90°C and then it will run the load (fans) at full speed to try to lower the temp. If it hits 100°C (temps approximate from memory) it will disable the channel until a power off and back on again. Personally though, I wouldn't feel comfortable with something getting that hot - it's around insulation melting temperature, let alone finger!

Have a look through this build thread that's recently done this: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18759071
Aquaero 5 stuff starting about post 8. His VRM (aka Fan Amp) temp is about 66°C running a pump at lower speed with a heatsink. Took a spot of thermal grease to get a better contact with the heatsink.

Aberfala · 5 Jan 2017 at 10:18

Bone9 said:
Ah I plan on running 6 fans at low voltage at idle then ramp up under load.

You'll probably be fine with 6 fans, I was running 14 at a constant 5v so with less fans and your speeding up that should help bring the temps down.

The issue in more detail is that once the VRM's reach about 90c they start spinning the fans at 100% until they cool down a bit.

I didn't have much airflow over my 5LT either so if your plan for placement includes some airflow then that should help as well.

It's a shame the 6LT is so hard to come by and expensive as they definitely made improvements to it, the VRM's on that run at less than 30c with no airflow.

Bone9 · 5 Jan 2017 at 10:28

Hmm mine will have zero airflow and will be behind the mb and panel somewhere. Unsure of fans yet as I need some new 140mm rad fans but not sure what to get. Was thinking of the industrial noctuas. Any suggestions?