Aqua Computer Aquaero Owners thread

[Doug2507]

If you add a PowerAdjust it also has two Aquabus headers but only three pin so you could add it in the chain but not last before something requiring power. You could go Aquaero > PowerAdjust > Farbwerk (adds power back in) > splitter > flow meters.
The idea would be to run something like this as suits your loop:
fan1: pump
fan2: case fans
fan3: rad1's fans (via splitty)
fan4: rad2's fans (via splitty)
PowerAdjust: rad3's fans (via splitty)

Just to re-affirm....

AQ6 Fan 1 -> Splitty -> 8 fans
AQ6 Fan 2 -> Splitty -> 8 fans
AQ6 Fan 3 - Pump 1 (SATA pwr)
AQ6 Fan 4 - Pump 2 (SATA pwr)

AQ6 Aquabus High -> Splitty in AQBus mode,
-> Pwr Adj (8 fans (2/3/3) / MOLEX pwr)
-> Pwr Adj (8 fans (2/3/3) / MOLEX pwr)
->Farbwerk (MOLEX pwr)
->USB Flowmeter x2 (USB pwr)

Sound right?

 

[Cenedd]

That ought to work - assuming there isn't too much load from 8 fans on a Splitty.
If I remember correctly (can't look it up right now) the PowerAdjusts have a 3 pin Aquabus in and out whilst the Farbwerk has a four pin in and out. If it made your wiring any simpler, you could daisy-chain a lot of them. For example:
Aquaero > PA > PA > Farbwerk > Flow
You could use 3-pin Aquabus cables for the first three and 4-pin from the Farbwerk (which i believe powers up the 4th pin again) to the Flow meter. To get the 2nd flow meter on Aquabus you'd need a splitter but it could be a 4-pin Y splitter with all 4 pins connected - there is a specific aquabus y splitter that is just that.
Splitty would work too, just more to mount.
You can also mix and match so have some off the Splitty and some daisy-chained - whatever makes your cabling easier, tidier or possible with the cables you have!

 

[Doug2507]

Would replacing the two splitty's for PA3's be a wiser choice?

 

[Cenedd]

Not necessarily. It just depends on the load that each bank of 8 fans puts on the channel. Just looked up the Splitty and it's a 5 Amp limit. Quick look-up and that seems to be 60W so it would seem that if the Aquaero 6 can handle it (30W per channel) the Splitty should.

As long as your fans aren't pulling too much juice from each channel, you should be fine. Whether you want/need to add channels by using PA3's is mainly about layout. For example, I'm assuming that 8 fans are a push/pull set on a 4x120 rad (or similar). It makes sense to control all those at the same speed. If on the other hand, the 8 fans is made up of 6 fans on one rad and 2 on another, it doesn't really make sense and is just going to be confusing - it'd still work, of course.

Incidentally, the Y-splitter is Aqua Computer part number 71212 It's only that it's smaller than a Splitty if you only need to split once rather than 4 ways. Sometimes that's neater for wiring and sometimes it's not.

Something I meant to say in the last post was that by having 4-pin Aquabus to the flow meters, you don't then have to provide them with USB for power - which saves on wiring and makes it neater. If you're going to run USB to them anyway (doesn't really get you anything extra) you could use a 3-pin splitter which OCUK have in stock. Other fan splitters may also have all 3 or 4 pins connected to all plugs....but they shouldn't and it's difficult to tell from the pics which do and which don't as they tend to be braided nowadays.

 

[Doug2507]

Yeah, banks of 8 in P/P on 480's.

Layout will be tidy, they're going in a TH10A so the case middle partition will be drilled to mount all the pcb's. I'll just need to make up my own short AQB connectors for each. (see below, obv. mounted on reverse)



Ah, that's great for the flowmeters as i'd rather keep the mobo clean from wiring where possible!

 

[Cenedd]

Glad you finished with "mounted on the reverse" cos I was going to say that'll be a mess of cables unless you're a cable-tidying god! Looks good though. Depending on how you're planning to run the cables and how flat they need to lay (to get the lid shut), you might need to have more space between the Splittys so you can get cables lying flat between them.

If you can do fan pin crimps, you can make your own 3-pin, 4-pin and Y aquabus cables to length. For my layout, to minimise cabling, I made a 4-pin Y-splitter from the Aquaero with the Flow meter on one arm and the Farbwerk on the other. The Farbwerk has a second Aquabus port (a through port) so I then wired that to my res. Neither res nor flow meter has USB - although it can be necessary to connect USB to the res sometimes as you can only calibrate the level sensor (Aqualis XT) over USB not Aquabus. You can decipher some idea of what I mean from the pics in this post.
Farbwerk also has some functionality that can only be accessed by USB - depends how you want to set it up. I've got all four channels set to be controlled by the Aquaero as I prefer to have only one thing running it centrally. Downside is that you can only configure four RGB controllers on the Aquaero so if you've got four outputs on the Farbwerk and also the RGB (single) LED on the Aquaero, at least one of them is going to have to share a controller and hence be showing the same colour. I believe you can get around this by having the Farbwerk control one or more channels directly and feeding it some of the sensor data from the Aquaero...but then you need USB connected to the Farbwerk to configure it.

Filling that right-hand res is going to be interesting unless you're taking out the bay.

 

[romeooscarbravo]

Is the Aqua Computer Aquaero 6 LT USB Fan Controller going to be enough to run two sets of loop sensors. 2xtemp sensor+2x flow sensors and in total about 12 fans? Is there anything else that would be worth while getting before i take the plunge?

 

[Cenedd]

If you can find a 6 LT in stock (they're new and difficult to find in stock) then yes, no problem.
There are 8 temperature sensor headers on the Aquaero.
For the flow sensors, there are MPS type flow sensors but they need a straight connection in and out. The Aquaero can take a High-Flow sensor on its 'Flow' header but you'll need to also order the special cable as it's helpfully not included and is NOT the same as a fan plug.

For the second flow sensor (only any point if you're running two separate loops as they'll read the same in one loop unless you've got parallel paths) you've got two options.
1. The more expensive High-Flow sensor with USB which connects by Aquabus instead of the flow cable. You'll probably want a 4-pin aquabus cable to connect it though. They include 3-pin aquabus cables but the 4th pin is power. With only 3-pin, you'd also need to connect USB to provide power.
2. Your other option is about the same cost, a bit more complex but gives you more. If you order a PowerAdjust3 Standard version (Ultra not needed as the Aquaero controls it) you can connect it to the Aquaero by aquabus (3-pin is fine as it takes power from a molex) you can then connect a second of the cheaper high-flow sensor to the PowerAdjust's 'flow' port. The advantage in doing it this way is that you then have an extra 30W channel for running fans or pump. It's only capable of voltage control not PWM.
Both the PowerAdjust and the USB version of the High-Flow have temperature sensor header on them - doubt you'd need more than 8 but sometimes they're closer to what you want to monitor so make for neater wiring.

 

[Doug2507]

No issues closing the case....



Fill ports...



But now you've got me thinking, will the res fully fill....

 

[Cenedd]

Spoiled for space then...no shoe-horn required!

The main requirement is to get a clear run of coolant to the pump. Once you can do that, you can pump it round, stop the pump, top up and repeat until full. You don't really want the res 100% full since the air gap at the top is slightly compressible and will give you some expansion space. The issue is whether the coolant will flow under gravity alone from the rad to the res. That depends on the loop and I can't really see that from the pics - if it's a straight drop from the rad to the res, it should be fine. Something to find out in leak testing

 

[Doug2507]

Both pumps will supply both upper rads so when the upper rads are filled they'll prime the pumps. The res 'should' fill alright as the only other 'space' in the loops for the fluid to go is out the top of the upper rads which are obviously higher up. Push come to shove it's no issue pulling the disc drive to top them up. And correct, they won't be filled completely, especially considering I'd like to actually use the waterfall effect!

 

[Cenedd]

Waterfall works quite well. You just need to adjust the speed of the pump to tune it - which you can do with the Aquaero. Too fast and it just pushes a load of bubbles into the pump and round the loop. Too slow and it doesn't generate any bubbles so has very little effect. To be fair though, I removed the acrylic plate as originally I wasn't planning to use the waterfall so that might improve the blocking of bubbles. Be interesting to hear whether it does for yours as I could always refit it if I have to do yet another drain - don't ask!

 

[Doug2507]

Pretty sure that's the whole point of the plate!

I'll maybe get a build log on the go for this one...

 

[Cenedd]

I'm quite sure you're right...it was only as I was writing it that it dawned on me I'd taken it out to not use it and then waterfall'd it anyway.
Will definitely follow a log. Worth it for the feedback you get - often some off-the-wall ideas that are really helpful.

 

[OJ46]

This might be a daft question, but if I run an Aqua Computer D5 from an Aquaero 6 using the Aquabus cable, what info does this send? Just wondering whether I still need to use the RPM cable as well, or whether that is also sent via Aquabus.

Cheers guys

EDIT: Ignore that, I'm a moron

 

[madindehead]

Hey guys,

I was pointed to this thread by Greebo. Very helpful!

Quick question for you: Can I connect an EKWaterblocks D5 pump to this and allow it to be controlled? Or is that not possible?

Or would I need to connect the D5 pump to a poweradjust block for it to be controlled correctly?

 

[atomic7431]

i wonder if you nice people can help, ive never had one of these but want one to control my D5 Pump and My rad fans, my flow sensor in the basket and a temp sensor i have already.


My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x WD Black 4TB 7200rpm SATA 6Gb/s 128mb Cache HDD - OEM (WD4004FZWX)= £202.99
• 1 x Aqua Computer Aquaero 6 XT USB Fan Controller= £134.99
• 1 x Aqua Computer SPLITTY9 splitter for up to 9 fans or aquabus devices= £9.95
• 1 x Aqua Computer High-Flow Flow Sensor= £32.99

Total: £389.62
(includes shipping: £8.70)




EK Water Blocks EK-XRES 140 Revo D5 PWM (incl. pump) - already own
XSPC LCD Temperature Sensor (White) V2 + G1/4" Plug Sensor - already own

will these work together and what else would i need please, go easy on me it seems a mine field lol
or would this be a better option - Aquaero 6 LT USB Fan Controller​

 

[OC2000]

If you are not using an Aqua Computer D5 Pump, but are using a PWM D5 pump as you have mentioned, then you simply put the PWM connector into the one of the four 4 pin fan inputs. You would control the pump as a fan. The aqua computer D5 has the aquabus connection which allows it to be controlled as a pump rather than a fan.

It will work just fine though. You would just use the Fan output to control the pump instead of the dedicated pump tab on aquasuite. You'll see the same information.

 

[atomic7431]

Thanks for the confirmation, all parts should arrive tomorrow along with a few other goodies

 

[springy1989]

Recently purchased an Aquaero 6 XT, so I would like to add 2 temp sensors to each pump mod top would this temp sensor be compatible WC-120-AQ? Also I'm using modmytoys 3-Pin Distributer PCB 5x 3pin to run my 4 Noisebocker PL-2s to the fan header on the Aquaero, but do I need a PWM cable even though I'm using 3pin fans to control them fully with the Aquaero or can I use non pwm and still have full functionality over my fans? Some insight would be awesome, thanks.