Aqua Computer Aquaero Owners thread

[Mcthommo]

anyone here maybe answer a question-= due to reasons, needing to change to an AIO from air. Ive sorted a Z63 kraken and have 3 case fans that I want to keep all on same software. CAM only can manage total of 3 fans so the AIO has a pump tach 3 pin out, along with 5 Noctua fans (4Pin) wonder if the Aquaero 6 would work with that- the pump really is what I need to control along with fans as dont really want to split it between the two

 

[Cenedd]

An Aquaero 6 has four 4-pin fan connections. Each can handle 3-pin (voltage control) or 4-pin (PWM) and provide up to 30W. So you can power a pump from a header directly to control it. The fans, you'd need to split with something like a Splitty (or some fan splitter) and then you'd get control of the whole bank but only speed (tacho) from one fan in the bank. If they're all the same, it works well enough but you don't get to detect fan failure on any that don't have the tacho connected. Does that help?

You could also look at things like the Octo as that will give you 8 channels but PWM only.

 

[Mcthommo]

thanks- I do have a couple of splitty's hanging around somewhere from a previous water loop. apparently the AIO pump is controlled fully by the CAM software and only needs the micro usb plugged in- and sata power- so should be able to control the fans with the AE and let CAM look after the pump if I cant get the AE to see the tech signal which NZXT tech said is possible
I so wish my daughter would have let me organize this build for her but she likes the gif able pump for her crap

 

[Cenedd]

You might be able to get the Aquaero to see the tach signal for monitoring the pump if you dedicate a channel to it. It may only work if you have the tach wire and the ground wire connected....but I wouldn't swear to that. I can't remember what I was playing with when I hit that issue but it may be that with everything on a common ground (same PSU) it will be ok.

 

[Mcthommo]

thanks for that- I will give it a go when it arrives

 

[Mcthommo]

managed to get an NZXT fan controller so all be controlled in CAM for her- think I will keep the good stuff (Aquasuite) for me

 

[Mcthommo]

Yet another bricked OCTO here- second one in the last 6 months or so from different machines- so back to the old faithful 6XT which has never let me down so far

 

[mcrustk2]

Hey peeps , Hope this is okay admin (if not I will remove ), for anyone who specifically uses Aquacomputer components, I have created a discord support group here: https://discord.gg/eh2eQrZeHf I created the group as the AQ forums are often slow to respond and mainly in german, the ecosystem itself is vast with many nuances, so thought it would be great to share detailed experiences and generate some interest given its quite a niche subset. I think it will complement this thread as it covers the entire ecosystem, not just the Aquaero.

All the best.

 

[Mcthommo]

Think after my experiences recently with them I will pass
yes Aquasuite is a lovely piece of detailed software but being seriously being let down by hardware

 

[Chockymonster]

Think after my experiences recently with them I will pass
yes Aquasuite is a lovely piece of detailed software but being seriously being let down by hardware

Any idea what's caused the issue? I'm running an Octo and Aquaero in my machine and would rather not brick the Octo!

 

[Mcthommo]

no idea- this is the second one that lost the ability to control fans other than at either 0 or 100% power- I also only ran 5 fans off of it- all 4 pin Noctua's all on seperate channels, no rgb so I have no clue. I dont think it is software related as it was tried on different version of Aquasuite and also on different machines. So unless I just got very unlucky to have 2 bricked ones, my feelings that the software is good but the hardware is not up to it wont change- I have also had a couple of older farbwerks not work along with a friends machine not getting a Splitty RGBpx to work at all no matter what fans or strips he tried.
It is making me not go back to watercooling to be honest as Aqua computer was about the only single company stuff for monitoring/RGB/pumps etc I liked and unless something changes I dont think I will risk further money at this time even though my RTX 3090 would seriously benefit from being under water

 

[Chockymonster]

That's interesting and worrying at the same time! I'm about to redo my loop with 2 D5 next pumps. I'm not sure if I need to monitor/control the speed of those with a PWM header anymore. I've had issues with the Farbwerk aRGB stuff, mainly the ambientpx software being stupidly designed. The hardware has always been reliable, my only gripe there is their penchant for using weird connectors for everything!

 

[Mcthommo]

never had any issues with the D5 next pumps- always worked lovely with the AE 6XT

 

[Chockymonster]

never had any issues with the D5 next pumps- always worked lovely with the AE 6XT

Do you need to use the PWM signal or does the USB and controller head suffice?

 

[Mcthommo]

I just used USB not PWM as I preferred to have pump at a fixed level

 

[JonJ678]

Anyone know if the 5V molex input is used? Trying to find out if I can run one of these off 12V alone.

Edit: Also, any problems running D5 pumps off these? There seems to be aquaero branded d5 pumps and some comments about EK ones not working with the controller

Edit: Found a review at https://martinsliquidlab.wordpress.com/2011/12/20/ac-aquaero-5-review-guide-wip/2/ which covers a lot of information. It says the number of temperature inputs is expandable (to 40), seems to be some way of wiring a bunch of these things together.

 

[EsaT]

Anyone know if the 5V molex input is used?

Would imagine that's used for microcontroller, which is designed for 2.7-5.5 voltage.
https://www.nxp.com/docs/en/data-sheet/MCF51JM128.pdf

There doesn't seem to be anything, which would look like regulator for it.
https://forum.aquacomputer.de/images-ac/aquaero_generationen.jpg
And that would be anyway wasted cost with fit voltage available directly.

There are 12 to 5V buck/step down converters you could use for generating 5V, but that would be unnecessary complexity.

 

[JonJ678]

Ah, that's convincing. Cool, thanks!

edit: turns out to not matter. The spec sheet claims 0.5A of 5V, i.e. 2.5W. The search term "12V to 5V converter" finds loads of things that can be attached to a molex to run the controller off 12V. It doesn't have to be built in.

 

[Yaka]

just dusted off and fitted my aq 6 XT

i have 2 ek d5 pumps do i controll them via fan pwm ports or wire them directly to aquabus? 15.2 in the manual states D5 pumps to be connected via aquabus

 

[Chockymonster]

It depends on the pump and the features. My D5s are usb, if I use aquabus connectors for them then I lose rgbpx functionality.