Best way to prime MCP600

Hello all,

I just got a MCP600 and since it clearly warns against running the pump dry, whats the best way to prime the pump?

Also, since it uses 12V power, whats the best way to leak test the system? With my old pump, I could just plug into the wall, but for the MCP600, how do I turn on the power w/o a motherboard?

Any ideas or first hand experiences?

Just put the MCP600 into my system due to my Mag3 leaking! What I did to prime it was simply put it in the system, then fill it. When I got as much water in as I could, I ran the pump and topped it off. Now, to run the system, I pre-planned and bought a power supply tester from Powmax (the one by Antec is also good), it runs the pump perfectly. Don't just short two leads together on the atx connector, it could blow your power supply. The psu needs a load on it to run right (and not blow!)
Hope this helps.

Shawn

govern1 , you are kinda right. The psu does startup when shorted certinly , but the tester you have doesnt put the load you think on it , the antec one i have seen and used all it is , just a light a peweny led that draws .001 amps (i dunno) but psu doesnt really need that much load bc it has fans that take power too so you could just short the green wire with a ground or black wire. Post pix when you are done with your sys!

SK8, I think that it has a resistor (25 ohm I think?) which puts in the load, as well as an led. Anyway, for about 15$ shipped, why take a chance.
I've got my Asus K8V Deluxe, 74G Raptor and PC Power and Cooling 510 Turbo Deluxe sitting in their boxes on my desk and I'll have my A64 3400+ and Corsair XMS ram in about a week. Using that and all that I already have, it should move along pretty well and look nice, too!
I'll post pics when it's done.

Shawn

well with a hefty psu like that i wouldnt risk it , my enermax was 80 so :/ o well

Ok, my Hydor also warns against running dry, this just means you need to have some water in the pump. Sooo to get water in the pump fill you system as much as possible and just move the res / t-line and pump around till the pump is lower than the fill area; and look at that water goes into the pump.

Now to finish filling; on the ATX header short out the green wire and a black wire to turn on the PSU, works for me. The other way would be to use a PSU hooked up to a diff system, locate it really close to the pump and use one of its lines. The final option is to use your mouth to carefully fill your system as much as possible (pick a high point and start sucking... for my res my lines are just dropped in (no barbs ATM) so its a little easier. for a barbed system just use the highest possible point and leave a little air in the lines, fill as much as possible and connect the lines and start her up, fill as needed.

for the PSU shorting worries; I'm pretty sure that the PSU won't blow for the same reasons that your house's electrical sockets don't blow w/o load. I've done this before w/o a problem, post me a link to someone who blew their PSU and I'll believe it.

Sucking on your lines works great , but be careful not to get a mouthful of anti-freeze . If you have a T-line or reservoir right near your pump's inlet, filling it up, and then tilting so the pump is filled works as well. After a bit of water is in the pump just start filling with the pump running.

I have a backup PSU (just a generic 300W) which I do the shorting trick on to test fans, lights, and stuff. It's really useful to be able to hook up a fan, and see what kind of noise/power you get at different voltages before installing it in a live system. I had an old dead motherboard which I used to start the PSu for a while, but it was impractical due to the size.

I've never had problems with my PSU running like this, but I wouldn't try it with my True550W.

Yeah.. I have a spare generic 300w power supply I don't really care about.

How exactly do I short those two wires? Anyone mind giving me some fairly detailed instructions?

Thanks for the input so far...

why dont you just run the pump outside your case wiht yoru computer turned on.. just put like the wc gear in a bag or something so incase of a leak it wont harm your computer..

To short them just take a paper clip or something similar and run it between the two wire holes in the ATX plug. I put a little tape over it so it doesn't fall out and I don't shock myself. I've been using this method on an old test psu for years and it works fine.

I knew there was a reason to hold on to that AT power supply

I own a mcp600 also and happen to work at a microcenter. So i was able to borrow powersupply tester(from the bench techs) With that the power supply and the pump it was no prob to turn the pump on with having to hook the pump up to the motherboard.