External Box for H2O gear

I'm considering building an external box for most of the water cooling gear (not sure it will fit in my case/desk and I want to play some anyway).

How do you get power to the fans in there?

I'm going to use a Danner Mag 3 pump so I should have enough head to get flow through the system. What kind of success or failure have others had when they tried an external system?

Thanks for any experience you can share.

Here's the external water cooling case that I made:
http://www.overclockers.com/tips1149/index07.asp

Enjoy!

External boxes work well for a lot of people. I think the easiest way to power it is to get and cheap atx or micro-atx power supply and put that in the box. You can short the green wire on the motherboard connector to a black wire and it will work without being plugged into the motherboard.

UBERCOOL said:

External boxes work well for a lot of people. I think the easiest way to power it is to get and cheap atx or micro-atx power supply and put that in the box. You can short the green wire on the motherboard connector to a black wire and it will work without being plugged into the motherboard.

Click to expand...

That does work too but I like to know that the pump comes on with the system and runs as long as the system is up. With a relay the pump power in my external box is switched on/off with the PC's power. The pump in my external box does still have it's own power cord. The relay just senses the PC's power state. I do use a spare power supply to test the loop.

Owenator said:

Here's the external water cooling case that I made:
http://www.overclockers.com/tips1149/index07.asp

Enjoy!

Click to expand...

Talk about timing!

I just picked up an old DELL PE 2300 server for the express purpose of gutting the case, including side panels and using it as an external water cooling case.

I'm going to have to borrow a few of your ideas along the way. Hope you don't mind.

Reefa_Madness said:

Talk about timing!

I just picked up an old DELL PE 2300 server for the express purpose of gutting the case, including side panels and using it as an external water cooling case.

I'm going to have to borrow a few of your ideas along the way. Hope you don't mind.

Click to expand...

Glad to be of service! Of course I'm sure most of my "ideas" were borrowed as well.

Old Compaq UPS boxes make good external w/cing cases once gutted too...

I'm working on several ideas right now. One is another computer case for it. I might be able to appropriate a large floor server with wheels...that would work for everything once gutted.

Here's my latest ideas: use slot-t aluminum framing to building a plexi case for everything. I'm thinking an all-in-one is easier over-all. This is my ultimate http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v363/navig/Lubic/Lubic thread1/Dooropen.jpg (borrowed from Navig here on the forums) except I would put everything in one box.

.. or (this is real ghetto but works better with wife) get a $25 2-shelf bookcase for everything!!! http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do...Price_2|0&Nr=200000&N=201636 7&Ne=6&An=browse It has enough room. I could build it out to close up the last side. I would put in a door/hinge type setup. Anyway...that's more modding than H2O cooling.

I plug my fan psu and my pump into the same power-strip as the computer.
I have to turn on the power-strip to turn on the computer, and by then the water is already flowing at full steam.
When I shut off the computer, I shut off the strip.

It's wife/kid proof, and a failing relay doesn't fry anything.

There's a problem using a relay to power on a mag-drive pump...something to do with contact bounce and magnetic collapse...can't remember exactly, but it's hard on the impeller of the pump. There is a way to use a diode in the circuit to correct the problem though. I'll do some checking if I have time today.

*edit* Not exactly the one I was looking for, but here's close enough:
http://www.procooling.com/index.php?func=articles&disp=55&pg=2

Diggrr said:

I plug my fan psu and my pump into the same power-strip as the computer.
I have to turn on the power-strip to turn on the computer, and by then the water is already flowing at full steam.
When I shut off the computer, I shut off the strip.

It's wife/kid proof, and a failing relay doesn't fry anything.

There's a problem using a relay to power on a mag-drive pump...something to do with contact bounce and magnetic collapse...can't remember exactly, but it's hard on the impeller of the pump. There is a way to use a diode in the circuit to correct the problem though. I'll do some checking if I have time today.

*edit* Not exactly the one I was looking for, but here's close enough:
http://www.procooling.com/index.php?func=articles&disp=55&pg=2

Click to expand...

Interesting! I never heard of that issue before. When I used my external box it stayed on most the time as I usually leave my PC on 24/7 anyway. I wonder if this is an issue with my current 12V pump? I think most of the 12V pumps are mag drive too. Thanks!

As for hurting pumps, I think it's in the mechanical relay. Since AC pumps are usually bi-directional (as in, the impeller can turn either direction to work) the micro-second bounce of the relay contacts can make the impeller change directions too quickly when they are starting. With my Danner Mag2, it got bad enough to "stutter" for a second or two before taking off. That's when I switched to the power strip method.

I don't know if it's an issue with DC pumps (they only turn in one direction), but the power supply backfeeding would still be a problem when the magnetic field in the relay coil colapses. That's what that diode is preventing.

Of course you can still change to a solid-state relay and avoid all these problems too.....though I've never worked with one. I gather they work using diodes, so the problem doesn't exist.