- Joined
- Jun 8, 2004
Could someone quickly shed some light on the significance of AC vs DC pumps if any?
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DC or AC pump?
- Thread starter ceo@eventures-s
- Start date
- Joined
- Jun 5, 2004
- Location
- New York City
DC: more convenent, you can run it off your PSU. Most DC pumps were built for watercooling, or were pumps that people realized would be really good at watercooling computers. They can run right off your psu, and as said before, they dump less heat into the loop. However, there is no extremley quiet DC solution as of now, save perhaps the MCP350, which has very strange preformance (LOTS of head, but very low flow).
AC: runs it out of your wall outlet, or use a card that turns it off and on with the computer. Unless you use one of these "relay switches", you will probably running the pump 24/7. However, most AC solutions, such as the popular Eheim 1250, and the less powerful but quieter 1048, are practically inaudible, although not quite up to the preformance level of many of the DC pumps (the MCP600/650). However, you also have AC pumps such as Iwaki's, which are both relativley quiet (about as loud as the DC pumps, which isnt really THAT loud), but give you the best preformance possible. Check out Cathar's pump topic over at procooling, I forgot the link but you will be able to find it easily. The Iwaki's, although the best, are also quite expensive.
Basically, the DC are for us lazy people who like convienence. They do preform very well, and are a good middle-high range option. The Eheim's are quieter, and the Iwaki's are more powerful, but all the DC pumps except for the C-Systems one (dont buy it, ive not heard good thigns about it) are pretty quiet, they cant really be heard over your fans, and give very good preformance, while running pretty cool and not dumping a whole lot of excess heat into the loop. Frankly, it all depends on what youre looking for in a pump, although the DC route is becoming more and more popular these days.
AC: runs it out of your wall outlet, or use a card that turns it off and on with the computer. Unless you use one of these "relay switches", you will probably running the pump 24/7. However, most AC solutions, such as the popular Eheim 1250, and the less powerful but quieter 1048, are practically inaudible, although not quite up to the preformance level of many of the DC pumps (the MCP600/650). However, you also have AC pumps such as Iwaki's, which are both relativley quiet (about as loud as the DC pumps, which isnt really THAT loud), but give you the best preformance possible. Check out Cathar's pump topic over at procooling, I forgot the link but you will be able to find it easily. The Iwaki's, although the best, are also quite expensive.
Basically, the DC are for us lazy people who like convienence. They do preform very well, and are a good middle-high range option. The Eheim's are quieter, and the Iwaki's are more powerful, but all the DC pumps except for the C-Systems one (dont buy it, ive not heard good thigns about it) are pretty quiet, they cant really be heard over your fans, and give very good preformance, while running pretty cool and not dumping a whole lot of excess heat into the loop. Frankly, it all depends on what youre looking for in a pump, although the DC route is becoming more and more popular these days.
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2004
Phextwin said:
On the other side DC pumps are usually run off your power supply so you might need a slightly stronget one than withour. They are also usually noiser.
On the plus side they are usually smaller and have more pressure which is good for highly restritive systems such as those with smaller tubing and multiple blocks or restritive blocks.
You can run the DC pumps off a cheap converter though.
The MCP 600 is one of the most popular DC pumps and the Eheim 1250 seems to be the most popular AC. Everything is a trade off though. It is too bad you cant change impellers to match diffrent flow vs pressure needs like on the Iwaki on these pumps.
- Joined
- Jun 5, 2004
- Location
- New York City
right, thats a good point that I forgot to add. DC pumps are much smaller in size, and in a fairly small case they would be much better, as you probably wouldnt have to mod it at all in order to fit it, just slap it on the bottom, maybe drill a couple of holes and youre ready to go!
OP
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2004
- Thread Starter
- #6
Wow! thanks for the enlightment. I guess I'll go with a DC Pump. What do you guys think of the Danger Den DDC-12V?
http://www.dangerdenstore.com/product.php?productid=135&cat=23&page=1
http://www.dangerdenstore.com/product.php?productid=135&cat=23&page=1
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2001
- Location
- Bergen, Norway
Why should DC pumps be smaller? What about Eheims "compact" series? Still no DC pumps that beat their size.
Difference in performance from AC and DC pumps? Well, you have about a million different AC pumps out there so you can find just about anything you need!
To me, the one and only difference is the way you hook it up. Either the hassle of making sure your PSU can handle it, or the hassle of soldering in a relay.
Get the pump that fits your available space and has the right combination of head/flow for your setup, then give it the power it wants..
Difference in performance from AC and DC pumps? Well, you have about a million different AC pumps out there so you can find just about anything you need!
To me, the one and only difference is the way you hook it up. Either the hassle of making sure your PSU can handle it, or the hassle of soldering in a relay.
Get the pump that fits your available space and has the right combination of head/flow for your setup, then give it the power it wants..
AC or DC is strictly a matter of preference. Alot of what has been said above is correct, some of it a little slanted. I run an AC pump, a Mag3, with a relay that turns it on or off with the power supply. Or, I can run it with the computer turned off for fill and bleed work. Power wise, it has equal performance of any pump listed above. Price wise, it costs about half of what they pay for their DC pumps. For pump performance graphs, visit http://www.procooling.com/articles/html/pump_comparison__-_phaestus__1.php
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2003
Veland said:
Fully agree. Find the pumps that will give enough head pressure for your system and pick the one that takes the least wattage and is the quietest. Who cares if its AC or DC. I think everyone here would agree that spending the extra 20minutes to install a 20$ PCI relay switch for your pump is worth lower temps and silence.
And to back up Achilles17:
http://forums.procooling.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=10825
Cathar's thread. DEFINITELY read it.
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2003
smokenjoe said:
Eh, compared to a MCP600 or a eheim 1048 that sucker is LOUD. And I did the blue RTV sealant mod. Is a nice and powerful pump though.
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2003
zip22 said:
Very true. It is definitely loud to me. Many others are very happy with it in their case mounted on some foam. Im very picky so its probably not a good idea to listen to me. But I am sure that anyone that has a MCP600 and a Mag3 will agree the Mag3 vibrates a lot more and is louder. Whether that is too loud or not is definitely subjective.
jamesavery22 said:
I cant reference actual sound against the Eheim or the MCP, but I can vouch that I cannot hear my Mag 3 from 3 feet away with the case open. And this is only over my fans at 7 volts. It is setting on a piece of foam, so there is no vibration. I can hear it when I first start it, and thats it. I cant imagine how any pump can be any quieter than this. As far the leak around the seal, might did not leak when I first started assembling my rig, but I decided to go ahead and seal it just to be safe.
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2004
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- north of penguin land
in my case, i only have a 230 watt power supply, that's just barely more than i need. ac was the only way to go. (microatx).
now to get a relay...
jungle
now to get a relay...
jungle
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2003
2Busy said:
my mag3 barely leaked when I got it, didnt bother with playing around and just did the blue RTV sealant. I'll definitely keep it. I use it for leak testing components when I get em.
I dont know if Cathar's evaluated one of these pumps in his pump thread but Im pretty sure it dumps too much heat in the loop. When I was testing the pump after I did the sealant thing I had just a T line and a single piece of tubing going from the inlet to the outlet. Yeah yeah I know the heat really has no where to go but man did that thing get hot. My mcp600 barely got warm, and my 1048s stayed cool under the same conditions. Really not a good way to compare, but just from that Im guessing it dumps too much heat into the loop
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- Oct 10, 2012
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A 25 HP DC PUMP ??
.. that's industrial, like for carwashes or something
i can give a link to 25 HP electric AC motors.. you can probably bolt these to a pump housing. But google should be your friend
http://www.weelectricmotors.com/25-HP_c_147.html
and there is Grundfos of course: http://www.grundfos.com/products/find-product/nk-nkg-nke-nkge.html an MMG 200 for example
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Last edited:
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I started reading from the top and realized these guys are way behind in today's market place only to realize half way down this thread, someone revived a 2004 thread. 
+1
+1
