Pump power, can you get it through a molex?
 

Well here I sit, reviewing pumps, and it hits me, I don't want another wire sticking out of the back of my machine.

So, after a few google searches I am still a bit muddled, so can you get pump power from your PSU? Do you splice the power cords?

So what works?


-M

I remember some of the older procooling.com projects showing how to split a 120v line (or whatever current you use) off the connector in your powersupply. This would keep all the wiring inside the case, but it requires PSU modification.

<edit>
Found the article:
http://www.procooling.com/articles/h..._-_day_3.shtml
</edit>

http://bellsouthpwp.net/l/m/lmitch81/water/psumod2.jpg
I modified my powersupply...

http://bellsouthpwp.net/l/m/lmitch81...pumprelay3.jpg
That connects to this relay.

Sealed electrical plugs are $1 at AceHardware. Just buy one and solder the ends onto the leads inside your supply. Takes 10min and you get a nice outlet inside your case for the pump.

if you've got a 12v pump it'd be fairly easy..... but for a 120v pump you need to do something like those pictures showed

You want a capable 12V pump? You got it. Johnson CM30P7-1 is your babe. Small, powerful (414 GPH @ 3ft head) economical (12V @ 2.2 A, 26W) and solid Swedish engineering. It's magnetic drive (silent, not even the 50-60Hz mains buzz) and continuously rated.

Check out the pump roundup thread.

Caution - If you do wire in an AC pump using a molex, mark or color the connectors so you don't plug in a hard drive or other device. In the heat of trouble-shooting you could let the smoke out of something. It's best to use some other style of connector to avoid that.

You call $179 economical? I've got a piece of land in Florida for ya...

So do I...let me move my stuff first :D

When I run 120 volts into a molex I use the center two (normally ground) of the four pins. With nothing connected to the outside two pins. If plugged into 12 volt devices and both grounds were used in the device it would cause a short in the 120 volt line and melt something.

What you will probably melt is the two pins in the molex and the HD or whatever you ran 120ACV into. And who knows what else will be damaged. Good luck trying to RMA a piece of hardware fried like that. Still best to use unique connectors. Radio Shack or any electrical house has dozens to choose from.

I was referring to its power consumption as economical (this is why voltage, amperage and watts are mentioned in the context of that statement). It won't burn your PSU out. The price of the thing is of course quite expensive in most people's book.

But hey, perfections costs. If it was any other piece of hardware (HD, GPU, Mobo, CPU etc.) then $179,-- would not raise such eyebrows. You no want to pay? You buy an Eheim, which is an excellent mains powered pump, for half the price. No sweat.