power supply to water pump?

[bdunosk]

Are there any pumps that hook into the 4-lead wires? How reliable is this for providing power?

Thanks!

[ck42]

Well Brian, if I'm understanding your correctly, the four wire connector is the one coming from the computer PSU.

Now, in order to use this connector, you would have to have a pump that either runs on 12V or 5V (which is what these connectors provide)

*Most* pumps out there being used are 120V AC pumps. There are 12V DC pumps available but there seems to be an issue concerning their long term reliability in constant duty setups.

So, hope this answers your question....

[bdunosk]

Yeah, it does answer my question - thanks!

[patlo]

so are you saying that there is now way to wire your 120v pump to a computer psu?

I'm just wondering cuz i thought UnaClocker did it in his project microstealth article:
http://www.procooling.com/articles/h...-_page_3.shtml

I'd like to wire my pump to my psu like he did if it is possible.

thanks.

[ck42]

No, I'm not saying that.

In fact, I have my 120V AC pump wired to get its power from the PSU in a way....it's controlled via a relay. In fact, there's more than one way to do this.

[patlo]

So you wired it together using a relay? Is this the easiest way to do it?

Can't you just strip your pumps power cord and then simply match the same color wires in your psu?

[bdunosk]

Actually, that brings up another point - what about power... I mean, the big thing with Athlon was to have a good 300W power supply. If I start leeching power for a water pump, is that going to adversely affect the performance of my computer? I have an Antec 300W, btw - is that enough?

[gmat]

Actually you connect the pump to AC *before* the PSU so it does not draw PSU current.
I just connected mine to the back of black plug and on/off switch so the pump is turned on or off with the PSU altogether.

[ck42]

If you guys are talking about AC pumps, then yes, you CAN hook the pump up to the 120V going to the PSU. Problem with this is:

Pump has power applied to it ALL the time.
This is the reason for the relay. The relay is activated when the the computer PSU is turned on which THEN turns the pump on.

As far as 'leeching power' from the PSU, NONONONONO.....the PSU gets 120V from the wall outlet. It's capable of supplying up to 15-20A in most homes. Your typical 300W PSU only pulls a max of 8.5A. Than leaves all the rest for your pump. Even if you tried to pull more than the 15-20A, you couldn't...you'd just trip the circuit breaker.

[bdunosk]

Alright, with all that said, is there a detailed procedure as to how to do this?

Thanks!

[ck42]

Brian,

The closest thing I've seen to it is here:
http://www.overclockers.com/tips242/

[Butcher]

Where's did you get that 8.5A figure from? At 120V 8.5A is 1050W... that's a lot fo current for a 300W supply

[LiquidCool]

My generic 300W PSU pulls 6amps at 120v, says so right on the sticker... so a high wuality one could potentially pull more...

[jimsnyder]

There are a few pumps out there that plug into a 12v lead and only use about an amp, but they are not magnetic drive. The disadvantage is low flow and lotsa noise. ColeParmer sells a variety of pumps that will fit this.

[bdunosk]

Originally posted by Xperience:
...The disadvantage is low flow and lotsa noise. ColeParmer sells a variety of pumps that will fit this.

Blah. The co-reason I'm thinking of doing water cooling is for lowered noise. Check this out, though - it would at least only mean killing one 4-pin power as opposed to opening up the PSU. Look at the second page...
http://www.arncom.com/rr/guides/watercooling.htm

[jimsnyder]

Nice website. Choices for 12v pumps include auto fuel pumps (high flow, but VERY noisy, and draw lotsa amps), a 23.3 GPM sump pump drawing 10 amps (way too big), gear pumps at 0.4 GPM drawing 2 amps (way too small and noisy), 2.2 LPM drawing 1.8 amps (way too small and noisy), 4.36 LPM drawing 4 amps (requires separate pump head$, and still too small and at 4000 rpm, too noisy), piston metering pumps at up to 1.2 LPM drawing 4 amps ($$$$$$$$$$$ and even noisier), and peristaltic pumps which combine high cost, extreme unreliability (hose wears out), high noise, and high power consumption. I finally bought a 350 GPH Pond Master pump that runs on 115 AC. (I know, chickened out of the expensive, noisy self-contained solutions!)

[LiquidCool]

My pumps put out 500gph with only about 1.3 to 1.5 amps on the 12v rail, and are a hair noisier than the aquarium pumps.

[mkosem]

Hmm, I had those bilge pumps on my old water cooled system. They are cheap, but I thought they were prety noisy.


http://www.mindspring.com/~mkosem/pix/old_water/rig.jpg


--MAtt

[LiquidCool]

yeah you can hear them, but they sound like a small fan, at least to me... plus my reservoirs are thick and airtight, so that cuts the noise down too...

[mkosem]

Very Good, what kind are those pumps? I used to use johnson bilge pumps. However, the 3/4" water "Cap" was a little too much!
http://www.mindspring.com/~mkosem/pix/old_water/cap.jpg
Mind you this was 4 years ago. The technology of water cooling just wasn't as mature as it is today. But I had the coolest running Cyrix-MII on the block and the only one runnin 350mhz(100X3.5@3.2v).

By the way, I love the "BIGBORE" concept!

--Matt