NEW: aquaero 5 series

[D749]

I would try just the blue wire connector as is, it should work if it's all grounded to the same PSU, but in testing I've used various power supplies and some times you have to add the ground to complete the pulsing circuit.

To get more RPM monitoring channels you would have to expand, I believe you could create up to 10 channels with extras but I haven't dug enough enough to completely understand the options there yet. Every fan controller and MB header is only capable of measuring one fan per series string. It measure "pulses per unit of time", so adding more pulses to that wire would screw up the signal and you get weird readings. There is no way to really fix that other than get more channels or make sure all the fans on that one channel are the same so you assume they are all about that one RPM.

Gotcha. Thanks!

[Martinm210]

This is a taste of the menu tree format I'm working on.

Only scratched the surface at this point, but it's helping me at least. I just can't remember settings 6 levels deep without a visual guide to go with it.


And here is that scary but necessary recovery mode feature for flashing older firmware:

[frank anderson]

Try playing with charts yet ? These are nice

[IMG]

Yep, I tried that.. I did not like it much, nothings wrong with it, just personal preference..

Ooooh tempting!
But I have a question.
I would like to know if the sensors(Temp, Fan Speed etc) can be read by "Open Hardware Monitor" ?

I recall reading somewhere a while back (forgot exactly where, here, OC or AC forums) when I was doing my research on this product before buying.. it was not supported, however; with the customize screen that is built into the Aquasuite 2012, you should not need it as it looks a lot better, It would be nice if Aida 64 and Logitech G19 works with it, now that's wishful thinking...

I had the same issue flashing. The key is the jumper but I'm not sure why since my unit is brand new. I was about to throw my XT in the garbage until I stumbled on that piece of information.



Sorry, what do you mean "you may need both RPM and ground wires?" The 450S has a 2-pin molex (yellow & black) for power and a 1-pin molex (blue) for RPM (http://www.koolance.com/water-coolin...mp-450s_p0.jpg). The 2-pin molex will be going to another device to power the pump. Can the 1-pin blue wire simply be attached to a XT fan header?



So there is no way for the XT to understasnd multiple RPM wires coming from different fans when connected to a single XT fan header via a Y-splitter correct?



Thanks.

You can daisy chain fans, that's my method.. connect power/ground/rpm from XT to first fan, then power/ground only to next fan, so on, so forth.. if you connect rpm from multiple fans, it'll still work but your reading will be way off..

Regarding the pump, you can just plug the power directly to a power source and rpm to the Aquaero, that will work too.. The only thing is I don't recall seeing a rpm connector only on the XT (dont confuse the tacho sensor on the AQ or the PA2, I believe that is designed to shut down or send out a speed signal to the MB incase of a alarm action), so this will technically take up one output header on the XT.. The other option is you can connect the fan power/ground to the header and the rpm from the pump to the same header, you would have to make note of this in the "overview" page of the Aquasuite 2012", modify power output of fans but name the RPM to "pump RPM" as a example...

I would try just the blue wire connector as is, it should work if it's all grounded to the same PSU, but in testing I've used various power supplies and some times you have to add the ground to complete the pulsing circuit.

To get more RPM monitoring channels you would have to expand, I believe you could create up to 10 channels with extras but I haven't dug enough enough to completely understand the options there yet. Every fan controller and MB header is only capable of measuring one fan per series string. It measure "pulses per unit of time", so adding more pulses to that wire would screw up the signal and you get weird readings. There is no way to really fix that other than get more channels or make sure all the fans on that one channel are the same so you assume they are all about that one RPM.

That is correct Martin, max support fan header is 10, 4 on the Aquaero and 6 from Power Adjust 2 upgrades...

Fan header 2 on the Aquaero can be changed to a flow sensor via the menu, Power Adjust 2 includes 1 of each (Fan Header aka power output, Flow Sensor, Tach sensor, Temperature sensor).. The english menu was kinda bland, but everything was pretty straight forward since I've been tinkering with this hobby for years.. It's definitely a toy for advanced to intermediate users, novice might have some problem setting it up (which you are definitely not)..

This is a taste of the menu tree format I'm working on.

Only scratched the surface at this point, but it's helping me at least. I just can't remember settings 6 levels deep without a visual guide to go with it.

And here is that scary but necessary recovery mode feature for flashing older firmware:

I'm loving the menu layout, it will definitely help.. Have you tinker'd with the Aquasuite beta 2012 yet? I have set that up and have yet look at the screen, I think the buttons and interface becomes just a "bling" factor once you have the Aquasuite 2012 up and running..

The only issue I ran into was when attempting to modify the flow sensor calibrations off the Aquasuite 2012, it did not work.. as I am using the latest "high flow" flow sensors directly from Aqua Computers, the default calibration is value (calibration value 256, minimum 0, maximum 0.7), in the AQ5 menu, there is a option to choose which AC flow sensor you are using, once you select the high flow version, the value changes to (calibration value 169, min 0, max 1.3)..

The cool thing is the Aquaero 5 can literally function off the usb 5v standy power on board, not sure how accurate this is as my MB model supports high powered usb devices and was designed to charge iphones/ipads while the system is off or in S3/S1 suspend mode, I have tried this when testing and the AQ5 was able to still read the flow/temp sensors off the AQ5 panel interface.. very cool indeed.. Imagine what I can do with this device in my test bed environment..

Also since you have the Aqua pump, can you show a screenshot of the pump setup menu please? much appreciated and Thanks.. I'm curious if it will be worth switching over from my dual D5 to the Aquapump just for the sake of ease of use and the customize features..

[Martinm210]

Yeah, I figured I'd get familiar with the unit interface and menus first, then the Aquasuite, and finally sort out what if any settings are specific to one or the other. The Aquasuite is definitely the easier way to go for the basic settings, but I can't seem to figure out how to create a logging chart in there yet.

Played a little bit with the pump screens in both, but all I can figure out is how to manually control the pump speed and it doesn't appear the aquabus is picking up RPM. Guessing you have to run the RPM out on the pump and use up one of the channels to read that. I also can not find where you can dynamically control the pump via controls. I would have figured you could plot a curve for speed in Hz relative to water temp, but I'm not seeing that option yet.

Here are a few screens I could capture:






Maybe there is more I haven't found yet...still figuring out where things are at and have a ways to go.

[Odai]

Hello,

Initially, it was stated (if I'm not mistaken) that it would eventually be possible to use software sensors (coretemp etc) through Aquasuite to control units attached to the aquaero. Has this feature been implemented yet?

There was also talk of possibly being able to link two Aquaero 5 LTs in order to boost the number of fan channels available. Has this also come to fruition yet?

Thanks,

Odai.

[mm67]

Hello,

Initially, it was stated (if I'm not mistaken) that it would eventually be possible to use software sensors (coretemp etc) through Aquasuite to control units attached to the aquaero. Has this feature been implemented yet?

First alpha version with that kind of possibilities was just released : http://forum.aquacomputer.de/berwach...nsoren-alpha1/

[Martinm210]

First alpha version with that kind of possibilities was just released : http://forum.aquacomputer.de/berwach...nsoren-alpha1/

Nice! Thanks!

Seems to work ok, although you are limited to four sensors and it needs both programs running continuously (speedfan + AC software sensor tool) in order to communicate down to the AQ5.




I don't think you can control the aquastream pump speed via "Controls" though. It picks up the temp sensor and speed in Hz, but no means to control via a curve.

[Martinm210]

I feel like a kid with the cookie jar. I finally see how you can create charts on your own page...

[mm67]

I don't think you can control the aquastream pump speed via "Controls" though. It picks up the temp sensor and speed in Hz, but no means to control via a curve.

Have you tried virtual sensors yet, I prefer using air-water delta as "control" value since temperature in my room changes all the time.



I also don't think that you can use any automatic speed control with Aquastream XT.

[Martinm210]

No, I hadn't tried the virtual sensor piece yet, I wasn't quite sure what it would even be used for, but now I do.. Thanks!

[D749]

I feel like a kid with the cookie jar. I finally see how you can create charts on your own page...

(1) What exactly is "Fan 1 Amp Temp?" What do you have hooked up to that sensor?

(2) How are you measuring air temperature ("Air Sensor 1")? What type of sensor are you using?

(3) What type of sensor are you using to measure water temperatures ("Water Sensor 1")?

Thanks.

[Martinm210]

1) That's just the built in AQ5 sensor they normally call "Fan power amplifier", I just renamed it. It has one for each of the four fan channels and also an aquaero CPU temp sensor already built into the unit.
2) I just used one of the included flat style temperature sensors. It's hanging freely in the air, so I called it air. In actual use I could see running a few of these out to the radiator inlet "Air In" side and maybe using another to measure case temp, etc.
3) That's the built in water sensor on the aquastream XT, it comes through with the aquabus connection.

I'm still just tinkering with a demo type setup on my work bench. It's just a small simple loop with the pump/flow sensor/king flow meter and a couple of fans just sitting there. The software sensors (CPU,GPU,MB,HD) are coming from my normal test PC through the USB, but I don't actually have the AQ5 mounted yet...just tinkering so the actual charts are not going to make much sense with the demo setup I'm playing with.

[D749]

1) That's just the built in AQ5 sensor they normally call "Fan power amplifier", I just renamed it. It has one for each of the four fan channels and also an aquaero CPU temp sensor already built into the unit.
2) I just used one of the included flat style temperature sensors. It's hanging freely in the air, so I called it air. In actual use I could see running a few of these out to the radiator inlet "Air In" side and maybe using another to measure case temp, etc.
3) That's the built in water sensor on the aquastream XT, it comes through with the aquabus connection.

I'm still just tinkering with a demo type setup on my work bench. It's just a small simple loop with the pump/flow sensor/king flow meter and a couple of fans just sitting there. The software sensors (CPU,GPU,MB,HD) are coming from my normal test PC through the USB, but I don't actually have the AQ5 mounted yet...just tinkering.

I like the idea of using one of the temperature sensors as an air temp sensor. I'm going to borrow that idea.

In regard to point (1) the temperature one sees when connecting a fan to each of the fan channels is actually the temperature on the AQ5 side? At first I thought the AQ5 was somehow reading a temperature from the fan which made no sense to me. Also, what do you mean by "aquaero CPU temp sensor already built into the unit?" Is the AQ5 reading the temperature of the AQ5 processor?

Thanks.

[Martinm210]

Yeah, I could be wrong, but I'm seeing 5 temp sensor's built into the unit, one for each fan amp and one for the AQ5 CPU. I'm currently only using 2 fan channels and I can clearly see the higher temp of those two amps vs the last two. I don't think it has anything to do with the fan, it's just the heat being dissipated based on the current and reduced voltage setting.

These little fan amp temperatures are what I figured will be the limiting factor in how much fan you can string together and how well the heatsink or waterblock works. I'm not sure the AQ5 CPU temperature is ever a limiting factor, but I haven't really watched it as it's loaded. Perhaps logging all the channels possible, etc might start raising temps...not sure.

[D749]

Yeah, I could be wrong, but I'm seeing 5 temp sensor's built into the unit, one for each fan amp and one for the AQ5 CPU. I'm currently only using 2 fan channels and I can clearly see the higher temp of those two amps vs the last two. I don't think it has anything to do with the fan, it's just the heat being dissipated based on the current and reduced voltage setting.

These little fan amp temperatures are what I figured will be the limiting factor in how much fan you can string together and how well the heatsink or waterblock works. I'm not sure the AQ5 CPU temperature is ever a limiting factor, but I haven't really watched it as it's loaded. Perhaps logging all the channels possible, etc might start raising temps...not sure.

That makes sense. Thanks for answering my battery of questions.

[Martinm210]

You bet!

I've got several questions brewing also if anyone knows:

1) What is the "Tacho" port for? I read something about it being used as an "Output", but I can't make sense of where I would use that.
2)High vs Low "Aquabus", I see that High works fine for the Aquastream XT, and the manual said something about low for older devices, what device would need "Low"
3)12V PWM ports, general info on what people are using these for?
4)Standby. I understand it can be used for standby power from a powersupply, but where would you need that when the USB provides standby power?
5)Softouch Buttons stopped working. Not sure what I did, but the remote works fine, just the unit keys stopped working. Not sure when that happened. Anyone else experience that?

[mm67]

You bet!

I've got several questions brewing also if anyone knows:

1) What is the "Tacho" port for? I read something about it being used as an "Output", but I can't make sense of where I would use that.
2)High vs Low "Aquabus", I see that High works fine for the Aquastream XT, and the manual said something about low for older devices, what device would need "Low"
3)12V PWM ports, general info on what people are using these for?
4)Standby. I understand it can be used for standby power from a powersupply, but where would you need that when the USB provides standby power?
5)Softouch Buttons stopped working. Not sure what I did, but the remote works fine, just the unit keys stopped working. Not sure when that happened. Anyone else experience that?

1) and 2) from the manual :

4.6. Connector “aquabus 1/2”
Connectors for communication with other devices from Aqua Computer. The aquaero 5 features one „low speed“ (aquabus 1) and one „high speed“ (aquabus 2) port.
Products compatible to the “low speed” port:
– multiswitch USB
– tubemeter USB
Products compatible to the “high speed” port:
– aquastream XT
– poweradjust 2 USB (Firmware 1003 or higher)

4.7. Connector „Tacho“
Depending on configuration, the aquaero 5 can generate a speed signal which is available for processing through this connector. This speed signal can for example be configured to cease function upon alarm events and thereby relay the alarm status to a fan connector of your motherboard. Functionality of the speed signal can be configured using the menu entries “Alarm” and “Timer”. For details on how to configure your motherboard to process the speed signal, please refer to the manual of your motherboard.

[Dr.Joe]

@Martinm210:

3: These could be used for lighting, such as LED Strips. leds react better to PWM dimming than variable voltage.
4. On the AE4, the standby power adapter was needed for the relay-based emergency shutdown. i have no idea if the ae5 supports emergency shutdown via USB standby power...

[frank anderson]

Hey Martin, Let me try to give you a quick run down..

1) What is the "Tacho" port for? I read something about it being used as an "Output", but I can't make sense of where I would use that.
This basically sends out a "artificial" speed signal to your motherboard, works like a fan signal, then you can program the MB bios if it reads below a certain number, commence auto shutdown..

2)High vs Low "Aquabus", I see that High works fine for the Aquastream XT, and the manual said something about low for older devices, what device would need "Low"
Pretty much what mm67 said..

3)12V PWM ports, general info on what people are using these for?
max output 1amp, used for low powered devices like LED's, cold cathodes, or anything low powered..

4)Standby. I understand it can be used for standby power from a powersupply, but where would you need that when the USB provides standby power?
Your mainboard would have to support this, most high end enthusiast MB does support USB 5v standby while the system is off or in suspend mode. It actually does not power off the power supply when it is off, I have 2 PSU and 1 is connected to MB/GPUs while the other is connected to the Aquaero/Pumps.. I pulled the plug on the AQ power supply and the unit was still working, so pretty sure it just powers off the USB 5v standby power..

5)Softouch Buttons stopped working. Not sure what I did, but the remote works fine, just the unit keys stopped working. Not sure when that happened. Anyone else experience that?
I have read this before on the AC forum, I believe the person ended up having to RMA the unit.. The other thing is to check to make sure you did not turn them off in the menu, or have the sensitivity setting set too low.. I had to reset to manufacturer default a few times when I first started with this thing, broke a few settings here and there, quite easy to mess things up..

Are the lights lit up? the person mentioned there were no lights.. If all else fails, you can try pulling it apart and putting it back together and making sure the front face plate contacts are pressed against the PCB snuggly.. That or ping Shoggy

As for the power outputs and how many fans you put in, I asked shoggy before what were the limits and this was his reply..

Shoggy wrote:
---------------------------------
I don't know the exact temperatures. Somewhere around 85°C it set the power to 100% and somewhere around 95°C it should turn off.

Each channel on the aquaero can take a load of 19,8W @ 12V while the overall power combined can not exceed 60W. The poweradjust 2 can take 25W at 12V. Of course it does not count in for the aquaero since it uses its own power supply and cooling.
---------------------------------

Sincerely,
Your Aqua Computer Forum Team

Simply put.. I have this in a txt file for reference

Aquearo
1-4 channel
19.8W / 1.65A per channel
combined 60w / 5A

Power Adjust 2
5-10 channel
25w / 2.08A per channel

Temperature Threshold: 85c - 95c

Hope this helps... oh yes, and the less volts you run thru it, the hotter it gets, best to use a water block on the AQ unit, I have a Antec Spot Cool pointing at my Power Adjusts.. highest I see it go now is about low 50's.. if set to 100% max voltage output, the unit does not heat above 35c..

[Martinm210]

Thanks!
I'll add that into my review/guide as a placeholder although I'll see what I get in testing too.. The good news is you could target the amp temp sensors and create a smart cooling fan to help with that. There is also the waterblock. That will be the better part of the "Test" portion I'll be working on though.

BTW, I found a bug. I didn't quite understand the whole PC vs Aquareo remote control thing until I started typing on the screen with the remote!
Pretty cool being able to surf the web and type via the remote control.

But... the "y" and "z" are backwards only in PC mode. They are mapped correctly in Aquaero mode, but PC mode is backwards.

Anyhow, after playing with it for a couple of days, I am starting to feel more comfortable with the overall operation...it's just a lot more advanced than I thought and more features/settings than I expected.
Definitely a cool tinkering toy for those that want control over everything...

[LeandroJVarini]

noob question!

if I buy a aquaero 5 LT, to connect 6 fans, 4 ccf, 2 pumps, need some more accessories? or just aquaero 5 LT sufficient?

Would anyone answer me?
thks!

[Martinm210]

Would anyone answer me?
thks!

Not enough detail in the question. If it were 2 ea 6 watt pumps or aquastream pumps and 1 watt fans, then no problem, but there is a huge range of powers in pumps/fans out there. You need to research your particular parts and figure out how much current draw each one will take.

Frank listed the 12V fan channel numbers:

Aquearo
1-4 channel
19.8W / 1.65A per channel
combined 60w / 5A

Power Adjust 2
5-10 channel
25w / 2.08A per channel

I haven't started any testing on my unit yet, but I know for sure that the limit of power is going to depend on how much you lower voltage and the heatsink or waterblock solution used. The fan amps on the AQ5 share the same heatsink or waterblock, so the heat limiting will be the combined of all channels.

There are also options such as using PWM pumps such as the MCP35X and only using the fan channel 4 to feed PWM signal. These PWM pumps don't draw power from that connection, it's just speed control so no load issue there. The aquastream pump also doesn't draw power from the controller, it just needs an aquabus connector to control the pump.

So...it really depends on what pumps and what fans...you need to figure out the current draw.

I would probably plan on a PA2 if planning to control the power of a typical DDC/D5 type pump myself, but a fan channel would probably handle a 12W DDC3.15 type DDC or a D5basic (Setting 4) model on a channel using those suggested amperage limits. Each of those pumps only draws around 12-14 watts. The higher speed flavors however could be drawing upwards of 22 watts which exceeds the 19W AQ5 limit and would be much more fitting of the 25 watt PA2 limit. Of coarse with pumps it also depends on restriction level.

A D5 setting 5 could be anywhere from 18watts under high restriction conditions clear to 22 watts under very low restriction conditions:

[Shteud]

One more good review of aquero 5 xt from hw-lab. In russian, but you can use google translate(for example). Much info about setting aquasiute 2012. May some on it be usefull. enjoy
link:http://ru.hw-lab.com/aquaero-5-xt-review.html

[Church]

Martinm210: that's why i want to see real test with high load pumps included, as by specs AA5 shouldn't be handling D5 pumps, but read this thread through .. IIRC there was one guy with AA5+LC block regulating even two D5, with little juice left for few fans. Just that pumps use fixed amount of power at preset speeds, so maybe for nice charts (W on channel/AA temps) some artificial regulatable load maybe of better use to get full range of AA5 capabilities even below and above what pumps provide (and what specs tell ).
BTW, imho one rather important point of article linked above is how close is active air cooling vs lc block for AA5.

[Martinm210]

Yeah it was a good detailed review. I learned several things reading through that.looks like they pushed it to around 4A even with the passive heatsink without hitting any thermal limiters although 90C is pretty darn toasty.

I have about three D5varios and half a dozen different DDCs that should make pretty good loading tools with the vario feature. I also have about 50-60 fans sitting in a box doing nothing..

Only problem with the D5's as test subjects it their rather high minimum voltage being around 8 volts and most high speed fans are similarly low volt unfriendly. I'll figure out a good set of test conditions, but I'm not going to be happy until I see the full 5A or a limiter kick in..