Modified alphacool top performance

[andersson.j]

The original inlet hole was 7mm and off center, after my modifications it's 12mm, dead center and a bit tapered.

Unmodified (7mm)


Modified (12mm)



Max flow test single pump
This test was performed at 12.3V with EK nipples, top mounted inlet and 1 feet 12mm ID tubing at each end.
I repeated 3-4 times for accuracy.

• Alphacool data: 600LPH
• Single unmodified: 900LPH
• Single modified: 1000LPH (11% higher max flow)

Max flow test two parallell pumps
This test was performed at 12.3V with EK nipples, top mounted inlets, 12mm ID Y-connections and 1.5 feet 12mm ID tubing at each end. I repeated the test three times for accuracy.

• Dual modified: 1350LPH (35% higher max flow)

Max head test
All tests were performed at 12.3V with EK nipples, top mounted inlet, 1 feet 12mm ID tubing at one end and 7m+ at the other.
I repeated a couple of times as air in the pump made a huge difference.

• Alphacool data: 4.7m
• Single unmodified: 6.6m
• Single modified: 6m (11% lower max head)

[ReD.SkY]

wow nice

[SiGfever]

SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!

[ShoNuff]

Wait...IIRC you get less head with the modded top? That's not good. I wonder how the Radiical top would perform with both inlet and outlet opened up the 12mm?

Looking forward to your other tests. Nice work btw.

[andersson.j]

Wait...IIRC you get less head with the modded top? That's not good.

Yep, but since DDCs has very much head but kinda low flow I'm happy to sacrifice 11% head to gain 11% flow. Although I wouldn't want to sacrifice any more head.

I wonder how the Radiical top would perform with both inlet and outlet opened up the 12mm?

Most pumps have small outlets, I suppose this gives them higher head? If so 12mm inlet and outlet shouldn't give much head but a lot of flow. Someone with a Radiical top should test with smaller outlet barbs and see how it affects performance.

I wish someone with the right equipment and know how would test all aftermarket DDC tops, there's so many of them!

[ShoNuff]

Given the information on Radiicals page your results line up with what they found with respect to head loss when going from 3/8" to 1/2". They also report better flow.

I'm looking forward to testing mine when I get them. I also agree with you. It would be nice if someone uniformly tested the various tops so that we could pick the one that best suits our needs.

Testing here indicates that the previous flow rate of 300l/h is now incorrect. The new rate of flow through the pump using 1/2" inlet and outlet barbs is 500+ l/h. This gain in flow rate is an added plus to potentially more and substantially easier options in pump placement. The testing on pump head indicates that a 2.6metre head is achieved on 3/8" tubing and a 2.5 metre head is achieved using 1/2" tubing.

Read the whole story here...


edit: fixed link.

[Syranide]

Very nice work with the widening of the inlet, looks really neatly done!

[OCme]

looks like the top would be easy enough to mod with a drill press or dremel

[andersson.j]

looks like the top would be easy enough to mod with a drill press or dremel

Yeah it's easy! Plexi is easy to work with.
I used bigger and bigger drills up to maybe 10mm, then I used a file for the last part since the initial hole wasn't centered. After that I taped som sandpaper to a drill to make the hole perfectly round. Then I put a rag on the drill and used some polishing compound to make the plexi clear again. I didn't intend to make the tapering but I ran the drill a bit too fast so the plexi melted! :p

Right now I'm trying to get my T-bal XL and miniNG to work with my laptop since my stationary rig doesn't have any pumps at the moment. I need the miniNG to vary the voltage on my lab PSU. Then I'll do some more tests.

[JoeBar]

Am i the only one here feeling good with my unmodded alphacool top...?
In my opinion the small diameter outlet channel is the reason for the results. All in all either alhacool unmodded or radiical. My

[andersson.j]

Am i the only one here feeling good with my unmodded alphacool top...?
In my opinion the small diameter outlet channel is the reason for the results. All in all either alhacool unmodded or radiical. My

You do have a point. But I won't try widening my outlet channels (unless someone else do it first and get a big perfomance boost!) because it's a lot longer than the inlet channel, it's skewed, and hard to drill w/o trashing the threads which makes it hard to modify if you don't have the proper tools.

I wish I knew about the radiical tops back when I bought my alphacool tops!

[JoeBar]

I wouldn't try widening the outlet channel, unless i had ready the money for a radiical one...

[nealh]

Given the information on Radiicals page your results line up with what they found with respect to head loss when going from 3/8" to 1/2". They also report better flow.

I'm looking forward to testing mine when I get them. I also agree with you. It would be nice if someone uniformly tested the various tops so that we could pick the one that best suits our needs.



Read the whole story here...



edit: fixed link.

seems the drop in head reported by Radiical is minimal....3/8in barb= 2.6m and the 1/2in barb is 2.5m...now I wonder what these values are for a Ultra(18w) version of the pump

[eXa]

that would be the 10w...

[andersson.j]

My lab PSU don't want to play with me so I gave up and did a parallell flow test with a regular PSU instead. See first post for results.

The next five days I'm gonna be working (12h shifts) so I won't have much time for playing around with the pumps. But then I'm planing to do a parallell head test.

[Radical_53]

Great to hear that! Nice numbers!

[eXa]

but even 6m head is alot more than 4.7m that is specified...

[yngndrw]

So what are we saying here, the unmodified top is better than the modified one ?

I was just about to drill mine out too, good job I read this.

[andersson.j]

So what are we saying here, the unmodified top is better than the modified one ?

Yes it could be so. I guess it depends on what else is in the loop?
I should have done some tests with some components in the loop. Too bad it's too late now...

Bad planing! Actually no planing at all! :P

[Radical_53]

But you only loose some head by the modification but gain a lot more flow. So in the end it's still a big improvement...

[yngndrw]

Due to the limitations of the loop, and the lower head pressure the flow will never be anywhere near the max flow rate anyway, so I don't think the loss in head pressure would be worth the gain in max flow rate.

[Sneaky]

how do they do in series as far as head and flowrate?

[yngndrw]

Can we have some real-world tests please. I.e. Temps without modification and temps with modification in a normal loop. (Storm, PA120.2 .. etc)

[Radical_53]

Well, have so seen the numbers on systemcooling? Small loss in head pressure but due to the gain in max flow, more flow in the loop...

[yngndrw]

But if you have a pump which has a stupidly high max flow, yet a very low head pressure, you still get a low flow rate due to to the restriction in the loop ?