Project: custom 19in rack passive cooling system

[Aahzman]

Veeery nice indeed.

Hey, have a quick look at my gaming/mining build, also rackmounted http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?s=4826515f8077a98d66cf9e6c9e11c7c1&t=1577248&highlight=teraractyl

Sweet zombie Jesus! I am suffering so much nerd envy right now, I'm probably emitting gamma radiation.

[JinTu]

It will be quite interesting to see if Aquacomputer takes care of you, they have an opportunity to really shine here.

After a bit of back and forth with AC they are having me send it back for repair. Unfortunately their opportunity to shine is rapidly diminishing with every exchange...

Per Shoggy on the AC forums "The damaged part is a surge protection diode. We can try to repair it but we would not exchange that board since it is clearly an overvoltage damage which is not covered by the warranty."

I have been quite clear with then on what happened, and rather than being apologetic I get snarky, terse comments like this. IMHO this is a design flaw. After all, when was the last time you blew up an external USB HDD (which requires external power) by plugging it in to a PC?

[jojo69]

That is unfortunate, their market is after all modders.  You can't be the first guy to try this.

@Aahzman Why thank you sir, fortunately nothing seems damaged, a quick teardown and I was able to put the rig back online in time for the [H]orde to retake #1 in folding at home.

[JinTu]

With the Aquaero 5XT on the slow boat back to Germany to be repaired, I am focusing my efforts on the radiator modules again. I spent a few hours this morning drilling and tapping the 56 screw holes of the segments for the upper module:


I still need to remove and re-tension the inter-segment clips as most of them seen to have been shaken loose (and some have fallen out) in shipping. I will then attach the segments to the mounts to ensure alignment and fit, then on to the third and final module.

[JinTu]

I was able to assemble the module segments for the upper module and to a test fit with the mounts and things are looking good.



I'll next need to tear it all apart again, drill the holes for the mounts to attach with the rack, re-assemble everything, rough-fit it to the rack and take the final set of measurements for the lower mount for the bottom module to make sure everything still looks ok dimension-wise before drilling the module mount holes.

[JinTu]

I was able to spend a few hours on the project again this weekend after having to take the last few weeks off due to family commitments. I drilled and tapped the final set of radiator segments that will make up the lower module. This picture was taken just prior to completing masking and marking the segments prior to drilling. As you can see on the right, another T-connector was damaged in shipping (I hadn't spotted this earlier.) Fortunately Aquatuning had preemptively sent me some spares on my last order so it's no big deal.


I also received the USB isolator two weeks ago and should be ready to try again when the Aquaero 5XT comes back from repair from Aquacomputer in Germany. Aquacomputer received my non-functioning Aquaero on 10/31, but thus far they haven't completed the inspection to determine what is needed in terms of repair.

[vitruvio]

Good work.

Regards

[BR0KK]

Cooling passive wont be that good .... I know these radiators and they are more for show effect than cooling.

I would invest in a good tripple (120, active) Radiator for backup as well. You could place it behind the Aquero and rig it to start when the in temperature in your system gets to high

[JinTu]

Cooling passive wont be that good .... I know these radiators and they are more for show effect than cooling.

I would invest in a good tripple (120, active) Radiator for backup as well. You could place it behind the Aquero and rig it to start when the in temperature in your system gets to high

I hear what you are saying, but as long as the Cape Cora modules meet spec (22.5W dissipated by natural convection alone per module segment) the design should be ok as-is w/o adding an active heat exchanger to the loop. It is definitely true that a passive heat exchanger needs to have a larger surface area to get the same temperature drop as compared with an active setup, but this has been factored in.

[JinTu]

Two updates for last week:

Aquacomputer finally reviewed my damaged Aquaero 5 XT and found both the main controller and the display board to be damaged and unable to be repaired. Fortunately they offered me a replacement for a bit less than retail, which should be shipping out later this week.

The screws for attaching the mounts to the side panel of the 19" rack also arrived, and I drilled the majority of the rack mount holes for the mounts. I plan to finish this part off and attempt mounting two of the modules to the rack over the long weekend.


Next up is drilling the last of the segment holes for the lower module mounts and one final hole in each of the lower segments.

[JinTu]

I made quite a bit of progress over the long weekend.


Drilling the rack mount holes on the final set of mounts


Testing the fit of the upper mount


Mounting the upper module



The middle module attached


Detail on the middle module


Side view of the upper and middle modules


Detail on one of the pins used to attach the middle module


Testing the fit and measuring the lower module prior to drilling





Also, Aquacomputer shipped out my replacement Aquaero 5XT and it should be in my hands in a week or two.

[Cablez]

Nice work. I really like the hitch pins for easy module removal.  Keep it up.

[JinTu]

Nice work. I really like the hitch pins for easy module removal.  Keep it up.

Thanks Cablez, that was the general idea.

Since the plan is to have at least two pumps under the center module the pins should help make things a bit easier to service.

[HDSolar]

This setup is getting sick, wow it is just looking cooler and cooler (both in style and temp, ).  Question, on the APC backup at the bottom, what model is that and does it have a standard plug into the wall or a more industrially style plug?

[JinTu]

This setup is getting sick, wow it is just looking cooler and cooler (both in style and temp, ).  Question, on the APC backup at the bottom, what model is that and does it have a standard plug into the wall or a more industrially style plug?

Thanks for the kudos. There is a long way to go before it will be up and running...

The UPS (top) is an APC Smart-UPS XL SUM1500RMXL2U 2U Rackmount paired with a APC SUM48RMXLBP2U Smart-UPS XL Modular 48V Extended Run Battery Pack (bottom). This will keep all my gear powered for over an hour even while mining, or over three if I shut down mining. The SUM1500RMXL2U does indeed have a regular 120VAC 15A (residential) plug.

[JinTu]

Hi folks,

I finished drilling the final mount for the lower module and mounted the radiator segments Sunday morning and test fit the assembly to the rack Sunday evening.




Sorry for the blurry pictures, but my cellphone camera doesn't do well at night.

I still haven't received my replacement Aquaero 5XT, but it has at least made it into the country.

[jojo69]

very impressive indeed.

how much have you sunk into the rad modules at this point?

[JinTu]

very impressive indeed.

how much have you sunk into the rad modules at this point?

Thanks jojo69,

Thus far the radiator segments alone (42 in total) have cost me $734.

[HDSolar]

This setup is getting sick, wow it is just looking cooler and cooler (both in style and temp, ).  Question, on the APC backup at the bottom, what model is that and does it have a standard plug into the wall or a more industrially style plug?

Thanks for the kudos. There is a long way to go before it will be up and running...

The UPS (top) is an APC Smart-UPS XL SUM1500RMXL2U 2U Rackmount paired with a APC SUM48RMXLBP2U Smart-UPS XL Modular 48V Extended Run Battery Pack (bottom). This will keep all my gear powered for over an hour even while mining, or over three if I shut down mining. The SUM1500RMXL2U does indeed have a regular 120VAC 15A (residential) plug.

That's cool on the UPS and gives me something to think about so thanks for the info. 

So one hour with mining but three without, wow, don't you love how this stuff just sucks the juice. 

[JinTu]

My repaired Aquaero 5XT finally arrived last week, so this past weekend I wired it back up (with the addition of the new USB isolator) flashed the latest firmware with my Win7-based work laptop and was off and running. The next bit requires Linux support (all my home systems are Linux-based) for reading temp/flow/etc from the Aquaero 5. I made a bit of progress (thanks to hamster3null on the overclock.net forums) porting aerotools to the Aquaero 5 and thus far have been able to decipher a portion of the the Aquaero 5's R/O contents. It's likely going to be a while before aerotools can have full feature support for the Aquaero 5, as Aquacomputer has slipped the release date for the SDK to 2013 and some aspects are a bit harder to reverse-engineer.