[SOLVED] How does the pump in an Arctic Liquid Freezer II get power ?

[Colif]

Trying to work out how the AIO pump on my Arctic Liquid Freezer II gets power.
I know it runs off the PWM signal but I don't know how it gets power.
Apart from being physically installed on the CPU, its not electrically attached as far as I can tell.

The only two cables that were attached to the AIO were both for the ARGB fans attached to AIO. There is nothing else running to MB.
There is a cable attached to the fans that runs down length of the air pipes that linked the fans to PWM and ARGB headers on board.

But now I have replaced those fans with a set of Lian LI fans that run off their own controller which is attached to those two headers.
Controller has its own PCIe 6 pin running it. I guess it could be power source.

So I know the pump runs at 100% speed at 40% Fan speed, but where is it getting power from?
I have to assume its the motherboard but not sure how its getting pump to work? How does the pump get the PWM signal? Magic?

its just a mystery to me. I had to ask so I could get some sleep

 

[Lutfij]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQRwn-lecnk


So I know the pump runs at 100% speed at 40% Fan speed, but where is it getting power from?
I have to assume its the motherboard but not sure how its getting pump to work? How does the pump get the PWM signal? Magic?
The pump get's it's power from the PWM header/connector or so that's what it looks like after watching the video and reading through their installation manual.

 

[Colif]

I will watch again but we replaced the cables running down the tube,the fans run off another cable now. It is all attached to a pwm header though, so somehow motherboard knows to run pump even though its not physically attached to any wires.

 

[COLGeek]

Looks like there is a 4-pin connector that attaches to the motherboard.

ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 420 A-RGB Rev 3 - User Manual

Get your ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 420 A-RGB Rev 3 user manual. Detailed explanation with coloured schematics, photos, animations and videos.

support.arctic.de

I suspect wiring is embedded in the water lines, under the covering.

 

[Colif]

Yes, the original unit comes with a 4 pin PWM and a 3 pin ARGB cable that run down the entire length of the tube. and attached to the CPU_OPT & ARGB header on board.

https://www.arctic.de/media/2b/3f/96/1690272955/Spec_Sheet_Liquid_Freezer_II_360_A-RGB_EN_update.pdf

We have unplugged both of these from the motherboard.

The Lian Li fans run off their own power cable that attaches to the Lian LI controller unit which is attached to three headers on MB
1 x ARGB header
1 x PWM header
1 x USB2 header

Lian LI controller powered by its own 6 pin PCIe cable running from PSU.

None of these touch the cable that runs through water lines. its not attached to anything now.

Some how the PWM signal being sent to the fans also gets to the AIO pump via the CPU)Fan header even though its not attached to it?

clearly I am missing something here.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Are there ANY cables going from your pump body/main unit, to ANYTHING, like an ARGB controller? There MUST be some type of cable running from your unit to something, otherwise there is no way possible the pump could be getting power. It can't magically get it just by being in contact with the CPU or via air transfer. LOL. If it's connected to an ARGB controller and that is the only thing that's connected, then it must be getting power via that. I don't think I'd allow that. I'd recommend connecting an appropriate PWM cable from the pump to any configurable PWM header on the motherboard so you don't burn out your ARGB controller, if that's the case.

Looking at the manual, the only thing it lists is a PWM or 3 pin fan header cable, but there HAS to be something else. SATA cable, ARGB cable, something. But even if that ARGB cable IS powering the pump, it would not be capable of providing an RPM signal so there should be no way to see anything related to the pump RPM in the BIOS. I really don't think you want this to be this way. I mean, I know I wouldn't. I'd connect the original PWM cable to a header to ensure it's getting power in the way that it was intended.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Looking at the bottom of the unit, I can see that there ARE two cables coming from it, but I can't see if it's one PWM and one 3 pin cable, or something else. Or, is this different than your unit? Because if there is nothing at all plugged into your pump, then it is NOT running.

 

[CountMike]

Looking at the bottom of the unit, I can see that there ARE two cables coming from it, but I can't see if it's one PWM and one 3 pin cable, or something else. Or, is this different than your unit? Because if there is nothing at all plugged into your pump, then it is NOT running.

Pump is not speed adjustable even as it is PWM so you can plug it in anywhere on the MB. Don't know ehich MB you have but most modern ones have AIO_PUMP /which is not speed adjustable or W_PUMP which is and gives more power or any Case/System_FAN.
As for radiator fans, whatever you have, original or other make. directly or thru hub, they should be connected to CPU_FAN connector and only them not mixed with any case fans,

 

[Colif]

Mystery solved. I had a friend helping me install it last night and I asked him if he left any of the old cables attached to CPU_OPT header and as it turns out he left the pump one attached.

The current fans are plugged into CPU_FAN so it will be getting its flow rate from them.

Good thing he did as PC wouldn't be working right now.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Pump is not speed adjustable even as it is PWM so you can plug it in anywhere on the MB. Don't know ehich MB you have but most modern ones have AIO_PUMP /which is not speed adjustable or W_PUMP which is and gives more power or any Case/System_FAN.
As for radiator fans, whatever you have, original or other make. directly or thru hub, they should be connected to CPU_FAN connector and only them not mixed with any case fans,

Every modern board I've worked with in the last, oh IDK, maybe five years, that wasn't a bottom of the barrel budget board, had adjustability on EVERY header no matter what it was called. Output type (PWM or DC controlled), input type (CPU, motherboard 1, VRM, etc.), curve customization, etc. regardless of whether it was a FAN_1, CPU, AIO, etc.

On cheaper boards there are likely some that don't have this adjustability, but in the last few years I haven't worked with any. Even the really cheap B460m ASRock board I used for a budget build for my sister's desktop had this.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Mystery solved. I had a friend helping me install it last night and I asked him if he left any of the old cables attached to CPU_OPT header and as it turns out he left the pump one attached.

The current fans are plugged into CPU_FAN so it will be getting its flow rate from them.

Good thing he did as PC wouldn't be working right now.

Yeah, I figured something had to still be connected and whether it was to the CPU-OPT, AIO or some other header, I knew there had to be something else it couldn't be working. At least you figured out what though.

 

[Colif]

I knew you couldn't see/effect the pump apart from knowing it was at 100% speed if fans is at 40%
I found a data sheet for it, shows a chart that shows its speed relative to fans.
I will attach it here later when I have more time.

 

[Darkbreeze]

On any AIO I'd want the pump running at full speed regardless of any other considerations, no matter what speed the fans are running at which of course should be based on CPU temp. I know some people prefer to have the pump running at variable speeds but as with a custom loop, all of the highly knowledgeable liquid cooling people I've talked to and what I've read indicates that having the pump at full speed at all times is not only much preferred but also likely results in the fans needing to run at higher speed less often, which should reduce noise levels as well. But, that's just my opinion. It's also probably why as Count Mike suggested, some boards might not even allow variable speed on the AIO pump header.

 

[Colif]

Prior to swapping to the lian li fans, I was using Fan Control - https://getfancontrol.com/ - to control all my fans in PC. I had set it so minimum speed fans ran on AIO was at a level where pump was always over 100%

I stopped using it as it conflicts with HWINFO sensor outputs, and also has a security concern due to a driver it uses.

with the lian li software, it doesn't show the PWM percentage, it only shows fan speeds and Temp on its fan curve page - given max speed of fans is below 2000 and they running at 50%, I suspect pump is at 100% now. (ignore the temp next to CPU, the Green line is the temp now)

But if I look in the Gigabyte System Info viewer, that you can use to set BIOS fan settings, it shows the flow rate is over 50% workload

Its almost summer here so its not likely to be lower.

 

[Darkbreeze]

If you are connected to an onboard fan header you don't need any software to monitor it. Just look at the live data in the BIOS. Once you're sure the AIO is either running at 100% or whatever speed you have configured it for, there is no reason to need to look at it again. Fans, if concerned, great, use the Lian Li software. Personally, I don't use any of that crap. I configure all the fan headers in the BIOS and then never look at it again unless something seems "off". But, it's cool, I know many users want that information and custom options available from the desktop. I just don't see the need unless you're just bored. LOL.

Now if you're using a separate controller for your case or CPU cooler/AIO fans, then of course, different story.

 

[Colif]

You can't directly connect these fans to the motherboard, they have to run through the controller box. Mainly because of the IPS screen in the fan hub. But the controller itself is attached to PWM.

I can hand control of fans over to BIOS via a switch in the software, I may end up doing that at some stage. right now, I have a curve set up in it where it won't go under 50% PWM any time soon

max speed of fans is 1900 so they set to minimum of 50% until they get below 30c and I have never seen package below 30c so that should do it.

The lian li software has better RGB choices than what my motherboard provides. I know your opinion on that already. Its also the only thing that can run the displays