water cooling leak test

n00b101

Honorable
Mar 2, 2013
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will be getting this pump for my water cooling system. 12V MCP35X DDC Pump (Swiftech) Was wondering when leak testing i could just plug the pump into the molex on my psu and then not plug my psu into my other components, or would it be better to buy a external psu to power the pump whilst leak testing if the latter option is better any ideas where i could find a cheap external psu.

Thanks
 
Image taken from the water-cooling sticky (which if you havent read I suggest you do).
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/277130-29-read-first-watercooling-sticky

Your 24pin ATX cable is what carries the signal to PSU to turn itself on, so using a paperclip to connect the PSU on signal to any ground wire will turn the PSU on without the need for a motherboard attached to it. Take your 24pin connector and look for a green wire, stick a paperclip in that connector and then stick the other end in connector with a black (grounding) wire. The PSU should then turn on and power whatever is attached to it as long as the paperclip is there.

If you want a diagram of all the connectors and what they correspond too.
ATX_UPS-start.png


There are also dedicated tools for doing this easily, they are basically the same as using a paperclip but less chance of doing something wrong.
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/5141/psu-218/FrozenCPU_24-pin_Power_Supply_Jump_Start_Connector.html?tl=g44c133s88