Question Water pump working with SATA power only ?

[tek3195]

I have an Alphacool Eisbaer that is not getting any power from fan/pump headers. It does however run from sata cable. The sata power it works on is from an external psu used for loop filling and testing, not the psu in the PC. It has a lighted logo on it that also gets no power connected to fan headers, it does nothing, no flow no light. Light and pump work fine connected to sata cable with molex or sata adapter. Fan headers on the board confirmed working fine with fans attached.

It seems like if it were low voltage problem it would still power two LEDs in logo light if it is enough to run fans at speed. I'm confused at this point, just confused. I removed cold plate to clean due to low flow and after reinstalling and filling loop it ran with great flow and logo light for about thirty minutes before temps shot up and I seen light out and flow meter stopped. The first part of that thirty minutes was a 10 minute stress test to check temps after install and fill. So it definitely was working after install. Fans tested on headers after pump failure to confirm they work. Can anyone shed some light on this for me ?

EDIT: Pulled gpu to make room to get hands and probes inside. Went in bios and set all fans to full speed and multimeter shows that I have two cpu fan headers with 6.85V . The one chassis fan header I could reach was 11.9V. It's a voltage issue and I just thought the fans were running at speed. Now guess it's time to deal with Asrock as I doubt this will be DIY repair?

 

[Ralston18]

How are you making connections: 3 pins, 4 pins?

What voltage(s) are actually being provided by that "external PSU"?

Map out your connections pin by pin.

FYI:

https://digitalworld839.com/3-pin-vs-4-pin-fan-difference-between/

You may also be dealing with some proprietary connectivity.

Here is a Dell link that contains some very good image and explanations. Images near the end.

https://www.dell.com/community/Optiplex-Desktops/Proprietary-fan-header-issues/td-p/7441036

 

[tek3195]

How are you making connections: 3 pins, 4 pins?

What voltage(s) are actually being provided by that "external PSU"?

Map out your connections pin by pin.

FYI:

https://digitalworld839.com/3-pin-vs-4-pin-fan-difference-between/

You may also be dealing with some proprietary connectivity.

Here is a Dell link that contains some very good image and explanations. Images near the end.

https://www.dell.com/community/Optiplex-Desktops/Proprietary-fan-header-issues/td-p/7441036

Asrock B365M Phantom Gaming 4
core i7-9700
32G TEAM T-Force 4x8@3000MHz
Samsung EVO 970 M.2 NVMe 500GB
SK Hynix Gold S31 2.5" SSD 1TB
WD Blue 2.5" HDD 2T
Arctic Bionix P120 X4
BeQuiet Pure Wings2 120mm X2
Gelid UV blue 120mm slim fans X4
Custom Alphacool Eisbaer 240 with added 120 rad, 16/10 tubes and fittings
EVGA BP 460

*external psu for testing and filling loops=Rosewill Photon 550

I thought about posting specs but didn't think it would matter who made any of it. Once again, I was wrong, sorry about that.

The pump and one set of fans are 3-pin and the others are 4-pin. My connections for testing was just two probes to hot and ground on 4-pin headers of mobo. In the bios I set all fan/wp headers to full speed and to DC mode instead of PWM. That should make 12V from the board whether 3 or 4 pin connections, right ? Regardless of how it controls speed, if set to full speed the two power wires should have 12V , maybe ?

The power on the sata cables from Rosewill have 12.21V and EVGA has 12.08V on sata cable taken from 4-pin Molex connection.

 

[Ralston18]

As for the specs - no worries.... No apologies needed.

Please add GPU.

Not sure what to suggest. And I have some growing doubts about that EVGA BP 460 PSU.

However, I do believe that the problem is more specific to the Cooling category and have moved your post/thread accordingly.

 

[tek3195]

As for the specs - no worries.... No apologies needed.

Please add GPU.

Not sure what to suggest. And I have some growing doubts about that EVGA BP 460 PSU.

However, I do believe that the problem is more specific to the Cooling category and have moved your post/thread accordingly.

I too am wondering about the little EVGA BP460. I bought it needing SFX but its size made me want to try it. It's short, real short for ATX, and fits where I needed it. Bought at major sale price and saved $100 over sfx psu(or may have wasted $30) I had my hopes up on quality from comparing other EVGA products warranty period. Their cheap crap has 1 year, their good stuff 7yrs and top shelf 10 years. Now they throw the BP series in at 3 years and tell you up front that is does not have Japanese caps. It's not on par with their best but they are willing to stand behind it longer than their cheap china line. Like I said, had hopes up, but now seeing them fade quickly. Just sat photon 550 on top of case and temporarily ran loose cables with pump and 120 rad making a temp loop with rad laying on table outside of case. A real sporty lookin setup but everything is connected except a couple fans. That 6.7V header is now 12.12V with pump lit and flowing. Have to read up on testing 24-pin from psu more than what I've seen numerous places which was "when you turn it on and the fan comes on it's working" I've read that fouled psu can cause odd hard to narrow down behavior. Got a feeling this could be some of that.
Oh, gpu varies. Normally a GTX 970 but I don't game and built-in graphics is enough when building Android with make and soong build systems. When the issue started I had GTX 970 in it but in trouble shooting I was using built-in because there's no room to work on anything in a micro atx mini tower that has additional 3-1/2" taken out of height.

 

[tek3195]

Not sure what to suggest. And I have some growing doubts about that EVGA BP 460 PSU.

However, I do believe that the problem is more specific to the Cooling category and have moved your post/thread accordingly.

This is a bit on the embarrassing side, but I believe I found the problem. Pump stopped working completely and would kill whatever connected to, as in fans would stop when I plugged pump in and start when I unplugged it. There was a direct short in the pump wiring inside the housing. Hot and ground were pinched together and burned in what looked like several stages. I don't know how it managed to run at all. And to keep going when plugged into different psu to do what looks like burn wire in two and then burn more insulation away and create another short. The same two wires which were twisted and coiled together to fit into housing, were burned into what looked like six pieces. The burned pieces were varied in severity, like some were bubbled melted insulation and some were crisp and black and one that was ash only with no copper left at all. Never smelled anything with it sealed in pump/reservoir housing, but when taking apart, holy crap I've never smelled that much burn in one spot and I have 18yrs in the paid fire service.
I am having to rethink my position on that EVGA BP- series power supply. I haven't put everything back together yet but it looks like it may have been shutting down like it was supposed to and protecting the rest of the system while there was an actual electrical fire going on.
Have to pick up some longer screws to put it back together with a different configuration for cooling(changing rad/fan placement). If burned wiring turns out not to have been the root of the problem, I'll let you know. The jury is still out on the psu.

 

[Ralston18]

Thanks for update. I would not consider it at all embarrassing. Just one of those things....

If possible take a few photos and post here using imgur (www.imgur.com).

May prove helpful to others either directly or indirectly.

 

[tek3195]

Thanks for update. I would not consider it at all embarrassing. Just one of those things....

If possible take a few photos and post here using imgur (www.imgur.com).

May prove helpful to others either directly or indirectly.

The wires were mine. I mean I did the work changing out the logo light strip. It was supposed to be white LEDs and they sell a kit to change logo colors via plastic inserts. Mine came with blue leds that made a mess with colored inserts, red was purple and orange looked turd brown. It was easier to solder a new light strip than return it for warranty. When putting it back together after cleaning the last time, I wasn't vigilant enough in making sure wires didn't get pinched. Lesson learned and that is not the type of work I normally do or the kind of mistake anyone would expect from me. So, yeah, a little embarrassing for me. I have no photos, guess I didn't want an evidence that could be used against me in a court of family and friends.