Monitoring Water Levels?

[Zarathustra[H]]

Hey,

So I am curious, after initial leak testing, how important is it to keep monitoring water levels in a custom loop?

My problem is my desk has solid particle board legs, and my case is sandwiched between the wall and the desk, so I don't have any view inside.

If its important to keep looking at the level in the reservoir, maybe I can just stick a little webcam in there? I DO have an internal USB port on my motherboard...

 

[Dullard]

I'd take a look daily for about a week, just to make sure it wasn't dropping fast, if holding then check every week or so until sure it's still OK. My latest rig has a small res, I think it's 60 x 120mm maybe 60 x 140mm, it's dropped less than 1/2" over the course of a little over a year. I only check it now when I blow the dust out, maybe monthly. I wouldn't install it into its final position for a week or so, at least.

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

Hmm. Until I get a new desk with normal legs (this old mid 1980's IKEA copycat desk has done me well, but it is on its last legs) I may have to pick up a cheap webcam to stick inside the case then, because it would be an enormous pain to keep pulling the case out to look at the water level.

The below is an old pic, but it shows what I am dealing with.

Since that pic was taken, the desk moved to the right, and the case goes between the solid leg of the desk and the wall with only about an inch of spare gap between the two, so it's impossible to see inside the case without pulling it out, which requires disconnecting all the wires, of which there are LOTS.

I moved the case outside the desk, because, since the desk has an enclosed area underneath, it trapped all the heat from my overclocked system that normally would have exited the sides, leading to significant sweaty crotch syndrome.

 

[DWolvin]

If you have a high point in the loop, you could punch a hole in the case and run a tube up to an external res with a quick disconnect in between- and then it's easy to top off without pulling the case...

Just a thought - my current loop is in a Fractal Define XL and all internal, the full rig is a P.I.T.A. to move and I'm really considering that and / or external radiators for my next build...

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

Well, I just picked up a cheap webcam on amazon. I'm going to stick it in the case, plug it into my internal USB port, and try to mount it such that it is pointed at the reservoir so I can keep my eyes on the water levels.

It's a HUGE reservoir, (XSPC Photon 270 D5 combo) so if it gets low really quickly I have bigger problems than just running the pump dry

Hopefully it will work and not be too dark. I wasn't planning on using the reservoir LED (because I am not into turning my rig into a Christmas tree) but maybe now I will in order to back-light the water level so the camera can properly see it Maybe I can drop it down to 5V instead of 12 though, so it will be less bright.

 

[DWolvin]

Sounds interesting- Pics please!

 

[Araxie]

This is the exact same reason why normally I use and recommend to Friends the use of Front Panel Dual Bay Reservoir, which normally have a meter to check water levels.

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

Sounds interesting- Pics please!

Oh, I'll be posting plenty of pics when I finally get around to the build. Still waiting for my GPU block for the new Titan X which should ship from Solvenia on the 16th...

 

[rsq]

I use T lines in my WC builds. The line has a much smaller diameter then the reservoirs, which makes it much easier to see if levels go down. They go down quicker because there is less water in the tube. This makes monitoring as simple as drawing a magic marker line on the tube. This will tell you quickly if there is a leak.

Besides making it easier to fill and bleed the system, the reservoir only makes your PC heavier to carry to LAN parties. Does anyone still go to LAN parties? Or is this just for old-timers like me?

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

I use T lines in my WC builds. The line has a much smaller diameter then the reservoirs, which makes it much easier to see if levels go down. They go down quicker because there is less water in the tube. This makes monitoring as simple as drawing a magic marker line on the tube. This will tell you quickly if there is a leak.

Besides making it easier to fill and bleed the system, the reservoir only makes your PC heavier to carry to LAN parties. Does anyone still go to LAN parties? Or is this just for old-timers like me?

I've actually never been to a LAN party.

I went to Demo Parties back in the day, but that was really before LAN Parties took off.

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

So my solution wound up being sticking a Microsoft LifeCAM HD3000 inside my case, using an internal USB port.

Every now and then I peek at this, just in case:

 

[rsq]

It does look cool, I give you that!

Now you can start writing your image recognition software based on a custom house-trained neural network to monitor the level for you.

Bonus points if you put it on github!