PSU Jumper Trick? - how to test loop without mobo installed?

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mellojoe

Gawd
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Mar 19, 2007
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I've measured everything. Cut my tubing, fitted my anti-kink wrap, and test fitted everything.

Now, I want to hook it up for real, fill it up with water, and test it out..... and I'm stuck.

I can't do it external, because then I would have to dissamble the whole thing just to run the tubing through the case (radiator is external). And what's the point of testing it, if I have to dissasemble it? So, now my plan is to take everything out of my case except the watercooling loop and run it that way. I'll leave the PSU in place to run the pump... but don't I need to jump something to run the PSU without my motherboard hooked up?

What's that wire trick to run the PSU?

PS: Am I going about this the right way?
 
Find a paperclip. Form it in a 'U' shape. Flip the switch on the back of the PSU off. Insert the paperclip into the hole with the green wire and one with a black wire on the main 24 pin connector (doesn't matter which black). Flip the switch on the back of the PSU and it will power on.
 
Or, if you have PSU tester ($20 down at your local electronic store), just plug it into the 24pin connector and it completes the power circuit.
 
Even flipping the switch on or off...go ahead and unplug the power cord anytime you touch the paper clip and make sure the paper clip does not come in contact with anything else while the psu is powered on
 
I would test it with the hardware that you are watercooling inside the case as well, with everything mounted and ready to go (cooling just cpu? leave the motherboard and cpu in the case with the watercooling mounted). If you have a leak it is no big deal, no current running through the devices = no damage. Just clean everything off and let it dry thoroughly. The advantage to doing it this way is there is less chance that you will tweak something when installing the components in the case and cause a new leak.
 
Erasmus354 said:
I would test it with the hardware that you are watercooling inside the case as well, with everything mounted and ready to go (cooling just cpu? leave the motherboard and cpu in the case with the watercooling mounted). If you have a leak it is no big deal, no current running through the devices = no damage. Just clean everything off and let it dry thoroughly. The advantage to doing it this way is there is less chance that you will tweak something when installing the components in the case and cause a new leak.
Click to expand...

You mean leave the motherboard and CPU in place, just don't plug in any of the power connections?
 
Yes, don't give power to the mobo/drives/vid card. All you want to power up are the pumps and fans. The paper clip method is safe as long as nothing touches it while it's plugged in. i agree you should test the loop with it fully installed in the computer. You can put paper towels around all the connection areas to catch any stray water, it's also easier to notice a wet towel vs a few drops, especially if it's a colored fluid. if you plan on moving the computer around a lot once built, feel free to give the tubes some wiggling while it's running to ensure the bit of force from moving it around wont loosen something and cause a leak.
 
Ok. I'll give this a shot.

I'm hoping to get to it this weekend, but my business has been picking up which means I'm starting to work on Sat and Sun. I'm hoping to spend this afternoon setting up a little workspace in my office + buy my distilled water. Plus I'll run a few Orthos and Prime stress tests to get a baseline of my temperatures.

Then Saturday afternoon would be the final fitting + setting up the loop. Saturday night it runs all night to leak test it.

Sunday afternoon, re-install any parts I removed and power up the system.
 
Casca said:
Even flipping the switch on or off...go ahead and unplug the power cord anytime you touch the paper clip and make sure the paper clip does not come in contact with anything else while the psu is powered on
Click to expand...

Technically, you could ground the green wire to the chassis and get the same effect :p.
 
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