For ease of discussion and to avoid confusion, below is some graphic definition for words I be using in this write-out:

http://www.google.com/imgres?sa=X&biw=19…,r:27,s:0,i:167

In the picture above, the end of the cable at the right side, I will call it 4-pins female in this discussion. The other end of the cable at the left side, I will call it 4-pins male in this discussion.

Aquacomputer products I purchased:

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/13215/…t_Revision.html x01 unit

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/19440/…O_XT_53093.html x01 unit

http://www.aquatuning.us/product_info.ph…-interface.html x02 units

http://www.aquatuning.us/product_info.ph…-USB--G1-4.html x01 unit

http://www.aquatuning.us/product_info.ph…able-4-Pin.html x06 units

http://www.aquatuning.us/product_info.ph…able-4-Pin.html x05 units

http://www.aquatuning.us/product_info.ph…tra-series.html x02 units



The case I am using is the STH10, which is one hell of a monster. All cables inside are at least 100cm long. As such, I need REAL long cables, not just mere 70cm in length. I had tried to connect 2 y-splitter cables and 1 4-pins-female-to-4-pins-female cable (the one I purchased from Aquacomputer) together. Then I use them to connect the aquaero 5 xt and the USB Aquabus Flow Sensor to each other, but it FAILED!!!! I could not see “Flow 11” under the sensor tab nor can I see any flow reading on my aquaero 5 xt unit.
Shoggy offered the explanation that the cable combination of “2 y-splitter cables and 1 4-pins-female-to-4-pins-female cable” is too long and will affect the communication between the USB flow sensor and the aquaero 5 xt. I don’t accept this explanation. If this means re-arranging my rig to bring the aquaero 5 xt and the flow sensor closer together to be able to be connected by a shorter wire, I would say DREAM ON to aquacomputer. If anything, it is their products which failed big time. Am I the only one here feeling the rage?!
Next, the Aquaero 5 XT can be connected at a maximum of 4 MPS devices. If the y-splitter cable cannot be used, please enlighten me how the hell you going to connect 2 USB Aquabus pumps, 1 USB Aquabus flow sensor and 1 poweradjust 2 ultra to the aquaero 5 xt? And oh hell, the poweradjust 2 ultra have got the 3-pins male and NOT a 4-pins male; according to manual, you are suppose to connect the 3-pins-female-to-3-pins-female aquacomputer cable (the one that come with your poweradjust 2 ultra purchase) to the 4-pins male high-speed aquabus port on the aquaero 5 xt. How the hell you going to do this and even if you can, how are you going to connect all 4devices to the aquaero 5 xt without using any y-splitter cables?????

I am now sourcing for a Aquacomputer fanboy to sell away all my aquacomputer products. Damn you Aquacomputer! You just robbed me of my precious time, effort, money, and ignite the rage in me! I will never ever touch your products ever again and I will honor my words and spread your notorious products quality to where I came from.
I am not one who drop cash on some premium products and find thrill in wiring them up and troubleshooting them. I am also not one who will just fuxk it, forget it and swallow the idea that the premium products which I bought using good money just happen to malfunction.

When I'm reading such bullsh**, the only thing I can do is "Laugh Out Loud" and make a run-up facepalm. OMFG! The only one at fault is not Aqua Computer, but people like you who blindly buy products and do not get informations about the products beforehand. Projecting your way to exaggerated expectations on a product that itself is limited because of his design and above all the parallel bus design, man, I could've predicted this in advance. The old and yet outdated Parallel ATA (IDE or Integrated Drive Electronics, 1989) for Harddisks, Optical drives etc. is also a parallel bus and is very very limited, especially the max. permitted cable length of just one meter and for just max. two devices. That's the nature of a parallel bus. IDE/EIDE/PATA/ATA/ATAPI back then, was the only way to connect your drives, you had to live with it, there was no other option and nobody falsely blamed the inventor for it. It's the same with the Aquabus. There is no other option, you must live with it. Period!
Go and read about the differences of a serial bus and a parallel bus and their other pros and contras and then be ashamed of yourself for blaming others for your own mistakes, lack of knowledge, misplanning and mispurchase after that.

P.S. You can only blame Aqua Computer for the really really really poor documentation, especially for product limitations and their dimensions. It would be much better to have step-by-step instructions or some how-to's. That would be some real help, because the forum overflows of the same repeating novice questions.
P.P.S. I myself am not totally satisfied with the limitations of the Aquaero and the Aquabus and I already approached Aqua Computer several times to modernize the Aquaero to make it more versatile and easier to use. But that isn't as easy as that, the costs for an Aquaero with serial Aquabus for example would be much much higher and just for some unusual exceptions like yours not profitable enough. It would be a high price product only for enthusiasts and geeks with to much time & money.[/quote]

I can't believe what i had just read. You expect the people out there to know about "The old and yet outdated Parallel ATA (IDE or Integrated Drive Electronics, 1989) for Harddisks, Optical drives etc. is also a parallel bus and is very very limited, especially the max. permitted cable length of just one meter and for just max. two devices. That's the nature of a parallel bus. IDE/EIDE/PATA/ATA/ATAPI back then, was the only way to connect your drives,"? I can readily lay a bet with you more than 50% of the enthusiasts out there don't even know all these shit. Are you game on for the bet? And what do you mean i have to live with it? This is a democratic world we live in, and i don't have to live with anything i hate or dislike. My time is better spent making more money than reading up on this serial and parallel bus crap. The only thing i can be ashamed of is when i earn lesser money than others. Period.

If Aquacomputer seriously think PC hardware enthusiasts are going to mug through the WWW to read up and learn about all the tiny explicit details about how to wire up an Aquaero, then it is set for DOOM. Mugging and studying up wires, parts are things of the past. People nowadays want it fast and straight. Thats the reason why plug-and-play devices are selling like hotcakes now. Digging up, exploring and analysing which wires going where and which pins does what just happens to be your fetish - a RARE fetish. Your mentality is that although my hardware may not be the highest end, i pride myself on being able to wire up my aquaero. Thats a fake sense of self-satisfaction. Someone with a 3970x or quad sli titan is still going to beat you straight in this hobby. Get it?

But you all know what, i managed to locate aquaero fanboy over at my end who is going to buy over all of my items with just 10% loss off the purchasing price. I am going to do a writeup about how screwed-up Aquaero lines of products are and ensure no one from my side of the community ever get cheated into buying any of these bullshit products. Period.

Quoted from "cc01"

The 3-pin cable will connect to the 4-pin Aquabus port without any problem.

Why can't you move your flow sensor closer to the XT?

I think it is a real joke that Aquabus wire can't hold the connection when the cables get too long. Try telling others about this. I buy a product to make thing runs smoother. I don't buy a product and end up having to tweak and accommodate its crap.

Quoted from "sebastian"

The total length of aquabus is limited.
When you have to much devices on the aquabus you have to decrase the cable lenght.
The differece between 3 an 4 pin aquabus connections is the power supply.
Wenn you connect a 3 pin cable you have to attach a seperate power supply. When you use the 4 pin cable the device is powered from the aquaero.
Wehn you use Y spliter cables or extensions you have ensure that pins conncted.Some cables connect only 2 of 3 pins.

To find a error you have to diconnect the bus an test each device seperate on the bus. One defect device on the bus can disturb the bus an no device can answer.
This is a bus shematic from us: http://aquacomputer.de/downloads/aquaero5_aquabus.pdf

Am i suppose to transform myself into an engineer and study and know all these to fix up my pricey aquaero products?