Hi Everyone,

I am setting up a large and complicated loop right now.

I already have three Aquaero 6's. My initial plan was to use two of them independently in this build, but this has some downsides. (for instance, needing to run twice the number of temperature sensors)

I I remembered reading in the Aquaero manual, that an Aquaero can be reprogrammed as an expansion device, but it doesn't have a lot of detail on how to do its.

By clocking around in Aquasuite, I did find the button to click to do this (under Aquaero -> System -> Expansion Device.

There are some basic instructions here, but between the manual and what is in the GUI I still don't feel like I have a complete picture.

So, I have some questions:

1.) it sounds like once the firmware flash operation completes, all you have to do is connect the two devices together using the Aquabus connector and then the expansion device will e detected on the primary device? Is this correct?

2.) Will this work in conjunction with an Aquabus x4 adapter? Ideally I would be able to use the 4x adapter to connect three Calitemp (Art. No. 53257) temperature sensors, and the expansion device, but it is unclear from the manual if this is the case. I don't know how to interpret the "Max. number (Bus Address)" in the table in section 23.1 on page 41.

However, I did find more detail on the store page for the Aquabus x4 device (Art. No. 5325. If I am reading this correctly, only the Calitemp Aquabus devices require dedicated ports. All other devices can use aquabus splitters. So, I could in theory connect the three Calitemp sensors to dedicated ports on the Aquabus x4, and use the fourth port for the Expansion device? Is this accurate. It looks like I could even connect a splitter (Art. No.53124) to one of the the Aquabus x4 device ports, to get four Calitemp sensors (as long as they are on different ports) and the expansion device.

3.) The manual says that when the expansion device firmware is flashed, it disables all connectors except the 4 fan connector, 4 temperature connectors, and one flow connector.

However, when the Aquaero 6 was initially launched, there was an "Aquabus low" port, which has since been changed in firmware to "Flow 2" allowing two flow sensors to be connected. Is the manual correct when it says that only one flow device is forwarded with "Expansion Device" firmware, or is it just outdated from before the "Aquabus low" port became "Flow 2".

Ideally, I'd be able to connect four flow sensors. I can do this with two separate Aquaero 6 LT's, but I cannot tell for sure if I can still use all four flow ports in expansion device mode.

4.) The Aquaero setup I am in the process of building will be a little different than what most probably use. The Aquaero's are in a customized dedicated electrical box with their own dedicated power supply:

control box.jpg

The box has a couple of fans that in turn are controlled by the two Aquaeros and keep everything inside the little box cool.

The second Aquaero will be mounted above where the one installed unit is right now.

This box then controls a couple of large radiators and fans, that in turn cool several computers.

rack.jpg


The initial plan was to use the virtual sensor feature to get the maximum temp of all of the fan amplifier sensors, and then control the fans based on that max temperature, to ensure the Aquaero's fan outputs don't overheat.

There are two issues here - however:

- Firstly, I am not sure if the fan amplifier outputs are forwarded from the Expansion Device to the main Aquaero. If they aren't forwarded, I can't sue them for control.

- Second, if these sensors are forwarded, the virtual sensors are too limited to grab the max of them all. You can only use three inputs per virtual sensor, and there are only four virtual sensors available.

This could be solved by nesting them.
Virtual Sensor 1 could find the max of the first three fan amplifiers.
Virtual Sensor 2 could find the max of the next three
Virtual Sensor 3 could find the max of the last two.
Virtual sensor 4 could monitor the first three virtual sensors, and then we have found the max of all eight fan amplifiers.

The downside to the above would be that I have used all of my virtual sensors before I have even started controlling my actual loop, which is a problem, as I need those virtual temperature sensors.

I don't suppose there is some way I have missed I could use to somehow get more virtual sensors, or expand their capabilities to use more inputs?

Or is there another way to do this I haven't through of?

I could plug in a temperature sensor to one of the inputs, and use it to monitor the fan amplifiers on each Aquaero. That way I just have one temperature sensor instead of eight of them, but that feels like kind of a hack, and also might be counter-productive as it would be inhibiting air flow to the amplifiers. So I don't think I want to do that.

Or maybe I can use some understanding of how heat is generated in order to prioritize which fan amplifiers to monitor? Based on my knowledge of rheostats, I presume that the most heat is generated when using voltage control, not when using PWM. Most of my outputs use PWM. Only one is planned to use voltage control. Maybe if I just monitor that one, I should be OK? Does that sound like a reasonable approach?

It probably goes without saying, but I'll state the obvious. Since these Aquaero's are in a box of their own, and are being used to cool many PC's, they cannot rely on Aquasuite or the Aquacomputer service running. They must be able to handle things on their own without an active USB connection. US and the Aquasuite client in this case will be used for setup/configuration only, and will the n be disconnected.

I'd appreciate any other suggestions! Maybe there is some Aquabus addon that could be useful here?