Using a pump for 2 separate PCs

[Deuteronomy93]

Hi All

 

Bit of a weird question.

 

I was thinking of combining the loops of 2 different systems that will likely not be on at the same time. That way I can capitalise on not having to buy 2 separate sets of radiators etc and can hook them up together.

 

I'm not sure how best the pump would handle this situation however, turning on when one system is turned on, off when both systems are off and then on again with the second system is in use. Is it as simple as (wish they weren't molex) connecting a molex splitter to both PSUs and then into the pump? If that's the case, would there be an issue if both of them were powered on at the same time, would it fry the pump by sending through too much electricity?

 

I tried having a look at Paul's Riptide videos and other dual systems (both systems would be high end, not 1 NAS server) but a lot of them aren't having everything go through the same loop.

 

Many thanks!

[WereCatf]

5 minutes ago, Deuteronomy93 said:

Is it as simple as (wish they weren't molex) connecting a molex splitter to both PSUs and then into the pump? If that's the case, would there be an issue if both of them were powered on at the same time, would it fry the pump by sending through too much electricity?

If you used a splitter and one PC was off while the other was on, you'd be basically sending power from one PSU to another PSU, except the other PSU would be off and depending how the PSU was made, you'd likely end up frying it. You'd need to add sufficiently highly-rated diodes to both molex-connectors to both the 12V- and the 5V-lines.

 

Then there's the problem of...you'd be trying to run two loops on a single pump; that's twice the amount of liquid to push through twice the length of loop. You'd be putting quite a lot of strain on it and might be getting poor performance or just simply end up frying it.

[simson0606]

If you can have a third power supply (laptop style but 12v) you could use a relay per computer to switch on the power to the pump.

[Deuteronomy93]

1 hour ago, WereCatf said:

If you used a splitter and one PC was off while the other was on, you'd be basically sending power from one PSU to another PSU, except the other PSU would be off and depending how the PSU was made, you'd likely end up frying it. You'd need to add sufficiently highly-rated diodes to both molex-connectors to both the 12V- and the 5V-lines.

 

Then there's the problem of...you'd be trying to run two loops on a single pump; that's twice the amount of liquid to push through twice the length of loop. You'd be putting quite a lot of strain on it and might be getting poor performance or just simply end up frying it.

Thanks for the feedback, what I meant was a Y splitter with both PSUs going into the 1 pump. Wouldn't this mean both PSUs aren't connected to each other or would the fact the end point is the pump, it wouldn't care where it sent the power down the line and would end up going to the second PSU?

[WereCatf]

1 minute ago, Deuteronomy93 said:

Thanks for the feedback, what I meant was a Y splitter with both PSUs going into the 1 pump. Wouldn't this mean both PSUs aren't connected to each other or would the fact the end point is the pump, it wouldn't care where it sent the power down the line and would end up going to the second PSU?

Of course they would still be connected together.

[For Science!]

5 minutes ago, Deuteronomy93 said:

Thanks for the feedback, what I meant was a Y splitter with both PSUs going into the 1 pump. Wouldn't this mean both PSUs aren't connected to each other or would the fact the end point is the pump, it wouldn't care where it sent the power down the line and would end up going to the second PSU?

Electrical cables do not have directionality to them, the current from one PSU will travel to the other across the Y-cable.

[For Science!]

Given the potential complexities involved, it would be perhaps better and more worth the money to have two pumps in serial, each one powered seperately by the PSU, just that when you have both systems on, you have a dual pump to improve the flow of the system. A static pump (at least a D5) does not introduce much restriction of flow so you don't have to worry about that.