[Question] Corsair H115i confusing wiring

[GEHORC]

Hello the Internetz, greetings from the country with bratwurst and lederhosen.

 

Two days ago, a bunch of hardware arrived at my door and I started putting together my new pc.

I thought the Corsair H115i AIO was powered from a fan header on the MB as described in THIS manual on page 5.

Actually is has the connectors, you can see in the following picture:

- Sata for 12V Power

- 1-pin fan-plug for pump speed monitoring

- 2x 4-pin fan-socket for fans

- Mini-USB-B socket for Corsair Link

 

The Pump speed can only be controlled by the Corsair Link software and the USB-Cable must stay connected. (otherwise the Pump will go full-speed after power was turned off)

My questions are:

- Are there different versions of the H115i?

- Is it possible to McGiver an adapter from the Sata plug to the MB-pump-header (asus rog maximus viii hero (z170)) or any fan-header and control the pump speed with the voltage?

- Is it possible to make the pump remember the last settings when Corsair Link is disconnected?

 

I just don't want a crapload of cables in my computer and 15 different software utils to control the system.

 

Thank you for your help!

[Nacho Marco Segui]

Connect the sata to the psu, the fan header to the mobo and the fans to the female headers of the pump

[derick90]

What Nacho said. Spot on... Also, corsair link is useless. You're better off using AI Suite to control fans with your custom fan curve, which also means don't plug the fans into the female headers on the pump and connect them to CPU_Fan and CPU_Opt

[GEHORC]

Ok.

Maybe i wasn't clear.

My problem is, that the pump runs full speed all the time (not the fans - they are connectet to the MB).

So I want to control the pump* speed. And If anyone knows, if it is possible to run the pump of a fan header by diy-ing an adapter.

Edited June 16, 2016 by GEHORC
*pump instead of fan

[derick90]

2 minutes ago, GEHORC said:

Ok.

Maybe i wasn't clear.

My problem is, that the pump runs full speed all the time (not the fans - they are connectet to the MB).

So I want to control the fan speed. And If anyone knows, if it is possible to run the pump of a fan header by diy-ing an adapter.

With those, I don't believe so. I don't even hear the pump on mine and its at 100% all the time, don't know why you would want to slow it down. 

[GEHORC]

Thanks for your replies.

I have connected the fans to the H115i now. When connected to the MB they ramp up as soon as the CPU sees some load, which make no sense with the thermal capacity of the fluid in mind.

[David Carroll]

I have an x 399 carbon motherboard, in the programming of the motherboard, if you have fans or any device that was assumed, as I did, that you and I would get the correct parts that are Ideal for our set up due the online listing being very vague about details , perhaps trying to cut cost but got caught up in certain specs and reading reviews not knowing what we don't know  we ended up with some 3 wire fans and this H115I  cooler that came without PWM fans. if we had 4 wire fans it would be controlled by PWM from the motherboards electronics, However, this cooler came with fans and some strange one wire device with shit for instructions.

 

I am regretting my purchase of this cooler, i really want to send it back but i have so much time invested in it. The pump has to get power, I assume this is the SATA power, then it has to controll the fans, through that double header, then i assume that one single wire in the 4 pin header gets plugged in the cpu fan ? not sure how that could do anything but ok. then we have the USB that takes up one of 2 9 pin usb ports. I need this to plug in my wifi as my other was taken already. 

 

So this piece of crap is a power port hog that cant make up its mind how we are going to run it. My bet is there is more than one way to make this all work but without some type of wiring diagram with the unit we have to turn to people that made it work. obviously made in China. 

[David Carroll]

oh yeah, I went on my rant and missed stating my point. The motherboard should have a setting that can be changed to power fan headers on DC mode, this will use voltage up or down to control speed. I am not sure but i believe it in the Bios of the motherboard configurations. 

[Kralken]

3 hours ago, David Carroll said:

oh yeah, I went on my rant and missed stating my point. The motherboard should have a setting that can be changed to power fan headers on DC mode, this will use voltage up or down to control speed. I am not sure but i believe it in the Bios of the motherboard configurations. 

I bought the h115i RGB Platinum back in December, which has even more wires for the RGB.  Cable routing is a nightmare.

 

Pump speed and fan speed needs to be controlled in Corsair software through the USB.   I downloaded Corsair Link at first as well, which was a mistake.  Don't bother.  Uninstall and use iCue instead.

 

You can set the fan and pump profiles in iCue and then save the profile to the hardware - no need to keep iCue running in normal use.  Once it's saved as a hardware profile it will remember it between boots and you can disable iCue on startup.

 

You can change the fan speeds to react to coolant temperature rather than package or core temperature in iCue.  This will prevent noticeable ramp ups of the fans.  I found the quiet profile works fine with a 280mm radiator.

 

You may not even want to bother with changing the pump speed at all as the default Balanced profile was actually less audible than the Quiet profile for my pump.

[Blai5e]

On 6/19/2016 at 3:42 AM, GEHORC said:

Thanks for your replies.

I have connected the fans to the H115i now. When connected to the MB they ramp up as soon as the CPU sees some load, which make no sense with the thermal capacity of the fluid in mind.

When they are connected to the motherboard, the fans would likely be using the CPU package as a temperature source. not your coolant. This all depends on your BIOS settings or AI suite etc. but I very much doubt that your H115i coolant temperature would be an available option. If you connected to the fan headers off the H115i, the "default" fan curves (quiet, balanced & extreme) source is coolant.

 

6 hours ago, David Carroll said:

I have an x 399 carbon motherboard, in the programming of the motherboard, if you have fans or any device that was assumed, as I did, that you and I would get the correct parts that are Ideal for our set up due the online listing being very vague about details , perhaps trying to cut cost but got caught up in certain specs and reading reviews not knowing what we don't know  we ended up with some 3 wire fans and this H115I  cooler that came without PWM fans. if we had 4 wire fans it would be controlled by PWM from the motherboards electronics, However, this cooler came with fans and some strange one wire device with shit for instructions.

 

I am regretting my purchase of this cooler, i really want to send it back but i have so much time invested in it. The pump has to get power, I assume this is the SATA power, then it has to controll the fans, through that double header, then i assume that one single wire in the 4 pin header gets plugged in the cpu fan ? not sure how that could do anything but ok. then we have the USB that takes up one of 2 9 pin usb ports. I need this to plug in my wifi as my other was taken already. 

 

So this piece of crap is a power port hog that cant make up its mind how we are going to run it. My bet is there is more than one way to make this all work but without some type of wiring diagram with the unit we have to turn to people that made it work. obviously made in China. 

David, if you purchase a H115i and it didn't come with 2 x 140mm Corsair PWM fans, you didn't receive the correct accessories - they come standard!

 

Now, just to clarify, the single wire going to the CPU fan header is a tachometer wire for the pump. It is used to keep the motherboard happy that you have a working fan and may serves as a warning if the pump fails - it in no way "controls" the fans on the H115i. Controlling of the fans and pump are performed via USB using Corsair's ICUE software assuming you have your fans connected to the fan headers on the H115i pump.