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The original was posted on /r/watercooling by /u/JohnHancock1969 on 2023-08-24 19:20:47+00:00.
Updated hardware guide because if I don’t write this stuff down I will forget it by the time I need it again. Plus maybe this helps other people too.
It took a long time to figure out the correct way to wire these AC controllers and a lot of people have helped me to understand how it works. I found it time consuming and difficult to grasp due to what is in my opinion less than ideal manuals and the a lack of additional guides and tutorials on the web. Maybe I’m just slow…
DISCLAIMER: Please note the controllers, connectors, adapters needed, and how they should be wired may be different for you depending on the devices being used. This is not a complete guide or replacement for the Aquacomputer manuals, just my personal setup and helpful tips. For example those with Corsair or NZXT connections… See the Farbwerks 360 section below.
If you see something wrong with my setup, or if there is a better way to do something, PLEASE TELL ME! Thank you :)
Diagram (right click > open image in new tab):
My setup:
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FYI:
—HUBBY7—
-If your motherboard does not have enough internal USB headers for all the controllers/devices, you may connect a HUBBY7 USB hub to increase the amount of available internal USB header connections possible. Be careful of the power limitations however and do not overload the HUB by connecting too many devices that go over the power limit which varies depending on if you power the HUB via USB or SATA.
-NOTE: You connect the internal USB connectors to the top or bottom half of the internal 9-pin USB header on the motherboard. 1 on the top row, one on the bottom row. The motherboard accepts x2 USB connections per 9pin connector (top and bottom rows). Be careful to connect these correctly, with the black wire on the side with the missing pin.
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—Farbwerk 360—
IMPORTANT - You may only use the DRGB channels OR the RGBpx channels. You may use one OR the other. NOT BOTH. Connecting to both DRGB (4pin) and the RGBpx channels at the same time on the same Farbwerk may result in disabling of the channels, flickering, and instability.
-You must check the power draw and number of LEDs that you connect to each channel. The controller has a 90 LED limit per channel, and a maximum power draw in Volt and Amp.
-The Farbwerks 360 is NOT to be used for Corsair or NZXT connections. For those devices, you must use an Aquacomputer RGBpx SPLITTY (multiple versions available):
-The Octo, HF NEXT, or if using multiple Farbwerk 360 devices, do NOT SYNC together. While one Farbwerks will sync it’s 4 channels, if you have 2 Farbwerks they will not sync together. Same with a Farbwerk and Octo or Quadro - they do not sync together either.
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—ARGB/DRGB to RGBpx adapter—
-Needed to connect a DRGB device to the RGBpx channels. It is advised to adapt DRGB to RGBpx as the connections as DRGB connections can be very loose and come off easily. RGBpx connectors are far more secure and do not come out as easily.
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—RGBpx connection cable—
(multiple lengths available)
-After connecting the DRGB connector to the adapter above, you will need a RGBpx connection cable to finish the connection to the RGBpx channel on the Farbwerk/Octo/etc,.
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—High flow NEXT—
-The HF NEXT has a temp and RGBpx port. These can be used to add an additional device (like an ambient temp sensor or a LED strip) into the system. DO NOT connect the 2 pin temp connection or the RGBpx channel or SUB etc. from the HF NEXT to the Octo/Quadro or Farbwerk or vice versa.
-The HF NEXT is connected via the Internal USB header on the motherboard which provides sensor info & RGB.
-The temp port is used to connect an ambient temp sensor, another inline flow sensor, etc. into the system. However, you can just attach the ambient temp sensor etc. to the Quadro/Octo/FW360 as which may be easier and cleaner.
-The RGBpx port is used to connect another RGB device into the system. Like a LED strip or RGB from a fan or a distro plate. Again, you can just use the RGBpx port on the Quadro/FW360/Octo instead.
-The SIGNAL channel may be connected to the PWR button header on your motherboard to act as a killswitch for your system in the event of an ‘alarm condition’. Use the “Connection cable alarm header of VISION/OCTO to motherboard power switch header” cable. The alarm condition as designated by the user (such as a pump failure) would cut power to the system.
-Some have said it is easier to set a shutdown command in HWinfo to a given value reported by Aquasuite (if pump speed <1rpm for 15 seconds, shutdown). This can be done with a Quadro/Octo/D5N. This is great PETG tubing for example as you can set your PC to shutdown if your water temp is above 40c for 15 minutes. Other than some outlier situation, doing this via software shouldn’t pose any concerns (and is free).
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—Mounting AC devices in your Case—
Be very careful in mounting your aquacomputer devices. Make sure to keep the rubber backing on them and not to have contact points to the metal case to the pcb boards in the devices. An easy way to mount these in the case is to use double sided sticky velcro tape.
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Some additional misc info collected from multiple sources:
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You also may want to consider which RGB devices you are connecting to which RGBpx ports. You have 4 RGBpx ports on the Farbwerk360, 2 on the Octo, and 1 on the High Flow Next. These ports are not all equal. In Aquasuite, the 4 ports on the Farbwerk360 can have up to 20 concurrent LED controllers active. An LED controller can be assigned to more than one place through the Multi-Assign function. You can have up to 60 of these. The biggest thing is transparency. In Aquasuite an LED or group of LEDs can have multiple RGB controllers assigned. They appear in a stack and the topmost controller prevails. For Farbwerk360 ports, you can set a transparency level for each primary color. This allows patterns/colors from controllers lower in the stack to “bleed through” the controller higher in the stack. It’s kind of hard to explain but it allows multiple controllers to affect the LEDs at the same time which is a very powerful feature.
The RGBpx ports on the Octo are more limited. They do not support transparency. Instead of 20 concurrent controllers, there are 6 per port. The Multi-Assign function is not supported. The RGBpx port on the High Flow Next has slightly different limitations. You can have up to 8 controllers active – 2 for the 10 built-in LEDs and 6 for the RGBpx port. No Multi-Assign function. So the RGBpx port is the same as those on the Octo but control of the 10 onboard LEDs is more limited.
Another thing to consider is that while the 4 ports on the Farbwerk360 will run in sync, there is no sync between them and the ports on the Octo or the High Flow Next. If you have 2 Farbwerk360s, they will not sync with each other. I learned this the hard way. Due to these functional differences, you may want to use the Farbwerk ports for RGB fans Distro, and LED strips. For devices like the GPU block and CU block that only have a few LEDs in them, the Octo and High Flow Next RGBpx ports may be sufficient. Whether port sync is a factor depends on what presets you are using or however you end up customizing them.
All of this is detailed in the Owner’s Manuals. I suggest you download them and read through all of this. You will also see the differences in Aquasuite."