Alphacool DDC Pump Tops clear acrylic
by Dark Mantis
The Laing DDC pump as opposed to the D5 is the other pump at the top of the watercooling range. It is very widely used and in some
circumstances preferred because of it's more compact nature. This is a review of all the options for customising this particular
pump by replacing the head. This can increase power, flow or add the usefullness of a reservoir incorporated into the unit not
forgetting the overall look of the end product.
Firstly lets start with the pump. This is a Laing DDC-1T Plus model. It is 62mm square and 38mm deep, so very compact. It is a
nominal 12v pump that will actually function on anything from 8 to 13v. Below 8v it just wont startup. The 1T Plus has a power
consumption of 18W to give a flow rate of 600 litres per hour which is extremely good considering the size of the pump. The standard
head has fixed ports for 10mm ID hose. Motor wise it is a particularly well designed and manufactured unit with a brushless
spherical motor along a similar design to the D5, VPP655 etc. using a ceramic bearing for extreme long life. It is quoted at 50,000
hours MTBF which is roughly six years of non stop running! The wiring is done with a standard 4 pin molex connector and a 3 pin fan
connector to control the speed if required.
The standard pump needs to be stripped down now to accomodate the new heads. For this a star driver is required to remove the four
screws holding the top on. Once removed the top just pulls off and there is an O-ring used as a seal between the two parts. Put the
top somewhere safely as it isn't required any more for now along with the original screws.
Next unpack the new top that you are going to fit. These are much nicer looking than most and machined from a solid block of clear
plexiglas or delrin. Generally it will have two, sometimes three 1/4" BSPP ports to take the desired hose connectors. Before worrying about
that though the top needs to be carefully installed onto the pump base. Don't forget the O-ring from the original unit to make a good
seal. Make sure that the top is oriented correctly onto the base before using the supplied allen screws to bolt it all together. It
is best to loosely tighten all the screws first and then using opposing screws tighten down fully and test with some water for a good
seal.
Now we need to fit the pipe connectors, and if there is more than two ports, a blanking cap too. The ports should be marked which one
is for input and which is for output. This is important as it won't work properly if it is the wrong way around. After the connectors
are fitted the pump can be installed in the permanent location inside the case. Once sited the hoses can be connected up along with
the power cables and that part of the job is complete.
There is one or more custom tops that will accept the fitting of a reservoir on to the top of it making a completely self contained
unit. This will mean that the whole pump, top and reservoir will all be together and especially if there is space restictions like in
a HTPC or similar it will make things a lot easier and neater. The fitting of this reservoir, which has a maximum volume of 110ml, is
exactly the same as before apart from the screws have to locate the top to the pump, and then four more screws secure the top to the
reservoir to hold it alltogether and of course there is a further O-ring in between the additional parts. There will probably be one
port that requires a blank too.
There is one small issue that I had with the reservoir screw cap and that was getting it to seal properly. I couldn't do it by hand
and had to resort to a pair of pliers which I felt was not right. Even then it took some torque to accomplish a watertight seal. I
couldn't see any reason why this was.
These various tops and reservoir for the DDC pumps are very beautifully made out of high quality plexiglas and delrin and they all offer an increase in performance over the standard pump top. They are also very well machined and finished with no sharp edges. These are very impressive units and are very easy to fit with all necessary screws and allen keys provided. They certainly make a difference to the visual appeal and performance and as I don't feel that they are overpriced I award them 9/10 
Supplied by Alphcool http://www.alphacool.com Price : see website 
