Info Laing D5 pump top comparison

[thilanliyan]

Just wanted to provide a quick comparison of 3 D5 pump tops I did a comparison on. Pump is a D5 Vario. Tops are Singularity Computer Protium D5 Top, Darkside D5 top, and Aquacomputer Ultitop.
Flow was checked by Aquacomputer High Flow meter in Aquasuite. I kept the same length of tubing and res for all tops. Only things in the loop were pump/top, flow meter, and res.

I must say, I was very surprised by the Darkside results. I redid it 3 times just in case I was doing something wrong, but got similar results. I actually got the Darkside top first but being OCD I looked at the flow path at the outlet and it looked somewhat constricted and at a 90 degree angle to where the pump would be pushing water, so I went ahead and got the other tops. The machining quality on the internals also left a lot to be desired on the Darkside, whereas it is pretty good on the other 2. The singularity is also not a straight path to the outlet but didn't seem to suffer much. The Aquacomputer top has pretty much a straight outlet so I expected it to do well.

I'll have to do a check of the actual outlet diameter on the Darkside, maybe that's causing restriction. In any event, I will not be using the Darkside top in my loop.

EDIT: I found what I was doing wrong with the Darkside top. Compared to the other tops it took much longer for the air in the top itself to clear so once it finally did clear the performance is more in-line with the other tops.

In addition I did some more testing with the other inlets of the Singularity top. Not a huge difference but the "axial" inlet was the best performing.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Interesting. Do you have access to any Watercool d5 tops?

 

[thilanliyan]

Interesting. Do you have access to any Watercool d5 tops?

Unfortunately no. These 3 are the only ones I bought...I've built up enough of a collection lol. I have the stock Laing top also but don't have any 3/8 diameter tubing.

 

[thilanliyan]

Updated results with some more testing. The Darkside top is actually more in line with the others, my mistake on the testing.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Hmm okay.

 

[EXCellR8]

Unfortunately no. These 3 are the only ones I bought...I've built up enough of a collection lol. I have the stock Laing top also but don't have any 3/8 diameter tubing.

I've got plenty of premium 3/8 tubing (typically the only size I use) if you want to trade some for a top... got a couple of Varios with no homes.

 

[thilanliyan]

I've got plenty of premium 3/8 tubing (typically the only size I use) if you want to trade some for a top... got a couple of Varios with no homes.

Thanks for the offer but I need 2 tops for the system (running pumps in series) and the Darkside one I'm keeping as a backup in case one of the other ones springs a leak or something.

 

[aigomorla]

u should add the stock laing top as a base comparison.

 

[thilanliyan]

u should add the stock laing top as a base comparison.

I wanted to but I don't have 3/8 tubing or barbs (as I understand it the stock top is fixed 3/8?). And the AQ flow meter calibration would be off (I don't have another flow meter to verify) when using 3/8 tubing. For the 1/2 calibration I used some data from a Martin's Liquid Lab test of that flow meter.

I may invest in another flow meter at some point if I decide to do more of this type of testing. For now I was really only interested in the performance of these 3 tops I bought.

 

[aigomorla]

a d5? it should be 1/2 base.
I assume your talking about this stock top?

DDC's were 3/8.

 

[thilanliyan]

Ah okay I was always under the impression it was 3/8...I've never actually tried running it, I always used an aftermarket top. Not sure if I'll get a chance to try it out but I'll update the OP if i do.

 

[EXCellR8]

actually looking for a bare D5 pump if anyone's got one just lying around, if anything but unlikely