mCubed T-Balancer with miniNG OR bigNG, and where to buy?

The alternative to direct air cooling

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee

Post Reply
unimatrix0
Posts: 88
Joined: Sat Jul 15, 2006 2:07 pm

mCubed T-Balancer with miniNG OR bigNG, and where to buy?

Post by unimatrix0 » Mon Aug 14, 2006 5:01 pm

I was reading on the bigNG which looks like the ultimate piece of add-on to a water-cooled PC which is what I had in mind for fan/pump volt automation on my PC. I'm surprised this thing isn't that popular and so far I haven't been able to find a place to buy it. So I was wondering if anybody has tried this and their thoughts about it, and where to buy?

For those who aren't familiar, this is a brief description from their site:

The T-Balancer bigNG is the first 4-channel controller for air and watercooling with patented Dual Mode Technology (DMT). You can choose whether you want to power each channel analog or with PWM. The T-Balancer bigNG delivers pure analog voltage up to 20W per channel (40W with PWM). This way you can even connect water pumps or Peltiers. An integrated heatsink ensures a cool running.

What can the T-Balancer bigNG control? The bigNG can read up to 10 analogue sensors, 8 digital sensors, 2 flowmeters and the speed of 4 fans. It can control fans, powerful waterpumps, CCFLs and even Peltiers. It can be connected to the PC with USB. The RPM signals can also be connected. With the Extension Set analogue, the PC can also be shut-off in a case of emergency

With Software (via USB2.0) the T-Balancer can be adjusted and configured in an easy way. Many Plug-Ins (iMON, Speedfan, MBM, JaLCD, LCDC, Samurize) are provided for the T-Balancer software. The software also enables long-term monitoring, an integrated USB watch-dog ensures a permanent USB connection.

Yea, almost a dream come true. I wonder how affordable this is in the US?
Last edited by unimatrix0 on Mon Aug 14, 2006 7:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

unimatrix0
Posts: 88
Joined: Sat Jul 15, 2006 2:07 pm

Re: mCubed T-Balancer with miniNG OR bigNG, and where to buy

Post by unimatrix0 » Mon Aug 14, 2006 7:46 pm

double post deleted*

Bluefront
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 5316
Joined: Sat Jan 18, 2003 2:19 pm
Location: St Louis (county) Missouri USA

Post by Bluefront » Tue Aug 15, 2006 2:03 am

Buy the stuff direct from M-Cubed.....cheaper, ships quickly, cheap rates. Very few dealers in the USA, and all have marked-up prices.

unimatrix0
Posts: 88
Joined: Sat Jul 15, 2006 2:07 pm

Post by unimatrix0 » Tue Aug 15, 2006 10:33 am

Bought. When you register on their site, the price drops from $85 to about $72. Also, they had a special offer of a "free" digital sensor which I added to cart. The thing about it is that shipping charges were $30 so I removed the free offer and shipping dropped to $20 :o

mikesm
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Aug 10, 2005 9:39 am

Post by mikesm » Fri Aug 18, 2006 2:37 pm

unimatrix0 wrote:Bought. When you register on their site, the price drops from $85 to about $72. Also, they had a special offer of a "free" digital sensor which I added to cart. The thing about it is that shipping charges were $30 so I removed the free offer and shipping dropped to $20 :o
$20 shipping on a $60 product? Is there no place in the US where one can buy this??

Thanks,
Mike

Mikey
Friend of SPCR
Posts: 156
Joined: Mon Aug 14, 2006 8:14 pm

Post by Mikey » Thu Aug 24, 2006 8:05 pm

So what did you think of it unimatrix0 ?

Looks like a fairly decent product from what i've read. :)

unimatrix0
Posts: 88
Joined: Sat Jul 15, 2006 2:07 pm

Post by unimatrix0 » Sat Aug 26, 2006 5:28 pm

I got it yesterday. First impressions: it makes quite a bit of heat, I placed a digital sensor on its heatsink and it reads 56 degrees Celcius, which I think it's really bad since I was expecting it to save me noise, heat and energy and it seems it's doing the opposite :x

Support for this product seems poor, I can't find any documents related to the bigNG, everything relates to the T-balancer and miniNG. Even if most of the T-balancer applies to the bigNG, the devices are different. There is no paper manual, only a sheet with a general diagram of the bigNG.

I can't find which firmware the bigNG comes with and if it needs update or not. I could get the digital sensor to work but I still can't get the analogue sensors to work.

I was able to control a D5 and some fans through software manually, and so far that seems to work fine. The bigNG gives them a kick start and the throttles down. Minor detail though is that, at 100%, the D5 doesn't seem to get as much voltage as usual. The software reports 11.8 v and by the pitched noise I can tell it's not the same as 12 v. But that doesn't bother me since I don't intend to pump to run at full voltage.

Their website has old manuals and some links are broken. There isn't a forum or anything I could get additional info on firmware or latest drivers.

As advertised, the controller continues to work even if the OS crashes or in my case, the USB connection is lost: the controller continues to work with loaded settings.

These are my first impressions, I need to continue doing testing. So far the most negative aspect that I can see is the heat produced, it's really worrying.

unimatrix0
Posts: 88
Joined: Sat Jul 15, 2006 2:07 pm

Post by unimatrix0 » Sun Aug 27, 2006 2:44 pm

Update #2: I got the analogue sensors to work, they are to be plugged vertically rather than horizontally as the digital ones. Again, there was no manual on how to deal with these.

A note on bigNG self temperature: temperatures seem to drop drastically when using fans only (that is, I unplugged the D5 pump). It's now at 36 degrees celsius.

The software takes a while to master but it seems very powerful. I've already played with curve graphs to automate fan response to temperatures which works beautifully.

The greatness of this product among other things is the fact it can sustain itself on its own. I don't need any background software to be around for it to work. Once settings are made, it can operate independently of the OS. That to me is one of the biggest pluses.

I still can't find any substantial info on the bigNG on the web! I've emailed mcubed about this, we'll see what they have to say.

I'm tempted at writing a review for this, there is so little info on this I think it could be helpful to others. If anyone is interested let me know.
Last edited by unimatrix0 on Mon Aug 28, 2006 9:07 am, edited 1 time in total.

peteamer
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 1740
Joined: Sun Dec 21, 2003 11:24 am
Location: 'Sunny' Cornwall U.K.

Post by peteamer » Mon Aug 28, 2006 12:23 am

unimatrix0 wrote:If anyone is interested let me know.
Yes Please. 8)

peteamer
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 1740
Joined: Sun Dec 21, 2003 11:24 am
Location: 'Sunny' Cornwall U.K.

Post by peteamer » Mon Aug 28, 2006 3:58 am

Here's the Forum, though you need to register first :roll:

And a lot of the posts aren't in English...

miniNG Manual (Though it may be what you already have?... )



Pete

Post Reply