After peeling the tape off of the last to pieces of Styrofoam
and separating them I got my very first look at the Zalman Reserator 2,
surprisingly it was larger than I though it would be. Not so large that it
will dwarf a computer case as you will see later but large enough that once it
has water in it it should remain pretty much where you placed it. The
other things that immediately catch my attention was the workmanship of the
product, everything fits perfectly together and looks like a one piece
unit. I think it is very safe to say that if I had of purchased this
device I would have been extremely happy with what I received.
Each side of the Reserator 2 has twenty-five fins that
measure approximately 15/16" in length, when you add both sides of these
fins up you end up with a huge amount of contact surface for the air to move
across to aid in removing the heat from the water. Zalman didn't stop
there either each of the fins has been dressed even more so machined in such
a way that the actual surface mass of the fins goes up considerably thanks
to the use of ribbed fins. Each of these small ribs while they may not
look like much add a considerable amount of surface mass to the cooler
giving the Reserator 2 all that much more cooling capablities.
For those of you that are in to dimension and not able to
convert metric the Reserator 2 measures 17.5" in length, 14.5" high, and 3"
wide, these measurements are taken with the two mounting brackets attached
to the base of the unit. Looking at the front panel of the Reserator 2
you will find only two items that you need to know about the first one
located at the top of the front panel is the "Light/Rest' button. This is
basically just a power On/Off switch and Rest switch. Below it you
have a single LED, this LED is perhaps one of the most important parts of
the entire kit. This LED service multi-functions it not only indicated that
power has been applied to the unit but also acts as an alarm in the event
something goes wrong with your system.
In the event that the flux (term used in in manual
for water-level) falls below a certain level because of a problem
related to to the pump, leakage or other problems the LED will turn red
and begin to flicker. The blue power LED will come on if the
Light/Reset button is pressed momentarily, by pressing the Light/Rest
button a second time the blue LED will shut-off. This way the user can
quickly check whether or not the unit is in use or not.
Located at the bottom of the Reserator 2 is the Flow
Indicator, This component is connected with the circulation tube for
checking the circulation of the coolant. When the coolant is actively
circulating, its impeller rotates and the blue LED is brightly lit,
providing easy indication of the circulation status.
The Reserator 2 has two requires two power sources, the
first one is see below is the 12-volt DC power connector, the second is a
115/120 Volt AC plug-in. These will provide power for the internal water
pump which is mounted inside the Reserator 2 and power the control LED as
well.
