Bitcoin Forum

do you think it's possible to design a USB miner based on a single BFL chip where the USB stick has 2 ports at both ends.
one plugs into a USB port, draws some amount of power and is used for communication, the other end of the USB is plugged into a second, separate USB port via a short USB extension cable.  can additional power be delivered from the second USB connection to provide enough power to the chip?
so it would look like a USB stick but with a USB plug at both ends...
possible? or am i asking a dumb question?

Doesn't a single BFL chip still draw more power than two USB ports combined (bus powered)? I think a Jalapeno with 2 chips draws like 30w and 2 USB ports is only 5w of power.

Each BFL chip draws about 14watts in the Jalapeno, as several people have measured.

So you would need 6 USB ports to run one chip.

OK, so it's a dumb idea... nevermind.

what about other interfaces, do any deliver required power for a single chip? POE? firewire maybe?

I hate external power supplies...

dumb idea from a dumb weak as person

Not at all a dumb idea. The jalapeños are still using first gen chips, 2 of them and a PCB build for originally up to 8 chips.

According to the power spec for the new chips is a power consumption of 3.2 w per GH. This may not be 'USB only' territory but I think a small 1-chip design could still be an interesting proposition for 4 gh/s single chip miners.

You sure seem like quite the douchebag.

only to people that pissed me off talking shit

so 3.2 *4 = 12.8W, POE is good for 31.6 W i think, so we can have an 8GH/s device designed using 2 chips that can connect to POE....
Hmmmm, i call it "Furby"... cause they would mysteriously fill up all IT closets and all available POE ports on network switches...

anyone want to take this Furby design up?  what would motivate you?

Would it have fur, a beak, and glossy, soul-less eyes? If so, count me in!

the next, must have toy for Christmas... LOL

You do know it will be big right? 30W to cool is not easy for small device... So go back to 1 chip... And even 12 W passively is not that small... Now you need chip that can handle network, mining, basic web interface and controlling the chips... It is not something you can do in 100 days unless you are talking of a big team...

How about trying to use bitfurys chips instead? I think with a single chip, <2.5W power drawing (USB gives 2.5W max) you can get atleast 1.5 GH.

that could be an alternative, but are they shipping to US yet??

What BFL chips?

^This.

And BFL already tried this with the Jalapeno and they had completely change the case from their designs. The chips just create way too much heat. So you need a big heat sink with a big fan which means a case roughly the size of the actual Jalapeno. At that point, you may as well use the Jala board and only put one chip in it.

Bitfury USB miners would be a MUCH better option then BFL when it comes to single-chip 'Block Eruptor' style miners. You can buy chips here: https://megabigpower.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=56

With the possible undervolt, and already cool running temp of the chips and the fact that a single USB port could power a chip @ around 2.2 GH/s I for one would be interested in someone wanted to design a single chip miner.

Try here: https://megabigpower.com/shop/index.php?route=product/category&path=33