Bitcoin Forum

Hi all,
as I am new here I wont try to be the smart guy , I just only like to help the bitcoin community and give ideas for easier operation of your miners as also to save money.
As you know everything is so expensive related to it out there.

I will try to show you bellow how to make a PSU for your Antminer S1.

The cheapest  server PSU that could do the job for the S1s' is the : Delta DPS-835AB, Artesyn 7001138-Y000, IBM x3650 3655 835W (12.1V 69A) , which I bought (and can still buy ) for less than 10$ each on eBay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/321306693173?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/321306693173?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649)

It is a stable 12V supplier and can handle two S1s' as they both barely reach 62A , overclocked.

Lets say we got it in our hands , here how it looks like:






http://s12.postimg.org/vi8901qhp/image.jpg
















Here are the label details.



http://s13.postimg.org/ft0nhz0sn/image.jpg





















We have to open the outer metal case, which can be done by unbolting 5 small screws.



http://s29.postimg.org/oz24in9lj/image.jpg







http://s27.postimg.org/vx2756dxf/image.jpg






http://s3.postimg.org/rq9d48u8z/image.jpg







http://s9.postimg.org/3lm9c3udr/image.jpg









http://s13.postimg.org/5htcmffev/image.jpg



















Now carefully remove the metal case. Don't pull hard , as it needs no effort to be released.



http://s2.postimg.org/fdpgu9ex5/image.jpg


















Now we have to release the circuit board, as we have to solder underneath of it.
There are 3 screws holding it.


One of them is not very visible, be careful.


http://s30.postimg.org/9r2fgqlwh/image.jpg









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Here it is , take care not to lose it in the board as it may stick.

http://s1.postimg.org/nym20per3/image.jpg





















Now , lift the board carefully, but don't  break it!  Put a plastic piece, like an insulating tape, so as to make enough space for working with the soldering unit.


http://s10.postimg.org/6e4483sm1/image.jpg























Turn the unit as in the picture and try to solder the two pins as in the picture.

http://s14.postimg.org/xq3gm1pwh/image.jpg






















Be careful not to solder and connect any other pins apart from those two! It is a little tricky, but patience can do the job.



http://s16.postimg.org/bx883qpg5/image.jpg





















I bought some copper bars off a shop supplying electricity materials, like circuit breakers, fuses etc.
Those bars are used for connecting the circuit breakers together, or something like that.
They are sold 1000mm long, 10mm wide and 1,5mm thick. It would be better with 2mm thickness, but could not find at that shop.


http://s28.postimg.org/e5xf5vvul/image.jpg






http://s28.postimg.org/wd7qtfx19/image.jpg





http://s9.postimg.org/sqr1uqxzj/image.jpg























Mark them every 30~35mm and cut them (scissors for metals or a grinder maybe ?)

http://s9.postimg.org/q1rnqz34f/image.jpg





http://s18.postimg.org/73i6ec9c9/image.jpg






http://s21.postimg.org/igyvi47mf/image.jpg



















Now you have to use a stronger soldering unit to solder on the bars.
Do it like in the pictures , but try not to cover the whole surface because a clean part is needed for connecting it to the psu connector.


http://s29.postimg.org/x8nn7wz13/image.jpg




http://s24.postimg.org/3zu5nm4lh/image.jpg





http://s12.postimg.org/kcs6np1el/image.jpg






















Now we need 4 wires for each bar, to supply the current.
Wires in the dimension of 2.5mm² can handle the load as it does not exceed the 16A. The 2.5mm2 can handle up to 20A.
Start by cutting 4 of them 500mm long.


http://s3.postimg.org/nqfzx87xf/image.jpg





















Strip them at least 20mm.


http://s1.postimg.org/jwdv3yv3j/image.jpg





















Now twist all four together and try to hold them steady.


http://s28.postimg.org/nx8zkgfel/image.jpg






















Solder them with plenty of wire to become glossy.

http://s27.postimg.org/vjaigfpj7/image.jpg





http://s3.postimg.org/gd9spr2n7/image.jpg























Now heat the bar again and put the soldered wires over it, it will be very easy to understand that they are well welded.
Dont rush give it a few minutes.



http://s8.postimg.org/mmh1l3tfp/image.jpg




http://s4.postimg.org/k6aqh8jtp/image.jpg

























Now tape only the soldered part.


http://s30.postimg.org/5u76l5obl/image.jpg


























Now, strip also the other sides of the wires.

http://s3.postimg.org/ay12osb37/image.jpg
























If you dont have any PCI -e connectors, you can cut a 24pin ATX type, which can be found at old psus' .

You can create 3 PCIe from a 24 single ATX.

http://s1.postimg.org/jc80srgmn/image.jpg



























Connect the top 3 with negatives, and bottom 3 with the positives.
Be careful, don't fry your S1.

http://s30.postimg.org/abds8fnmp/image.jpg

























Do the same for the 4 other wires, and your are almost done !

http://s3.postimg.org/n6eqzriub/image.jpg






















Push carefully the bars, as shown in the pictures.

Take care about the polarity!!!!

http://s23.postimg.org/prsyktp2z/image.jpg




http://s3.postimg.org/dcxjmygpv/image.jpg





http://s3.postimg.org/g4lerb4mb/image.jpg
















Walla!!

24 overclocked miners working for 2 weeks without issues.

I need your comments!

http://s1.postimg.org/vfhxu2h2n/image.jpg

I love your solution!!

Just to be clear, your first soldering pictures are to jump the PSU to on?

Nicely done, very nice tutorial.

Very cost effective method if you have the tools to do it and easy access to the materials.

Thanks for your nice words!

Yes, we need to turn on the PSU through that process, soldering those pins.

Thank you for your nice words!

Yes, right, but are not special tools needed apart from a good soldering unit cost no more than 30$.
Wires are also cheap and easy to find.

It is only the copper bars maybe difficult, but with a little search can be found.

Amazing. I wonder if it can be done with HP power supply part#403781-001 & 379124-001 - They are 1000watt supplies and very good quality too. I have like 6 of them lying around with no use for them.

https://i.imgur.com/wq0zqW2.jpg

They are modded similarly. pins 31&34 need to be shorted (the 2nd-from-end pin for both the top and bottom side, irectly across one another). However, Ive had terrible luck and most of the ones I mod either die early or were defective to start (got them from a recycler, so its not too surprising)

Ive done the process in this guide on 4 of these artesyn PSUs now it works great everytime. the fan can be a bit 'screaming' loud if loading it past 700W though. My method though was to solder wires into the slots rather than a bar. same result but not as nice looking as yours :)

Since these HP PSUs are very common because a lot of people bought it for the blade backplane, I looked up the schematics and got one working very well. On these 403781-001 PSU's voltage sensor has to be triggered as well, which then will provide 12.80V instead of 12.15V - I will post a picture tomorrow.

It will be much better if you had the connectors for those PSUs.
Do you have them? It is a board with cables that connects with those psus'. Otherwise, you can use pci brackets from old motherboards.

I will send you pictures with solutions tomorrow.





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Yes you are right.
Do you have any pictures of how you have done it?
I am so curious to see the soldering on the gold plating.



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Is it better to increase the voltage that high?

I have seen others doing it because they use those psus' for battery charging control.

I know S1s have DC-DC converters , but I am not sure about their characteristics and tolerance to that voltage.




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Brilliant! Not I just need to find some copper bars....anyone know of a place online that my sell them?

What I do, to save the time and annoyance of opening up and unmounting the PCB from the case:

PS-ON sense is the 3rd and 4th pins on the bottom row. Rather than solder thier traces together, I grab a small jeweller's flathead and pry the pins up (they are seated in the plastic by thier tips) so that they pop free. I then bend them slightly towards eachother and solder them together. 

Same result, but instead of spending 10 minutes dissassembling and reassembling the PSU to access the traces, it can be done in about 1 minute so that you can easily solder the pins together

I can supply you some if you dont find.

I can prepare you wires also.

Pm sent.

Hey , can you post some pictures done?
Your method sounds interesting.





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I also noticed in the last picture you have them running in a garage? Any issues running a rack of these in a garage? I don't have a car in my garage and just use it for storage and the cats eat and use the litter box in there. It is not cooled and we get over 100 degrees outside here in Texas.

Yes, it is a basement garage actually, and has two opposite side exits. It makes a nice air flow and to be honest there is no temp issue so far as I keep both doors open.

It is only 70f degrees max here in Greece right now so I am confident that all 24 ants work smoothly even overclocked for many more days.

I am not quite sure about your 100f , but if you have some similar natural air flow, I believe you will have no issues either.

Just dont lock them inside.

It ends up 12.50V at the end of PCIe cable so it's all good. I have 2 S1's running on 1 PSU at 120V without any issues.

Here's a picture of what my ugly solder job looks like.

NOTE: All connections on the right side of the picture are positive regardless of black wires shown in picture. Those PCIe wires with no color coding can be a bit scary if anything gets mixed up. Use a continuity tester to be sure you're getting the correct wires.

https://i.imgur.com/jh3b2Dg.jpg

I tapped it and it looks better.

@tzortz: Thanks for the inspiration. I have 6 of these PSUs and no longer need to buy expensive Seasonics.

Soldering those connectors was very easy but needed flux before soldering. Pretty much the rest was same as your method. Put solder down on the connector, fill wire with solder, put the two together and put the solder gun down. I have a variable solder station (really nice machine) and I soldered these at 520C for fast melting and joints.

I was out of town for a funeral and had a friend watching my animals. He had to go to my office to get something and shut the walk in closet door where my network equipment and 1 antminer is running. Lol. I got home and the 9.5x5" space was 100 degrees! Yikes! I was wondering why the internal temp on the antminer was 51! I bought a portable ac unit for the room to cool it down as I will be adding quite a few more to the mix.

Whats your fan setting? PWM or always full on?

Good work! Thanks for share!

Thanks viriat0!

I will post more technical subjects soon!





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Thank you I'm going to give it a try.

get some liquid elecetrical tape - it works great for sealing off those exposed solder connections from the environment or shorts

Great suggestion. I ordered a bottle off of eBay just now.

Correct me if I'm wrong but those PSU are 1000W right think they could manage 2 PSU overclock or 3 at a push ?

Cheers

Good job, nice done. No losses.

But you could use the slots from those psus, if you can find.

Take a look here how I have done in the past.





http://s2.postimg.org/mncx66wnd/DSCN0570.jpg









http://s17.postimg.org/9dghtxem7/DSCN0571.jpg









http://s28.postimg.org/bf4kdbjv1/DSCN0572.jpg






http://s14.postimg.org/aqo0bxlap/DSCN0568.jpg







http://s17.postimg.org/c15y4a7nj/DSCN0569.jpg

If you need help, pm me.

It depends on the 12v supply. Sometimes they load the wattage on 5V so you lose on 12V.

Even though, I have been using another 12V-59A psu to supply 2 S1s' (both sucking 62A) and it has been working like a boss for 2 weeks!

Those server psus' are monsters, not compared to anything else.





.

Correct but only if you supply it 220V. I think they are 800W at 110V and 900W at 120V. I've been running 2 units on one PSU OC'd each to 375 no problem in 24 hours. These supplies do get a little loud though.

I do exactly what he does with those 1000w's, 1300w, and 2000w psu's already -- I do them on a pcb breakout w/ terminal blocks tho. sidehack I believe sells some pretty nice ones too, but I think they're just for the 750w's right now.

You can order the FCI part for that 1000w off mouser http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/FCI/10053363-200LF/?qs=%2fha2pyFaduj%252bgcCMSc6iW%252bc8yYaGmuc5esQepH84x2naxctQ%2fir27o6wXqkR84O5 --pins 31 and 32 on the 1000w are to short it to on [I'll save you that trouble, grab a multimeter to figure out the +12, -12, etc or there's prob a pinout online somewhere]

Got 2 PSUs from a Compaq 9000 server, including the backplane + cables.
Have not tried to connect anything yet.

Anybody have an ide how to jump-start it ? Just use the ATX like cable ?
And then with all the cables, I can easily measure where I get 12V out.

It is rated 750W output @ 220V. 2 of those on the backplane = 1500W out.
Should be more than enough for 3 units, probably fine for 4 units.

4x360 @ wall = 1440 * 0.85 efficiency = 1225 power draw.

Did anybody measure actual power consumption by one Antminer S1 ?

The PSUs are rated 6A @220V input = 1320W, so 750W out is pretty poor. But maybe they are efficent, and the 1320W is startup peak.

Great guide, but I think you really ought to mention the danger's with opening a PSU. I wouldn't want to see anyone seriously injured when they shock themselves by shorting a freshly charged PSU capacitor.

BE CAREFUL

I have measured 3600W for 10 antminers at the wall. So 360W per antminer as advertised.

Thanks for your kind words.

All modern psus get discharged completely within a couple of seconds after disconnecting, by a full speed fan load-discharge technique. Hence, there is no such issue of getting shocked.

Although, to be honest , it has been many times I have opened psus and had frogotten to unplug the power cable.
I am lucky I did not get injured yet, but caution is a measure that has to be taken very seriously when playing with electricity.

Thanks for your advise, I had to mention it earlier.

Thank You for this!  And thanks for the step by step pics!

For anyone looking for copper:

Home Depot: BTC0614-B2 http://www.homedepot.com/p/Blackburn-Single-Conductor-6-Stranded-to-14-AWG-Type-BTC-Copper-Wire-Connectors-2-Pack-BTC0614-B2-5/100206838?keyword=BTC0614-b2
UPC: 78378637251

No solder, no cutting  ;D I don't have a caliper handy or I'd measure it out for you.  It's about 9mm x 1.7mm eyeballing it.

https://i.imgur.com/ouSypat.jpg

Oh sweet! There ya go!

For god shake!

How the fuck did you find that??

You are awesome!

 :o

I can confirm these fit perfect and snugly. I bought a pair to test. Now Im just waiting for my cable to arrive. tzortz how dnug do your cable fit?

Wow. 

I'm a genius?

Actually, I researched online for a few hours trying to source that copper bar.  Then I gave up walked around home depot with a power supply and started jamming shit into it until something fit :) 

I also made a power on plug using a PCI slot cover/rosewill case part and some electric tape...  0 Soldering required for the whole setup:

https://i.imgur.com/R1EunBt.jpg

Yes a genius. You sir are very creative!

Which way does that power jumper go in?

Nice!

I just wanted to ask you whether the part of your power connector gets in good contact with the psus connector, since there is a hole on your bar.
There is enough current (60A) and you have to make sure there is a good contact between your copper connector and the psu.

I decided to stop being scared and solder. I have never been good at it, but this was simple and I actually did a good job. Both my PSUs now power on.

Pin's 1 and 3 on the bottom row are what the OP is bridging with solder.  I received 10 of these PSU's and didn't feel like disassembling them all so I used a lazy mans method :)

I cut out spots for pins 1 & 3 and put that in with the cutouts facing down.

Can you show the cutouts or what you did?

Okay I made one set of wires. Man these things are LOUD when a full loud goes through them. Obnoxiously loud. But two antminers do run off one psu...

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-pjeKljGTtgU/Uy5cNN_Og6I/AAAAAAAALhM/piBK98uuxao/w1538-h865-no/CAM00360.jpg

Nicely. Can you post pictures? I want to see it.

Jason,   tape your copper brackets as they may contact the metal frame of the Psu and may arc causing damage.

They are low voltage 12v , so you can touch them to see if are hot or not. If are hot make sure they are contacting well.

Check yor wires temp.
What size did you use?

Okay I held the copper connector and it is warm, but not too hot to hold indefinitely. I used 14 awg wire for the main lines coming from PSU. Those are barely warm at all. I used 16 awg from the three leads coming from each main lead and they are not warm at all.

How loud are these PSU's? Can someone give me a comparison?

I will post a video I took in a bit of the noise.

Here is a video of them running: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR_-jGcn_Mc

The camera recording also doesn't do it justice lol.. They are super loud.

Thanks for that. I'll stick to my Computer PSU's then since these will be in a room with me.

A wise choice. Im only use these because they will be in a shed :)

Very nice tutorial! We have been using Corsairs but we may be switching to a cheaper PSU!

So I am running one of these right now to power 2 ants. Something interesting happen last night. Both miner on it stopped mining for almost 45 minutes. Then it started up again. On it's own. I was just in there checking things out and something happened like it again. Is it possible the power supply is overheating and then running itself way down to cool then turning back up full power again?

Check the graph here: http://eligius.st/~wizkid057/newstats/userstats.php/1HeeAZ7SU3uprNFvZU6NxPf35u358iUZVF. See that dip?

I have to ask.  Was there possibly a power outage?  Are you running two overclocked? EDIT: and was there a pool outage?

No power outage. The other 3 running on traditional power supplies were fine. Each unit that dipped was on two different pools and each seemed to have the same issue.

sometimes server supplies will switch off for a few minutes if overloaded before they switch back on automatically. I had one that would switch off for 5-10 minutes every couple hours at the warm point of the afternoon

Never done with my psus. 12 of them running on 24 oclocked S1s . No problem.

Jason, please measure temp on the contacts of the psus and the plugs you have put.
It should be less than 50C.

Maybe there is heating generated and get transfered inside the psu.

I was in there today installing two new ants on traditional PSUs while I wait for my new stock to come in and the one server PSU running 1 ant turned off completely. So I decided to split the load between multiple server psus. I am now using 2 x PSU to power 3 Ants. I am running 110v electricity in the house and I do not think it is as efficient as 240v. So maybe that is why the PSU is having trouble keeping up. But splitting them between multiple PSUs should be far within the safety margin for these. Now the fans are not as loud either.

What kind of tool would I use to check the temperature?

I use them all on 240V. But I do not believe is that the issue.

I am almost sure that the connector with the holes you use makes bad contact, overheating and transferring the heat inside the psu, making it to disconnect.

You can use a thermometer laser gun , costs less than 10 bucks on ebay.

Otherwise, try to touch it, dont worry it is 12v wont hurt you, and feel if it so hot.

It also could just be a bad PSU. I just got 4 more in the mail. I have 6 total. I still think I am going to run 3 ants off 2 PSUs. My ants with an extra fan pull about 425w each.

I can touch the brass connector and old it no problem. It gets warm but not hot.

Why not just check the logs on the Antminers to see if they rebooted at that time?

Okay I swapped out the power supply for a different one and it seems to be running much much better. Im writing that other PSU off as bad.

Good they are dirt cheap.

Sure!  But he lost a little production.

 8)

For that I have 6 of them. And to put it further, I'll go to work tomorrow and solder at least 1 more as an immediate backup in case 1 of them go bust.

Walla!!

24 overclocked miners working for 2 weeks without issues.

I need your comments!

http://s1.postimg.org/vfhxu2h2n/image.jpg


It's useful

by this way, we can get cheaper and faster rigs

^looks great! I have a few of those in my 14-unit cluster, but primarily use DPS-800GB supplies whenever i can get them to work properly (about 50/50 from the place i buy them at $5/each)

I generally only load 1 Ant per artesyn supply since more causes a horrible fan scream, particularly near full load. 213V circuits reduced the noise slightly i think, and overall improcve most PSU efficiency by 2-5%

Hi, can i connect together upper contact + and lower contact + of DPS-800GB?
I want to do a hole and connect the two side with a copper screw and connect the wire with a fork connector .

Thanks in advance W_M

thanks for your comments.

Yes, to be honest they are a bit loud. But I dont care since they stay in the garage.

can you explain more?

I think there are ready connectors for that psu you mention.

If you want I can check where to order online.

Hi, thanks tzortz.


http://s15.postimg.org/fnjzijat7/DPS800_GB_A.jpg (http://postimage.org/)

I made some breakout boards for this supply (DPS-800GB A)  If anyone is interested I've got extra parts and can build more.  PM me if you are interested.  Photos below, the ones I've made so far have turned out really nice.  The header on it allows you to also attach it to a Raspberry Pi and monitor and switch it on/off remotely.  The other advantage is you don't have to mod the supply at all so it is still in re-sell-able condition.


https://i.imgur.com/qjHhQCQ.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/bcL7Au3.jpg?1

$7.80 each.....

Replacing $300 Corsair AX1200's

http://puu.sh/7RG7l.jpg

Yes , sure can be done. Would like to see if you do it.

Ho, ho ,ho!
Beautiful view!

Did you buy on ebay?

EBay yes.

I paid more like $12. :)

Okay I went out of town for 6 days and have no problems what-so-ever! I am going to stick to 1.5 antminers per psu though. They are cheap enough to make it still very economical.

tzortz, using an infrared thermometer, I found the heat at the bare wire inputs on the antminer are about 40c.

I managed to fix the HP 500W server psu to power 1 ant.
I got the psu for free at school as they were replacing racks and just gave the old stuff away.

https://i.imgur.com/67P5t25.jpg (http://imgur.com/67P5t25)
https://i.imgur.com/SwtTT3F.jpg (http://imgur.com/SwtTT3F)

Successfully modified my Dells aswell!
Putting out 700W


https://i.imgur.com/l7EcboD.jpg (http://imgur.com/l7EcboD)
https://i.imgur.com/hZTCRVb.jpg (http://imgur.com/hZTCRVb)

40c is ok then. Mine would go up to 50c at midday. But witout problems.

Did you get the wires?

I know those dells are very loud. They are like sreaming. Arent they?

Very loud, but I've put them in a datacentre. So I don't really care :)

Nice. I know that they are SO reliable.

And cheap!
Now I can sell my ATX PSU's with profit.
I also have that HP & 2 DELLs, but all of them are only 500W max each.

Yes finally!! Sorry I meant to let you know. I was out of town when the post office tried to deliver. Then they took it back to the post office and misplaced them and couldn't find the package. They filed it under your name (the sender) instead of mine as the receiver.

They work great! Thanks again!

No problem, you re welcome.

Take a picture to see what you have done

I will soon. I am almost done with my "mining shed".

I paid $5 each :)  (but had to pick up locally)

why are they opened up like that? My advice for a simple non-reversible modification:
1) PS-ON : achieve this by using a tiny flattip to pop up pins 3&4 and bend them into contact with eachother. add a quick hit of solder to make this permenant
2) 12V & GND:  remove all the plastic around the outer two slot connectors (the middle one is more complicated so just leave it be). this will leave 6 pins easily accessible for both 12V and the GND slots, and you can jam in as many wires as needed and have lots of points of contact for soldering. (hint: 100W+ soldering iron is needed or it will be extremely frustrating when nothing melts or sticks)

100a dedicated line being installed now to the "mining shed". Here is a quick pic of the shed itself:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-1c8SV8VmbvQ/U0BqwVfDtpI/AAAAAAAALrI/Wd_o-a7vnAI/w1538-h865-no/CAM00399.jpg

It is air conditioned and will have an inline exhaust fan with registers behind each rack of miners to expel heat produced by the miners.

They are opened up like that so he can solder the jumper on the bottom of the board. It takes me less than a minute to open up, solder board and close back up again.

Yeah,  I was using the quick 5 minute electric tape + PCI bracket to power them on.  But soldering was faster.  With a 40 watt iron.  Your mod sounds way more intense than either the ones used on this thread. 

That looks like a grow house. Be careful that you don't look extremely suspicious by running huge amounts of power to a well-ventilated, light-sealed shed in your yard that you are going in and out of several times a week.

You might get a knock from the cops - followed by the tax-man

Just got these in today - I have several dozen for sale and can order more if required.

http://i.share.pho.to/d445e320_o.jpeg

6-pin PCI-e connector (black)
30cm, 16AWG wires (yellow and black)
tinned ends on wire  (1cm tinned)

These are solid connectors and far superior to the garbage 18AWG connectors found on ebay. I have yet to test them on hardware, but there should be absolutely no problem carrying 200W or more (potentially upwards of 250W) through these leads. (In comparison, I have seen other cheap 18awg wiring melt or burn at over 150W)

40 are available right now, SHIPPING FROM TORONTO, CANADA

1-4 units: $3.50 each
5-10 units: $2.75 each
11-20 units: $2.25 each

Are these pins 3 & 4 that your bending together? Just the bottom row pins right?

https://i.imgur.com/Rx4NXGl.jpg

I wanted to see it , too , done.


Please pictures!

I cant get a good picture sinc emy units are in thier current housing location and not my home - but yes it is those two pins.   they are shaped a bit like :     ----'''\_    with the tip wedged into/under the plastic around it.

just grab a tiny flathead (a jewellers/eyeglasses sized flathead is best) and pry up the pins. it wont take much pressure and they will unseat and spring up very slightly when popped free. bend them together and add a quick solder joint. 

If you are able to solder them together without prying them up thats even easier, but they are just far enought apart that its tough to do so with most soldering tips. prying them up and towards eachother is quick and easy

I was thinking about ordering an Antminer S1 from Bitmain once they have them in stock again and was wondering if they are shipping now with the PCI-E power connector on them or will I have to strip wires and screw them down into the wire connector?

All are pci-e now.

Wondering...should I go with 16 AWG or is 18 AWG adequate?

18 awg would do, as are 3 wires x 7 amps (amp limit) = 21 amps.
Each blade will not absorb more than 15-17 amps overclocked.

But, still are close to the limit and the 18 awg will get a little warm.

I would go for 16awg to be safe for any unpredictable reason. 

Thanks. The 16awg was only a $1 more :)

Or 0.0025 BTC. 

  8)

I sell 16AWG pci-e cables in my sig.   I advise caution when using 18awg wires as I have found that some places do not seem to actually use proper 18 gauge wire.

If you cut open a 18awg wire from ebay, its usually only a few threads of wire, perhaps a 22awg in reality. Cheap wires can and do cause fires

https://i.imgur.com/ouSypat.jpg


So, what is the verdict on these nice brass terminal lugs?
Would they make good contact with having a hole in the center?
Are they OK to use?
Thanks

1) copper
2) even with a hole they are at least 20x larger on contact than the pins they connect to inside the PSU.

These are rated for a lot more amps than that PSU puts out.

But you can always fill in the whole hole

By the way I meant "copper" not brass.
miaviator, I know, this was your finding .
Are you using them on any of your PSUs without filling the whole?
Any problem with them so far?

wish that this was posted in Jan or Feb :(

You are right, fire can be caused by cheap ebay wires, I have seen such case where they melted , touched each other and for luck the psu protection switched off.
Very dangerous when playing with the wrong cross section.

Really, miaviator , have they been working well so far? Have you measured any temps close to the contact?

^miaviator shouldnt have issues with those connectors. thats a massive chunk of copper, probably much more material than a 4AWG wire and capable of close to 200A I would imagine

No issues.  Hot glue helps to prevent slippage.  Temps are fine via ir probe.

I use 14 awg stranded leads to each pcie adapter at two per PSU for ants

18 awg stranded DC pigtails x 12 for griseeds using 4 way splitters I power 48 seeds.

Great miaviator.
Built 16AWG (PCI-E) and 12AWG at the end.
Now, Just waiting for the PSUs arrive.

tzortz σας ευχαριστώ for the great instruction man.

Great helping each other in this discussion!

Παρακαλώ για τα καλά σoυ λόγια!

It's been more than 2 weeks and I can report that all three PSUs are working great and each of them are powering 2 OC'd ants. My PSU was HP server power supply with 850 Watts. No complaints whatsoever and I even sold my expensive Seasonic already.

Nice feedback.

Any pictures of your work?

https://i.imgur.com/a096AFm.jpg

PSU Porn

Hi Miaviator,

I am in my garage now trying to do the non-solder trick with a pci slot cover but the psu is not turning on. Do I just place the piece of metal in the slot where pins 3 & 4 are? The AC light comes on but no fans spin. I have only 1 PCI-E connector in my Ant and the fan does not spin up on the Ant either.

Do you know whats wrong?

thx
ipxtreme

You are doing something wrong.
If the DC led does not show up then means that you have not connected the two pins.

Make sure it is like the picture bellow:


http://s29.postimg.org/7hvwku4yf/dfsdfsdf.jpg

That black is spray silicone?

Potting compound.

Have you welded those plugs?

Yes they are welded together so they make a tighter fit.  You can lift up the PSU by the plugs and they won't come out.  Then we just used non-conductive potting compound to seal them in for eternity.

Nice. How did you weld that, is it copper?

They are aluminum alloy.  We used a Miller Dynasty 200 and Tig welded them.

http://www.elecdirect.com/product/b70233a5-014e-4acb-9ab6-2b16e37f6d9b.aspx

I wonder what you do when you want to remove or tighten the bottom wire?

Waw, just saw that! Nice!



http://www.elecdirect.com/images/productimages/LA2.jpg

I drilled out the outer plug before I welded it.  You just remove the outer plug and the screwdriver goes through to the inner plug.

Very nice, that was smart.

How long have you been working with these?

A few weeks.  I wanted to find a way to not have to spend $25,000 on the power supplies I will need.

I bought 55 of these and saved a lot of money. 

What are you powering ? S1s ?

Just testing on BFL singles right now.  I have ~100Th of day 1 Monarch's and Neptunes on order. 

Waw, any teaser picture?? 

https://i.imgur.com/3f3mCTe.jpg

This is an older pic that I had.  I have 67 BFL 60Gh singles, 1 Jupiter, and 1 Cointerra running.  They don't make near as much as they used to.

For the "power on" mod I pried up pins 3 & 4 and used a mini jumper to connect them together. I looked for the smallest jumpers I could find but even then they were too big so I cut off the plastic shell and used electrical tape. One strip for the bottom and after insertion one for the top.

I carefully bent the two middle "posts" of the jumper together to form a triangle and then inserted it into the slot while temporarily holding up pins 3 & 4 with an exacto knife.
https://i.imgur.com/Mn1ezAy.png

https://i.imgur.com/Wm4JHuY.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/c9wHPAY.jpg

Top strip of electrical tape is most likely unnecessary but I threw it in anyway.

The first PS took a while (and I almost overly bent pin 4 from constant trial and error) but after that the rest were a bit easier.

Soldering the 2 pins from underneath was so easy. I did 6 of those this weekend and I have never solder before in my life.

thanks OP!

No problem, I am so happy that you can do it so easily.

We need pics of your work!

We need more pics.

I will take pics of my solder so you guys can have a chuckle later. Here are 2 Ants in a Roswell case. Plus the server power supply I bought for $11.50 each on ebay.

I have 5 of these cases with 10 Ants total. I also used the copper L-shaped connector from Home Depot. Each wire is 14 awg.

do you see the molex connectors for the case fans? Can I hook that up to the PSU too? Or do I need a lower power level to connect them?

https://i.imgur.com/SmIaPY4.jpg

Waw, nicely done, very clean.

Sure you can connect the fans on the PSU.

But, why have you locked them in the case?

the datacenter they are going into wants them in a case. Others bitcoin miners are in the same datacenter and they all have cases.

I don't think the extra fan wires can handle the power draw. They are like 20 or 22 awg.

If those fans are 12V, then the psu can handle them without an issue.

Is that what you asked?

I would think so but I connected another positive and negative cable to the PSU and wire nut all the fans on it and the wire on one of the molex fan cables started to smoke.

Had you cut the molex plug, or you used some extension?

I need also specs of the fans. Can you please provide?

I keep typing Roswell. I meant Rosewill case. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147164

2x 80mm rear fans, 3x 120mm front fans and 3x 120mm middle fans deliver exceptional thermal performance you can rely on.

I cut a spare molex connector and tied it to my red and black cables from the PSU. Wire nut and taped it. Then I daisy changed all the molex to one another. It was like the 3rd one down the line that was laying on the case that started to smoke. Good thing nothing happened to the Ants or the PSU.

Those fans work perfect when I connect a PC PSU to it with builtin molex connections from the PSU.

The mistake was the daisy chain.

You have to send each wire pair of each fan to the psu.

Dont send a single pair for all fans.

Updated post #141 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=518013.msg6326735#msg6326735) with additional pictures.

Nice, but as everything is so small in there.

Isnt it difficult to do it?

I don't want to be the clever guy but aren't those cables from the psu to the ants a little bit thin?

When I install my server psu-s I use 12 x 1 mm2 cables for + 12 v and the same for ground. I know the half is enough just to be sure....

But as I see you made it only about 1 x 1 mm2 (maybe 1.5 mm2) for + 12 v and the same for the ground and split to 3 lines. If I were you I would check the cable temps and do some calculations what cable diameter is needed for 200W at 12V, it's about 17 amp.

If you split to 3 lines you should use 3 times thicker as you use after the split.

Repeat, I don't want to be the clever guy, just wanted to help....

If somebody is interested I can drop a picture how my server psu look like.

What do you mean 12 x 1 mm2 ? What wire is that?

Yes, please post some pictures.

I post also some pictures as taken from my thermal camera.

It is interesting to see on the 2nd pic , that the cable I made is a little faulty as it becomes hotter.
I need to check the contact and soldering.

Also the rest showing the thermal flow on the pcbs as well one of the fan runs hotter.




http://s8.postimg.org/5hd01fxg5/IR_0006.jpg




http://s30.postimg.org/g6dwkd7e9/IR_0007.jpg




http://s23.postimg.org/nrid159yz/IR_0008.jpg




http://s29.postimg.org/otfo59gg7/IR_0009.jpg

Sorry it it was my fault. 12 pieces x 1 mm2. 6 pieces x 1mm2 for +12V and 6 pieces x 1mm2 for ground.

I'll check it in awg size and drop it with the pictures. (We use mm2 here.)

Just shot 2 pics with my phone. I leave it in big size so you can check what am i talking about.

https://i.imgur.com/NsFnKPc.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/PthG4Wc.jpg

This way the cables won't get hot for sure.

Next time when I make psu-s I'll some pics about how am I solder the wires into the psu-s.

Edit: Checked the awg number, it's about 16 - 17 awg what I use.

Edit2: Every connector and cables are custom made, i don't trust factory made connectors....

Very beautiful and clean job.

But using 6 wires I think is an overkill.
6 wires of 1mm2 (17awg) each makes a total of almost 8mm2 (or 8awg)

The 8mm2 (or 8awg) can handle more than 30amp.

Each blade will not need more than 18amp o'cked.

Although, if you want to keep that safe is not a bad idea.

Thanks!

Sure an overkill but I'd like to go as much secure as I can. I have a few  ;) ants and I don't want to burn them all due to a faulty connection or wire....

Give us pictures of the soldering also!

As soon as I have to make some I'll shot some. I run out of psu-s....

I'll have a look, I think I have a few faulty ones, if the connectors not soldered already I'll solder one or 2 just to show am I do.

No problem. Thanks for the info. The wires are 14 gauge AWG each. I will check today what the temps are running at the wires.

constructive power wiring criticism:

1) 14AWG is sufficient for running 1 wire pair to each blade. Many of my own units are wired like that. (with 16AWG i suggest at least 2 wire pairs)

2) there is no need for the 1->3 splitters on your power wiring. It achieves no benfit against simply running the single line to a single screw terminal, and if anything adds more wire length and other craziness that would increase the overall resistance. if the wire fails it will be along the single line, not down any of the 3 branched lines.

all 3 screw terminal holes are linked together so there is no reason why you cant/shouldnt just run the ssingle 14AWG wire to the center screw and forgo the short branched wires

as for the molex fans, my advice:   grab a matching molex branch (1 male to 3 female) and snip the male end. wire it into one of the antminer's screw terminals to feed it. (keep in mind this will add a 10-30w load to whichever antminer blade you do it from, so keep a close eye on the 14AWG wires to that blade that they dont heat up from having to deliver a little bit more current)

thanks. Thought i needed to power all 3 screw holes. Good to know. I will try it later today.

Just making cables...

https://i.imgur.com/djnEccW.jpg

I made the same throught very very long nights.....

I can feel you pain....  :)

And the finished product.

https://i.imgur.com/ExQZy9s.jpg

Making cables myself...tedious work.

Cables to power 11 Gridseed USB Mini's in dual mode.

IBM power supply watts: 835w max.  80% of full load = 668w. 11 Gridseeds dual mining = 660w (60w x 11). 66 scrypt only mining = 660w (10w x 66).
IBM power supply amps: 69.0A max. 80% of full load = 55.2A. 11 Gridseeds dual mining = 55A (5A x 11). 66 scrypt only mining = 43.56A (0.66A x 66).

Check my math but I think that's safe. Don't think I could fit much more than 11 16awg cables into the Offset Terminal Lug so it worked out. Have 1 to 6 splitters for scrypt.

https://i.imgur.com/16cv9Mj.jpg

Little...but not owning a solder gun or even having used one in over 15 years I had to get creative  8)

I would not suggest using one terminal hole only.
The reason for having three terminals is for splitting the high current, dont forget is around 18 amp.
A single terminal cannot handle 18 amp. It will melt.

That way you can split the current from 18 amp to 3x6amp to each screw.

Waw, how long did it take to make all these?

Bythe way, very nicely done.

Have you ever measured temps on the cables?

How would I go about doing that? Have an IR temp gun but it only registers a 1 degree fahrenheit increase from ambient on the positive wires running scrypt. (est. 10 watts per miner. 106 watts at the wall using a kill-a-watt. Think the PS by itself pulled 15 watts or something)

In the picture below I have 10 miners on the IBM PS and 10 on the old PS's provided with the miners. The cables provided with the miners are 22-24 gauge :o (my gauge measure only goes to 18).

https://i.imgur.com/c6AOwZX.jpg

They are coming together!

https://i.imgur.com/VndCU0L.jpg

Nice, can you give a bigger picture, please?

A better look at the lugs.

https://i.imgur.com/VkuvL7u.jpg

Although this is easier and faster than epoxy.

https://i.imgur.com/5aTXVKS.jpg

I have so much work to do....

https://i.imgur.com/PfvbFmv.jpg

This is real power porn.

can you give specs abou those psu's?

Are those old pictures , or you're building now?

nice job! questions though (after a mediocre and slow job of soldering my own similar work)

-how do you link your (4AWG?) cable to all the (16awg?) smaller lines? Is it a crimped connector or are they somehow soldered?
-how do you tighten your lugs? In the photos it seems like only one would have an accessible screw.
--it looks like you screwed the lug to the PSU connector?

finally - what sort of airflow do these need from the 120mm fans you use?  I connected some low-speed 60mm fans to mine but past 1300w it overheats and switches off

They are all DPS2000BB's.  This pic was taken today.  I am waiting for more lugs to finish the rest.  I have 55 total PSU's.

1) I had the 16awg soldered professionally to the 4 Gauge welding cable.  It was too much work for me to do.

2) I drilled out the outer lug so if I remove the outer screw I can access the inner screw.

3) I am testing using a nut and bolt with copper washers instead of using epoxy since it is messy and time consuming.  Once you TIG weld the two lugs together and wedge them into the PSU they are so tight you can pick it up by the lugs and they don't come loose. 

4) The fans I use are ~.86 amps  @ 12V.

Hi tzortz
Hope all is well for you man.
Listen, can we come up with an idea to put a on/off switch for these PSUs?
Maybe something like toggle switch.
What is your thought on this?

Hello there Goldar,

sure can be switched on and off with a mini switch.

Let me build one and revise the thread.

Keep following the thread.

Can you show the soldering? Is that possible?

What unit did you use?

It needs massive heat for sure.

I need one that does not make much noise, preferably 1000W+. Some suggestion fellows?

Maybe I can even add extra silent coolers on it.

the dps-800 units are good if you run them on 200V+ and at under 800W load.

For the more "Casual" miner here's all the references I used to get my DPS-2000 setup.  I've had 6 Antminer S1 running off a single supply for over a month now.  All of them OC'd with the 393MHz setting.

https://litecointalk.org/index.php?topic=5854.0

http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en?WT.z_header=search_go&lang=en&site=us&keywords=609-4020-ND%09&x=-1708&y=-51&formaction=on

http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=102&cp_id=10245&cs_id=1024503&p_id=2883&seq=1&format=2

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HAB822/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

http://i59.tinypic.com/3328cnn.jpg

http://i61.tinypic.com/2lvz4h5.jpg

@Abraxas601 if I use this psu on 110v, it'll work(undervolted)?

Nope, this supply requires a 200-240v input and will not work with 110v.

Getting this psu this wednesday:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-BLp-Bladeserver-ESP120-2950W-Netzteil-253232-001-226519-001-239161-B21-PSU-/310903465629?pt=PC_Netzteile&hash=item48634a669d&_uhb=1 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-BLp-Bladeserver-ESP120-2950W-Netzteil-253232-001-226519-001-239161-B21-PSU-/310903465629?pt=PC_Netzteile&hash=item48634a669d&_uhb=1)
3kW
Should be enough to power 7 S1's :)

How are you cooling the psus with those side fans?  I cannot clearly see any hole?

No!

That psu is out for 51V and not 12V the S1s needs.

How did you come up with that?

Here's a photo showing the perforated sides on the supply,

http://static.rcgroups.net/forums/attachments/3/1/3/5/4/3/a5258752-189-ibm%202.jpg

Nice.

THere is no internal stock fan?
Or you use the extra ones for safety?

Aw shit :(
I fcked up.
I must've read over the obvious line stating it is 50V output...damn..
Maybe I can convert it to 12V with a DC/DC Converter?

It has no fans so you need to add them or the supplies thermal protection will kick in and shutdown.

not easily or efficiently.

I almost snagged a similar 2500W supply at a recycling place then at the last second saw that 99% of its power came as 48V and the rest was like 0.5A of 5V and 0.02A of 12V

Right, there is not just the wattage that we should be looking for , but only the combination of the 12v supply with its amperage.

We dont need anything else than 12v.

Klondike, I wonder if you put 4x S1s connected in a row, would they work with 48V?


I believe they would.

Nice guide! I guess when tampering PSUs theres a danger of you messing up with the wirings and getting shot to hands with electricity when plugging it in?

Thanks for your kind words.

What kind of tampering? Except from the pins I mention in the guide?

What do you mean in a row?
In series?

That could work.
In series, the voltage divides, but the amperage stays the same.
In parallel, the amperage divides, but the voltage stays the same.

Maybe there's still hope for that esp120?

Yes , exactly in series instead of parallel as in other cases.

But, isn't that only 2 Ants?
Doesn't each blade use 12v?


https://i.imgur.com/DcJmuPJ.jpg


OR

Maybe I could fix a voltage divider.

Vout = R2/R1+R2 * Vin

The psu should be giving off ~52V.
We want 12V. So we want a 100Ohm and a 30Ohm resistor.

Vin = 52
R1 = 100
R2 = 30

This should give 12volt on as out.

So I did a little research and putting them in series is actually a horrible idea lol
Because if one fails, the others get more juice and will die.
If you put them in series, they must all have the equal amount of impedance and they do not have this. So they will die anyway.
Ah well, looks like I wasted my money.

figured. The machines are too complex to run in a series anyways for multiple issues. Its a complex device, not just an LED or basic circuit. Additionally the first unit would experience massive amperage through its wires and likelyt burn out

Never run like this.

Every electric machine, like S1 is counted as a load witn resistance R.

To be more detailed, the R of S1 is variable and changes from 4 ohm, down to 0.3 ohm at full hashing overclocked.

Now the problem starts when an S1 starts hashing at different timing than others .

That would lead to different overall R, and create also different voltages to each S1.
Different voltages would mean to even higher than 20 or 30 Volts.

I dont believe an S1 can stand that high voltages.

It would be great.
It comes handy sometimes if you need to reset the miners instead of unplug/plug the power cord.
Please let us know.
Thank you.

https://i.imgur.com/jh3b2Dg.jpg

Can anyone tell me why there are so many wires coming off the positive and ground? I was expecting to see 4 on each for 4 pcie connections. What am I missing?

4 PCIe connectors = 12x GND wires and 12x 12V wires

Are the Server Psu's the best way to power the S1's?  Im thinking about ordering 13 more because they're so cheap now.

Could you post a link where are you getting them in quantities?
10x

They work great. run 2 s1 no problem.
Using 10 for 3 weeks straight only 1 failed couple days ago (my fault).
Cannot complain - 10 bucks each, cannot beat the price.

Try that big on-line auction house.
Lots of them listed.
Cannot find one, PM me I send you the link.

Dude where are you getting them from?
A link would be grat
10x

Very interesting thread.  I'm really considering moving over to server psu, but scared as hell of tampering with the internals.  I guess I'll order one and go to work on it and see.  I would love to sell some Corsairs.  These are a hell of a lot cheaper. 

I'm looking at the HP 1000W to power 2 over clocked S1s.  Has anyone used this particular psu?  How simple was it to make the conversation? 

Thanks in advance.

http://www.112bit.com/

Millions on eBay

http://www.ebay.com/itm/artesyn-IBM-7001138-y000-Power-Supply-for-IBM-3650-Tested-Good-/200967281419?pt=US_Server_Power_Supplies&hash=item2eca955b0b (http://www.ebay.com/itm/artesyn-IBM-7001138-y000-Power-Supply-for-IBM-3650-Tested-Good-/200967281419?pt=US_Server_Power_Supplies&hash=item2eca955b0b)

It is the same as of the guide.

If you want more links let me know.

Each can power 2x S1 over clocked OR 4x S1 under clocked.

Awesome. that was the only thing really holding me back.  I thought I was going to have to spend aprox. $1000 on PSU to power them all.

The only disadvantage is that they are a little louder than the pc psus.

Made a few more. The local store had 6pin plugs for sale. So I went out and bought them, as it turned out they're twice the size of the pcie plugs I'm used to.
So I had to improvise.

https://i.imgur.com/fNy5ywP.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/RyqywGU.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/yK4fh93.jpg

All is working well tho :)

thx for the guide op love these
yes one supply can run 2 oc s1's
however for noise sake and equipment life
i run one per s1 at 16.00 bucks apiece shipped works well

heres some pics

two s1's hooked up to one supply mines great but very loud

http://xlr8d.net/s1/s101.jpg

the single supply per s1 pretty quiet

http://xlr8d.net/s1/s103.jpg

http://xlr8d.net/s1/s104.jpg

http://xlr8d.net/s1/s105.jpg

http://xlr8d.net/s1/s102.jpg

14g 12/2 romex style wire with center ground wire pulled out for pliability
the short wire runs = no/low heat

Nicely done.

I have heard that many use only one per S1 because of noise issue.

what lugs have you been using?

thx buddy
same lugs in the link for home depot ones
i just turned um over and rotated the pinch collar
so the angle part cant bump psu case

Burndy klu35bag2r
#14 - #6 Str
Offset Terminal Lug

Hi, im from spain and i have right now 1 S1 but i want more.

Read your tutorial, but... bad news for me:

Shipping:
$40.61 International Priority Shipping to Spain

im from spain.... so its very expensive :( dont know if maybe i can find that PSU in ebay europe, i will check it

edit: look, here they cost more:

http://www.ebay.es/itm/IBM-Sistema-x3655-x3650-Fuente-Alimentacion-24R2731-/151109169767?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_186&hash=item232ecef267

arggg :(

2 tzortz,
is it PSU still alive?)

What do you mean?

psu was in use,
so condition is good?

Excellent condition, still working like a charm.   :)

Any advice what can i do to reduce the noise level of psu? Can i disable it or i will dmg the psu?

needs fan, use 1 supply per s1 was my solution

Perfect guide tzortz! Brilliant idea!
Thanks..

Thanks cynix for your nice words!

 ;)