I must first caveat the below review with the fact that I have had this device unopened and unused for a year. I received it in late June of 2017 from klintay at Eyeboot, but due to some unforeseen circumstances I was unable to provide a review until today.
Now, on with the review. I was generously provided with a new Eyeboot Mini 2-Port USB 2.0 Hub by klintay in order to test its USB miner capabilities.
I tested the DC 5V 3A hub with a FutureBit Moonlander 2 (ML2) using an Eversame USB Safety Tester.
BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front):
Pros:
- Easy to setup
- High interoperability (works with any USB port off of RPi, PC, etc.)
- Provides 15W of power (I did not test beyond 7.5W due to Vdroop)
Cons:
- Voltage starts a bit low (4.78V at idle)
- Vdroop increases significantly as power draw increases (I observed a drop from 4.78V to 4.20V)
- Only enough space on the USB hub for one USB miner (ML2 or 2PAC)
ML2 at idle: 4.78V 0.18A
ML2 at 600 MHz: 4.45V 1.22A
ML2 at 700 MHz: 4.36V 1.43A
ML2 at 832 MHz: 4.20V 1.82A
Conclusion:
The constructions of this device feels excellent. I certainly like the concept of this device, but I do worry about the significant Vdroop issue. I tested the USB hub with another 5V 3A power brick having the same barrel connector size and polarity and I observed a similar Vdroop across each tested frequency. This observation is interesting because the USB hub the second power brick belongs to droops to 4.60V. Overall, I like this device and I will continue to use it for lottery mining, but I would like to see the Vdroop issue resolved in order to better provide consistent power at loads higher than 5W.
Product URLs:
https://www.eyeboot.com/eyeboot-2-port-usb-hub.htmlhttps://shop.futurebit.io/products/moonlander-2-usb-stick-asic-miner-for-scrypt-algorithm-cryptocurrencieshttps://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01D9Y6ZFW
