Avalon Nano - Stick Mining Fun!

[notlist3d]

Avalon Nano

0) General information + Hardware Needed
1) The Miner
2) Install
3) Running
4) Conclusion
5) How to purchase

0) General Information + Hardware Needed to buy
The Avalon Nano is a more recent addition to the line of stick miners.   It is advertised as "Avalon Nano is a USB miner containing one A3233 core. With its cute appearance and easy-to-use GUI, Avalon Nano will be your friendly guide to the world of BTC"  And it brags of "The hashrate of Avalon Nano can adjust automatically between 1.0 and 3.6 GHS according to the changes of temperature."  With stick miners there are a lot of options to run it.  Below is some item's you might need:

• Computer or Raspberry Pi to run the stick miner
• Depending on how many possibly a powered usb hub

1) The Miner
The Nano comes in a small box that does a decent job of protecting it.  You will be welcomed with a brightly colored Nano once you open the box.

For Slideshow and higher resolution: http://s100.photobucket.com/user/notlist3d/slideshow/Avalon%20Nano?sort=3

2) Install
They brag of a Gui, which it has.  But it does take a few steps to set up the Gui Settings.  First download the software and drivers/Quick Start from EHash: http://downloads.canaan-creative.com/software/avalon_nano/doc/tutorial/Avalon%20nano%20QuickStart.7z

It comes with a video that gives you a idea of how to install the software, but video is in Chinese.

• Below is the files within the compressed file.

• Within the lpcopen is the usb driver you will need for the Nano.  Once you plug it in with windows direct it to where this file is extracted
• The folder with AvalonMiner contains the actual GUI and backend of bfgminer extract it to a folder to set up the settings
• Within the folder with with Chinese lettering is the .ini file you will want to configure and replace the .ini file in the folder with the miner program.  You will need to find the com port for the Nano is using and change it within the ini file.

• After doing this you will be ready to run your miner gui from the folder and it is marked as AvalonMiner.

3) Running

• Below is the GUI showing the miner running:

4) Conclusion
The Avalon Nano is a newer addition to the stick miner family of miners.  It exceeds it's advertised speed of 3.6 GHs with a speed normally upwards of 4.3 GHs.  I used the GUI as I wanted to test out the GUI.  There are far more efficient way's to run it such as a Raspberry Pi and a powered USB hub.  With this miner chances are it will not be your pick for your next ROI miner.  But I would say is more in the market for someone who want's to learn how about bitcoin mining and doing it for knowledge or experience of mining with spending a smaller amount.  It is a low powered miner, and put's out little heat that the colorful heatsink does a good job containing.


5) How to purchase
You can go directly to the EHash website: https://ehash.com/

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[notlist3d]

Reserved for questions

• How do you run more then one Avalon Nano? - Please look at Ecnad's command's he used for BFGMiner - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1022764.msg11204285#msg11204285 (Only worked with BFGMiner included in GUI package)

• I cannot get config to work what should i do? - Please look at Ecnad's command's he has provided us his configuration file - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1022764.msg11351267#msg11351267

[adaseb]

Didn't think there was a market anymore for USB miners.

Isn't GekkoScience trying to launch a similar product?

[TheRealSteve]

Didn't think there was a market anymore for USB miners.

Blasphemy!

Isn't GekkoScience trying to launch a similar product?

Yep - though as a natural stepping stone (they have to do tests with a single chip anyway) for a larger miner:
GekkoScience BM1384 Project Development Discussion

[notlist3d]

Didn't think there was a market anymore for USB miners.

Isn't GekkoScience trying to launch a similar product?

The usb stick miner field still has some, but since cost of all the parts for 1 chip normally it's not most practical.  It is however a good tool for someone to play with mining without spending a ton of money.

I think GekkoScience's product will be a bigger miner with a higher hash rate miner compared to a single stick.  I do look forward to seeing what they come up with though.

[Hakkane]

Thanks for the review, notlist3d. It looks very cute! Does it have LED lights when it's hashing?

[notlist3d]

Thanks for the review, notlist3d. It looks very cute! Does it have LED lights when it's hashing?


PD: a small typo, just in case you want to correct it. The first line of the post says "Avalon 4.1" instead of Avalon Nano ;-)

Thanks it has now been corrected.  Been mostly playing with the 4.1 today the nano I played with yesterday and just did not get time to type up my results.

And your very welcome! I enjoy doing them.  It does have a nice LED that brings back memories of the Asic Miner stick miners from long ago

[TheRealSteve]

Thanks for the review, notlist3d. It looks very cute! Does it have LED lights when it's hashing?

There's even some fancy code that modifies the LED color (it's a small RGB package) based on temperature (well, hash rate, but that's modified according to temperature)
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Avalon_nano#LED

[Subw]

what efficiency does it perform?

and about weight, quote: "The products including: Avalon3 Nano * 1，weight:0.5KG" - did someone missed one zero ?

[notlist3d]

what efficiency does it perform?

and about weight, quote: "The products including: Avalon3 Nano * 1，weight:0.5KG" - did someone missed one zero ?

On efficiency it is a single "A3233".  You can read more about them here- https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Avalon3#A3233

On weight it is from the EHash site.  You are correct the Nano weights nothing close to it.  I left it as I don't know if that is the shipping weight they use with a little packing. 

[Meech]

Nice!  It's running on Antpool, thought I noticed an increase in hash rate.  Are there any cool leds?  I'm quite fond of the Block erupters.

[notlist3d]

Nice!  It's running on Antpool, thought I noticed an increase in hash rate.  Are there any cool leds?  I'm quite fond of the Block erupters.

There is one led running TheRealSteve found this telling it's states: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Avalon_nano#LED

I tested it for 5 hours or so on the PC, and it brought me back to the block erupter day's was fun.  It is a very nice gui making it easy to mine.  Also very stable never had one crash or issue. For it to be efficient I really need to get another Raspberry Pi to run it.

[Ecnad]

Curious to know how they work with each other? Will the program recognize more than one stick at a time? Will they run on CG or BGminer stock versions?

[notlist3d]

Curious to know how they work with each other? Will the program recognize more than one stick at a time? Will they run on CG or BGminer stock versions?

it is BFGminer working in background of this gui.  I don't have a second one to test multiple, but with the config file it should be as easy as adding the second com port on second usb.   If you take triggers etc yes you could run BFGminer, the Gui was meant to make it easier.

On  a side note there is a second Gui i found on their site that looks even nicer.  But was in Chinese, I could not see if it had a English version.

[notlist3d]

Still have been playing with it some.  Even with summer heat my room fan seems to do a good job of keeping it cool.  It does get a little hot after hours, but nothing that becomes an issue.

[dogie]

That reminds me, I have a few of these in green, black, gold, purple/lilac. If anyone wants, I can do a photoshoot for some additional pretty pictures?

[notlist3d]

That reminds me, I have a few of these in green, black, gold, purple/lilac. If anyone wants, I can do a photoshoot for some additional pretty pictures?

That would be great if you don't mind.  I would love to have some great pics of more colors in the thread if you have time to do it.

[dogie]

That reminds me, I have a few of these in green, black, gold, purple/lilac. If anyone wants, I can do a photoshoot for some additional pretty pictures?

That would be great if you don't mind.  I would love to have some great pics of more colors in the thread if you have time to do it.

Will add it to the to do list.

[notlist3d]

That reminds me, I have a few of these in green, black, gold, purple/lilac. If anyone wants, I can do a photoshoot for some additional pretty pictures?

That would be great if you don't mind.  I would love to have some great pics of more colors in the thread if you have time to do it.

Will add it to the to do list.

Thanks!  I appreciate it.  Will be a nice addition.

[Ecnad]

Got two of these for $20 each on ebay today (shipped) to play with