The combined sidehack-novak usb stick review thread. AKA GekkoScience BM1384

[sidehack]

Ooh, I might have to fetch a couple of those. The one I built a bit ago isn't working quite right.

[philipma1957]

I ordered this


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J3JSEG6?


this will allow for on the fly adjustments.

would be interesting to see how low it will work at freq 175

[TheRealSteve]

I missed the quick responses - making some delicious brownies.
I got this type for when I needed to probe at other things with the multimeter and didn't want to alligator-clip an older one to the same device: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NHHP06C/
There's even ones that use a matrix display so it'll do some rudimentary graphing (google 'yzxstudio').  Bit overkill, price is higher, etc.  If I did want to splurge, I'd throw some money at this one and get accessible test points and full data logging: http://friedcircuits.us/tools/46
Though for instantaneous measurements, they're all fine, tbh.  It's just so much easier not to have to really hook up anything, just a pass-through USB device.

[alh]

I can add my "Thumbs Up" for the BestScope device. While I don't know if the device is really accurate to .01 Amp as the display would suggest, it's certainly good enough to tell you roughly what's happening. I would think it would work fine for comparison type adjustments, rather than absolutely accurate readings.

I used it to try and figure out why my Nook HD+ tablet was finicky about what it's charging cable was plugged into. For me it demonstrated clearly that if the two data lines were NOT connected, the Nook would charge at whatever rate the charger could supply. I could clearly see distinct current differences to make this clear.

[philipma1957]

I can add my "Thumbs Up" for the BestScope device. While I don't know if the device is really accurate to .01 Amp as the display would suggest, it's certainly good enough to tell you roughly what's happening. I would think it would work fine for comparison type adjustments, rather than absolutely accurate readings.

I used it to try and figure out why my Nook HD+ tablet was finicky about what it's charging cable was plugged into. For me it demonstrated clearly that if the two data lines were NOT connected, the Nook would charge at whatever rate the charger could supply. I could clearly see distinct current differences to make this clear.

yeah and with hand built sticks like these are they will vary a bit in efficiency .

 I am impressed enough to see 3.1 watts get me 9.5 gh.

Yeah I know the hub and the fan use power but 8.8- 5.7  = 3.1 watts

The other system was close to that.   7.7 -  4.4 = 3.3 watts

The variance is hub quality the 19 port stud hub + fan has a 5.7 watt base draw  but putting the stick on it only did 3.1 watts


the shit hub had a  4.4 base watt draw bt the stick drew 3.3 watts

I get this issue is the stud hub can supply  15 sticks 60 watts no worries

The low cost 10 port hub can supply 5 sticks 20 watts maybe.

So  my low draw of 1 stick needs the usb meter  for more accurate tests.

I would not mind  having a small setup mining a few sticks maybe 1 board and running the node.

right now my setup is 36 watts. add 3 sticks at 9 watts and my 45 watt setup does a node and 36gh.

maybe toss in a board and run that.

I used this pc to mine about 13 gridseed blades so it can do  a lot of sticks or boards.

[CrazyGuy]

Just started playing with with my test unit today.  It's running great off of my MINIX Intel Atom based Ubuntu machine. I've had some issues getting it to run on an Rpi, but I haven't given up there yet. I'll also be testing on a cubieboard. Here's some pics:






 

[philipma1957]

Just started playing with with my test unit today.  It's running great off of my MINIX Intel Atom based Ubuntu machine. I've had some issues getting it to run on an Rpi, but I haven't given up there yet. I'll also be testing on a cubieboard. Here's some pics:






 

Nice Would you consider getting this item from amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J3JSEG6?

same meter I ordered.  

 helps to see variations in power use for the sticks.  If we all measure with the same meter. While not ideal still helps to see  if the sticks get 0.30 to 0.33 watts per gh.

your stick seems to be doing a little better then mine.  I settled in at  7.70-7.79 gh at freq 150   but  I ran at  btcguild and mmpool.  I am also running a node which may or may not slow the stick's result a bit.



as a complete aside

How much juice does your cubie pull?

And do you think a cubie could run a node and mine a few sticks?

Trying to create a package setup.   

2-5 sticks a hub and a rasp pi.

2-5 sticks a hub and a cubie

2-5 sticks a hub and a usb stick with cgminer+ zadig to plug into a windows 7,8,10  pc

[dogie]

I don't think you guys are going to get an accurate GH/W using killawatt or similar at the wall meters for such a small load. There are just too many other sources of error other than the USB stick that the readings won't mean much. Now if you were measuring 10x sticks on a hub for example, then you'd get closer to a true reading.

[CrazyGuy]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J3JSEG6?

That's pretty cool, I just ordered one. Cubie draws around 2-3 watts I believe. You can run a full node off of an rpi or cubie as long as you allocate enough swap space, but it will run dog slow. I think you would need at least 2gb of RAM to run a full node smoothly but I don't believe there aren't any SOC boards with that much RAM yet. On Windows, ZADIG is a bit of a hassle, especially if you already have other drivers associated with the device. I plan to make a WinUSB driver package to simplify things.

[philipma1957]

I don't think you guys are going to get an accurate GH/W using killawatt or similar at the wall meters for such a small load. There are just too many other sources of error other than the USB stick that the readings won't mean much. Now if you were measuring 10x sticks on a hub for example, then you'd get closer to a true reading.

the amazon meter is a 1 stick usb meter should be sensitive enough.


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J3JSEG6?


I suspect my kwatt meter could be off on my pull the usb stick out of the hub test.

[sidehack]

I just placed an order for a couple of those meters as well. Definitely will come in handy.

[novak@gekkoscience]

That's pretty cool, I just ordered one. Cubie draws around 2-3 watts I believe. You can run a full node off of an rpi or cubie as long as you allocate enough swap space, but it will run dog slow. I think you would need at least 2gb of RAM to run a full node smoothly but I don't believe there aren't any SOC boards with that much RAM yet.

There are SoC boards with 2GB RAM, including the cubietruck (cubieboard 3).  It is not often terribly cheap to get a 2+GB RAM board, however.  I would vote against using much swap space on an SD card, it is slow at best.

I haven't personally played with it too much but I think it's likely that the required memory could be reduced, there are some flags for bitcoind which ought to help.  If 1GB is enough then a banana pi or raspberry pi 2 would work (both pretty cheap).  I have some experience putting together low-memory linux environments so it's possible we could get something to work.

Something to consider if you want to run a full node is how much hard disk space you'd need.  You might wish you had a spinning drive- which would make swap easy (and probably less slow).  However, you obviously add cost- and power.

--
novak

[philipma1957]

I had a lot of parts from gpu mining. so I put the current pc together for 0 cost.

I was interested in  running a lower power unit but this is 25 watts running just the node.

Then the sticks get added to it   and the pc end for the sticks is free so to speak.

Since the pc is already in use 24/7/365.

I know rasp pi and cubie are lower power and cheaper to buy. Since  the sticks need some type of controller/pc I am trying to figure what is best for the average user of them.

Not everyone has  1 or 2 pc's for mining only. So I was  tossing out some ways to combine  things on a lower cost controller like  the pi or the cubie.

once you add a 128gb sdcard or even a 256 gb sdcard the little guys are not that cheap.



BTW

Still running at the 9.5-9.8 gh nice easy stable.

Once I get the meter on monday I will try turning the pot ⅛ and setting the freq to 200

the 19 port stud hub puts out .9 amps a stick (4.5 amps)  and I  have bridges which will allow for 1.8 amps which is 9 watts.

I do not think I will try pulling 9 watts.  


 I may use the bridge and try 5 watts and 15gh,  but that is about a week into the future.

[cavaliersrus]

you guys that are testing might also want to check out what a electronics you tuber i watch called mjlorton uses to test usb power

link to a video using the device
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYQz88ZclRA

link to the item
http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-3-0-Power-Monitor-YZXstudio-Voltage-Current-Meter-OLED-Charger-Doctor-/171657443908

seems like its a fast update

not sure though figured i would leave it to you professionals here

[TheRealSteve]

I think you would need at least 2gb of RAM to run a full node smoothly

Unfortunately, yes.  1.5 will do it, too, but not for much longer.  On the up side, they're working hard on lowering the requirements of a full node in both storage, ram and bandwidth.  Putting one together yourself is at least still the cheaper option - the pre-made full node boxes are relatively expensive ($160+)

link to the item
http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-3-0-Power-Monitor-YZXstudio-Voltage-Current-Meter-OLED-Charger-Doctor-/171657443908

Yeah, that's the type I mentioned in the dev thread.  One thing to note is that it's still under active development, and reflashing it with updated firmware is a bit annoying.  I'm waiting for that to settle down before replacing mine

[philipma1957]

you guys that are testing might also want to check out what a electronics you tuber i watch called mjlorton uses to test usb power

link to a video using the device
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYQz88ZclRA

link to the item
http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-3-0-Power-Monitor-YZXstudio-Voltage-Current-Meter-OLED-Charger-Doctor-/171657443908

seems like its a fast update

not sure though figured i would leave it to you professionals here

looks nice but at 32 usd costs more then this one:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J3JSEG6?
my 19 port hub is a usb2 device


full size links
http://imageshack.com/a/img537/9928/aTvwMW.jpg
http://imageshack.com/a/img661/2609/XM5wVL.jpg
http://imageshack.com/a/img633/3659/9oHXzU.jpg


here are the 2x 19 port hubs I have and the bridge devices >  I am hoping the $9.75 meter model I got  gives me  +-  5%
once I try a more solid overclock  on freq 200 and higher  checking the  power  becomes more important.

 no stick 5.7 watts


 one stick  at freq 175 = 8.8 watts



second 19 port hub and  bridge devices

[cavaliersrus]

very neat i was not aware you could bridge usb ports to get more power out of them... where do you get those hubs ?

[hurricandave]

That's pretty cool, I just ordered one. Cubie draws around 2-3 watts I believe. You can run a full node off of an rpi or cubie as long as you allocate enough swap space, but it will run dog slow. I think you would need at least 2gb of RAM to run a full node smoothly but I don't believe there aren't any SOC boards with that much RAM yet.

There are SoC boards with 2GB RAM, including the cubietruck (cubieboard 3).  It is not often terribly cheap to get a 2+GB RAM board, however.  I would vote against using much swap space on an SD card, it is slow at best.

I haven't personally played with it too much but I think it's likely that the required memory could be reduced, there are some flags for bitcoind which ought to help.  If 1GB is enough then a banana pi or raspberry pi 2 would work (both pretty cheap).  I have some experience putting together low-memory linux environments so it's possible we could get something to work.

Something to consider if you want to run a full node is how much hard disk space you'd need.  You might wish you had a spinning drive- which would make swap easy (and probably less slow).  However, you obviously add cost- and power.

--
novak

https://learn.adafruit.com/external-drive-as-raspberry-pi-root?view=all

This might help get the Pi running on a hard drive.

[philipma1957]

very neat i was not aware you could bridge usb ports to get more power out of them... where do you get those hubs ?

I think klintay sells them here, let me find a link or two.


https://www.facebook.com/eyeboot


https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=528371.0


here is direct link but may be sold out

http://www.eyeboot.com/19-port-dipo-electronic-USB-Hub


you can ask klintay here is  his profile

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=122882

[aarons6]

That's pretty cool, I just ordered one. Cubie draws around 2-3 watts I believe. You can run a full node off of an rpi or cubie as long as you allocate enough swap space, but it will run dog slow. I think you would need at least 2gb of RAM to run a full node smoothly but I don't believe there aren't any SOC boards with that much RAM yet.

There are SoC boards with 2GB RAM, including the cubietruck (cubieboard 3).  It is not often terribly cheap to get a 2+GB RAM board, however.  I would vote against using much swap space on an SD card, it is slow at best.

I haven't personally played with it too much but I think it's likely that the required memory could be reduced, there are some flags for bitcoind which ought to help.  If 1GB is enough then a banana pi or raspberry pi 2 would work (both pretty cheap).  I have some experience putting together low-memory linux environments so it's possible we could get something to work.

Something to consider if you want to run a full node is how much hard disk space you'd need.  You might wish you had a spinning drive- which would make swap easy (and probably less slow).  However, you obviously add cost- and power.

--
novak

https://learn.adafruit.com/external-drive-as-raspberry-pi-root?view=all

This might help get the Pi running on a hard drive.

i would imagine running a hard drive off usb would be slower then running off a uhs class usb flash drive..
like this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226378
plus the drive with all those adapters would use more power.