GekkoScience Compac BM1384 Stickminer Official Support Thread

[sidehack]

300MHz for me usually requires about 7W to run stable, which means 5V 1.4A in. 225MHz or so should be able to run on 0.9A but you'd have to have a pretty lean chip to get much higher. Every stick is tested for stability at 200MHz before shipping out, and pulls about 850mA at test voltage and that frequency.

[Percivul]

300MHz for me usually requires about 7W to run stable, which means 5V 1.4A in. 225MHz or so should be able to run on 0.9A but you'd have to have a pretty lean chip to get much higher. Every stick is tested for stability at 200MHz before shipping out, and pulls about 850mA at test voltage and that frequency.

Ok, so then just so I'm clear.  Is it in any danger if it's pulling slightly higher amps at around 5V?  Perhaps a better way to ask would be what should be the limit to the amps (the point you don't go past, basically).

I think the hub itself is pretty stable as it's just a tad warm and that's with 3 Gekko's running right next to each other.  It hasn't reset or dropped and my combined hash rate is hovering around 56-60 (which is much better than I anticipated) with only 1 HW error in the last 2 hours (well within tolerance).

I just don't want to burn the chips out so I'm not looking to go for absolute fastest here.  What would you recommend a good setting or frequency to shoot for?

[sidehack]

300MHz across three sticks should see 50GH. Ideally the heatsinks won't be too hot to touch. The real key to how fast you can push them is how cool you can keep them. There are people here who had sticks running at 400MHz for months, pulling up to 12W, because they had good cooling. The stick itself can probably handle more juice than your hub can - provided you keep it cool.

[Percivul]

300MHz across three sticks should see 50GH. Ideally the heatsinks won't be too hot to touch. The real key to how fast you can push them is how cool you can keep them. There are people here who had sticks running at 400MHz for months, pulling up to 12W, because they had good cooling. The stick itself can probably handle more juice than your hub can - provided you keep it cool.

Good enough.  I'm going to keep them around 300 as I want to add a few more before it's done.

Separate topic, did you catch my asking you last week about possibly compiling a version of cgminer that has both the gekko drivers but also supports #xnsub?  I don't know how to compile or I'd just do it and post it myself.  I was reading that they've compiled (latest versions) xnsub into the mix which helps with a few different pools.  Any chance you or maybe someone else who knows how to compile could pull this off?

Thanks.

[sidehack]

I don't know anything about xnsub, but I do know there's some very simple and straightforward build instructions for cgminer posted a couple times in this thread as well as in the README files bundled with cgminer source.

[Mikestang]

I've been running one stick at 350 mhz solid for months with just a simple usb fan on it to keep it cool, it's the stick I run in the gekkorun.de fun run.  It's super solid, HW errors are basically non-existent.  I think the hub you use has as much to do with these things running solid as anything else.

My other sticks run at 262 mhz, only because that is the most I could get out of them on the hub I have available to those three.

[ShiftyTripster]

Just wanted to say thanks great little USB miner you have. I am actually using it for solo mining an ALT coin but it's working great. Now that it is stable without any HW errors I'm going to work on overclocking a bit. I'm just at 137 atm. But nice little miner!! Great way to get introduced to mining.

[Shiroslullaby]

  I think the hub you use has as much to do with these things running solid as anything else.

Yeah I'm pretty sure that most USB hubs use cheap parts and your stick is going to be getting way less power than it should be,
which is what causes most peoples hardware errors.
Definitely have to measure your actual power output unless you get a hub that is known to be good and already tested by other members.

[suprsi]

Hi Sidehack,

First post on the forum, hey everyone!

I bought one of the Gekkoscience sticks from bitshopper.de via amazon (I'm in UK).. It's been great fun, I love tinkering and overclocking so this is my cup of tea! . I ran it for a while just at 150mhz on usb 2.0, then modded a usb extention cable so i had 22awg silicone wire connected directly to the grnd and 12v and supplied by an adjustable power supply set to 5.1V. Ramping it up a bit at a time I ended up with 366mhz on 0.75V with a strong fan blowing on it (1.92A at usb). Awesome! I was going to drill and tap an old cpu heatsink to run it more quietly at that speed but it's stopped working after plugging it into a mates laptop (with voltage set back down and 150mhz).

It's not being recognised any more, vcore is 5-7mV. I *think* it's the CP2102 usb chip, pin 6 should have 3.3v on it and it's outputting the same as the input voltage so I guess the internal regulator is fooked. Nothing looks burnt so do you think the BM1384 would have survived? Is it saveable? I've only had it a few days 

I'm waiting for an email back from bitshopper, hopefully they'll have a look at it for me.. If not, could I send it to you? I'd be happy to reimburse your for your time as it's not one of yours.

Thanks!

[sidehack]

Vcore and the CP2102 never interact, so I'd question why both were reading off. The 3.3V from CP2102 only interacts with the ASIC indirectly; the closest it gets is through a resistor divider or a pullup resistor on an open-collector output. Should be fine. But that doesn't explain why the Vcore is bottomed out.

Let's see what Bitshopper has to say, and if he can't fix you up let me know.

[suprsi]

Hmm, so that could be ok, and the 51219 step down chip could be bad? It's a bit beyond me at this stage anyway 

Thanks a lot, I'll let you know how I get on

Edit: Had a reply from Ernst at bitshopper, they're going to replace it for me. (Danke Schoen Ernst!)

Cool, can't wait to get going again 

[gt_addict]

Anyone thought about doing a mini watercooling set up for the gekkos? I wondered if you could make one that runs off USB power?

[notlist3d]

Anyone thought about doing a mini watercooling set up for the gekkos? I wondered if you could make one that runs off USB power?

It would be a neat project to see for fun with a few gekkos I agree.  Don't know on power as fan's cooling radiator and adding in a pump seems power might not make sense, but still a neat project.   And technically some might be running gekkos at a frequency that don't even need fan's so guess it depends.  I would love to see a OC'ed watercooled one though again just as a neat project.

I personally never intend on doing another water cooled miner the C1's were enough for me (although that was due to company making cooling parts syscooling).  I have used on gaming computer's without issue though.  So can see why some like it but I will be sticking with CFM's from fan's.

[gt_addict]

That's all I was thinking really. Just another facet to add to the gekkos. I've only got two but would (as you say) be a nice little project. At a decent freq I think the single rad (120mm) would have enough area to provide adequate cooling withou the need for an additional fan.

I've been looking for bits but can't seem to track down water blocks small enough or 5v pumps. I run my gekkos on a pi and would love to power it from that or the powered hub.

[vapourminer]

Anyone thought about doing a mini watercooling set up for the gekkos? I wondered if you could make one that runs off USB power?

not exactly.

my thoughts are peltier cooling. i have one but do not have the time yet. that dang real life (tm).

12 volts. several amps. LM7805 regulator (yeah im old). 2 fans.  almost as many wires as water  tubes. iow no usb power for this.

but please do keep us informed

[vapourminer]

Anyone thought about doing a mini watercooling set up for the gekkos? I wondered if you could make one that runs off USB power?

[...]Don't know on power as fan's cooling radiator and adding in a pump seems power might not make sense, but still a neat project. 

[...] but I will be sticking with CFM's from fan's.

i also am sticking with usb fans at the moment. single artic cooling usb powered fan cooling 5 sticks (at 300 mhz i believe) with everything on the superbpag 70 watt hub.

its not running right now as i went on vacation last week and took the 70 watt superbpag hub with me. built in psu. 7 outlets. 2 amps each. and, even a nice carry bag. used it to charge 2 phones, tablet, emergency usb power rechargeable batteries, usb powered rechargeable led lights. hard to beat that piece of kit as it is that useful.

havent even unpacked really. heh love vacations at the ocean.

[aarons6]

i personally think you would run out of power from the usb before you need anything more then just a fan on the cooler.

[vapourminer]

i personally think you would run out of power from the usb before you need anything more then just a fan on the cooler.

depends on what you have for usb power.

usb 2.1 is 500 ma i believe. which is 2.5 watts. and thats what the compacs where designed for.

but usb 3.0/3.1 it like 100 watts, but at 05-20 volts i think.something along those lines anyway..
EDIT no, its USB C, see sidehacks correction below
however you need to have the right cables and the usb device needs to speak usb. it needs to ok that much power with the hub/device.

[sidehack]

USB3 is 4.5W, 5V 0.9A

USBC is up to 100W, but that's a whole different breed of cat.

And there is no specific "what the compacs were designed for", not really, since you can pull 15W with one if the hub allows. Good mining hubs don't limit you to 500mA anyway, but most good mining hubs could only source about as much power as the Compac can safely dissipate with a good fan. I think that's what he meant.

[vapourminer]

USB3 is 4.5W, 5V 0.9A

USBC is up to 100W, but that's a whole different breed of cat.

And there is no specific "what the compacs were designed for", not really, since you can pull 15W with one if the hub allows. Good mining hubs don't limit you to 500mA anyway, but most good mining hubs could only source about as much power as the Compac can safely dissipate with a good fan. I think that's what he meant.

ah, gotcha. my mistake.

"never speak for another person " as dad says.

but i thought, out of the box, that 500ma in a bog standard usb 2 port could run a bone stock compac with absolutely no problem. no special command line switches. no current problem. no additional cooling. thats what i meant by "what the compacs were designed for." i thank you for your correction.

i do know they were built for WAY more than that heh.

"if its worth doing, its worth overdoing"  -ayn rand?