GekkoScience Compac BM1384 Stickminer Official Support Thread

[vamp176]

At the moment I have got a R Pi and One Gekko Stickminer. But i have not set it up yet on my Pi as I want to order a fan to keep things cool I was just wondering what would be the best USB Hub I have got these stored in my basket on Amazon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00EH44AA6?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_1&smid=A3E6P8SQY9T8G4

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0002AFZVM?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_3&smid=A1Q8LHGBNWZQUW

and also this fan

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003XN24GY?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_2&smid=A1D873RMPMIV2C

I have also worked out return on mining and I be at a loss at the end of the yr, if I mine a pool, but I am doing this to learn and well fortunately enough I have a work site 40 miles away with free electric so once I have a better understanding I could set up something more viable their.

[zOU]

At the moment I have got a R Pi and One Gekko Stickminer. But i have not set it up yet on my Pi as I want to order a fan to keep things cool I was just wondering what would be the best USB Hub I have got these stored in my basket on Amazon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00EH44AA6?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_1&smid=A3E6P8SQY9T8G4

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0002AFZVM?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_3&smid=A1Q8LHGBNWZQUW

and also this fan

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003XN24GY?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_2&smid=A1D873RMPMIV2C

I have also worked out return on mining and I be at a loss at the end of the yr, if I mine a pool, but I am doing this to learn and well fortunately enough I have a work site 40 miles away with free electric so once I have a better understanding I could set up something more viable their.

the DLINK has ports very close to each others so you may not physically fit than 4 sticks

both have limited power and are restricted to 500mA per ports so you'll need to use a Y USB cable to get to 1A/stick.

that will limit overclocking.

the fan I believe is very good.

[vamp176]

At the moment I have got a R Pi and One Gekko Stickminer. But i have not set it up yet on my Pi as I want to order a fan to keep things cool I was just wondering what would be the best USB Hub I have got these stored in my basket on Amazon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00EH44AA6?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_1&smid=A3E6P8SQY9T8G4

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0002AFZVM?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_3&smid=A1Q8LHGBNWZQUW

and also this fan

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003XN24GY?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_2&smid=A1D873RMPMIV2C

I have also worked out return on mining and I be at a loss at the end of the yr, if I mine a pool, but I am doing this to learn and well fortunately enough I have a work site 40 miles away with free electric so once I have a better understanding I could set up something more viable their.

the DLINK has ports very close to each others so you may not physically fit than 4 sticks

both have limited power and are restricted to 500mA per ports so you'll need to use a Y USB cable to get to 1A/stick.

that will limit overclocking.

the fan I believe is very good.

Thanks for the reply , got any USB Hubs in mind you could recommend , because if I use a Y Cable im guessing im going to have to create a type of stand to hold the sticks up right

[zOU]

have a look in the nlast 10 pages or just type hub in the search while on this thread.. this will narrow the search to this thread only

[Guruclef]

Also there is a thread dedicated to choosing a good hub for USB miners here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=253749.0

It is a bit old but it helped me find a good USB hub. In my case I went for the Orico 10 port.

[zOU]

Also there is a thread dedicated to choosing a good hub for USB miners here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=253749.0

It is a bit old but it helped me find a good USB hub. In my case I went for the Orico 10 port.

yes but this one is for Block Erupter, using a lot less W.
Keep that in mind.

I made a spreadsheet here that will give you the W/stick depending on the frequency.

so:
- the hub power supply should have enough W for the number of compac you'll be running at the speed you set
- the hub should have provide enough A per ports (500mA for USB3, 900mA for USB3, some hubs override these values)
- you can use usb Y cables to power your stick using 2 ports (1A for USB2, 1.8A for USB3) ==>>http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-USB-2-0-A-Female-to-2-Dual-male-Jack-Y-Splitter-Hub-Power-Cord-Adapter-Cable-/381121626377

[aarons6]

Also there is a thread dedicated to choosing a good hub for USB miners here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=253749.0

It is a bit old but it helped me find a good USB hub. In my case I went for the Orico 10 port.

yes but this one is for Block Erupter, using a lot less W.
Keep that in mind.

I made a spreadsheet here that will give you the W/stick depending on the frequency.

so:
- the hub power supply should have enough W for the number of compac you'll be running at the speed you set
- the hub should have provide enough A per ports (500mA for USB3, 900mA for USB3, some hubs override these values)
- you can use usb Y cables to power your stick using 2 ports (1A for USB2, 1.8A for USB3) ==>>http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-USB-2-0-A-Female-to-2-Dual-male-Jack-Y-Splitter-Hub-Power-Cord-Adapter-Cable-/381121626377

you sure this is accurate? im running 3 sticks at 200M which according to your sheet is pulling 13 amps?

[zOU]

you sure this is accurate? im running 3 sticks at 200M which according to your sheet is pulling 13 amps?

As mentionned in the spreadsheet, the data in light blue cells is taken directly from the ASIC datasheet and the link is provided.

Page 3 of the spec sheet:

https://bitmaintech.com/files/download/BM1384_Datasheet_v2.1.pdf

You can doubt it, but don't shoot the messenger  

I believe this column can be ignored as it is "internal Amp", not Amp at the USB port.

So the Power (W) column is the one you should really take into consideration

200Mhs is 2.899W at the port, so 5V / 0.5798A, slightly over USB2 standard Amp.

[hurricandave]

the chart is amps at core volts. so you need to look at watts and divide by 5 volts. yes, a little inaccurate for what's probable at the USB port given the device needs to also support a couple other chips. by that chart 200mhz has a potential to be a min. of 580mA @ 5 volts, per device.

[hedgy73]

I'm running an Anker 60W 7-Port USB 3.0 hub: http://www.ianker.com/product/A7515111

With 5 sticks and an arctic usb fan plugged into it @ stock voltage its pretty stable @250MHz with very few HW errors, @275 pretty stable but with more HW errors and stick restarts, @300 even more HW errors, stick restarts and cgminer has shut down several times.

With this hub, 5 sticks and the fan the sweet spot seems to be @250. Each stick is ticking over @ 13GH.

I've got another stick arriving any day so we'll re-assess when that gets here .

EDIT: 6th stick arrived as I was typing, all 6 are now running @250 . Have had 1 HW error though in first 5 mins so this might be pushing it.

[JeffZwolle]

Yesterday I received the Stickminer.
Thank you Sidehack!

And I have got it running today.
I have not yet changed the voltage-setting. And I have not measured it yet.
I used the 150Mhz parameter.

What if the Stickminer gets too hot?
Will it just generate errors?
Or is it more likely to burn up?

[hedgy73]

Yesterday I received the Stickminer.
Thank you Sidehack!

And I have got it running today.
I have not yet changed the voltage-setting. And I have not measured it yet.
I used the 150Mhz parameter.

What if the Stickminer gets too hot?
Will it just generate errors?
Or is it more likely to burn up?

At 150 you should be ok even just air cooled. Extra cooling is recommended for 150+.

Not sure what happens if they get too hot as I've kept mine cool since overclocking.

I would assume they give HW errors then go 'zombie' if there are too many.

Dont think there's much risk of them burning up unless you go silly.

Not sure if there's ever been a proper burn in / up test done.

[JeffZwolle]

What if the Stickminer gets too hot?
Will it just generate errors?
Or is it more likely to burn up?

At 150 you should be ok even just air cooled. Extra cooling is recommended for 150+.

Not sure what happens if they get too hot as I've kept mine cool since overclocking.

I would assume they give HW errors then go 'zombie' if there are too many.

Dont think there's much risk of them burning up unless you go silly.

Not sure if there's ever been a proper burn in / up test done.

Ok, thanks
It is running so hot I can't even touch the heatsink without getting burned.
I haven't seen CGMiner generate HW-error's though.

[hedgy73]

What if the Stickminer gets too hot?
Will it just generate errors?
Or is it more likely to burn up?

At 150 you should be ok even just air cooled. Extra cooling is recommended for 150+.

Not sure what happens if they get too hot as I've kept mine cool since overclocking.

I would assume they give HW errors then go 'zombie' if there are too many.

Dont think there's much risk of them burning up unless you go silly.

Not sure if there's ever been a proper burn in / up test done.

Ok, thanks
It is running so hot I can't even touch the heatsink without getting burned.
I haven't seen CGMiner generate HW-error's though.

What frequency are you running at? At 150 I can hold heatsink without cooling.

[megatron1337]

For the price 1 of these costs, why don't you just get an antminer U3 for around 40$ US

[Guruclef]

For the price 1 of these costs, why don't you just get an antminer U3 for around 40$ US

-They are very power-efficient. That's important if electricity costs are high where you live.
-They are silent and small
-They have a low price point and also affordable shipping
-It's easy and fun to tweak them and play with them, changing voltage/clock speed, cooling, etc
-Made and sold by trusted members of the community who are actively developing new home-mining technology

Still I guess most of us don't buy them to earn money but to have fun.

[JeffZwolle]

What frequency are you running at? At 150 I can hold heatsink without cooling.

150

It's running at about 8.35 Gh/s

[hedgy73]

What frequency are you running at? At 150 I can hold heatsink without cooling.

150

It's running at about 8.35 Gh/s

Yes thats right

[megatron1337]

For the price 1 of these costs, why don't you just get an antminer U3 for around 40$ US

-They are very power-efficient. That's important if electricity costs are high where you live.
-They are silent and small
-They have a low price point and also affordable shipping
-It's easy and fun to tweak them and play with them, changing voltage/clock speed, cooling, etc
-Made and sold by trusted members of the community who are actively developing new home-mining technology

Still I guess most of us don't buy them to earn money but to have fun.

Might buy one or two eventually hehe!

[aarons6]

What if the Stickminer gets too hot?
Will it just generate errors?
Or is it more likely to burn up?

At 150 you should be ok even just air cooled. Extra cooling is recommended for 150+.

Not sure what happens if they get too hot as I've kept mine cool since overclocking.

I would assume they give HW errors then go 'zombie' if there are too many.

Dont think there's much risk of them burning up unless you go silly.

Not sure if there's ever been a proper burn in / up test done.

Ok, thanks
It is running so hot I can't even touch the heatsink without getting burned.
I haven't seen CGMiner generate HW-error's though.

mine got really hot too at 150..

i now have a 140mm fan on them and they are running at 200.
i just used a usb cable and cut it and used the red and black wires to power the fan. nice and cool now.
i only had to adjust one a tiny bit to get zero hwe after 24 hours on 200.