BM1384 Pod Miner plus trade-in/recycling - an interest and feasibility poll

[kilo17]

I have a lot of blades of all of the ones you need, how bout I send in enough blades (mixed variety) for say 10 pods - I will then donate 5 Pods to be auctioned off to raise barbecue money for SideHack and Novak and only take delivery of 5 Pods.  Essentially I am offering to pay twice as much for the Pods.  Not because I am loaded but because I have a bunch of blades that are doing absolutely nothing for me.   

It's stuff like this that is really neat to see.  A maker who cares about his customers.  And customers who care about the makers.

Wish all miners had this cooperation between miners and makers.  Seems like a team atmosphere in these threads which is a nice breath of fresh air compared to some miner threads.

Yes and no.  I think we are all too anxious and we all have boards that we would happily donate even to get 1 or 2 pods plus cash possibly and whatever else.

We need to stop ( for now ) flooding the posts with our own personal deals until the time sidehack lets us know what he needs.

He stated it would be on a one on one basis when the time is due.

I may be reading into this all wrong but let's not get too apprehensive and piss off "The Maker".

I think that was reading into what I wrote a little much.  I am not trying to strike a "personal deal"-  I am simply offering a way for SideHack and Novak to get properly compensated for the hard work and dedication.  If those guys want to only accept BTC and sell them outright I will still be one of the first to raise my hand.  I am simply trying to give them more than they are asking.

I share philipma1957's feelings, count me in for a few - bitcoin, cash or trade - doesn't matter.

[sidehack]

In a way, you're both right. I appreciate the support in form of both money and materials, but at the same time I don't want either until I'm ready for them which is several weeks out.

[NotFuzzyWarm]

Just to be clear, are you still looking for S1/S2 boards to use? And how about S3 boards? I have 2 s2's, 9 S1's complete and all retired along with over a dozen s3's I'd like to retire...
Trade-in value for them?

[sidehack]

The parts that come off an S1 or S2 I might prioritize higher when I've exhausted my own stock. I don't have any S2 boards to part out (all mine are museum) but I have enough S1 boards to provide caps for 50 pods. I'll burn through those, but 30x S2 boards would run power for over 100 pods. However, an S5 board provides about 5 times the value in parts I'm short on compared to an S2 board (when component cost is considered). The design has changed a bit such that the S1 and S2 now have more valuable parts than I had originally assumed so they will be prioritized a bit higher.

...

I will not send a pod to anyone, no matter how many boards he ships to my door, without having agreed upon the terms of the transaction first. The agreement will be based on the availability of parts I already have and how much I value the parts being provided at that moment, which means that at different times different boards will have different values because I'll need them more or less than at other times. If I find that I have enough boards already on hand to build every pod I feel like putting together ever again, I'll stop taking trades entirely and only sell for money (or other things which I find interesting or worthwhile, surprise me).

I appreciate the support in form of both money and materials, but at the same time I don't want either until I'm ready for them which is several weeks out.

Just to be clear, I likely will be looking for S1 and S2 boards but right now I am not looking for anything and I will not speculate on the exchange value of anything at this time.

[hurricandave]

Sidehack, hope you don't mind. I'm testing a few units, off and on at the Burgerfund. I was asked to repair/replace a few PCI-e connectors and the guy uses F2Pool.   HA, so he gets to change that part when he gets them back.

[sidehack]

I been kinda wondering where the extra hashrate was coming from.

[NotFuzzyWarm]

Just to be clear, I likely will be looking for S1 and S2 boards but right now I am not looking for anything and I will not speculate on the exchange value of anything at this time.

Werks for me. Good to know there may be some use for the things.

[sidehack]

Yep. In a few weeks I'll have a hopefully working prototype, might raffle off a couple and announce what I'm thinking of for batch size, price and estimated trade values. For now all the information I have is already posted, and the only information I'm looking for from anyone else is an estimate of demand - which will be mostly based on survey results, I think.

[chiguireitor]

Yep. In a few weeks I'll have a hopefully working prototype, might raffle off a couple and announce what I'm thinking of for batch size, price and estimated trade values. For now all the information I have is already posted, and the only information I'm looking for from anyone else is an estimate of demand - which will be mostly based on survey results, I think.

It seems for me that for every other stick sold, i have a potential Pod customer.... so it will probably be at least 10 pods for sale here + whatever family and friends want to get (say, another 10).

[sidehack]

I think I finally have the pod PCB finished. It's going to need to be verified (this thing is easily the most complex PCB I've ever laid out) and it looks like I need to draw up a BM1384 test board with a QFN socket and also verify Novak's newest project PCB before sending out for prototypes. If we put 'em all on one order we save on shipping, you understand.

In any case, it's almost sandwich time and whatnot so it won't get done today but it might get done tomorrow.

The pod PCB is 10x15cm and has both 3- and 4-wire fan headers, each with its own PWM implemented so you can use pretty much any kind of computer fan ever made. Also tach signals are hooked up so it should report fan speed. The onboard micro will be able to measure and modify on-the-fly your VRM voltage, and it can measure the output current. Power comes in from a barrel jack and a 6-pin PCIe, and we've got both USB-B and USB-mini jacks. All in all, it should be pretty flexible. Heck, I may go ahead and add LGA775 holes for the heck of it.

[VirosaGITS]

I think I finally have the pod PCB finished. It's going to need to be verified (this thing is easily the most complex PCB I've ever laid out) and it looks like I need to draw up a BM1384 test board with a QFN socket and also verify Novak's newest project PCB before sending out for prototypes. If we put 'em all on one order we save on shipping, you understand.

In any case, it's almost sandwich time and whatnot so it won't get done today but it might get done tomorrow.

The pod PCB is 10x15cm and has both 3- and 4-wire fan headers, each with its own PWM implemented so you can use pretty much any kind of computer fan ever made. Also tach signals are hooked up so it should report fan speed. The onboard micro will be able to measure and modify on-the-fly your VRM voltage, and it can measure the output current. Power comes in from a barrel jack and a 6-pin PCIe, and we've got both USB-B and USB-mini jacks. All in all, it should be pretty flexible. Heck, I may go ahead and add LGA775 holes for the heck of it.

Is there or is it possible to have some sort of fan or temperature protection? For instance the stick does not have a temp sensor so if its clocked high and has a fan, no problem. If it does not, its going to melt.

Not too bad on a USB stick but the pod start being a bit more pricy and worth protecting, imo.

[notlist3d]

I think I finally have the pod PCB finished. It's going to need to be verified (this thing is easily the most complex PCB I've ever laid out) and it looks like I need to draw up a BM1384 test board with a QFN socket and also verify Novak's newest project PCB before sending out for prototypes. If we put 'em all on one order we save on shipping, you understand.

In any case, it's almost sandwich time and whatnot so it won't get done today but it might get done tomorrow.

The pod PCB is 10x15cm and has both 3- and 4-wire fan headers, each with its own PWM implemented so you can use pretty much any kind of computer fan ever made. Also tach signals are hooked up so it should report fan speed. The onboard micro will be able to measure and modify on-the-fly your VRM voltage, and it can measure the output current. Power comes in from a barrel jack and a 6-pin PCIe, and we've got both USB-B and USB-mini jacks. All in all, it should be pretty flexible. Heck, I may go ahead and add LGA775 holes for the heck of it.

Is there or is it possible to have some sort of fan or temperature protection? For instance the stick does not have a temp sensor so if its clocked high and has a fan, no problem. If it does not, its going to melt.

Not too bad on a USB stick but the pod start being a bit more pricy and worth protecting, imo.

Really with giving us so much possibility on how fast to push them, I think it's kinda up to customer not to melt it.  We will be given a certain spec and we will buy our own coolers.  If you push it to a point it melts.. you went to far.

Most I think will watch pretty close and be able handle knowing if you OC to far you can damage gear.   When you give people so much versatility on speed it's kinda up to them not to push it to hard I think.   As likely there will be a big difference of CPU coolers people choose to use, some much better then others.

[VirosaGITS]

I think I finally have the pod PCB finished. It's going to need to be verified (this thing is easily the most complex PCB I've ever laid out) and it looks like I need to draw up a BM1384 test board with a QFN socket and also verify Novak's newest project PCB before sending out for prototypes. If we put 'em all on one order we save on shipping, you understand.

In any case, it's almost sandwich time and whatnot so it won't get done today but it might get done tomorrow.

The pod PCB is 10x15cm and has both 3- and 4-wire fan headers, each with its own PWM implemented so you can use pretty much any kind of computer fan ever made. Also tach signals are hooked up so it should report fan speed. The onboard micro will be able to measure and modify on-the-fly your VRM voltage, and it can measure the output current. Power comes in from a barrel jack and a 6-pin PCIe, and we've got both USB-B and USB-mini jacks. All in all, it should be pretty flexible. Heck, I may go ahead and add LGA775 holes for the heck of it.

Is there or is it possible to have some sort of fan or temperature protection? For instance the stick does not have a temp sensor so if its clocked high and has a fan, no problem. If it does not, its going to melt.

Not too bad on a USB stick but the pod start being a bit more pricy and worth protecting, imo.

Really with giving us so much possibility on how fast to push them, I think it's kinda up to customer not to melt it.  We will be given a certain spec and we will buy our own coolers.  If you push it to a point it melts.. you went to far.

Most I think will watch pretty close and be able handle knowing if you OC to far you can damage gear.   When you give people so much versatility on speed it's kinda up to them not to push it to hard I think.   As likely there will be a big difference of CPU coolers people choose to use, some much better then others.

I understand what you are saying, but its possible for the fan to fail and stop. At which point it does not really matter how far you pushed it, even just running at "standard" speed, the chips would probably overheat.

I don't mean to implement a idiot proof protection, just if the fan suddenly go dead, turn off the miner, or something. It could be done software side fairly easily, i believe. In that case asking Novak(?) might be the better idea?

[Meech]

I think I finally have the pod PCB finished. It's going to need to be verified (this thing is easily the most complex PCB I've ever laid out) and it looks like I need to draw up a BM1384 test board with a QFN socket and also verify Novak's newest project PCB before sending out for prototypes. If we put 'em all on one order we save on shipping, you understand.

In any case, it's almost sandwich time and whatnot so it won't get done today but it might get done tomorrow.

The pod PCB is 10x15cm and has both 3- and 4-wire fan headers, each with its own PWM implemented so you can use pretty much any kind of computer fan ever made. Also tach signals are hooked up so it should report fan speed. The onboard micro will be able to measure and modify on-the-fly your VRM voltage, and it can measure the output current. Power comes in from a barrel jack and a 6-pin PCIe, and we've got both USB-B and USB-mini jacks. All in all, it should be pretty flexible. Heck, I may go ahead and add LGA775 holes for the heck of it.

Is there or is it possible to have some sort of fan or temperature protection? For instance the stick does not have a temp sensor so if its clocked high and has a fan, no problem. If it does not, its going to melt.

Not too bad on a USB stick but the pod start being a bit more pricy and worth protecting, imo.

Really with giving us so much possibility on how fast to push them, I think it's kinda up to customer not to melt it.  We will be given a certain spec and we will buy our own coolers.  If you push it to a point it melts.. you went to far.

Most I think will watch pretty close and be able handle knowing if you OC to far you can damage gear.   When you give people so much versatility on speed it's kinda up to them not to push it to hard I think.   As likely there will be a big difference of CPU coolers people choose to use, some much better then others.

I understand what you are saying, but its possible for the fan to fail and stop. At which point it does not really matter how far you pushed it, even just running at "standard" speed, the chips would probably overheat.

I don't mean to implement a idiot proof protection, just if the fan suddenly go dead, turn off the miner, or something. It could be done software side fairly easily, i believe. In that case asking Novak(?) might be the better idea?

Good idea also like the flexibility of retrofitting pretty much any fan and/or power connector you have laying around, Nice!
So I'm trying to picture it... a little far from a pod but more like a small board with heatsink/cooler.  More like a (do I dear say_)
Technobit setup.  If so is the pcb safe to sit around ala Raspberry Pi like or can feet be added for stability.  Since those coolers can
get pretty heavy and tipsy.

[chiguireitor]

Can't remember right, but i think sidehack told in a previous post that this pod will have a temp sensor.... i could be wrong.

[Searing]

 Heh this thread is so .. well Borg like.....


pods




the use of 'assimilated components" (old asic stuff/chips/etc into a new product)



want below for the logo of your pod product

[sidehack]

Also, I should mention we're looking to use a temp sensor that sits a few thousandths shorter than the ASICs, and park it right in the center of them, so it should make fair contact with the heatsink and get a decent measure of that temperature instead of, say, the temperature of the opposite side of the PCB.

If you melt it you're doing something very wrong.

What we've talked about doing in the past, it'll depend on what Novak implements but we've talked about doing fan control independent of cgminer. This avoids problems like the S5 meltdown, where the chips keep running hot for some reason but cgminer is down and so is the fan. If the onboard controller, which reads the temp sensor directly and also controls the fan speed directly (and actually even knows how many watts the chip string is pulling), can be given a curve or profile for thermostatic control and run the fans based on that without cgminer intervention, burnup should be fairly idiot-proof. The controller would have a default profile and you could, probably through cgminer, push a custom profile if you wanted to do something a bit different. The only way this might screw up is if you ran without a cooler and the temp sensor was not accurately reading temperature - but at that point most of the chips' heat being dissipated will hit the PCB, and the temp sensor is sorta soldered to the PCB right smack in the middle so it'd probably still be close enough to true that it'd shut down before catching fire.

Yes, the pod ended up bigger than I was initially planning. If I wanted to make a double-sided board and put only the ASICs and their associated bits on top, then tuck all my power and controls underneath, I could have fit it all in a 10x10 pretty easily. I'd much rather build a single-sided board (by which I mean, I'm capable of building a single-sided board) and making room for a CPU cooler pretty much means I have to mark out a 9cm-diameter circle with zero tall parts and let's not forget the legs coming off it for screwing to the board. By the end of it, there's almost no room on the 10x10cm square for anything except the cooler and ASICs. I could fit most of the controls on there if I had to, but not the power circuit and none of the jacks and headers. So instead we make the board a bit bigger and now I have all sorts of room. Should be able to stick rubber feet on it.

Someone might look at the U3 and say "oh well those guys fit all kinds of crap on a tiny board". To which I respond yes, but they only had 4 ASICs and those were all on a single power rail and they had a custom-milled heatsink to fit around stuff. The total parts count of my thing is probably four to six times the parts count of a U3, and it's built with two power jacks and two USB jacks and can fit a dozen different heatsinks with two, three or four-wire fans. It's intentionally general which means I need more room to cover all the necessary bases.

Also, and here's a great part - all the controls we're putting on this board not only make it awesomely flexible and tweakable, but they'll translate almost directly to the S1-sized board I hope to be building next. So there's more good reason to make this thing slightly more awesome. I mean, as if "because that's the kind of feature set every miner should have anyway" wasn't good enough reason.

[QuintLeo]

With the right mounting holes, this pod board would fit on a Gridseed 80 "blade" heatsink.
10cm is a bit narrower than that HS, the length is plenty short.

 (HINT!)

[sidehack]

The short answer is "no". The long answer is a lot more technical but ends with the word "no".

[chiguireitor]

Sidehack, btw, what controller will the pods have? It would be cool if it was a PIC (or something similar) one could program via ICSP for custom fan control and such