Block Erupter USB - Overclocking/ hacking ?

[bobsmith652]

What kind of oscillators are people using?  I see different types (TXCO, MXCO etc) different min/max voltages and capacitance.  I also can't find one the same size.  Do the 5x3.2mm ones fit?  Are the package pinouts standard?

I was thinking the people who are having problems (e.g. BE not working, very little increase with a 16MHz oscillator) could have one of these specs wrong.  Can the people who have done the mod post specs or links and whether theirs are working as expected?

[neslekkim]

What kind of oscillators are people using?  I see different types (TXCO, MXCO etc) different min/max voltages and capacitance.  I also can't find one the same size.  Do the 5x3.2mm ones fit?  Are the package pinouts standard?

I was thinking the people who are having problems (e.g. BE not working, very little increase with a 16MHz oscillator) could have one of these specs wrong.  Can the people who have done the mod post specs or links and whether theirs are working as expected?

check post #236

[bobsmith652]

What kind of oscillators are people using?  I see different types (TXCO, MXCO etc) different min/max voltages and capacitance.  I also can't find one the same size.  Do the 5x3.2mm ones fit?  Are the package pinouts standard?

I was thinking the people who are having problems (e.g. BE not working, very little increase with a 16MHz oscillator) could have one of these specs wrong.  Can the people who have done the mod post specs or links and whether theirs are working as expected?

check post #236

Thanks, I think I missed a page because of a lot of posts (been following since page 1).

[ElitePork]

Respect those who hack the BE. *bows*

Following

[Dimrain13]

Did you change both R1 and R2 resistors?

Also, any detailed info you may give about the best way to desolder and solder the new crystals and resistors in would be hugely appreciated. What i really need to know is how much heat can these little crystals take?

Just look up how to desolder (input item name)

[Roger100]

So I went ahead and replaced R1 with the 1.2k Ohm resistor and put in a 16.384 MHz crystal and cgminer gives the error:

Code:

[2013-08-16 00:41:09] Icarus Detect: Test failed at /dev/ttyUSB2: get 00000000,
 should: 000187a2

Any ideas? I'm not the best solderer but it looks like I have everything ok. Also tried flipping the oscillator in case that was it but same thing.

How are you now powering the usb miner? I believe that using a 16mhz crystal will require more power, hence you not being able to use it in a usb port anymore. You will have to hook it up (via the pads on the end of the miner board) to a pc power supply (or similar) equivalent that has a proper 5V connection with a decent amount of amps.

[Roger100]

Did you change both R1 and R2 resistors?

Also, any detailed info you may give about the best way to desolder and solder the new crystals and resistors in would be hugely appreciated. What i really need to know is how much heat can these little crystals take?

Just look up how to desolder (input item name)

I have done that. Theres seems to be a lot of varying methods/techniques to do the job. I wanted to know from those that have completed a successful crystal change the best method for changing them out on these miners as the location of the crystal is very close to two capacitors at the left of the crystal itself (plastic tweezers?). I wished to know the right amount of heat to apply in case i ended up damaging components.

[Dimrain13]

So I went ahead and replaced R1 with the 1.2k Ohm resistor and put in a 16.384 MHz crystal and cgminer gives the error:

Code:

[2013-08-16 00:41:09] Icarus Detect: Test failed at /dev/ttyUSB2: get 00000000,
 should: 000187a2

Any ideas? I'm not the best solderer but it looks like I have everything ok. Also tried flipping the oscillator in case that was it but same thing.

How are you now powering the usb miner? I believe that using a 16mhz crystal will require more power, hence you not being able to use it in a usb port anymore. You will have to hook it up (via the pads on the end of the miner board) to a pc power supply (or similar) equivalent that has a proper 5V connection with a decent amount of amps.

No thats just for the 20 and up. he should be good, not sure what wrong. did you use flux?

[jshinra]

So I went ahead and replaced R1 with the 1.2k Ohm resistor and put in a 16.384 MHz crystal and cgminer gives the error:

Code:

[2013-08-16 00:41:09] Icarus Detect: Test failed at /dev/ttyUSB2: get 00000000,
 should: 000187a2

Any ideas? I'm not the best solderer but it looks like I have everything ok. Also tried flipping the oscillator in case that was it but same thing.

How are you now powering the usb miner? I believe that using a 16mhz crystal will require more power, hence you not being able to use it in a usb port anymore. You will have to hook it up (via the pads on the end of the miner board) to a pc power supply (or similar) equivalent that has a proper 5V connection with a decent amount of amps.

No thats just for the 20 and up. he should be good, not sure what wrong. did you use flux?

Yes I used flux but when I re-installed the original crystal with a pot, it's still doing the same thing. Voltages read similar to the working BEs but still giving the error. I will have to continue playing with it. Thanks.

[milkbottlec]

Wooo....I gotta try this too...just spotted the post.
Waiting my USB to arrive and try!

So the safest will be going up to 16MHz crystal and any cooling?

[Dimrain13]

Wooo....I gotta try this too...just spotted the post.
Waiting my USB to arrive and try!

So the safest will be going up to 16MHz crystal and any cooling?

From what I see Cooling is a good idea, I recently purchased some kootek Aluminium Heatsinks for the Pi. They fit perfectly on the Eruptor.



I believe that it has a sticky thermal compound on it. Sticks to what you put it on.

[Bluestreak66]

Did you change both R1 and R2 resistors?

Also, any detailed info you may give about the best way to desolder and solder the new crystals and resistors in would be hugely appreciated. What i really need to know is how much heat can these little crystals take?

I was using 280*C for hot air there are temperatures and times in the datasheet on what the crystals can handle.

So I went ahead and replaced R1 with the 1.2k Ohm resistor and put in a 16.384 MHz crystal and cgminer gives the error:

Code:

[2013-08-16 00:41:09] Icarus Detect: Test failed at /dev/ttyUSB2: get 00000000,
 should: 000187a2

Any ideas? I'm not the best solderer but it looks like I have everything ok. Also tried flipping the oscillator in case that was it but same thing.

How are you now powering the usb miner? I believe that using a 16mhz crystal will require more power, hence you not being able to use it in a usb port anymore. You will have to hook it up (via the pads on the end of the miner board) to a pc power supply (or similar) equivalent that has a proper 5V connection with a decent amount of amps.

No thats just for the 20 and up. he should be good, not sure what wrong. did you use flux?

You have to use a external 5v supply for anything over the stock voltage, otherwise you will just see timeouts and errors from usb overcurrent. Thats why these were only built with a 12mhz crystal so that they meet usb spec.

[Roger100]

Thanks for the info, bluestreak. I thankyou also for your work on this overclocking business.

I have a good plan for cooling and setup of several miners together so once i get my rework gun, i'll post pics of what i make.

[Roger100]

What kind of oscillators are people using?  I see different types (TXCO, MXCO etc) different min/max voltages and capacitance.  I also can't find one the same size.  Do the 5x3.2mm ones fit?  Are the package pinouts standard?

I was thinking the people who are having problems (e.g. BE not working, very little increase with a 16MHz oscillator) could have one of these specs wrong.  Can the people who have done the mod post specs or links and whether theirs are working as expected?

I have the TXCO variety 3.3v in 5x3.22mm. 14.38, 16, and 18mhz.

[neslekkim]

why not use silicon labs programmable oscillator?, might need an adapter, but you can programmatically adjust the frequency ?

http://www.silabs.com/products/clocksoscillators/xo/Pages/default.aspx

[amigaman]

@jshinra:
what has a pot to do with the osc?
you can't finetune the freq with a pot.
or did you combine a higher osc with a pot on the vreg to get it stable?

@btct22:
405 out of a 20M crstal is a bit low...
the internal multi is 28, so 12 gives 336 (12*28), and 20 should give 560 then.
405 looks more like you put a 14.31818 in there.
Power problem or too much errors?

[Roger100]

Got bored, so i knocked up a crude drawing of a cooling/power solution. Its not to accurate scale, but you get the idea. Thoughts?

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k62/rusolinio/miner31.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k62/rusolinio/miner21.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k62/rusolinio/miner11.jpg

[Bluestreak66]

why not use silicon labs programmable oscillator?, might need an adapter, but you can programmatically adjust the frequency ?

http://www.silabs.com/products/clocksoscillators/xo/Pages/default.aspx

With somthing like that it's too difficult to bother with because its so small. It would be much easier just to use an external clock source like haxtormoogle. I had thought about using one of these https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9089 but there is such a small rage of usable frequencies for the Block Erupter that are avalible in the standard package that I didn't bother and am just using standard oscillators.

[Trillium]

Got bored, so i knocked up a crude drawing of a cooling/power solution. Its not to accurate scale, but you get the idea. Thoughts?

[img]http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k62/rusolinio/miner31.jpg
[img]http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k62/rusolinio/miner21.jpg
[img]http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k62/rusolinio/miner11.jpg

The fins are far too large, you need to go for surface area instead of mass.

[Roger100]

Got bored, so i knocked up a crude drawing of a cooling/power solution. Its not to accurate scale, but you get the idea. Thoughts?

The fins are far too large, you need to go for surface area instead of mass.

I already have the heatsink and the fins are nowhere near as chunky as my drawing:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Large-Aluminium-Heat-Sink-Power-Amplifier-Power-Supply-Transistor-IC-FET-PA-/180826754352?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2a1a1d4d30

I was just illustrating a concept really.