Official FutureBit Moonlander 2 Driver and Support Thread

[lennyNO]

Yes the stock heatsink is not designed for fanless operation. Even at base frequency and lowest voltage you risk overheating with no airflow.
Keep in mind those little fans have about 2cfm coming out of them, so you can easily get a ultra quiet 120mm fan and that will provide more than enough airflow at close range to keep it cool with very little noise. If your going this route I wouldn't do it unless you have a heat gun and can directly measure the temp of the small heatsink on the top (should be under 80c max).

Thanks for the info, I was thinking (for the other guy) that one may get away with it at lowest core/mem voltage/freq but I believe you if not. Yes I will get the IR temp meter from work, currently I am measuring anywhere between 30-40degs on the heatsink that is on the component side of the PCB (other side than stock fan), that's at 832Mhz. I have some others at 900Mhz but can't measure those as easily without the gun. I assume by small heatsink you mean the one that is where the minifan is?

This is in fact what I enjoy soooo much about the MLD2, the way we can tune and customize and play with it. That's just so much fun and awesome. So, great job!!

[1715030102]

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[1715030102]

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[1715030102]

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[jstefanop]

Yes the stock heatsink is not designed for fanless operation. Even at base frequency and lowest voltage you risk overheating with no airflow.
Keep in mind those little fans have about 2cfm coming out of them, so you can easily get a ultra quiet 120mm fan and that will provide more than enough airflow at close range to keep it cool with very little noise. If your going this route I wouldn't do it unless you have a heat gun and can directly measure the temp of the small heatsink on the top (should be under 80c max).

Thanks for the info, I was thinking (for the other guy) that one may get away with it at lowest core/mem voltage/freq but I believe you if not. Yes I will get the IR temp meter from work, currently I am measuring anywhere between 30-40degs on the heatsink that is on the component side of the PCB (other side than stock fan), that's at 832Mhz. I have some others at 900Mhz but can't measure those as easily without the gun. I assume by small heatsink you mean the one that is where the minifan is?

This is in fact what I enjoy soooo much about the MLD2, the way we can tune and customize and play with it. That's just so much fun and awesome. So, great job!!

Small heatsink is the tiny one that sits on top of the ASIC...this will be the hottest part and is the best point of measurement.

[thebosz]

I just got a Raspberry Pi with the touchscreen set up. I tried plugging the Moonlander 2 into the Pi but noticed it didn't have enough power to support it.

With that said, whats the recommended USB powered attachment that can handle the power draw of a single Moonlander 2? Something like this work?

https://www.amazon.com/Plugable-port-USB-3-0-hub/dp/B008ZGKWQI

Thanks in advance.

There's some recommendations on the USB HUB thread

[qb45]

One of mine got a noisy fan after 24h :-/.
I try to solve it by moving a little bit the screw but I think I have to replace it.
Where can I find it these?

Thanks
QB

[aarons6]

how to fix a noisy fan.

step 1, unplug and let it cool down.
step 2, carefully remove the fan by unscrewing the 2 screws and unplugging the power
step 3, using tweezers or something, carefully remove the silver sticker on the back
step 4, place ONE drop of light machine oil in the center hole.. i used the oil that came with my electric beard trimmer
step 5, let the oil sink in
step 6, put it all back together. you don't need to tighten the screws really tight.


plug it in and enjoy your silent moonlander.

[Eyedol-X]

how to fix a noisy fan.

step 1, unplug and let it cool down.
step 2, carefully remove the fan by unscrewing the 2 screws and unplugging the power
step 3, using tweezers or something, carefully remove the silver sticker on the back
step 4, place ONE drop of light machine oil in the center hole.. i used the oil that came with my electric beard trimmer
step 5, let the oil sink in
step 6, put it all back together. you don't need to tighten the screws really tight.


plug it in and enjoy your silent moonlander.

Yeah the fans are definitely the weak point on these, I'm waiting on my ball bearing fans to show up to mess with.

One of the fans on a unit I have became really noisy today. I'm sure others will follow but even with that knowledge, I'd still buy again and I have more coming

[philipma1957]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-4QqZKMKWA
that scythe is the 120mm ultra kaze
https://www.amazon.com/Scythe-DFS123812H-3000-Ultra-Kaze-120mm/dp/B001JKNMBE/ref=sr_1_1?
I feed it only 9 volts  moves 100 cfm and is not loud
with 12 volts  moves 133 cfm and is a bit noisy

I thought the fans in your video were quite loud already!, I have 11 MLD2s (+3 external fans but they make little sound) and I am on the limit of what is 'bearable' before I have to move to it out (not possible) or do something. I am also thinking of removing the stock fans and go for external cooling only. But I prefer USB powered fans as it is easier, I have loads of (powered) USB ports, but no 9-12V ports.
I am looking at something like the AC infitinity usb fan, 53cfm per unit, x2 = also 100cfm. Only 19dBA (which is a LOT less than the Scythe)  https://www.amazon.com/AC-Infinity-MULTIFAN-Receiver-Playstation/dp/B00JLV4BWC/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1514942143&sr=1-2-spons&keywords=usb+airflow+fan&psc=1  I might use four of them in total.

that room has 47 fans running many pieces of gear

not sure if it is 47  I am going into the garage and count.



Edit

75 fans. wow did not think it was that many but it is.




the scythe fans  are set to 9volts  with a dc  ham radio supply  they are not loud.

and the gear is cool.

if you want a 5volt usb fan here

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XY56DFZ/ref=twister_B074M84N4K?

nice size  it won't cool as much as the scythe does but it will do the job.

back to moonlander 2 sticks

@ builder  of these  

 Please  consider  selling  with no fans to me.  I don't need or want them.

I have 2 on order  brings me to 4.

I want to run 8  so I need 4 more.

[yoyo13131]

Sooooo trying to mine Ethereum with bfgminer-5.4.2-futurebit2-beta2 by just changing the pool URL, which Ive created a worker and login etc, just like how I got Litecoin working. But Ethereum doesnt work, anyone have any instructions on how to get Ethereum mining on our moonlander 2's?

[philipma1957]

Sooooo trying to mine Ethereum with bfgminer-5.4.2-futurebit2-beta2 by just changing the pool URL, which Ive created a worker and login etc, just like how I got Litecoin working. But Ethereum doesnt work, anyone have any instructions on how to get Ethereum mining on our moonlander 2's?

can not be done  

LTC is  scrypt al-gore-rhythm

Eth is dagger hositmoto al-gore-rhythm

I spelled eth  al-gore-rhythm correctly but spell check is like fuck you


these sticks are asic for scrypt al-gore-rhythm only.

DOGE and LTC work

[lennyNO]

not sure if it is 47  I am going into the garage and count.

You have a garage, if I had that I would not care about the noise and would have stacked it full with L3+s or equivalents.
But I have them in my bedroom with my spouse and it stands between her or the MLD2s --- just kidding!! -- but almost.

>> if you want a 5volt usb fan here https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XY56DFZ/ref=twister_B074M84N4K?
>> nice size  it won't cool as much as the scythe does but it will do the job.
I have 3 of these, and now 11 MLD2s on one eyeboot hub, all without stockfan now I removed them all last evening. Right now it is winter and I can draw in cold air, but in summer I need more SILENT cooling. So I will  opt for 4 of the 12cm USB fans, they push more air. (similar to two Scythe).

>> back to moonlander 2 sticks @ builder  of these  Please  consider  selling  with no fans to me.  I don't need or want them.
>> I have 2 on order  brings me to 4.  I want to run 8  so I need 4 more.

I think the stockfan is fairly cheap compared to the overall board, so it doesn't help much?
I wish there was a temp sensor on the ASIC, that would have been soooo useful.
Also I think you also have an eyeboot hub?? With the stock fans I can only use every other usb slot as there is no space for a MLD2 in every usb slot. But even with the stock fan removed I ran into trouble trying to use every usb slot. They are still very very close, almost touching (front heatsink of one MLD touching the back heatsink of the next MLD) and hence getting very warm. Secondly I ran into data trouble again (see some previous posts). So in the end I still ended up using every other USB slot. But that at least gives good space for airflow.

Without any stockfans I am now running at ca 40-45degs C with an ambient temperature of around 16degs C.  With the stockfans it was about 10degs less. The MLD2s are now too hot to the touch for more than a few seconds, 5secs or so max. But boy is the setup silent.

I may try the machine-oil trick as well, just to check.

[sunk818]

Yes the stock heatsink is not designed for fanless operation. Even at base frequency and lowest voltage you risk overheating with no airflow.

Running 10 ML2 @ 744 Mhz on Sipolar A400. I removed stock fans. Too noisy and doesn't work with Sipolar A400 narrow profile required for 10. Had an Arctic USB Fan blowing on them on the side. Ran into random ASIC stop hashing (likely due to overheating). jstefanop's driver update brought them back to life but still random ASIC stopped hashing. Anyway, bought a bigger $4 USB fan from Daiso. That actually moves more air and keeps the "stopped hashing" error message away. So, I believe the Arctic fan was inadequate and the ML2 were overheating.

Daiso Fan here: https://i.imgur.com/GsVRLs1.jpg

[philipma1957]

Yes the stock heatsink is not designed for fanless operation. Even at base frequency and lowest voltage you risk overheating with no airflow.

Running 10 ML2 on Sipolar A400. Had an Arctic USB Fan blowing on them on the side. Ran into random ASIC stop hashing (likely due to overheating). Your driver update brought them back to life, but would die again shortly. Anyway, bought a bigger $4 USB fan from Daiso. That actually moves more air and keeps the "stopped hashing" error message away. So, I believe it was a heat issue.

Daiso Fan here: https://i.imgur.com/GsVRLs1.jpg

Yeah  my conclusion is remove stock fan and use a good fan.

my sticks are on 756 freq and do  5mh

they are not hot.

eventually I will run eight with the  scythe fans.

[JustAnotherPLT]

So what’s everyone mining? You using these as lottery or are you mining something for a HODL? Anyone hit a lottery?

[mrgoldy]

CHAOS has struck!

One of my sticks may have gone bad.  It's worked fine until today
I plug it in and the fan revs  real high/loud   and stays that way.  the other 7 work fine and are recognized by bfgminer.

But just 1 stick is not recognized and the fan runs high.

Thoughts?
Did I miss something in a previous post?

[officebuilding]

So what’s everyone mining? You using these as lottery or are you mining something for a HODL? Anyone hit a lottery?

I've been mining Litecoin on and off at litecoinpool.org, sometimes spend some hashing time taking a gamble at tbdice.org (which mines LTC & DOGE simultaneously), and mining whichever coins at hash-to-coins.com I have wallets for. Other than that I see what pools are new or interesting to me in the altcoin announcement forum. I'm open to new suggestions!

[lennyNO]

how to fix a noisy fan.

step 1, unplug and let it cool down.
step 2, carefully remove the fan by unscrewing the 2 screws and unplugging the power
step 3, using tweezers or something, carefully remove the silver sticker on the back
step 4, place ONE drop of light machine oil in the center hole.. i used the oil that came with my electric beard trimmer
step 5, let the oil sink in
step 6, put it all back together. you don't need to tighten the screws really tight.

plug it in and enjoy your silent moonlander.

This seems the best suggestion!!    Yesterday I removed all the stockfans (I have 11MLDs, some running at 832Mhz, some at 900Mhz, all on 1 hub). But then I felt that the units were getting too warm, it just became a mess. I tried one more external fan (from 3 to 4) but that didn't help much, so then I oiled the fans, put them back on, and now it is much and much better, I would say 6dB down (halve the noiselevel). So I will stick with this solution in the end, for a long time to come. I was not able to put the sticker back on, it didn't want to stick anymore. 

[officebuilding]

I have 11MLDs, some running at 832Mhz, some at 900Mhz, all on 1 hub

What are you mining with that rig, lennyNO?

[mrgoldy]

CHAOS has struck!

One of my sticks may have gone bad.  It's worked fine until today
I plug it in and the fan revs  real high/loud   and stays that way.  the other 7 work fine and are recognized by bfgminer.

But just 1 stick is not recognized and the fan runs high.

Thoughts?
Did I miss something in a previous post?

ML is ok,   figured out it's a bad port on my USB hub

[philipma1957]

So what’s everyone mining? You using these as lottery or are you mining something for a HODL? Anyone hit a lottery?

lottery at this site  Doge and/or LTC

and yet to hit either one

[lennyNO]

I have 11MLDs, some running at 832Mhz, some at 900Mhz, all on 1 hub

What are you mining with that rig, lennyNO?

LTC on litecoinpool.org, one worker, total hashrate ca 53Mh/s. This gives about 0.0072LTC/day or 1.8USD or a 13mo ROI assuming that the profitability stays constant and ignoring the costs of the hub and other peripherals as well as shipment and duties I had to pay. In practice I have hedged my "investment" with LTC/BTC because otherwise there will never be a return. 

I have a 19port 40A Eyeboot hub, because that was the only thing I could get my hands on at the time. Expensive as it is, it wasn't the best buy, mostly because I cannot run all 11 full blast, I think it is the powersupply that is halting. If I run all at 900Mhz and say each draws 15W, it is a total current of 33A. That doesn't seem to fly, and MLDs start to drop out. But 4x900Mhz+7x832Mhz works just ok, and that's fine too. I don't have wattmeter to check how much I am actually consuming.

In my mind there must be a great market for low-cost (diy?) tailor-made MLD2 USB hubs, with the right spacing between USB sockets so all can be used, and with serious power!