Official FutureBit Moonlander 2 Driver and Support Thread

[BarTeam]

sorry had a bad night thanks for the response, same architecture as a pi really was hoping some pi users were about

here's a raspi user, currently driving 3 moonlander2 and an old rpi2 for bfgminer off a 'rather pricey' and very powerful USB hub at 796, above they become unstable in a rather unpredictable way. i suspect the usb WLAN dongle i have to use in my setup as a part of the problem - i think i read about USB bus saturation being a possible problem SOMEWHERE, but didn't debug in this direction any further yet...

anyways, the basic setup worked like a breeze. plug your MLDs in, run bfgminer as described in a lot of places, watch your MLDs have fun. however 9 more moonlanders are on their way to me, and i am eager to see if i can drive all i then have reliably with a bunch of hubs and one rpi3, which will eliminate the need of a seperate dongle.

considering that could actually fail, i have a bunch of rpi2 around, and a bananapi routerboard (BPI-R1). i'm kinda sure i'll find a way to make it work reliably, somehow.

sweet, i might be slightly better off as the odroid is usb 3, I'm looking at this hub:

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/icybox-ib-ac6702-7-port-usb-30-hub-7-charging-ports-led-amp-digital-display?v=c

I'm worried about this line though:

The USB 3.0 ports on this hub are special because all of them can load any connected mobile devices with up to 2.4 A. The intelligent chipset determines the best charging rate for all models.

[edit]

found some cheaper hubs from a company called orico claim 36 watt on a 10 port, 12v 3a psu

There's a better deal... 13 port ones... 60W 2.1 A per port. Fits 7 MLDs at 700MHz

[0x03]

sorry had a bad night thanks for the response, same architecture as a pi really was hoping some pi users were about

here's a raspi user, currently driving 3 moonlander2 and an old rpi2 for bfgminer off a 'rather pricey' and very powerful USB hub at 796, above they become unstable in a rather unpredictable way. i suspect the usb WLAN dongle i have to use in my setup as a part of the problem - i think i read about USB bus saturation being a possible problem SOMEWHERE, but didn't debug in this direction any further yet...

anyways, the basic setup worked like a breeze. plug your MLDs in, run bfgminer as described in a lot of places, watch your MLDs have fun. however 9 more moonlanders are on their way to me, and i am eager to see if i can drive all i then have reliably with a bunch of hubs and one rpi3, which will eliminate the need of a seperate dongle.

considering that could actually fail, i have a bunch of rpi2 around, and a bananapi routerboard (BPI-R1). i'm kinda sure i'll find a way to make it work reliably, somehow.

shameless self-reply: the 3 ASICs run stable at 900, when i point a fan at them. it's not USB bus saturation, it's temperature. waiting for the rest to arrive today, hopefully.

[AltScope]

...

There's a better deal... 13 port ones... 60W 2.1 A per port. Fits 7 MLDs at 700MHz

damn I already ordered the 10 port, oh well only got 5 of these on the way atm

...
shameless self-reply: the 3 ASICs run stable at 900, when i point a fan at them. it's not USB bus saturation, it's temperature. waiting for the rest to arrive today, hopefully.

do these little guys get quite hot then? the hub i ordered has an Aluminium body hopefully help with heat dissipation

[lennyNO]

BTW; @jstefanop:
What i'd love to see in BFGminer / the MLD's if possible; a way to identify them. BFG sets them up as MLD 0, MLD 1, MLD 2.... etc. But there's no way of telling (as far as i am aware of) to figure out which stick is MLD 0 or MLD 1 etc. Troubleshooting can be made so much simpler with unique ID's. After a reboot, the ID's get swapped now so MLD 0 could then be MLD 2 etc. I know that my gridseed dual miners had unique ID's, so if you plugged them in 1 at a time, you could make a note of which ID that miner had and if there ever was a problem you knew exactly which miner to fix.

Moonlanders have UIDs as well. Just press "M" while its running, then select the device number you want, and it will show its ID under serial number. You can then match the last couple digits to the actual serial number sticker on each device.

Hehe, if it was that easy: I regularly have that bfgminer fails to recognise the type of device and thereby extract the serial number, BUT it still hashes away!
I also used the bfgminer debug mode to look in more detail and see it happens when the usb/com ports are pinged. It finds the port but not what is attached to it. Still it starts hashing, without knowing what is attached to it.

Next update will also have enable/disable functions implemented, so that will be another way to quickly check which is which since toggling enable/disable will cause the LEDs to flash.

I have something weird: I have one MLD flashing red LED but it doesn't show up in bfgminer!! That means it kept hashing but probably got disconnected from bfgminer. It is not in bfgminer anymore, bfgminer is one MLD short. I don't know when it happened or how it happened. I am not sure exactly which physical device it is. Later today I will just restart bfgminer and it probably will get connected again.

[Jakegoodwin586]

Hi I have 6 fb ml2 powered by a block erupter hub. I can never get all 6 to mine. One always seems to drop to khs. Does anyone no why this is? They all work separately but a different one will fail each time they all mine together.
Also is there a way to program bfg miner on Linux to restart a miner if it drops below a hash-rate as it is not auto restarting. I have tried lowering the frequency but one will still start to drop hash rate after a while.
Thanks

[scoobysportD]

BTW; @jstefanop:
What i'd love to see in BFGminer / the MLD's if possible; a way to identify them. BFG sets them up as MLD 0, MLD 1, MLD 2.... etc. But there's no way of telling (as far as i am aware of) to figure out which stick is MLD 0 or MLD 1 etc. Troubleshooting can be made so much simpler with unique ID's. After a reboot, the ID's get swapped now so MLD 0 could then be MLD 2 etc. I know that my gridseed dual miners had unique ID's, so if you plugged them in 1 at a time, you could make a note of which ID that miner had and if there ever was a problem you knew exactly which miner to fix.

Moonlanders have UIDs as well. Just press "M" while its running, then select the device number you want, and it will show its ID under serial number. You can then match the last couple digits to the actual serial number sticker on each device.

Next update will also have enable/disable functions implemented, so that will be another way to quickly check which is which since toggling enable/disable will cause the LEDs to flash.

thanks for the advice! That will definitely help Looking forward for the next update, that will make it even easier to troubleshoot.

[scoobysportD]

Hi I have 6 fb ml2 powered by a block erupter hub. I can never get all 6 to mine. One always seems to drop to khs. Does anyone no why this is? They all work separately but a different one will fail each time they all mine together.
Also is there a way to program bfg miner on Linux to restart a miner if it drops below a hash-rate as it is not auto restarting. I have tried lowering the frequency but one will still start to drop hash rate after a while.
Thanks

Probably not enough power per usb port. Needs 2 amp minimum per port!

...

There's a better deal... 13 port ones... 60W 2.1 A per port. Fits 7 MLDs at 700MHz

damn I already ordered the 10 port, oh well only got 5 of these on the way atm

...
shameless self-reply: the 3 ASICs run stable at 900, when i point a fan at them. it's not USB bus saturation, it's temperature. waiting for the rest to arrive today, hopefully.

do these little guys get quite hot then? the hub i ordered has an Aluminium body hopefully help with heat dissipation

The 10 port 36watt will NOT be able to feed all 5 (you ordered 5, right?) MLD's. Sorry to dissapoint you but for most hubs these MLD's are just too hungry. Especially if you want to crank them up for a higher hashrate.

Mine have been hashing 21 hours at this moment, temps (with the fans on them) are between 32-35 and one runs between 43-47 degrees celsius. They are running at 900mhz. Amp draw varies between 2.25-2.4 amps.



I'm running them from this hub:
http://www.sipolar.com/page172.html?product_id=18&product_category=17
And will run maximum of 8 mld's on that. The hub is rated for 2.1 amp per port so i'm already stretching that a bit, but the hub itself is fan cooled as well and by only using 8 ports instead of 10 i'm guesstimating it'll work out.

Hope that'll help you and others with their setups. Also, when taking temps, be sure to measure at multiple points on the heatsink, the temps will vary greatly depending on where on the heatsink you are measuring and i feel that the slanted 'teeth' on the heatsink enable for some false readings when not being careful when measuring.

I just rebooted my bfgminer so i could turn up the voltage on 1 of the MLD's, they now all are running very nicely at 900mhz and hw error rate for all 3 now is about .5%! (the one i adjusted was almost 6%)

[Jakegoodwin586]

Hi I have 6 fb ml2 powered by a block erupter hub. I can never get all 6 to mine. One always seems to drop to khs. Does anyone no why this is? They all work separately but a different one will fail each time they all mine together.
Also is there a way to program bfg miner on Linux to restart a miner if it drops below a hash-rate as it is not auto restarting. I have tried lowering the frequency but one will still start to drop hash rate after a while.
Thanks

Probably not enough power per usb port. Needs 2 amp minimum per port!

The thing is all the others work fine I have taken out the one that’s not working and started it up with 5 and the same happens again, it just stops one working

[scoobysportD]

Hi I have 6 fb ml2 powered by a block erupter hub. I can never get all 6 to mine. One always seems to drop to khs. Does anyone no why this is? They all work separately but a different one will fail each time they all mine together.
Also is there a way to program bfg miner on Linux to restart a miner if it drops below a hash-rate as it is not auto restarting. I have tried lowering the frequency but one will still start to drop hash rate after a while.
Thanks

Probably not enough power per usb port. Needs 2 amp minimum per port!

The thing is all the others work fine I have taken out the one that’s not working and started it up with 5 and the same happens again, it just stops one working

Can you give a link to the hub you are using?

[Jakegoodwin586]

Hi I have 6 fb ml2 powered by a block erupter hub. I can never get all 6 to mine. One always seems to drop to khs. Does anyone no why this is? They all work separately but a different one will fail each time they all mine together.
Also is there a way to program bfg miner on Linux to restart a miner if it drops below a hash-rate as it is not auto restarting. I have tried lowering the frequency but one will still start to drop hash rate after a while.
Thanks

Probably not enough power per usb port. Needs 2 amp minimum per port!

The thing is all the others work fine I have taken out the one that’s not working and started it up with 5 and the same happens again, it just stops one working

Can you give a link to the hub you are using?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Port-USB-2-0-HUB-Asicminer/dp/B00I7RJQZ8

[scoobysportD]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Port-USB-2-0-HUB-Asicminer/dp/B00I7RJQZ8

Thanks!

That board is your problem, it only provides 500ma per usb port. As you can see in my post above, the MLD's easily go over 2 amps!

[Jakegoodwin586]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Port-USB-2-0-HUB-Asicminer/dp/B00I7RJQZ8

Thanks!

That board is your problem, it only provides 500ma per usb port. As you can see in my post above, the MLD's easily go over 2 amps!

Brilliant thanks could you please point me towards a decent usb hub thanks

[scoobysportD]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Port-USB-2-0-HUB-Asicminer/dp/B00I7RJQZ8

Thanks!

That board is your problem, it only provides 500ma per usb port. As you can see in my post above, the MLD's easily go over 2 amps!

Brilliant thanks could you please point me towards a decent usb hub thanks

I've done so in the same post

Here is the one i use:
http://www.sipolar.com/page172.html?product_id=18&product_category=17

One of the MANY aliexpress sellers who supply it:
https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/10-Port-USB-HUB-Charger-Sipolar-A-400-Standard-20V-6A-Power-adapter/32513481750.html?spm=a2g0z.search0104.3.15.276c1ab9LCEzxe&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_3_10152_10151_10065_10344_10068_10342_10343_10340_10341_10696_10084_10083_10618_10304_10307_10301_5711215_10313_10059_10534_10682_10681_10683_100031_10103_10624_10680_10623_443_10622_10621_10620-10152_10151,searchweb201603_25,ppcSwitch_5&algo_expid=f2fa60f1-2450-4679-b68a-0807dd2d1571-2&algo_pvid=f2fa60f1-2450-4679-b68a-0807dd2d1571&priceBeautifyAB=0

Be sure to get that model with the inbuilt fan. It'll certainly prolong life span, usability + then you are sure you have the high powered version. They also come without fans but those then have 500ma-1000ma per port with 2 fast ports.

[AltScope]

...

The 10 port 36watt will NOT be able to feed all 5 (you ordered 5, right?) MLD's. Sorry to dissapoint you but for most hubs these MLD's are just too hungry. Especially if you want to crank them up for a higher hashrate.
...

oops brain fart went n divided the watts by the ports instead of dividing it by 12 first smh  

I've got some 12v 5 amp supplies kicking around I'll give one of those a go if it doesn't have an amperage input level should be ok, as far as i understand it it should just pull what it needs or is capable of handling. probably should've gone for the one from scan instead but this one claimed it was suitable for usb miners if only I could do maths in the morning

worse case scenario it melts and so do the sticks lol

[scoobysportD]

...

The 10 port 36watt will NOT be able to feed all 5 (you ordered 5, right?) MLD's. Sorry to dissapoint you but for most hubs these MLD's are just too hungry. Especially if you want to crank them up for a higher hashrate.
...

oops brain fart went n divided the watts by the ports instead of dividing it by 12 first smh  

I've got some 12v 5 amp supplies kicking around I'll give one of those a go if it doesn't have an amperage input level should be ok, as far as i understand it it should just pull what it needs or is capable of handling. probably should've gone for the one from scan instead but this one claimed it was suitable for usb miners if only I could do maths in the morning

worse case scenario it melts and so do the sticks lol

For most of the old usb miners they are plenty powerful but the MLD's are just a bit hungrier

At least, when everything melts & burns you can say you were properly warned  

PS;
Oh, and we get to say "told you so" 

[31biggestholderofsigt]

Hi can someone please help me. Windows doesn't detect them and I have the driver installed and sufficient power.
Many thanks

[AltScope]

...

The 10 port 36watt will NOT be able to feed all 5 (you ordered 5, right?) MLD's. Sorry to dissapoint you but for most hubs these MLD's are just too hungry. Especially if you want to crank them up for a higher hashrate.
...

oops brain fart went n divided the watts by the ports instead of dividing it by 12 first smh  

I've got some 12v 5 amp supplies kicking around I'll give one of those a go if it doesn't have an amperage input level should be ok, as far as i understand it it should just pull what it needs or is capable of handling. probably should've gone for the one from scan instead but this one claimed it was suitable for usb miners if only I could do maths in the morning

worse case scenario it melts and so do the sticks lol

For most of the old usb miners they are plenty powerful but the MLD's are just a bit hungrier

At least, when everything melts & burns you can say you were properly warned  

PS;
Oh, and we get to say "told you so" 

I'll try and record it for you lol
I'll probably just put 3 in and see how it goes i guess it'd be good enough for 3 unless its actually limited to 1a per port like a lot of the ones I've looked at. The one you recommend looks great but it'll take 20 to 40 days to get to me.
I'm tempted to order the other one that claims 2.4a per port but I'm still concerned by that intelligent charge circuit thing, got a few more days hopefully I can find a UK retailer that does a comparable one to your recommendation

[31biggestholderofsigt]

Windows detects the devices as Silicon Labs CP210x USB to UART Bridge(COM10) how do I add them to bfgminer when it says no devices detected.
Many Thanks again

[pyroandy]

Hi I have 6 fb ml2 powered by a block erupter hub. I can never get all 6 to mine. One always seems to drop to khs. Does anyone no why this is? They all work separately but a different one will fail each time they all mine together.
Also is there a way to program bfg miner on Linux to restart a miner if it drops below a hash-rate as it is not auto restarting. I have tried lowering the frequency but one will still start to drop hash rate after a while.
Thanks

Probably not enough power per usb port. Needs 2 amp minimum per port!

The thing is all the others work fine I have taken out the one that’s not working and started it up with 5 and the same happens again, it just stops one working

Can you give a link to the hub you are using?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Port-USB-2-0-HUB-Asicminer/dp/B00I7RJQZ8

.5 amp is not going to cut it!

[pyroandy]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Port-USB-2-0-HUB-Asicminer/dp/B00I7RJQZ8

Thanks!

That board is your problem, it only provides 500ma per usb port. As you can see in my post above, the MLD's easily go over 2 amps!

Brilliant thanks could you please point me towards a decent usb hub thanks

I've done so in the same post

Here is the one i use:
http://www.sipolar.com/page172.html?product_id=18&product_category=17

One of the MANY aliexpress sellers who supply it:
https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/10-Port-USB-HUB-Charger-Sipolar-A-400-Standard-20V-6A-Power-adapter/32513481750.html?spm=a2g0z.search0104.3.15.276c1ab9LCEzxe&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_3_10152_10151_10065_10344_10068_10342_10343_10340_10341_10696_10084_10083_10618_10304_10307_10301_5711215_10313_10059_10534_10682_10681_10683_100031_10103_10624_10680_10623_443_10622_10621_10620-10152_10151,searchweb201603_25,ppcSwitch_5&algo_expid=f2fa60f1-2450-4679-b68a-0807dd2d1571-2&algo_pvid=f2fa60f1-2450-4679-b68a-0807dd2d1571&priceBeautifyAB=0

Be sure to get that model with the inbuilt fan. It'll certainly prolong life span, usability + then you are sure you have the high powered version. They also come without fans but those then have 500ma-1000ma per port with 2 fast ports.

This one only has 2.1 amp max per port 10 amp total, still not going to cut it. These Moonlanders need at least 2.5 amps apiece.