[BOUNTY] PCB designer & More, for project ToFu ( For dead V2 blades )

[freddyfarnsworth]

On the USB hub current,,,

Alot of us have built/rewired hubs to use 5vrail off of ATX P/S up to 30a or so.
Just have to read a bit to learn how. The stock USB PCB in the hub cannot handle the current.
So we buy the cheapest ones and mod em. (run 14ga wires to all the 5v usb pins for each socket).

Or use the 49port hub built by asicminer as it will deal with a total 20 or so 1-2a devices.

Also we are severing the "red" 5v line from the computers hub connection in the USB signal cable to stop High amp current shorts or surges from backflowing to USB hubs/circuits in puter used for running the miners.

Not sure if all this matters for blades, they are setup different.

[TerraHasher]

1. USB2.0 devices should not consume more than 500mA. It's unlikely that someone can power one single chip to its max (2000mA) with a USB powered solution. Correct me if I'm wrong.

2.

The PCB designer(s) must have a well document history in PCB design involving bitcoin ASIC miners, and must have a fair amount of time to invest into the project / design of the board

I've not the profile but I would design a PCB for free if someone was willing to sell me just a few chips.
I'm a software programmer but I designed a PCB last year as a hobbyist : http://postimg.org/image/k9cdmciqt/

Mozi, you dont have to buy chips mate, i have thousands of AM chips stacked up already from dead blades. I found a guy on ebay a while back with 30 dead blades alone that he sold me for $400. not to mention the few dozen blades of my own that have died beyond repair and other people who just keep giving me dead blades because they have given up on them. I've fixed and made a lot of good blades, but still have thousands of chips left. so just message me your address where you want them sent and i will send them out.

Do you already have the I/O specs for the AM chips? or do you need them?

[mozi]

Freddyfarnsworth, Sure it can works this way but it bothers me a bit not using USB as the standards defines it.

TerraHasher. I have this link  : http://downloads.canaan-creative.com/hardware/A3255/datasheet/A3255Q48-131113-V05-EN.pdf

Anyway I think that using USB for such a thing is a bit too heavy and result in higher costs and less reliability. Is there a particular need for USB ?

[TerraHasher]

Freddyfarnsworth, Sure it can works this way but it bothers me a bit not using USB as the standards defines it.

TerraHasher. I have this link  : http://downloads.canaan-creative.com/hardware/A3255/datasheet/A3255Q48-131113-V05-EN.pdf

Anyway I think that using USB for such a thing is a bit too heavy and result in higher costs and less reliability. Is there a particular need for USB ?

Mozi, it works trust me, its how the sapphire miners run, and no different than the Bi-Fury miners with 2 bitfury chips. Most anyone who uses USB uses a hub, If you dont have enough USB's to fill half a hub, your not really mining, your just burning electricity for a pretty little flashing light show from time to time.

Send me your address and i will get you some chips. if you make progress i will pay for rapid prototyping on a board or a few for you to test out, or if you want me to do the assembly and test i can do that too. I assume you can write the drivers? if not let me know, i can for sure do that once we have a design.

[mozi]

if you want me to do the assembly and test i can do that too

I could send you some PCBs, the more we are working on it, the sooner we'll be mining, and from where I live you'll may receive them before me.

I assume you can write the drivers?

I think I can but if someone has better experience than me... also it depends on hardware design...

[sidehack]

Isn't this for AM BE100 chips? That datasheet you linked looks quite a bit like something else.

[freddyfarnsworth]

Isn't this for AM BE100 chips? That datasheet you linked looks quite a bit like something else.

That datasheet was for avalon gen 2 chips.

[TerraHasher]

Isn't this for AM BE100 chips? That datasheet you linked looks quite a bit like something else.

That datasheet was for avalon gen 2 chips.

Good catch, i just noticed it myself. Chips will be on their way in a day or so, and i have included a sd card with all the AM chip data sheets and needed info. Once we get a PCB design near complete i will work on the drivers for it, wont take that long at all. We will work out the fine details once the board design is nearing complete. The company i use can have up to 10,000 boards done with 48 hour turn around time so if we get it to work as a prototype i could have DIY kits ready to go less than 5 days (shipping time is the extra 3 days), we would also need someone to write the assembly manual. I'm kind of busy in court dealing with paypal at the moment. 

[freddyfarnsworth]

I am in. I know nothing about the hardware nor the software but I am a graphics designer / screen printer/ vinyl sticker guy. Let me know what you need I like the way you think.

DIY is the best way to go because now only the rich is playing in a game that was designed to be a level playing field. I've seen people populate boards with ease so I don't see why it would not be able to be done. Like i said before I know nothing about the hardware and the software but with the proper write up I think I can make it work.

Someone will have to make the solder paste masks templates or the whole thing.
If you get the boards made professionally, they will come about 16 per card. Silkscreening the paste is done at that time.
Mylar can be used, stainless is best for long run.
That would be a option for buyers of the kit who want whole cards to make many at a time.
So burning screens, laser engraving silkscreen tech would all come in handy.
I ran some silkscreen presses when I was a kid, semi automated. But learned the trade.

One at a time it is not needed.

[TerraHasher]

If you can get the layout and functionality of the board done i have about two free weeks until things heat up on my lawsuit against paypal, which should allow me time to do the solider masks and all of that other stuff. i planned on ordering a few thousand boards off the back just to have to let people get their hands on for a few dollars each, i will also probably have a handful of them bumped with everything but the AM chips ready to go as well so some of the less technically inclined only have to worry about installing the chip and flashing the device.

[grumpy619]

I would love to be one of the guine pigs on populating the boards. I have seen plenty of people do it. I have not done it myself but I do have the tools to do it at home.

[freddyfarnsworth]

I would love to be one of the guine pigs on populating the boards. I have seen plenty of people do it. I have not done it myself but I do have the tools to do it at home.

Me too

[7queue]

What kind of solder station does one need to work with these chips?

Where does one find the spec for the chips?

I'm interested in this project as the blades I have, that are supposed to be new, are dying.

I have them in a air conditioned room with plenty of air flow yet they still are dying slowly, if the cubes use the same chip I suspect they will do the same.

Anyone make a test jig for the chips once pulled?

8 )

[grumpy619]

This may be a dead topic..

[rarkenin]

The OP randomly disappeared from the forum.

[ilesef]

hi im  an relativly new in this comunity ( im aware of bitcoint one mouth ago )
since then i fascineted with bitcoin i will make some projects for this comunity

once a week i dewlop some device with pic microcontroler
i write directly in assembler and do not use any library in that way only my fault mey result in failure of device
main adventage is that i cen do many things in cheap microcontrolers
mometaly i learn ewriting i need for btc structure and i will post a dyi project for hardware wallet with wery low cost meybe less the 7 eur :D:D
that is my target

alredy writed asm code for sha256 for microcontrolers now write code for other crypto function


i do a lot of big led displays,cotrolers for cooling and heating  devices , sports scoreboard, a lot of devices for industry all on microcotrolers
all in assember and all my own pcb design more the 100 projects (but mosty on chep microcontrolers)

have experierience with pcb design i design pcbs for all my devices but this is mainly 2 layers

i do not know what is ur problem u do some patch on old devices please make me clear what wil be job to pcb dewelopwer

sorry for my bad english

[mozi]

What kind of solder station does one need to work with these chips?

You can make your own oven but you can also solder them with a hot air rework station station. Also to desolder them you should use a hot air rework station i think.

I'm interested in this project as the blades I have, that are supposed to be new, are dying.
I have them in a air conditioned room with plenty of air flow yet they still are dying slowly, if the cubes use the same chip I suspect they will do the same.

I don't know but could the problem be tin whiskers ?


As I look to schemes using multiples chips, i see that their report_p and report_n output are all connected to the same wires, couldn't there be collision issues if 2 or more chips report at the same time ? I believe it works but I just need to understand.

[sidehack]

Tin whiskers? Yeah none of my products will be RoHS compliant until they figure out how to make lead-free solder that actually works. Lead-free pretty much sucks for anything you want to actually keep working very long.

Regarding collision issues, that's likely a lot of the issue with all-X boards is a single chip hosing up the shared IO lines. I've brought a few back to life that all-X'd with only one bad chip. Just sucks finding the bad one, I don't have a better method than guess-and-check unless something is obviously wrong.

[TerraHasher]

The OP randomly disappeared from the forum.

Yes its a dead topic, i took on the design myself to get my chips back up and hashing Got about 700 out of 1,300 chips on boards and plugged into the 49 port hubs. This forum is enough to drive a preacher to swear so i left, only reason i came back today was to get in on a group buy that i didnt want to miss out on.

[memoryx]

Did you design the 2-chip stick mining board for the Avalon 2 chip? I have 50K Avalon 2 chips and would like to build them into stick miners. It seems to me that a 2-chip design would require too much power for the USB port. Each chip is rated at 2000mA. Maximum chip on a board could be one only.