Kickstarter to set world record for Raspberry Pi Mining (closed)

[Bigun]

I'm going to try to setup a kickstarter campaign to set a world record on a Raspberry Pi for mining bitcoin.  Right now I estimate I can get 174 GH/s out of one Pi.  I plan on accomplishing this via the following plan:

Project is closed, please see last post for final update.

Equipment List:

• 1x Raspberry Pi (512 MB RAM)
• 1 x LCD shield for GH/s readout
• 16 x 7 Port USB hubs with an external power supply
• 98 x AntMiners
• 1 x Kill-a-watt meter for power usage readings
• Live stream for proof of world record being set

Conditions:

• All mining must be controlled by one (1) Raspberry Pi (512 MB model)
• Mining must occur for a continuous 168 hours (1 week) without interruption
• Mining must occur during a livestream for 168 hours (1 week) hours as proof

So?  Why are you here?
I'm bothering posting this because of some of the stigma the Raspberry Pi has gotten when it comes to running these USB miners.  With my extended background in electronics, computers, programming, and linux, I've been able to run my personal Raspberry Pi (the 256 MB model no less) at 9 GH/s for weeks on end with no issue (with two 7 ports hubs and 14 devices).  It's aggravating when I see someone setup 40+ watts of equipment without adequate power and then blame the hub or blame the pi, then they write them off and then just say, "You need a desktop/laptop".

So, I'm here to dispel those myths, actually... I'm going to outright try to destroy them by making just one Raspberry Pi rival full fledged ASIC boxes by pushing it to at least 174 GH/s and beyond.

Still have no idea why your here...
Fair enough, I'm posting this for a few reasons:

1)  To make people aware of the project who may have dismissed the Pi in the past to possibly reconsider it as an option in the future
2)  To get backers, so far the equipment needed is going to need about $4,500
3)  To get suggestions for rewards for potential backers
4)  To tap into a pool of experts who may have technical knowledge of the project who may be able to help beyond my skill set or workload

Wait, you could just keep the money/rig for yourself
My interest here lies mostly with the reputation of the Pi more than anything.  When the equipment is properly powered and supported, I believe about anything is possible.  Yes, the rig will be at my house, but will be property of the world record project.  Any mining done after any potential rewards given out will be done in a wallet specifically for this project.

Still, whats keeping you from scamming?
I'm open for suggestions on this one, I plan on livestreaming quite a bit, but it's still not enough proof for my tastes.

I'm not interested in funding
That's not a problem, if your interested in the project, any technical pointers you may be able to give, or just general interest in the project will be enough.

I'm not interested in any of this
Ummm.... then why did you read all of this?

Ok, say you set the record, then what about the equipment/mining after it's all done?
As I said earlier, a specific wallet will be setup just for the record setting and any mining after backer rewards have been met.  I plan on continuing to break records, by using bigger/better miners and larger compatible USB hubs, using any bitcoin or monies obtained to fund the next record break.  My next goal will be to locate a larger compatible hub and push the pi to the 300+ GH/s and beyond.  Any old equipment will be sold to fund the next step before asking for anymore backing.

Ok, I'm interested, how can I help
Right now, I'm:

• Finalizing an equipment list
• Halfway through doing a small scale test with personal equipment
• Starting on a reward list for backers
• Deciding if there's enough interest in the project to continue

And that's about it.  Anything you could contribute would be helpful, whether it be updates to suggested equipment, code changes on the Pi, or just expression of general interest.

You fool!  9 GH/s is a far cry from 174!!
This was before I really started to consider this project, I currently have 11 more AntMiners being shipped as I type to begin final small scale tests.  If all goes well, I'll be hashing at the rate of 25+ GH/s on a Pi with only two 7 port hubs.  *UPDATE*  Both the power supplies and the miners will be here today, I'll begin testing this evening.  Testing began!

Where is the kickstarter link?
There is none for right now, just asking for suggestions.  When things become solidified enough that I'm ready to start pushing, I'll start the project.

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[Photon939]

I ran 37 USB devices from a raspberry pi for a while. CPU can get swamped if you're not careful going much beyond that. The newer antminers are much faster per device so you can probably get a lot more hashrate without clogging up the pipes.

30 AMUs
5 BPM Blue Furys
1 BFL Little Single
1 BFL Jalapeno

Total of 62 GH/s

[Stinky_Pete]

If you are thinking of using those D-LINK 7 port hubs, then only 5 of the ports are suitable for USB miners.

I don't know if the Raspberry Pi has a similar restriction, but with with some machines running Windows, you can only chain 4 or 5 USB hubs together. I imagine it is dependent on the chipset used.

[Bigun]

If you are thinking of using those D-LINK 7 port hubs, then only 5 of the ports are suitable for USB miners.

I don't know if the Raspberry Pi has a similar restriction, but with with some machines running Windows, you can only chain 4 or 5 USB hubs together. I imagine it is dependent on the chipset used.

Those hubs will work fine with adequate power, I've been using all 7 ports without issue.

They do have a known restriction on the pi, you can only stack 1 hub underneath another.  So 1 hub connected to each port, then stack another hub to each of the available 14 ports, for a total of 98 ports.

BTW, if anyone knows a way around this without modifying the stock Pi, let me know.

[Bigun]

I ran 37 USB devices from a raspberry pi for a while. CPU can get swamped if you're not careful going much beyond that. The newer antminers are much faster per device so you can probably get a lot more hashrate without clogging up the pipes.

30 AMUs
5 BPM Blue Furys
1 BFL Little Single
1 BFL Jalapeno

Total of 62 GH/s

Did you have the shield attached running PiMiner?  What hubs/hub configuration did you use?

[leandrowar]

I ran 37 USB devices from a raspberry pi for a while. CPU can get swamped if you're not careful going much beyond that. The newer antminers are much faster per device so you can probably get a lot more hashrate without clogging up the pipes.

30 AMUs
5 BPM Blue Furys
1 BFL Little Single
1 BFL Jalapeno

Total of 62 GH/s

]

Is this stable? I mean, I tried once, but it started to not recognize all the miner that I had plugged on the USB hub

[Bigun]

I ran 37 USB devices from a raspberry pi for a while. CPU can get swamped if you're not careful going much beyond that. The newer antminers are much faster per device so you can probably get a lot more hashrate without clogging up the pipes.

30 AMUs
5 BPM Blue Furys
1 BFL Little Single
1 BFL Jalapeno

Total of 62 GH/s

]

Is this stable? I mean, I tried once, but it started to not recognize all the miner that I had plugged on the USB hub

These are the conversations I wanted this project to start.

It can be, it depends on the amperage your supplying to a USB hub.  If you have a 7 port hub with a 5volt/3amp power supply, don't expect to get more than 5 devices to work (0.5 amps @ 5 volts per devices = ~2.5amps), the 3 amp supply is meant to run at max only for a little while, so if you attach 6, it's only a matter of time before the power supply fizzles.  Use a 5volt/5+amp power supply, then it's a matter of how good your power supply is (quality) and if it can handle the load.  So far my experience has been that the hubs can handle it if it has the amperage to back it up.  I used two 5volt/4amp power supplies and was able to get away with using all 7 ports on both hubs for several weeks before both power supplies went kaput, I have some 5amps on order and should be at the house today.  The moment you begin to throttle back on the amperage, you begin to have issues like you described:  constant errors, devices not being recognized, unable to get devices to start mining, etc.

[Stinky_Pete]

I ran 37 USB devices from a raspberry pi for a while. CPU can get swamped if you're not careful going much beyond that. The newer antminers are much faster per device so you can probably get a lot more hashrate without clogging up the pipes.

30 AMUs
5 BPM Blue Furys
1 BFL Little Single
1 BFL Jalapeno

Total of 62 GH/s

]

Is this stable? I mean, I tried once, but it started to not recognize all the miner that I had plugged on the USB hub

These are the conversations I wanted this project to start.

It can be, it depends on the amperage your supplying to a USB hub.  If you have a 7 port hub with a 5volt/3amp power supply, don't expect to get more than 5 devices to work (0.5 amps @ 5 volts per devices = ~2.5amps), the 3 amp supply is meant to run at max only for a little while, so if you attach 6, it's only a matter of time before the power supply fizzles.  Use a 5volt/5+amp power supply, then it's a matter of how good your power supply is (quality) and if it can handle the load.  So far my experience has been that the hubs can handle it if it has the amperage to back it up.  I used two 5volt/4amp power supplies and was able to get away with using all 7 ports on both hubs for several weeks before both power supplies went kaput, I have some 5amps on order and should be at the house today.  The moment you begin to throttle back on the amperage, you begin to have issues like you described:  constant errors, devices not being recognized, unable to get devices to start mining, etc.

Ah, ha, the amperage is probably my problem. Useful to know. Thanks

[Stinky_Pete]

I would consider becoming a small backer (0.5-1.0BTC) approaching the project as not only interesting and fun to see, but as an investment. But the reward would have to include my money back in some way, within about 3 months, then perhaps a % of the profits (if any, if you can find a way to calculate them). Perhaps that's not the sort of deal you want to get involved with. I'm not very interested in the usual Kickstarter rewards like t-shirts and mugs.

[Bigun]

I ran 37 USB devices from a raspberry pi for a while. CPU can get swamped if you're not careful going much beyond that. The newer antminers are much faster per device so you can probably get a lot more hashrate without clogging up the pipes.

30 AMUs
5 BPM Blue Furys
1 BFL Little Single
1 BFL Jalapeno

Total of 62 GH/s

]

Is this stable? I mean, I tried once, but it started to not recognize all the miner that I had plugged on the USB hub

These are the conversations I wanted this project to start.

It can be, it depends on the amperage your supplying to a USB hub.  If you have a 7 port hub with a 5volt/3amp power supply, don't expect to get more than 5 devices to work (0.5 amps @ 5 volts per devices = ~2.5amps), the 3 amp supply is meant to run at max only for a little while, so if you attach 6, it's only a matter of time before the power supply fizzles.  Use a 5volt/5+amp power supply, then it's a matter of how good your power supply is (quality) and if it can handle the load.  So far my experience has been that the hubs can handle it if it has the amperage to back it up.  I used two 5volt/4amp power supplies and was able to get away with using all 7 ports on both hubs for several weeks before both power supplies went kaput, I have some 5amps on order and should be at the house today.  The moment you begin to throttle back on the amperage, you begin to have issues like you described:  constant errors, devices not being recognized, unable to get devices to start mining, etc.

Ah, ha, the amperage is probably my problem. Useful to know. Thanks

More than likely, buy one power supply and test before you go balls deep.

One more word of warning, be sure the power supply you buy is exactly 5 volt, positive polarity/center positive or you could ruin your hub.  The amperage is your only variable, the rest are constants (voltage, polarity).  Your looking for greater than 4 amps (I tested 4 amps with short lived success), so I'll be testing the 5 amps tonight and let you know how it goes.

[Bigun]

I would consider becoming a small backer (0.5-1.0BTC) approaching the project as not only interesting and fun to see, but as an investment. But the reward would have to include my money back in some way, within about 3 months, then perhaps a % of the profits (if any, if you can find a way to calculate them). Perhaps that's not the sort of deal you want to get involved with. I'm not very interested in the usual Kickstarter rewards like t-shirts and mugs.

I've got the know-how and technical skills to pull this off if this is possible, but I have no clue how to sort out how the backers would get paid back (no experience in financing, only project planning).  If anyone wants to take up that task, I can provide the needed stats to figure a fair and profitable investment return for backers and include it in the plan.

One thing I am worried about, is if there is some technical limitation I'm not seeing.  So far the only brick wall I keep seeing people hit is the amperage limitation.  AFAIK no one has gone beyond that.  Very tempted to build into the project plan some financing to "borrow" or "rent" antminers for testing to do a short term large scale test for a day or so.

Also, any ideas for naming this project?

[Bigun]

Let the testing begin!   

http://www.pwnedclips.com/stuff/pi/20140130_163002.jpg
http://www.pwnedclips.com/stuff/pi/20140130_162955.jpg
http://www.pwnedclips.com/stuff/pi/20140130_162947.jpg

[leandrowar]

Yes, could be na amperage problem... Im trying to solve the energy cost (or at least a part of it) in mining bitcoins, using some solar cell. Maybe one of my problems is it.

Anyone have tried it before?

[Bigun]

Yes, could be na amperage problem... Im trying to solve the energy cost (or at least a part of it) in mining bitcoins, using some solar cell. Maybe one of my problems is it.

Anyone have tried it before?

I think you have the wrong context behind amperage.  Not the source of power coming from the facility (outlet), but the power coming from the device being plugged into the wall.

[Photon939]

I ran 37 USB devices from a raspberry pi for a while. CPU can get swamped if you're not careful going much beyond that. The newer antminers are much faster per device so you can probably get a lot more hashrate without clogging up the pipes.

30 AMUs
5 BPM Blue Furys
1 BFL Little Single
1 BFL Jalapeno

Total of 62 GH/s

]

Is this stable? I mean, I tried once, but it started to not recognize all the miner that I had plugged on the USB hub

These are the conversations I wanted this project to start.

It can be, it depends on the amperage your supplying to a USB hub.  If you have a 7 port hub with a 5volt/3amp power supply, don't expect to get more than 5 devices to work (0.5 amps @ 5 volts per devices = ~2.5amps), the 3 amp supply is meant to run at max only for a little while, so if you attach 6, it's only a matter of time before the power supply fizzles.  Use a 5volt/5+amp power supply, then it's a matter of how good your power supply is (quality) and if it can handle the load.  So far my experience has been that the hubs can handle it if it has the amperage to back it up.  I used two 5volt/4amp power supplies and was able to get away with using all 7 ports on both hubs for several weeks before both power supplies went kaput, I have some 5amps on order and should be at the house today.  The moment you begin to throttle back on the amperage, you begin to have issues like you described:  constant errors, devices not being recognized, unable to get devices to start mining, etc.

I used the Rosewill RHB-500 hubs, connected to a larger power supply. Various CGminer/BFGminer revisions netted varying degrees of stability. Longest run was somewhere around 40 days of uptime. I created a custom arduino circuit to monitor the pi for lockups, then trigger a relay to short the reset pins on the pi for a hard reboot. Worked wonders for my downtime problems.

[Bigun]

Slick setup.  Have you tried using watchdog instead of the arduino relay?  One less thing to break.

How many amps were you pumping to those 10 port hubs?

[Photon939]

Slick setup.  Have you tried using watchdog instead of the arduino relay?  One less thing to break.

How many amps were you pumping to those 10 port hubs?

IIRC the author of Minepeon said that the watchdog is enabled on the pi, but the scripts that auto-restart the mining process seem to sometimes not work properly when the process exits with strange errors (probably USB related) Bitcoin has gotten me at least somewhat capable of navigating linux but I'm not up to the level of modifying minepeon's scripts or anything yet.

The Arduino just adds another layer of uptime protection. Also power quality to the pi is an absolute must. Most of the flaky-ness I've seen with my pi's is usually related to bad quality micro-usb cables, wires too long, bumping connections accidentally, etc.  Might even be a good idea to solder an extra filter cap onto the 5v/Gnd pins on the GPIO header.

Current draw was 5-6A per hub, which is pretty much the limit for the barrel jack connectors. For better stability soldering wires directly to the pcb would probably be a good idea. Block erupters tend to start flaking out if the bus drops below 4.3-4.4vdc

[Bigun]

12 hours into testing and only 1 hardware error and 9 rejected shares, no hiccups yet.  Once this thing generates enough BTC, I'm going ot buy another hub and chain the two I have to it and test that.  If that goes well, then I see no reason this wouldn't work.

[Bigun]

Slick setup.  Have you tried using watchdog instead of the arduino relay?  One less thing to break.

How many amps were you pumping to those 10 port hubs?

IIRC the author of Minepeon said that the watchdog is enabled on the pi, but the scripts that auto-restart the mining process seem to sometimes not work properly when the process exits with strange errors (probably USB related) Bitcoin has gotten me at least somewhat capable of navigating linux but I'm not up to the level of modifying minepeon's scripts or anything yet.

The Arduino just adds another layer of uptime protection. Also power quality to the pi is an absolute must. Most of the flaky-ness I've seen with my pi's is usually related to bad quality micro-usb cables, wires too long, bumping connections accidentally, etc.  Might even be a good idea to solder an extra filter cap onto the 5v/Gnd pins on the GPIO header.

Current draw was 5-6A per hub, which is pretty much the limit for the barrel jack connectors. For better stability soldering wires directly to the pcb would probably be a good idea. Block erupters tend to start flaking out if the bus drops below 4.3-4.4vdc

I've had no issues with watchdog yet, I've seen it reboot once when I was using the 4 amp USB power supplies, but I agree with the extra layer of protection for keeping it running for profit.  But for this world record, I can see it helping smear results.

Never knew about the 5-6 amp limit on barrel connectors, good to know. 

As far as minepeon goes, I like to manage stuff via good ol' SSH.  Far more secure, and more control.  Just a preference thing though.

I may use those 10 port USB hubs for the next goal though, probably will need 7 amp supplies at that point.

[Bigun]

I think the quicker way to get this ball rolling would be to go some kind of scheduled Google Hangout and discuss reward details and such, maybe answer a few questions.  It also helps to put a face with the thread owner.  Anyone interested in funding or just want to see the beginnings of this project, PM me and we'll exchange google usernames.

[Stinky_Pete]

Where are you in the world? I'm from the UK.

[Bigun]

Where are you in the world? I'm from the UK.

Eastern United States, Eastern Standard Time -5:00, sometime this weekend sound good?

[Bigun]

3 Days into testing, no issues.  38 hardware errors (less than 0.01%) running at 28.8 GH/s.  Nearly have enough to purchase a hub with  BTC.

[Bigun]

Last update, the pi is still running, hardware error rate less than 0.01%.

I'm selling the gear though, after some thought, I (at this time) can't invest my own money in this, and it seems I cannot get enough backers/interest in this project.

However, concerning the future of USB miners.  If it ever picks up interest again, you can likely use a pi as the mining medium with the right amperage and settings.