Official FutureBit Apollo LTC Image and Support thread

[monkeyrocker]

Tried a be quiet! Pure Power 11 CM 600W PSU but so far no luck getting the Apollo going.
Connected pins so it can start and PSU fan starts spinning. LAN-port leds turn on (orange, green) and the Apollo fan starts with a few spins but stops immediately, no front led light.
It will do this every time when PSU turns on so seems like some kind of protection from the PSU that shut its off. Maybe somebody has a better idea or experience?
With the Apollo attached and pins connected should normally be enough?
If nothing works I might just get one of the PSUs that seemed to work for others.

Do the LAN port LEDs flash a few times? If they come on and stay on that means its not booting from SD card (when it boots properly the LAN LEDs will flash a few times).

If they don't flash that means either your using an incompatible SD card, or something went wrong with your SD card image download/flash.

Ok, leds do stay on but don't blink. I'll try writing sd cards again without using dd. Tried both a 32 Gb and 64 Gb sandisk extreme plus, but both created in the same way with dd so makes sense to try different way or even using cheaper different card. Thanks, I'll report back.

Yea just use etcher it’s easy and gets the job done. You might be writing to a partition with dd and not the whole disk.

Yeah, used etcher and all working fine now, steady 100+ Mh/s, very nice!

[stef942]

Definitely agree with that. And for some reason it is better in Wattage, I don't have below 130W when Fan auto displaying 630 RPM:
- Fan auto ≈ 630-2040 RPM -> 130-133W ≈ 66°
- Fan 10% ≈ 1425 RPM -> 129W ≈ 56°

Same for me with fan at 15% i save 30W on 3 units and temp is between 35-40° (with outside temp at 2°)

[crypto_curious]

Definitely agree with that. And for some reason it is better in Wattage, I don't have below 130W when Fan auto displaying 630 RPM:
- Fan auto ≈ 630-2040 RPM -> 130-133W ≈ 66°
- Fan 10% ≈ 1425 RPM -> 129W ≈ 56°

Same for me with fan at 15% i save 30W on 3 units and temp is between 35-40° (with outside temp at 2°)

Wow dude that's awesome!  I have mine running at 15% as well, temps 52-54° C, ambient is around 13° C

[jstefanop]

Definitely agree with that. And for some reason it is better in Wattage, I don't have below 130W when Fan auto displaying 630 RPM:
- Fan auto ≈ 630-2040 RPM -> 130-133W ≈ 66°
- Fan 10% ≈ 1425 RPM -> 129W ≈ 56°

Same for me with fan at 15% i save 30W on 3 units and temp is between 35-40° (with outside temp at 2°)

Wow dude that's awesome!  I have mine running at 15% as well, temps 52-54° C, ambient is around 13° C

Yea its a trade off between "quietness" and "efficiency". The cooler an ASIC chip runs the more efficient it is due to thermal effects on the silicon/transistors.

For stock settings I chose being quiet over absolute efficiency, since most casual users running these on their desks wont care about an extra 10-20 watts.

Btw you don't have to really worry about "high" temps on these ASICS, they are rated for 90C continuous operation (this translates to about 80C pcb temp which is what is reported by the miner). 

[philipma1957]

Okay dropped fan to 10%  rpm = 1575

temps are:

 67.88c miner
 62.92c mcu

[crypto_curious]

Definitely agree with that. And for some reason it is better in Wattage, I don't have below 130W when Fan auto displaying 630 RPM:
- Fan auto ≈ 630-2040 RPM -> 130-133W ≈ 66°
- Fan 10% ≈ 1425 RPM -> 129W ≈ 56°

Same for me with fan at 15% i save 30W on 3 units and temp is between 35-40° (with outside temp at 2°)

Wow dude that's awesome!   I have mine running at 15% as well, temps 52-54° C, ambient is around 13° C

Yea its a trade off between "quietness" and "efficiency". The cooler an ASIC chip runs the more efficient it is due to thermal effects on the silicon/transistors.

For stock settings I chose being quiet over absolute efficiency, since most casual users running these on their desks wont care about an extra 10-20 watts.

Btw you don't have to really worry about "high" temps on these ASICS, they are rated for 90C continuous operation (this translates to about 80C pcb temp which is what is reported by the miner).  

What is thermal cut-out temperature? When my miner stopped this morning, it was really hot to touch, I bet fan was spinning at 5% or less for minutes and minutes without knowing it's too hot, it overheat and shut down. Unless there is different reason but I don't know what.

[jstefanop]

Definitely agree with that. And for some reason it is better in Wattage, I don't have below 130W when Fan auto displaying 630 RPM:
- Fan auto ≈ 630-2040 RPM -> 130-133W ≈ 66°
- Fan 10% ≈ 1425 RPM -> 129W ≈ 56°

Same for me with fan at 15% i save 30W on 3 units and temp is between 35-40° (with outside temp at 2°)

Wow dude that's awesome!   I have mine running at 15% as well, temps 52-54° C, ambient is around 13° C

Yea its a trade off between "quietness" and "efficiency". The cooler an ASIC chip runs the more efficient it is due to thermal effects on the silicon/transistors.

For stock settings I chose being quiet over absolute efficiency, since most casual users running these on their desks wont care about an extra 10-20 watts.

Btw you don't have to really worry about "high" temps on these ASICS, they are rated for 90C continuous operation (this translates to about 80C pcb temp which is what is reported by the miner).  

What is thermal cut-out temperature? When my miner stopped this morning, it was really hot to touch, I bet fan was spinning at 5% or less for minutes and minutes without knowing it's too hot, it overheat and shut down. Unless there is different reason but I don't know what.

Thermal cutoff is set at 84C.

[crypto_curious]

Thermal cutoff is set at 84C.

Thanks. Is thermal cutoff software controlled?
So in theory, in future update, thermal cutoff can stop mining, spin the fans, and when temperature is back to normal, mining is resumed?
Or it's hardware based and unit just die and I need to power cycle it to make it work again?

[roudaille]

Hi,

do you think guys this PSU enough to supply 2 Apollos in Turbo mode?
https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Power/Plug-Type/RMx-Series/p/CP-9020178-NA

As far as I understood, 2 6-pin PCIE connectors are needed and should drawn around ≈ 250W

[Underwaterbasketcoin]

Okay dropped fan to 10%  rpm = 1575

temps are:

 67.88c miner
 62.92c mcu

I have my fan set to auto

65.50 miner
61.53 mcu
it's running in a room that's 10c

[philipma1957]

Hi,

do you think guys this PSU enough to supply 2 Apollos in Turbo mode?
https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Power/Plug-Type/RMx-Series/p/CP-9020178-NA

As far as I understood, 2 6-pin PCIE connectors are needed and should drawn around ≈ 250W

I would buy this  it is 5 bucks cheaper it is a 750 not a 650  and if you do the rebate  it is 25 dollars cheaper

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139233





or  upgrade to these

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139203

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139204


lastly I am in NJ I have multiple used psu's sitting in boxes that will work for you even cheaper

[jstefanop]

Thermal cutoff is set at 84C.

Thanks. Is thermal cutoff software controlled?
So in theory, in future update, thermal cutoff can stop mining, spin the fans, and when temperature is back to normal, mining is resumed?
Or it's hardware based and unit just die and I need to power cycle it to make it work again?

No, thermal cutoffs are last line of defense, everything is shutdown if those are reached....that usually means something is wrong so its not a good idea to start it up again.

For example someone might have overvoltated/overclocked and set fan to 10% by mistake...or worse the fan fails or is not working properly....this will trigger a thermal cutoff eventually and you don't want to be stuck in a loop restarting, overheating and shutting down the miner every 10 min.

There is software hardware control, and in case the MCU fails there is a backup onboard cutoff which the regulator monitors to keep the thing from burning up.

[jstefanop]

Hi,

do you think guys this PSU enough to supply 2 Apollos in Turbo mode?
https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Power/Plug-Type/RMx-Series/p/CP-9020178-NA

As far as I understood, 2 6-pin PCIE connectors are needed and should drawn around ≈ 250W

For that price just buy a server PSU with breakout board. Check the link below...you will get a 1.2kw PSU thats platinum efficiency rated (94% thats about as high as you can get for a PSU) for way cheaper price.

This thing can power 5 apollos in turbo mode.

https://www.parallelminer.com/product/1200-watt-platinum-innosilicon-a10-ethmaster-power-supply-kit/

And they are selling these (slightly less efficient 750 watt version) for dirt cheap...just the breakout board used to cost $35

https://www.parallelminer.com/product/hp-750-watt-gpu-mining-power-supply-16-ports-with-10-cables/

[roudaille]

thank you philipma1957 and jstefanop for advises. Need more Apollos now and Turbo mode turned on

[tom69]

My Apollo is not powering up.  I had it up and running and was in the dashboard.   I went to settings and scanned for WIFI.  Once it found my WIFI, I connected it.  The Apollo never connected and so I restarted it.  It has not powered on since.  When I power up the EVEA 500, the Apollo fan turns for a second but the yellow light never comes on.  Any suggestions?  Is there a reboot on the Apollo?   

[wttbs]

My Apollo is not powering up.  I had it up and running and was in the dashboard.   I went to settings and scanned for WIFI.  Once it found my WIFI, I connected it.  The Apollo never connected and so I restarted it.  It has not powered on since.  When I power up the EVEA 500, the Apollo fan turns for a second but the yellow light never comes on.  Any suggestions?  Is there a reboot on the Apollo?   

try this: power off PSU, disconnect all cables from the Apollo, wait 1 minute, connect them again and powered your PSU.

[drakedave]

Hi,I'm a newbie here and I've got just received my Apollo and I'm really thrilled to make it work  .

I did everything with the SD Card and it seems to have been burned right.

I have an issue and I'm not able to power up my Apollo : I'm using a brand new Egva G3. I plugged a VGA cable in VGA 1 in the EVGA and put the end of the  6+2 cable into one of the power inlet in the Apollo (I'm using only the 6 part cable, the +2 is floating in the air next to it). But it doesn't power up.

What did I do wrong ?

Thank you for your answers !! Dave

[stef942]

you have to short PS ON signal to GND in your 24pin connector like that :



with your psu switch off of course

[drakedave]

you have to short PS ON signal to GND in your 24pin connector like that :

https://www.boulineau.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/connecteur-PC-300x179.png

with your psu switch off of course

Ok thanks, I just tried that now and Apollo is starting few seconds (fan spins and stops) but it won’t go any further: it stays with the 2 lights of Ethernet solid and not blinking. Not light in the front. I tried to unplug everything wait for 1 minute and plug everything back, but I get the same behavior.

[stef942]

what is the size of yr sdcard and how did you burnt it?