Open Source Bitcoin ASIC miner project that uses 2x BM1387 (Antminer S9)

[developeralgo]

that's great , i will give it a shot. Has anyone made a crack at the power delivery system ? to be coupled with it . Currently just checking JCLPCB Assembly , Does anyone or Skot or nonce know if the asembly needs to be on both sides or just the top side ?

Looked at the BOM csv in the bitaxePro  source files and there is a reference to a column " DK" . is that in reference to the parts/part numbers are being sourced from DigiKey?

[Skot]

that's great , i will give it a shot. Has anyone made a crack at the power delivery system ? to be coupled with it . Currently just checking JCLPCB Assembly , Does anyone or Skot or nonce know if the asembly needs to be on both sides or just the top side ?

The bitaxePro and Max are the same thing, a single BM1397 miner with a ESP32-C3 on board. Confusing naming, I apologize. It works for Apple though! Warning; I haven't assembled a bitaxeMax yet, so there could be problems. My PCBs are supposed to arrive the end of this week, so I should be able to test soon!

That's a good idea to have JCLPCB or PCBWay do the PCBA. The only part on the PCB bottom is the BM1397, so you could have your PCBA fab assemble just the top and then you can put your own bitcoin ASIC on the bottom. You probably want to order a stencil from JCLPCB for that bottom layer (bitaxePro-B_Paste.gbr) so you can get your solder paste on evenly. You'll also need a XY / Centroid file for the PCBA fab -- I'll generate that and add it to the repo today.

Both nonce and I have been working on power delivery. We have been looking at the TI TPS40305 buck regulator as a candidate. I put together a (one sided) PCB based on the TI reference design; https://github.com/skot/TPS40305_Supply but I have not yet tested this -- I should have parts and boards by the end of the week.

Looked at the BOM csv in the bitaxePro  source files and there is a reference to a column " DK" . is that in reference to the parts/part numbers are being sourced from DigiKey?

yup! I do that to streamline my ordering process. If you look at the part attributes in KiCad you can find the MPN too.

[developeralgo]

Thanks for the great explanation and help .

Looked at ESP32-C3-Devkit-02 but it does not look as if it would be able to run an OS like Linux distro for a self-cointained mini miner. Even with a scaled down or minimal linux distro. Do you have a linux distro in mind that can be used on ESP32-C3-Devkit-02 ?

How about just using a single Raspberry Pi 4 with 8GB and WiFi to drive a fleet of about 15 BitaxeMax if each has its own power supply? if ESP32-C3-Devkit-02 can work per bitaxeMax that would fantastic

[Skot]

Thanks for the great explanation and help .

Looked at ESP32-C3-Devkit-02 but it does not look as if it would be able to run an OS like Linux distro for a self-cointained mini miner. Even with a scaled down or minimal linux distro. Do you have a linux distro in mind that can be used on ESP32-C3-Devkit-02 ?

How about just using a single Raspberry Pi 4 with 8GB and WiFi to drive a fleet of about 15 BitaxeMax if each has its own power supply? if ESP32-C3-Devkit-02 can work per bitaxeMax that would fantastic

I don't think linux is necessary for a small miner like this. The plan is to make essentially a simplified version of cgminer that will run on the ESP32 in FreeRTOS, but I haven't made a ton of progress on that yet.

The bitaxe and the bitaxeMax both have serial ports that you could use with a (1.8V) USB-Serial adapter if you want to connect to a RPi. It should work with a slightly modified version of the Gekkoscience cgminer.

[Mcpepe]

I found an interesting project about creating your own ASIC using two BM1387 chips. The cool thing about it is that it's all open source: KiCad design files, BoM, software, etc. Basically an Open Hardware project.

https://i.imgur.com/At4hou9.jpg

Github with sources here: https://github.com/skot/bitaxe

Here's a reddit discussion about it: https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinMining/comments/uymwj3/experimental_bm1387_bitcoin_mining_machine

It's not finished yet, but it's something interesting to have a look if you're planning to make your own ASIC miner, or you want to help create an Open Source one.

Also, the person who created this is now looking to make it work with cgminer:

I’ll see if I can get the cgminer modified for the newpac to talk to the bitaxe

This would be great to tinker with, specially with cgminer.

Cool! what a great project. I'm going to study to make some breadboard.

As a controller before an esp32 is not a Raspberry Pi Zero better?

you thought of increasing the sequence of chips per plate, copying the original chaining

a greeting

[Skot]

Cool! what a great project. I'm going to study to make some breadboard.

As a controller before an esp32 is not a Raspberry Pi Zero better

The Raspberry Pi have a Cortex-A processor which is mostly for running Linux. I'm currently of the impression that's overkill for this miner. I'd like to try and have the miner software run in a RTOS for faster boot and lower power consumption. Of course, I haven't gotten anywhere with the firmware yet, so it might turn out too difficult.

I think the Raspberry Pi Pico W / RP2040 with it's dual core Cortex-M0 and wifi could work, but those were still hard to get when I started down this road. I'm also very intrigued about the open source RISCV core on the ESP32-C3. Seems like a good match for this open source hardware project.

you thought of increasing the sequence of chips per plate, copying the original chaining

Yes! All the time. There is a sweet spot somewhere with price and power consumption. I want to the bitaxe to overcome some of the barriers to entry on the Antminers, but still do some decent hashing.

[developeralgo]

ESP32-C3-DevKitC-02 is an entry-level development board based on ESP32-C3-WROOM-02, a general-purpose module with 4 MB SPI flash. This board integrates complete Wi-Fi and Bluetooth LE functions. I think according to specification It's a little powerful than Raspberry Pi Pico W with RP2040 ( single RISC-V @160 MHz vs 2 x Cortex-M0 @133 MHz ). For what we are trying to do , i think ESP32-C3-DevkitC-02 should work but i am not sure how to run FreeRTOS on the ESP32-C3-DevkitC-02 with cgminer. Anyone with experience please chime in

https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/latest/esp32c3/hw-reference/esp32c3/user-guide-devkitc-02.html

[developeralgo]

you thought of increasing the sequence of chips per plate, copying the original chaining

Yes! All the time. There is a sweet spot somewhere with price and power consumption. I want to the bitaxe to overcome some of the barriers to entry on the Antminers, but still do some decent hashing.

Skot or nonce, do you have a draft schematic for dual BM1397 or BM1398 or BM1398BB chips for bitaxeMAX as a reference? . I just started working on Dual BM1398BB schematic to see it would work with ESP32-C3-DevkitC-02 using your work as a reference.

[Skot]

Skot or nonce, do you have a draft schematic for dual BM1397 or BM1398 or BM1398BB chips for bitaxeMAX as a reference? . I just started working on Dual BM1398BB schematic to see it would work with ESP32-C3-DevkitC-02 using your work as a reference.

I have just started working on a quad BM1397, but I haven't finished the schematic much less tested it; https://github.com/skot/bitaxe/tree/max4 If you have any thoughts on this lemme know!

All we really have are these repair guides.
BM1397; https://www.zeusbtc.com/manuals/Antminer-S17-Hash-Board-Repair-Guide.asp
BM1398; https://www.zeusbtc.com/manuals/Antminer-S19-Pro-Hash-Board-Repair-Guide.asp

I am a bit hesitant to work with the BM1398, because it's like $10 more per IC, but only a tiny tiny bit more efficient than the BM1397.

[NotFuzzyWarm]

I am a bit hesitant to work with the BM1398, because it's like $10 more per IC, but only a tiny tiny bit more efficient than the BM1397.

A bigger problem is that you need the driver for the BM1398 to use it with miner software. Cgminer only supports up to the s17 chip and that is because Kano wrote the driver and put it into his latest update of cgminer for Sidehack to use with his Compac-F.

Btw: bfgminer as well as -ck's much older version (and last he personally had a hand in) of cgminer do NOT have a driver for the BM1397 chip much less one for the BM1398.

[developeralgo]

I am a bit hesitant to work with the BM1398, because it's like $10 more per IC, but only a tiny tiny bit more efficient than the BM1397.

A bigger problem is that you need the driver for the BM1398 to use it with miner software. Cgminer only supports up to the s17 chip and that is because Kano wrote the driver and put it into cgminer for Sidehack to use with his Compac-F.

Btw: bfgminer as well as -ck's much older version of cgminer do NOT have a driver for the BM1397 chip much less one for the BM1398.

Thanks . i was actually taking a look at the efficiency and power consumption graph for Bitmain chips



S17 Pro chips (144 Chips(BM1397) / Miner ) --- 270 - 350 GH/s per chip  @ 18W @ 7nm

S19 Pro chips (342 Chips(BM1398) / Miner ) --- 190 GH/s per chip @ 9W @ 7 nm

I think i will stick with BM1397 the efficiency is not that bad compared to that of BM1398.

As Skot mentioned if we can get  2 or 3 Chips per board coupled with a small power delivery system . if we can at least keep it below 65W for 3-chip(BM1397) board that would be nice.

[developeralgo]

Skot or nonce, do you have a draft schematic for dual BM1397 or BM1398 or BM1398BB chips for bitaxeMAX as a reference? . I just started working on Dual BM1398BB schematic to see it would work with ESP32-C3-DevkitC-02 using your work as a reference.

I have just started working on a quad BM1397, but I haven't finished the schematic much less tested it; https://github.com/skot/bitaxe/tree/max4 If you have any thoughts on this lemme know!

All we really have are these repair guides.
BM1397; https://www.zeusbtc.com/manuals/Antminer-S17-Hash-Board-Repair-Guide.asp
BM1398; https://www.zeusbtc.com/manuals/Antminer-S19-Pro-Hash-Board-Repair-Guide.asp

I am a bit hesitant to work with the BM1398, because it's like $10 more per IC, but only a tiny tiny bit more efficient than the BM1397.

After taking a deeper look at BM1398 i think we are better off with BM1397 in terms of price , efficiency and availability

[developeralgo]

Looking on Aliexpress for  ESP32-C3-DevkitC-02. There are a ton of ESP32 Devkit variants some are 30-Pins and others are 38-pins. The schematic for board says we need 30-pins  ESP32-C3-DevkitC-02. i see

ESP32 30Pin, ESP32-WROOM-32D(38pins), ESP32-WROOM-32D(38Pins)

Can say which will work with our design ? if you can provide the aliexpress link for ESP32-C3-DevkitC-02 that you got.

[Skot]

Looking on Aliexpress for  ESP32-C3-DevkitC-02. There are a ton of ESP32 Devkit variants some are 30-Pins and others are 38-pins. The schematic for board says we need 30-pins  ESP32-C3-DevkitC-02. i see

ESP32 30Pin, ESP32-WROOM-32D(38pins), ESP32-WROOM-32D(38Pins)

Can say which will work with our design ? if you can provide the aliexpress link for ESP32-C3-DevkitC-02 that you got.

Yeah, you’re right there are a ton of ESP32 devkits. For this first version I used the Espressif ESP32-C3 dev kit, ESP32-C3-DevkitC-02U. I got it from Digikey https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/espressif-systems/ESP32-C3-DEVKITC-02U/15199039 I’m sure you can find it on AliExpress, but you’ll have to sort through a lot of clones of varying compatibility.

I think in the future it makes more sense to just use the ESP32-C3-WROOM-02U module directly. It’s a SMD part and will be a bit more trouble to experiment with.

[developeralgo]

Looking on Aliexpress for  ESP32-C3-DevkitC-02. There are a ton of ESP32 Devkit variants some are 30-Pins and others are 38-pins. The schematic for board says we need 30-pins  ESP32-C3-DevkitC-02. i see

ESP32 30Pin, ESP32-WROOM-32D(38pins), ESP32-WROOM-32U(38Pins)

Can say which will work with our design ? if you can provide the aliexpress link for ESP32-C3-DevkitC-02 that you got.

Yeah, you’re right there are a ton of ESP32 devkits. For this first version I used the Espressif ESP32-C3 dev kit, ESP32-C3-DevkitC-02U. I got it from Digikey https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/espressif-systems/ESP32-C3-DEVKITC-02U/15199039 I’m sure you can find it on AliExpress, but you’ll have to sort through a lot of clones of varying compatibility.

I think in the future it makes more sense to just use the ESP32-C3-WROOM-02U module directly. It’s a SMD part and will be a bit more trouble to experiment with.

May be later down the road we should also look at the ESP32-WROOM-32D(38pins) Devkit, ESP32-WROOM-32U(38Pins) Devkit  which are cheaply available and are upgrades .

Later once we have ironed out everything, if we can source every part cheaply i have a long-term PCB manufacuring relationship with a few PCB Fab houses in China, HK & Taiwan , i can offer to manufacture everything at volume for an affordable cost for the community or each member can have it done themselves. Or if you have a different option , chime in , that would be great.

For those looking for ESP32-C3-DevkitC-02 here is the Aliexpress official Expressif store  and also from Digikey has been posted above by skot. Note the difference between 02 with integrated antenna and 02U with external antenna variants is only the maximum ambient operating temp (-40C to 85C  and -40C to 105C ) , everything else is the same
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/1100220184?spm=a2g0o.store_pc_home.pcShopHead_2001819947281.0

[developeralgo]

Finally ordered the PCB fab plus Assembly plus Stencil , ESP32-C3_devkitC-02U and BM1397AG chip. i will wait for everything to be delivered in 3 weeks before starting to test the hell out of it.

For Skot, Have you tested the TPS40305 power delivery  with BitaxeMax single chip yet? will it be part of a single complete board or  an Add-on daughter board ?

[n0nce]

Finally ordered the PCB fab plus Assembly plus Stencil , ESP32-C3_devkitC-02U and BM1397AG chip. i will wait for everything to be delivered in 3 weeks before starting to test the hell out of it.

For Skot, Have you tested the TPS40305 power delivery  with BitaxeMax single chip yet? will it be part of a single complete board or  an Add-on daughter board ?

Very nice! Excited to hear about your results.
I'll take out some time to get back on these projects very soon, as well; right now I still got to order my ('external') 0.8V power supply for powering 2 BM1387 hashboards.

[developeralgo]

Finally ordered the PCB fab plus Assembly plus Stencil , ESP32-C3_devkitC-02U and BM1397AG chip. i will wait for everything to be delivered in 3 weeks before starting to test the hell out of it.

For Skot, Have you tested the TPS40305 power delivery  with BitaxeMax single chip yet? will it be part of a single complete board or  an Add-on daughter board ?

Very nice! Excited to hear about your results.
I'll take out some time to get back on these projects very soon, as well; right now I still got to order my ('external') 0.8V power supply for powering 2 BM1387 hashboards.

Nonce or Skot ,  For the assembly of the top of bitaxeMax  that includes ESP32-C3-Devkit and BM1397AG chips  do you guys personally solder them by hand or you use an assembly service to do it. I am looking for a way to streamline the Complete parts order (Except the BM1397) at JLCPCB or PCBWAY or etc

1. Order all parts on JCLPCB or PCBWAY or any other fab house ( both JLCPCB/PCBWAY inventory and external globally sourced) --Note: Globally sourced parts are ordered by the Fab house and shipped to them for your assembly work.
2. Wait for all globally sourced parts required for the bitaxeMax board assembly to arrive at the Assembly factory (JLCPCB / PCBWAY  / others)
3. Place an order for PCB Fabrication with Assembly Service and choose or use the global pre-ordered parts that are now available for this  assembly work
4. Have the completed assembled boards shipped  for the final assembly of BM1397 chips on it ( Skot or Nonce -- do you know any assembly service that can do BM1397 chips & ESP32-C3-DevKitC-02 assembly in North America ? )
5. Test all the boards


i am trying to see if its possible to streamline every process to lower the costs as much as possible so that its affordable even at lower volume e.g 5 , 10 or even 50 fully assembled boards. if we can get the each complete production board cost below let's say below $50 or $60 or $70 or $80 not including taxes, duty and shipping that would fantastic. The lower the price & power consumption the better

[Skot]

May be later down the road we should also look at the ESP32-WROOM-32D(38pins) Devkit, ESP32-WROOM-32U(38Pins) Devkit  which are cheaply available and are upgrades .

I ended up with the ESP32-C3-WROOM-02 based devkit because I'm fascinated with the open source RISC-V core. I've been looking for a project to try it out on, and it looks capable enough for the bitaxe. I'm sure the other ESP32s (with the Tensilica Xtensa cores) could work fine too. And they seem to be cheaper?

Later once we have ironed out everything, if we can source every part cheaply i have a long-term PCB manufacuring relationship with a few PCB Fab houses in China, HK & Taiwan , i can offer to manufacture everything at volume for an affordable cost for the community or each member can have it done themselves. Or if you have a different option , chime in , that would be great.

Absolutely! That sounds like a great idea. What kind of quantity does it make sense to start at with your fab?

For those looking for ESP32-C3-DevkitC-02 here is the Aliexpress official Expressif store  and also from Digikey has been posted above by skot. Note the difference between 02 with integrated antenna and 02U with external antenna variants is only the maximum ambient operating temp (-40C to 85C  and -40C to 105C ) , everything else is the same
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/1100220184?spm=a2g0o.store_pc_home.pcShopHead_2001819947281.0

Wow, yeah I definitely didn't notice the 02/02U distinction! I guess once these arrive I'll have a few of both.

[Skot]

Finally ordered the PCB fab plus Assembly plus Stencil , ESP32-C3_devkitC-02U and BM1397AG chip. i will wait for everything to be delivered in 3 weeks before starting to test the hell out of it.

For Skot, Have you tested the TPS40305 power delivery  with BitaxeMax single chip yet? will it be part of a single complete board or  an Add-on daughter board ?

That's awesome, I'm excited to have you working on this as well!

I just got the first TPS40305_supply board put together today, and It seems to be working! I haven't tried it out under load yet, and I haven't put together a BitaxeMax yet. Hopefully that will happen this week, I'll keep you posted.