Specs on BFL Single power adapter?

[jamesg]

Well, I think we can count me out for the moment. Saving 10w on 11 singles 80Kwh for me over the course of a month which amounts to $5.68 or ~1.1 BTC. A month. I was thinking it would be fun to do this, but the cost seems a bit too high with the extra PSU ($220) and adapters ($250).

My money is best utilized elsewhere atm.

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[DeathAndTaxes]

Yeah that was my original thought.  Still a lot of work sweatshop work which is why I looked for an OEM.  However if you are interested go for it.  I am sure there is demand for a product.  I would be interested but not @ 4 BTC each.  

[DeathAndTaxes]

Well, I think we can count me out for the moment. Saving 10w on 11 singles 80Kwh for me over the course of a month which amounts to $5.68 or ~1.1 BTC. A month. I was thinking it would be fun to do this, but the cost seems a bit too high with the extra PSU ($220) and adapters ($250).

My money is best utilized elsewhere atm.

The quote was $25 for a 3x1 adapters.  I won't be ordering them as I was hoping they could supply them for $10 and I mark them up to $15. .  At $25 for cost there is no market and no profit for yours truly.  Still it wouldn't require 11 adapters to power 11 singles just 4.

[jamesg]

Well, I think we can count me out for the moment. Saving 10w on 11 singles 80Kwh for me over the course of a month which amounts to $5.68 or ~1.1 BTC. A month. I was thinking it would be fun to do this, but the cost seems a bit too high with the extra PSU ($220) and adapters ($250).

My money is best utilized elsewhere atm.

The quote was $25 for 3x1 adapters.  I won't be ordering them I was hoping they could supply them for $10 and I mark them up to $15. .  Still it wouldn't require 11 adapters to power 11 singles just 4.

I stand corrected.

[P_Shep]

I made a few for myself. Will have a few more to sell when I get round to soldering them.

[DeathAndTaxes]

Looks nice P_shep but how is that 4x1 adapter wired?

[rjk]

I made a few for myself. Will have a few more to sell when I get round to soldering them.

https://i.imgur.com/j2pjE.jpg

Very nice. I never considered using the EPS12V connector, because you could use it for a host system such as a cheap atom or VIA based mini-ITX board. And, if you are powering FPGAs other than BFL, you could even use one of these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812198016 for a total of 12 6 FPGA per 6-pin connector. (edit, brain dead, said 12 meant 6)

[P_Shep]

Looks nice P_shep but how is that 4x1 adapter wired?

Just wired to each of the 4 pairs as you would expect.

The 6-pin PCI-E has just 2 wired to the outer pairs.

[P_Shep]

Can see them here (as posted in the rigs thread!):


Using the 12v and 5v from the 4-pin peripheral connector to power the router and hub respectively.

All I need now is for my singles to arrive.


*twiddles thumbs*

*whistles*

*Scratches butt*


When they do, I'll have a nice ~5Gh/s 'rig' which can be plugged into any socket, pretty much anywhere - just need a wifi connection

[P_Shep]

ATX PSU's *should* fail safely... you've had one take out components too? 

[DeathAndTaxes]

I have never seen a high quality PSU kill downstream components unless abused or pushed beyond specs.  Honestly I haven't ever heard of any ATX PSU damaging components that wasn't related to user error or abuse.

In our datacenter we have $80,000 servers running 24/7/365 off power supplies (n+1 redundant).  Power supplies are designed to safely power a lot more than a couple thousand in FPGAs.  Your UPS idea is dubious.  What if it is the UPS not the PSU which fails?  Plus UPS don't really exist for DC loads at the price point you are looking at.  So you are talking about some kind of modding increasing the risk of failure.


Anything can happen but internal PSU failure that also protected downstream components is very remote.  If you really feel the need for supplemental protection get:
a) whole house surge arrestor (a real one)  <- still won't help in a direct strike hopefully your mains are underground
b) a dedicated circuit and outlet preferably with a locking connector to prevent accidental disconnection
c) line interactive UPS

the goal being to ensure the power into the PSU is perfectly clean.  Transients from upstream of the PSU are far more likely to cause damage than a failure of a PSU which results in internal unsafe voltage.

[Inaba]

I have trouble finding high enough capacity UPS units that don't cost more than it's worth to protect, though...

[DeathAndTaxes]

I have trouble finding high enough capacity UPS units that don't cost more than it's worth to protect, though...

For GPUs I agree but he is talking about ztex FPGAs.  At $250 per board (even in bulk) and 8W it is roughly $31 per watt.  One can get a UPS for 1% of total system cost. Sounds like a good investment to me.

Now GPUs  I wouldn't consider a UPS.  

[rjk]

I have never seen a high quality PSU kill downstream components unless abused or pushed beyond specs.  Honestly I haven't ever heard of any ATX PSU damaging components that wasn't related to user error or abuse.

+1, also insurance.

[rjk]

The internal protection in a PSU will not allow the output voltage to go out of spec, I.E., it will never be above or below its rated output. Therefore a "brownout" cannot happen on the 12v side, but such an event on the input will simply cause a shutdown.

[Inaba]

I have trouble finding high enough capacity UPS units that don't cost more than it's worth to protect, though...

For GPUs I agree but he is talking about ztex FPGAs.  At $250 per board (even in bulk) and 8W it is roughly $31 per watt.  One can get a UPS for 1% of total system cost. Sounds like a good investment to me.

Now GPUs  I wouldn't consider a UPS. 

I'm not sure I see how that matters, if he's loading down a 1200w PSU with 125 Zetex or 14 BFL units, the load is the same to the UPS.  Am I missing something?

[rjk]

I have trouble finding high enough capacity UPS units that don't cost more than it's worth to protect, though...

For GPUs I agree but he is talking about ztex FPGAs.  At $250 per board (even in bulk) and 8W it is roughly $31 per watt.  One can get a UPS for 1% of total system cost. Sounds like a good investment to me.

Now GPUs  I wouldn't consider a UPS. 

I'm not sure I see how that matters, if he's loading down a 1200w PSU with 125 Zetex or 14 BFL units, the load is the same to the UPS.  Am I missing something?

Probably that the loss in efficiency isn't much to worry about when the farm makes so much money during power outage. FWIW, I wouldn't bother with a UPS though, power is never out very long around here.

[DeathAndTaxes]

I'm not sure I see how that matters, if he's loading down a 1200w PSU with 125 Zetex or 14 BFL units, the load is the same to the UPS.  Am I missing something?

The cost of the equipment being protected.  GPU are cheaper and use more power which means a UPS will be more expensive and a higher % of total system cost.  An FPGA is more expensive and uses less power which means a UPS will be less expensive and a lower % of total system cost.

[DeathAndTaxes]

Probably that the loss in efficiency isn't much to worry about when the farm makes so much money during power outage. FWIW, I wouldn't bother with a UPS though, power is never out very long around here.

My thinking was just that since he is overly concerned about the quality of the power a line interactive UPS would ensure a very high quality input AC power.  Near perfect sinewave with the UPS boosting sags and absorbing spikes. 

[rjk]

Probably that the loss in efficiency isn't much to worry about when the farm makes so much money during power outage. FWIW, I wouldn't bother with a UPS though, power is never out very long around here.

My thinking was just that since he is overly concerned about the quality of the power a line interactive UPS would ensure a very high quality input AC power.  Near perfect sinewave with the UPS boosting sags and absorbing spikes. 

Ah yes I didn't consider that. A double-conversion UPS would certainly add protection at the cost of some efficiency (not sure how much though).