GekkoScience BM1384 Project Development Discussion

[sidehack]

Good news, everyone! Looks like money has arrived, which means I can indeed afford to send out sticks to testers today. I'll at least be shipping out sticks to the guys in the US, but two or three are overseas so theirs might not go out until tomorrow.

What this means is, if those are received, reviewed and generally approved, I can open up the order queue and start taking in money to fund the batch. This is good news.

I'm also today working on the Amita PCB. I'll probably try to finish it today, and maybe grind out one other thing I want to prototype before sending off for test boards. This week will be pretty manufacturing-heavy, I think, so I likely won't get 18-chip board tested for a few days at least.

[alh]

Just to refresh my memory, is the Amita a 2-chip USB "stick" or something else? Is that a "string" design in terms of power and such?

Sounds like good news!

[TheRealSteve]

Just to refresh my memory, is the Amita a 2-chip USB "stick" or something else? Is that a "string" design in terms of power and such?

That search field in the top right still works... entering 'Amita' yields answers to your questions:

Compac and Amita sticks.

the point of the Amita is to demonstrate string topology.

[philipma1957]

Just to refresh my memory, is the Amita a 2-chip USB "stick" or something else? Is that a "string" design in terms of power and such?

That search field in the top right still works... entering 'Amita' yields answers to your questions:

Compac and Amita sticks.

the point of the Amita is to demonstrate string topology.

Amita can do 2x the hash with 2 chips about  24gh a stick they will pull 2x the power   so instead of .33 x 12 = 4 watts they would be .33 x 24 = 8 watts.

so those are high freq 218.75 freq numbers.

lower 150 freq you would do 16gh and maybe 5 or 5.33 watts a stick.


So a sturdy hub or a usb bridge will be needed for them.

My hubs have some bridges  4 or 5 So I could run 4 or 5 of them and 4 or 5 single chip devices.

Looking forward to more testing of these.

[sidehack]

I'll be shipping out everyone's sticks tomorrow. We're a bit short on packing material.

The other thing I want to work on this week is a stud hub. I mentioned previously we're toying with a 7-port unnecessarily-beefy hub that can take in 6-28VDC and provide something like 1.5A per port, and I think I can conjure up a prototype PCB design this week. It'd be useful for a lot more things than just stickminers.

[Mikestang]

The other thing I want to work on this week is a stud hub. I mentioned previously we're toying with a 7-port unnecessarily-beefy hub that can take in 6-28VDC and provide something like 1.5A per port, and I think I can conjure up a prototype PCB design this week. It'd be useful for a lot more things than just stickminers.

Are you going to use a multi TT chip?  Supposedly some USBs have issues on single TT chip hubs.

[philipma1957]

I'll be shipping out everyone's sticks tomorrow. We're a bit short on packing material.

The other thing I want to work on this week is a stud hub. I mentioned previously we're toying with a 7-port unnecessarily-beefy hub that can take in 6-28VDC and provide something like 1.5A per port, and I think I can conjure up a prototype PCB design this week. It'd be useful for a lot more things than just stickminers.

would love to see it. would be a good companion piece.  and see 2x duty as a tablet charging device.

[AJRGale]

Come on, guys, I am almost ready to buy 42 of that sticks (probably even 49 - not sure whether we have 6 or 7 7-port USB hubs) on approbation. 

To save me trouble I'll probably end up just selling on the forums here. I reckon if someone else wants to list on eBay that's fine with me, but you'll have to remember there's no bulk discounts.

If the first 600 sell out super fast, I'll definitely look into a second batch. It's going to depend pretty heavily on chip sourcing though.

Are they available yet ?? 

remember, the more you beg, the longer it takes

As soon as people stop asking that question.

[TheAnalogKid]

I'll be shipping out everyone's sticks tomorrow. We're a bit short on packing material.

The other thing I want to work on this week is a stud hub. I mentioned previously we're toying with a 7-port unnecessarily-beefy hub that can take in 6-28VDC and provide something like 1.5A per port, and I think I can conjure up a prototype PCB design this week. It'd be useful for a lot more things than just stickminers.

Man, if you could replicate something like this for cheaper it'd be awesome:

http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/Tripp-Lite-16-Port-USB-Sync-Charging-Hub-Tablet-Smartphone-Ipad-Iphone-TAA/3509504.aspx?cm_cat=GoogleBase&cm_ite=3509504&cm_pla=NA-NA-TRI_US&cm_ven=ShoppingFeeds&ef_id=U@EYGAAABTojGmXq:20150630013117:s&gclid=CjwKEAjw2cOsBRD3xNbRp5eQxzYSJADZGYbzo8b9NveIFUnvLEAUVzFHOB7OQNv6iBNODPAj9QVRjRoCyprw_wcB

I've gotten as much as 4 iPads, 2 iPhones, a Nook tablet and 2 USB battery packs (7,000MaH and 8,000MaH) all going at the same time with no issues.  A little loud with the tiny fans it comes with, but I pulled them out and it runs fine on ambient cooling.  Then again, if you're powering 16 stickminers on it, you'll be using more fans anyways so it probably won't make a difference in the overall noise level.

[sidehack]

I probably could, but I don't want to. That thing run on mains? Mine would run in a car, or off a 12V or 24V solar panel, or whatever. I kinda like working with DC when I can. A built-in mains supply would remove a conversion step, but it would also either require some additional certifications and a lot more testing on the design, or sourcing an existing PSU which is probably made in China from garbage parts. And also probably a lot less fun. If the 7-port with internal regulation works well enough (by the way, it'll have a barrel plug for direct 5V in or, if you're using the high-volt input, an aux 5V out) maybe I'll look into a bigger thing like that, provided I can find a balls-out 5V supply I don't consider a fire hazard.

[philipma1957]

I probably could, but I don't want to. That thing run on mains? Mine would run in a car, or off a 12V or 24V solar panel, or whatever. I kinda like working with DC when I can. A built-in mains supply would remove a conversion step, but it would also either require some additional certifications and a lot more testing on the design, or sourcing an existing PSU which is probably made in China from garbage parts. And also probably a lot less fun. If the 7-port with internal regulation works well enough (by the way, it'll have a barrel plug for direct 5V in or, if you're using the high-volt input, an aux 5V out) maybe I'll look into a bigger thing like that, provided I can find a balls-out 5V supply I don't consider a fire hazard.

I would prefer a pcie jack and just plug in an atx pus

even a 4 pin molex.  but thats just me.

[sidehack]

A self-contained unit wouldn't be a bad idea when you're talking something that big, and the potential efficiency gain of a single conversion step instead of two (or technically two instead of three if you have active PFC) is not nothing. The 7-port ("Project Aardwolf") will probably have a six-pin on it as a power-in option.

[philipma1957]

A self-contained unit wouldn't be a bad idea when you're talking something that big, and the potential efficiency gain of a single conversion step instead of two (or technically two instead of three if you have active PFC) is not nothing. The 7-port ("Project Aardwolf") will probably have a six-pin on it as a power-in option.

that would be nice.  I am using a plat psu.  I could not use the stud hubs that I have  and use my plat psu.  it has spare pcie plugs as I don't use a video card just the intel graphics.

I would save quite a bit of power if I directly plug the psu into the new hub you make.

[TheAnalogKid]

I probably could, but I don't want to. That thing run on mains? Mine would run in a car, or off a 12V or 24V solar panel, or whatever. I kinda like working with DC when I can. A built-in mains supply would remove a conversion step, but it would also either require some additional certifications and a lot more testing on the design, or sourcing an existing PSU which is probably made in China from garbage parts. And also probably a lot less fun. If the 7-port with internal regulation works well enough (by the way, it'll have a barrel plug for direct 5V in or, if you're using the high-volt input, an aux 5V out) maybe I'll look into a bigger thing like that, provided I can find a balls-out 5V supply I don't consider a fire hazard.

It's a 200w internal PSU, runs on standard 110, standard c13 (or is it c14? I can never remember which end is which) cable.  I looked up the unit at some point, was trying to find its stable operating temps (to see if it could run fanless), but can't find the link ATM.   Very simple insides, I might be able to get it out of the rack and pull the top cover for some pics, let me see. 

[sidehack]

I can imagine pretty well what its innards look like. Things like that are usually pretty straightforward. If I were building with an internal PSU it'd have to run off at least 240V, preferably active PFC but for the power levels likely a high-quality passive might be just as good and run a bit cooler. There's a few brands of capacitors I'd very specifically avoid (couple years of doing refurb full-time, I probably have 100lb of failed capacitors running around I've thought about boxing up and mailing back to the manufacturers with a thank you note for keeping me employed) which probably rules out a lot of the cheapos readily available options. Y'all know what I'm talking about.

Anyways, for now I'm going to focus on miners, and the USB hub as envisioned, and also the PSU interfaces and hosting and consulting that I'm already doing.

[Rabinovitch]

A little promotion at Russian BTC-community's website bits.media, by your leave:

https://forum.bits.media/index.php?/topic/14460-proekt-bm1384-ot-gekkoscience/?view=getnewpost

 

[philipma1957]

A little promotion at Russian BTC-community's website bits.media, by your leave:

https://forum.bits.media/index.php?/topic/14460-proekt-bm1384-ot-gekkoscience/?view=getnewpost

 

my workspace is in Russia cool!

well a photo of my workspace and sidehacks usb stick is in Russia still pretty cool!

[sidehack]

I'll be honest, I have no idea what that says.

[daddyfatsax]

I'll be honest, I have no idea what that says.

"So, comrade. sidehack and novak developed SHA-256 miner form factor USB-stick-based chips BM1384 (the same ones that form the basis of miners S5). It is able to operate with efficiency about 0.33 W / Ghesh."

[sidehack]

That seems accurate. I approve.

Additionally, I got confirmation of stock from Bitmain and the chips are paid for. TXID f530b8bde269d1c2433e4603a6b4b0db753938fe32f4cb52518bb5f8abddb5b6

I'll be sending out I think nine sticks this afternoon, eight to the testers and one to German guy.