BFL Single air flow? | Bitcointalksearch.org

Gator-hex

hero member

Activity: 490

Merit: 500

Fans should always blow down into the heatsink, not only do they run cooler this way around they also keep the other components cool on the board cool too. This is especially important for VRMs/power modules.

Bigger fans = less noise. The design of the blades doesn't matter as much as a lower rotational speed for getting noise down. Getting extra number of blades in the fan improves CFM (airflow) for the same rotation speed.

If people want low noise miners I recommend the Bitfury chip stuff as they don't get very hot.
My Hex16B are running 92mm Arctic F9 (9 blade) 1800RPM 0.4 SONE 43CFM fans and they're quiet enough to be in the same room I watch TV.

foobar31

newbie

Activity: 15

Merit: 0

Just my 2 cents if people are still using this device and trying to mod it.

I tried to replace the default fans by others (which were not good enough in terms of pressure...) but it makes me discover something after re-mounting the default ones...
For me it appears that the flow direction has a high importance, you'll get better result if it goes from right to left when looking at the SC from the rear (where the power/usb connectors are).

With the default fans and an open box : 64°C +/- 1°C
In the wrong direction : 70°C +/- 2°C

Cheers

ewibit

legendary

Activity: 2955

Merit: 1049

I get always

Code:

hex2bin scan failed

with my LS and cgminer 3.8.x
is this perhaps an issue with temperature?
I have to unplug the device and in a few minutes replug and with luck it is working again (a little time...)
TIA

rupy

hero member

Activity: 725

Merit: 503

Ok, last update I hope (is anyone even reading this crap?) so I now choke the two top fans (with resistors to reduce noise) and keep the side fan full speed. It seems the side fan position is the secret sauce to cooling these, it induces an airflow of fresh air between the heatsinks through the slim gap between the sinks and the top fans. ~~Getting taller risers or cutting the sinks a little (need to keep pressure on the whole side of the PCB to cool other stuff) would maybe perform miracles.~~ That did NOT work, hotter and more turbulent... Anyhow even more silent now and only 1 degree warmer!

rupy

hero member

Activity: 725

Merit: 503

Received my RMA Single, something has changed, lots of components are different and it runs MUCH cooler, 62C with thermal pads!! Only 55GH but definetly an improvement. Running the BFL PSU for 4 days until I move the Single to my house, boy that PSU is some nasty peice of hardware, hope it will last 4 days, doubt it.

Edit: cracked the PSU open after 10 minutes of soul scorching noise. Cooling it with another silent fan instead.

rupy

hero member

Activity: 725

Merit: 503

Ok, an update, you need to replace the thermal pad with thermal grease... the chips are completely leveled, at least on my machine, 10 degrees difference!!!

Then for silent cooling it's this side that needs it. I chooked the sideways fan so it doesn't blow on the top fans, you could try with a smaller fan that doesn't reach over the top too. Edit: definetly go for 92mm fan for the side fan.

The little black thing on the right ledge is a spider that likes the miner. It lives next to it!

It's not sleep quiet, but it's almost work quiet, not in the same room, but at least it keeps the neighbors from complaining.

Too bad BFL "ran out" of heatpipes!

EDIT: The position of the side fan is dangereous, I suspect it blows directly at the temperature sensor therefore tricking the single it is cooler than it actually is. I burned 1 chip for good and 3 more that needs cooling before booting to work! Damn BFL for not delivering heatpipes so we could cool these quietly!!!

The chips are all back, seems the firmware is shutting things down if they get too hot; even across reboots!?

rupy

hero member

Activity: 725

Merit: 503

I used BTC, but I used mined BTC so "no problem". I bought FPGA, so I'm still ROI all-in-all, even after ordering BFL. Now I'm just trying to cool these silently so they can heat my house, going noctua today, fingers crossed!

Edit: Noctua 92mm on top blowing down and usb fan pushing sideways (only required because aluminium heatsinks are directional), 79 degrees, 57GH. And silent enough to not go insane while sitting next to it.

Damn BFL for replacing the heatpipes with aluminium heatsinks though (and not even replying on queries about buying heatpipes), could have made it completely silent with those!

I'm going to start project "turn heatsinks 90 degrees". Need to make new screwholes...

Easy2Mine

hero member

Activity: 854

Merit: 500

einc.io

Quote from: rupy on November 11, 2013, 05:00:53 PM

Does anyone know which mount the heatsinks use? New singles get shipped with aluminium heatsinks instead of heatpipes which are harder to cool silently. Boy, do I regret ordering these!

You are not the only one regretting ordering those junkyard stuff.
I hope you use dollar to order those bicthes.
If you do, you can still earn your money back.
I and everyone else who use BTC to order won't see that amount in BTC back.

Quix

full member

Activity: 174

Merit: 100

Quote from: rupy on November 11, 2013, 05:00:53 PM

Does anyone know which mount the heatsinks use? New singles get shipped with aluminium heatsinks instead of heatpipes which are harder to cool silently. Boy, do I regret ordering these!

Cheap aluminum heatsinks? That's rough, especially for the price. The first thing I thought when I saw these things is that they could use better heatsinks and the intake fans mounted to the top of the case blowing down (they'd need less fans). It looks like BFL really doesn't know what they're doing.

rupy

hero member

Activity: 725

Merit: 503

Does anyone know which mount the heatsinks use? New singles get shipped with aluminium heatsinks instead of heatpipes which are harder to cool silently. Boy, do I regret ordering these!

rupy

hero member

Activity: 725

Merit: 503

Just one big 20cm fan for each 2x BFL naked front to front. Waiting for my 2nd.

Basically the first thing you need to do is throw away everything except the baseplate, PCB and heatpipes/sinks.

The case, fans and PSU are COMPLETE GARBAGE!

Temp: 64C
Engines: Only 201/256, see https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/post-your-bfl-sc-60-procengine-details-here-320687!
Noise: You can sleep next to it if you are ok with electronics that whine. Air noise = same as ambient.

Easy2Mine

hero member

Activity: 854

Merit: 500

einc.io

The form of the tunnel is very important.
Look at the last picture, the drawing I made in blue is from the side angle of the metal sheet.
The air has to be squeeze though the fins of the heatsink.
The plastic foam I put on top of the metal sheet has 2 functions.
1. Absorb the vibration of the air going through the fins of the heatsink.
2. Make sure air is guided through the tunnel, air is forced to take the easiest way through the tunnel.
The cover of the single has to stay on, or it won't cool the heatsinks on the bottom of the pcb effectly.
If those heatsinks on the bottom of the pcb is not cooled enough, your singles won't last longer than half a year and your hashrate is dropping.

johnyj

legendary

Activity: 1988

Merit: 1012

Beyond Imagination

Quote from: Easy2Mine on October 27, 2013, 06:38:22 AM

The form of your tunnel is very important. A venturi effect work the best with case on.
You probably has the case off.
Really dangerous for overheating the other components on the pcb if you don't have a fan
Blowing at them.

The case was all on, and that made it even more difficult to adjust since I had to take down the case every time I modify the tunnel. Since I replace the 120MM fan with GT1850 (highest CFM/noise ratio fan out there), it should give enough pressure, but it did not work well

I noticed that you filled the upper part with sponges, maybe that helped

Easy2Mine

hero member

Activity: 854

Merit: 500

einc.io

The form of your tunnel is very important. A venturi effect work the best with case on.
You probably has the case off.
Really dangerous for overheating the other components on the pcb if you don't have a fan
Blowing at them.

johnyj

legendary

Activity: 1988

Merit: 1012

Beyond Imagination

I did a similar mod with removing the 92mm fans and adding a tunnel, the temp went up by 10 degree, so I have to put them back Undecided

Easy2Mine

hero member

Activity: 854

Merit: 500

einc.io

I removed both the 92 mm heatsink fans.
I cut a big hole into the intake and exhaust plates. (See photo, the single at top right)
I cut a metal sheet from a cookie can and bend it into the right form for the venturi effect.
I put plastic foam to reduce noise.

I put the cover on.
Temperature is almost 10 degree Celsius lower than original singles.
Only if you bend the metal sheets in the right form. You can bend the metal sheets in different form to see that it has a big impact on noise and temperature.
After a few days I decide to change the fans speed by putting an electrical conductor to reduced the noise even further.
The white intake fan don't work with an electrical conductor, you have to change it with your own 120 mm fans.
How ever the black exhaust fan that come with the single don't have problems with an electrical conductor.

Almost no noise and still 2 degree lower than the original temperature.
And it is recommended to put the cover back on unless your setup also can cool the other components.
There are so many design flaws with the BFL singles that it can be easily overheated and catch fire without the cover on.

1l1l11ll1l

legendary

Activity: 1274

Merit: 1000

Quote from: 2GOOD on October 23, 2013, 04:43:09 PM

Here is my mod. That was the first thing to do back in August when I get thoose jet engines Shocked

The tunel is back on without 92mm fan and the fan grills. With the original cooling the device was at 68C.
Now the device is with NB PWM 2000rpm model runing at 60-62C - 31.5 GH/s

best
2GOOD

Nice!

1l1l11ll1l

legendary

Activity: 1274

Merit: 1000

Quote from: dogie on September 02, 2013, 07:55:00 PM

Cooling is much better when blowing through rather than sucking through a heatsink. As others have said, it takes a worse path when sucking through. This is because the pressure profile on either side of the fan isn't the same, its much stronger and compact on the blowing side.

Additionally, the rest of the PCB and components need airflow that a sucking arrangement wouldn't provide.

The singles come from the bfl factory both fans sucking up. I switched to blowing down, buttoned it back up and the temp increased. Don't know why but they got it right with the sucking.

2GOOD

hero member

Activity: 547

Merit: 531

First bits: 12good

Here is my mod. That was the first thing to do back in August when I get thoose jet engines Shocked

The tunel is back on without 92mm fan and the fan grills. With the original cooling the device was at 68C.
Now the device is with NB PWM 2000rpm model runing at 60-62C - 31.5 GH/s

best
2GOOD

Sc@rF@c3

newbie

Activity: 56

Merit: 0

Quote from: r3animation on October 01, 2013, 07:45:57 AM

I replaced the 2 x 92mm fans on the heatsinks to 2 x 120mm Gentle Typhoon AP-15s. Runs naked on my desk with no sound at all @ 60C.

I'm very interested in quieter alternatives, had the noise patrol come around last Saturday, the miners were keeping the neighbors awake, well done BFL.
Would also like to see a photo of this setup, how did you install the 120's, I only see space for 92's.
Wondering if quieter 92 fans will do the same job as your 120's.

Look forward to seeing the setup

Cheers

Topic: BFL Single air flow? (Read 6924 times)