Topic: Some random thoughts on avalon 6 antminer s-7 and j4bberwock/finksy boards (Read 3461 times)

i have never had an issue with the 2880w boards except for 1 board and it was an early one ( green pcb)



the only sockets i have burnt were on neptunes but never on the breakout boards the green board was the only exception , i hang my psus out the end of the shelf slightly so the air can flow around both sides of the breakout board

with ur burnt breakout sockets id have to wonder if u had bad connections on the pci-e cable to socket or wire to the pin

I'm making some change at home and i will be using two 4K DPS breaking board with the DPS-2000.

Last time I red this thread I took a good look at all my cable and the breaking board and none was overheating then come the summer. I made some change two days ago and I had to change 5 cables.

2 was in bad shape with brownish yellow cables and the connector was also affected at the board side but nothing miner side.

So I should have added some extra air flow on the breaking board and it would probably not happen.

So now I have some brownish connectors on the board side. I don't see any modification to the connector form, even with the worst one. Just sucks to see that.

So beware and add some extra air flow to the breaking board if you're room temps is getting hot for a long period of time.

Ya I have a batch 2 and 7 that seem to run perfectly

my batch 2 is  a simply outstanding  miner.

I can get .248 watts a gh and run the freq at 631 giving 0.0005% error rate 

this one was rated at freq 575.

my batch 1 sucks still sucks and is lucky to do 4200gh with 0.1255 error rate.

both still run

batch 2 for  8 months
batch 1 for  9 months

I bought a few of the early versions and they seem to hold well (above 30 days for most before a restart) but the later versions seem to have the issues

Gotcha Philip,

thank you for explaining!

The group buy was shut down when bitmaintech dropped prices and gave out 100$ coupons.

Every group buy I did the avalon 6 sold at a lower price then the s-7 the day we did the sale.

The s-7 got very competitive in price  with the 100 usd coupons. so I stopped the group buy.

as for one avalons being  bad gear  and s-7's being good gear they both have lots of flaws.

I run 7 avalon 6's

2 on a 2880 break out board with sidehacks  cable mods   0 issues
1 on a 1200 watt platinum seasonic using 18 awg cables   0 issues
1 on a 1200 watt gold fsp aurum     using  16 awg  cables 0 issues
1 on a 1200 watt gold  ocz              using   16 awg cables 0 issues
1 on 2 psus a silverstone 700 watt titanium psu and a 1000 watt corsair rm 1000 gold 0 issues
1 on 2 psus a 650 gold seasonic with 18 awg cables  and a 1000 watt fractal  platinum with  18 awg cables  0 issues

So I don't consider the avalon 6 to be bad gear.  think of a sports car that needs high octane gas.  and the 2880 breakout boards are not high octane gas as the jacks struggle when you do avalon 6's

now to be fair maybe all the other psu's will fail like the 2880 breakout board failed I would then say that the avalon 6's really have a problem.

Phill is just saying that he had an issue with a breaking board AND the fact that the AV6 has only 2 PCI-E connectors per board. Each connector suck around 275w. 3 connectors would lower the power per connector and do not stress the PCI-E connector and cable as much as the current version of the hashing board.

I looked into my 4K IBM breaking board for sign of overheating an I saw none but it is also getting hotter where I am, we shall see.

That said, my overall confidence in the AV6 is way higher then the S7 ... Especially with the new 1 Fan version Batch 16. I wanted to change my old S4 with a new S7 but I guess I will wait or buy an older used version.

Stable? I wish the S7 was stable. Every day I have to reboot a bunch of machines that hung either for a 30-second loss of pool connection or, well, just because they felt like hanging.

Philip great review.

Honest question though, why are still promoting group buys of the Avalon 6 with the known issues. You have the connections and people to be able to get the necessary items to counter the issue but others don't unless it is being offered to others? The Avalon 6 is quiet but hashes under the S7 by 1ths and the S7 for the most part has been stable, even though loud, but doesn't have a known fire hazard. I am just thinking that unless additional connectors are added to the design, Avalon should be holding sales unless a solution is found or the issue is stated on the description. Just thinking out loud.... 

I sent a PM to Jabber about the 2880w breaking board problem you had Phil.

He didn't log since March 11, so I haven't receive an answer.

This is strange ... Jabber is usually active around here.

Most server PSUs have, either internally via a trimpot or externally by manipulating remote sense lines, a means of adjusting the output voltage within about an 11-13V range. Not sure if you were using a server PSU, but a screwdriver and a bit of research might have saved you quite a bit.

I've had pci-e jacks on S5 and S7 miners go brown or worse. Mostly because the PSU I was using produced close to 13 volts unloaded, don't know the exact voltage when loaded. Lost an S5 and a couple of S7, due to flameout. Switched to better psu with 12.3 volts unloaded, no more browning or flameouts.

I used to but I sold it off with one of my sp20's

  I have some ebay ebucks and would buy it again is the one below the right one?


http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Proliant-DL580-G5-438202-002-DPS-1200FB-1200W-Power-Supply-/291700007037?

It's designed to work with DPS800 and HP Common Slot (so DPS1200 family). I thought you had a bunch of those, including the 1200 Platinum-rated.

sounds good but  which psu do they work on?

 as I have dps2000 and  intel 2880 and intel 2980


do your boards work on this psu

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Proliant-DL580-G5-438202-002-DPS-1200FB-1200W-Power-Supply-/291700007037?




as I have this one and not the one above

http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-BladeCenter-DPS-2000BB-Power-Supply-39Y7359-39Y7360-/141927111922?




I know it does not fit these two below

http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-BladeCenter-H-2880W-Power-Supply-W-Fans-43V7099-39Y7408-39Y7409-AA23920L-/151949289370?



http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-Bladecenter-Server-Computer-Power-Supply-2980-Watt-39Y7415-39Y7414-/231836146038?

Hey Phil - I just finished up one of my new DPS8/12 boards (though to give credit, it's pretty much entirely Novak's design, improving on a rickety old prototype of mine from last year). You want one to play with, see how it holds up to Avalon power and such?

they are 16 awg + 16 awg on the break out board side


they are stuffed into  1 plug on the avalon 6 side so they are 14 awg  equivalent

im basically just commenting on sidehacks cables as i have no avalon or S anything and have extra seasonic x750s here for whatever miners may or may not be produced that i will buy.

those look pretty beefy.  looks like more of sidehacks usual overengineered quality stuff.

might have sidehack do some custom cables for me.

they are 16 gauge and they plug into 16  jacks on the psu side







on the avalon end 2 avalon 6's have a total of 8 jacks.

so 16 jacks merge into 8 jacks.





this setup draws 8.8 to 9.0 amps of 240 volt power.  it is 40 f this morning

so 8.8 amps of 240 volt power = 2112 watts at the wall/ac

2112/7058 =  0.2992 watts at the pdu/wall

sp the 2980 is a true platinum psu
and these y cables 1 meter long  allow the load on the breakout board jacks to run far cooler

as 2112/16 = 132 watts   vs  2112/8 = 264 watts
i was lazy and used the ac watts I did not convert to dc

so 132 watts x .92 = 121.44   vs 264 x .92 = 242.88

So the 2880 /2980 breakout board  seems to not be able to handle 242.88 dc watts very well
but it seems to do well with 121.44  dc watts

I have a lot of these psu's and boards so getting the custom wires works for me.

 What do sidehack's cables look like in action?

okay I have some good news on the j4bberwock 2880/2980 boards

they have 20 jacks and can run 2 s-7s using the 20 jacks and or 2 avalon 6's using 8 jacks

I have had sidehack build be custom 39 inch y cable

2 plugs go into the breakout board and  they merge into the 1 plug for the avalon.

so 8 jacks break out board to 4 jacks avalon 6

then 8 jacks break out board to 4 jack avalon 6

or 16  down to 8

what happens id the power on the break out board is spread to 16 jacks not 8 to run the 2 avalons

so each break out jack is doing 120 watts dc  10 amps  of 12 volt  maybe 130 watts dc 10.8 amps at 12 volts.

rather then doing  240 watts dc 20 amps of 12 volt maybe 260 watts dc 21.6 amps of 12 volt

so far all jacks dropped 15c in temp and this appears to solve the problem if you have

avalon 6's

I will post photos later today. 

At sidehack  these may be a good item for you to produce for owners of avalon 6's and j4bberwock 2880 boards.

Sorry for the confusion it's the one from Jabber

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/ibm-dps-4kw-psu-dual-dps-2000bb-breakout-boards-and-packages-1308296

EDIt: I edited my post and I took a look of each connector, no burning on my side with that breaking board.

Not sure what you mean by a double DPS2000 board from sidehack - if you mean a single board that runs two PSUs, that's not one of mine. We thought of it a year and some ago but never had the resources to build it. If the board has PCIe jacks, it's not one of mine. The screw terminals on the boards I build are good for 250W per cable, and my DPS2K boards have a total of 14oz copper in the power traces so they should hold up pretty well. Leastways the test board held up just fine when we ran it at 196A draw for seven days in July heat. But again, if it's a double board it's not one of mine; I've only done single boards for that PSU.

I do have, within a couple weeks, a DPS800/DPS1200 board rolling out that'll take a dozen 6-pins. Should be just fine for an Avalon, and I've had an S7 running on a test board for a month with no problems. I forget the copper thickness offhand, but it's probably something like 4oz per rail. Not the best, but it is spread out.

Phil, I should have those cables done up probably tomorrow or the next day. Depends on when I can get to it, but shouldn't take half an hour. I did some test pinning earlier and figured out how I want to do the doubles with 16AWG wire.

no sidehack has more copper.

I am have sidehack build me a set of test cables that should bypass the problem

once I get them I will demo and see if they work.

Suckssss, I have two hosting A6 using that breaking board....

Gotta need to find a better solution I guess. I'm running 3 on a double 2000DPS breaking board from Sidehack.

Do you think i'm gonna have the same issue with that breaking board ?

EDIT: Did Jabber gave you some feedback on this ?
EDIT2: I just checking most of my connectors on the double 2000DPS. They are all good. I did space all the connectors to make none of them is next to another one tho. To make sure I spread the heat.

my issue is on the break out board side.

@ yslyung  
it is late and I am tired .  I need to make a long detailed reply to some of your post I will so  in the morning.

but real fast those cardboard boxes are lined with fireproof materials

I use 15 gauge high end  cables.

and I am looking for y cables in a reverse format.

which feed from 2 psu jacks into 1 avalon 6 jack.

not a normal procedure at all  only the insanely under specced knc miner jacks needed  to do this.

And because I fear that this will simply transfer the issue from the break out board to the avalon 6 I am hesitating to do it. those extra fans are cooling the jacks quite nicely and I am using the top row of jacks.  I am a bit more inclined to blame the break out boards but frankly the avalong 6 shares this issue with the  breakout board.
Note edit:
]also the  avalon 6 states do not run in a 95 f room.    they state 38 c which is 100.4 f not 95 f.
I converted wrong to f as I thought 40c was 100f it is not

 I picked up issues at 95f.  as I had problems running at this temp in my garage  as the 2880 break out board jacks ran very hot  and browned.

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Avalon6


info from above
Basic Information
 Hashrate: 3.5Ths ± 5%
 Power Consumption: ≈ 1050 Watt (with assumption of 90% power conversion ratio)
 Overclocking: Support automatically optimizes frequency, no need to overclock manually.
 PSU ouput pin: 4 x 6PIN PCIe power connector.
 Controller: Raspberry Pi (version B or B+) Raspberry Pi 2 is not supported yet.
 AUC: Each AUC can connect up to 6 devices.
 Dimensions: 340 mm x 136 mm x 150 mm
 Operating Temperature: -10 °C to 38°C
 Fan Specs: 12038, Current less then 2.4A
 Protection Degree: IP20
 Net weight: 4.8kg
 Gross weight: 5kg

Note edit ends


my wiring management has never been good and won't be good in my garage

plain and simple I turn over the gear too much .

but I have to say I could effort ot make my compac sticks neater as they just sit and mine away for months

wut ? 102 F is hot ?

at this part of the world is roughly 35 C day & 26 C night with 70-80+ % humidity all year long !

if you use good quality PCIE cables 16 awg, it will be able to take more than 250W. good idea to have air flowing thru them.

j4b's boards are good, no complaints, works very well.

i don't mean to jack the thread or try to say something -ve but i've always look into stuffs you post & share, thx for sharing but there are a few things you might want to reconsider in your setups such as . . .

-put the boxes or miners away from card boxes (from your garage?) try to use other materials ? - you did mention about jacks melting etc so the risk of fire is slightly higher than normal.

- looking good & better from before, more well organized miners & wiring, but i do recall from earlier days of your mining, it was a little "messy" sorry to be that direct but risk of fire is not something to joke around.

may i suggest a swamp cooler for your cooling needs as at the part of your world, you get more dry air than me over here. it's not expensive & you can diy it, some ample time to diy before the hot summer hits.

airflow direction of the mining room, make it 1 way in & no other way out, good +ve cold/cool air in & only 1 way out for the hot air, make sure they have only 1 way out or have a chance of flowing back in. *i had that issue long time back & once i stopped that, wow HUGE difference* . . . i can't see much as the pics are close ups.

sorry if i'm being too direct, but i do have some small concerns about fire hazard/risk or me trying to be a guru, always appreciate what you share to the community ! but i hope you take it from a +ve side of things. keep it up & keep on evolving !

thx again for your time to share lots of info with everyone.

** don't use those Y splitter or share 1 pice for 2 jacks... NEVER a good idea** use 1 for each 16 awg cables can handle it without any issues.

I'll need to take a look at my EVGA power supply tomorrow although connectors are black if I recall.

Phil, are the connectors brown on the avalon 6 or just at your breakout board?

I may ask for something along the lines of a y-pcie  in which 2  female plugs go into the 2880 psu board   and they merge into 1 female plug for the avalon 6

this would in effect double the copper of the 2880 board since I would be using 8 jacks on the psu side to go into 4 jacks on the avalon 6 side.

I am using 2980 psu's and they give me a true platinum rating.

I could use four of them at first to run 1 avalon 6.

they maybe a niche product for j4bberwock to avalon 6

what do you think?

received with many thanks

I trust a proper jack up to about 250W. Not really more than that. Course, I also plan to put two jacks on any S1-refit board I make and I don't expect to build 'em to draw more than 250W. For long-term reliability's sake, it's good practice to overspec. Course, since when were mining hardware manufacturers into doing anything more than the minimum required to clinch a sale, and since when were they into long-term reliability? If they thought about either of those things, they wouldn't be selling fixed-voltage string miners.

Also, you do know I make custom cables also? And by "make" I don't mean "outsource to a factory in China with a large MOQ to make it feasible". I have a wire cutter machine and crimping tools, partial spools of 16AWG copper MCW; if you only need a handful of something let me know, and if it's doable with parts I have in stock I can probably have it shipped within a day or two.

sent from my coinbase account

https://blockchain.info/tx/5b9237e205d55dfc48dde7fca91d6dafc40f46074cfd211d903bd09fe0ff9f26

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VF5P7qLaEQ

o wow thanks 1GSv7EXULxf2Csbr3oUpsxDh7aEuiRjXw8

yes give me a btc address

 I will send you 0.025 btc  


back to thoughts.

I like the avalon 6's more then the s-7's

I like the finksy/j4bberwock 2880 break out boards with a 2980 pus and fan mods.

but both the avalon and the certainly the breakout boards need improvement.

I have an avalon 6 running with a seasonic 1200 plat and thin 18 gauge cables here it is as part of the solar array

I will closely examine it maybe this weds as I am going to the solar array this week.  hopefully there will be no sign of melting

very nice thread. Groundhog Day with Bill Murray?

I have to check but 2-3 months.  I noticed the issue when it got really hot in NJ  for March 8 ,9, 10 ,11 

 we were hot the days in bold

Daily Weather History & Observations
2016   Temp. (°F)   Dew Point (°F)   Humidity (%)   Sea Level Press. (in)   Visibility (mi)   Wind (mph)   Precip. (in)   Events
Mar   high   avg   low   high   avg   low   high   avg   low   high   avg   low   high   avg   low   high   avg   high   sum   
1   51   46   42   43   30   25   76   54   43   30.17   30.01   29.63   10   10   10   16   9   26   0.00   
2   57   44   30   46   23   7   76   47   29   30.12   29.75   29.47   10   10   8   28   15   44   0.13   
3   37   30   24   21   11   7   69   43   28   30.28   30.21   30.12   10   10   2   16   8   21   0.00   
4   35   30   26   25   21   12   80   65   48   30.18   30.06   29.97   10   6   1   18   7   25   0.09   
5   37   30   24   19   15   10   60   51   38   30.22   30.17   30.08   10   10   10   12   7   -   0.00   
6   41   34   26   21   19   18   69   54   39   30.31   30.26   30.19   10   10   10   10   5   -   0.00   
7   60   45   30   36   29   21   70   53   36   30.31   30.16   30.02   10   10   6   18   8   29   0.00   
8   64   54   44   37   34   30   62   50   37   30.17   30.12   30.07   10   10   9   12   6   -   0.00   
9   80   60   39   46   38   30   70   46   18   30.15   30.08   30.01   10   10   10   17   5   22   0.00   
10   80   70   60   52   48   45   60   46   30   30.04   29.97   29.90   10   10   10   16   9   21   0.00   
11   66   56   46   52   40   27   72   50   28   30.33   30.12   29.88   10   10   10   21   9   30   0.00   
12   59   47   35   37   32   25   65   51   42   30.35   30.22   30.01   10   10   10   13   6   17   0.00   
13   60   54   48   37   34   30   62   48   31   30.11   30.04   29.98   10   10   10   14   7   17   0.00   
14   48   45   42   37   35   34   76   69   58   30.10   30.00   29.84   10   6   2   25   15   37   0.81   
15   53   48   44   43   39   36   76   72   62   29.84   29.80   29.77   10   7   2   16   11   28   0.01   
16   46   44   42   39   37   36   81   76   71   29.86   29.83   29.80   5   3   0   6   4   -   0.00   
17   -   -   -

Hmm, i've run high quality fat retail EVGA 1600 cables at close to 350-400W though. They never browned. On the Avalon6 i'm using standard retail PCI-e and they are still fully cold.

How long did it take for your jacks to brown?

it is both but you are not wrong I would say you are ⅔ correct.

Asking a pcie jack to handle 250-275 watts dc is asking for trouble.

and the optimizer testing   along with my temps finally getting warm enough show a flaw in the  boards in that the air that comes from the psu blows warm and hits the back of the pcie board and does nothing to cool where the pin meets the socket.

the fans pulling air directly across the connection and not behind the connection are a good cheap fix.


a better board with more copper will help the socket on the psu end not melt   which is where I think you are fully correct.

but on the avalon 6 end the same issue is there and a perfect psu side may simply move the problem to the avalon 6 side  pcie jacks.

for now the fans will keep the break out boards safe.

I was going to have y cables made   that would be a pair of 18 gauge cables into the  break out  board   and then connecting to a 15 gauge cable into the avalon 6

which would mean 8 break board jacks into 4 avalon 6 jacks.   this would solve the issue in that the break out jacks would do 125 to 150 watts max.

but it allows for a lot more power into the avalon 6 jacks.  as much as  400-500 watts per jack in case of a loose connection on the avalon jack side.

So I concluded that the fan idea is best in the short run.  I do suggest a 3 jack avalon solution for the future and a heavy copper  fix for the  break out boards.

Mean while if you are like me and have 2880's and avalon 6's watch for this.

the fan solution really seems to work. also note I have the top jacks of the break out boards filled as they get the most cooling from the fans.


I asked for custom cables on the  12th



Reply came on the 13th


I realized that this idea would reduce the issue on the breakout boards but a very good shot at moving issue to the avalon 6's


So I remembered the little fan controllers  I purchased the mesh which is heat resistant and made the board coolers for now.

In a magical perfect world made for mining BTC and digital coins  the breakout boards would have 25 to 50% more copper  and the avalon 6.5's would have 3 pcie jacks.

In this world be very careful and mind those pcie jacks.  on the psus and on the avalon 6's

I am going to buysolar and the solar array  those avalon 6's are on different psu's.   I will look at the pcie jacks very closely to see how they are doing.

That seems more like a problem with the breakout board than with the Avalon, and kinda verifies some of Optimizer's testing and concerns about thin copper.

Some one sent me some fan controllers to test out.  I need to do  a review on them.

they do allow for extra fans.  I plugged a pcie cable(yellow-black one) into one of the 2880 boards  and put a positive and negative into it.

here is an ebay link

I do not use the heat sensor or the alarm but it runs 3 fans fine


http://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-12V-PWM-PC-CPU-Fan-Temperature-Control-Speed-Controller-CPU-High-Temp-Alarm-/131557958526?


back to the problem at hand.

I think the finksy/j4bberwock boards are decent gear but as you see by the plugs they can blacken under a 250-275 watt draw.

So the avalon 6 with its 2 jack per board can pull that 250-275 watts.

My problem was discovered when we had two  82F  temp days last week .

My first  thought  was to use a y-cable to come from the break out board to the avalon 6

How do you power the 3 fans to cool the finksy/j4bberwock boards.  I can see two ports did blacken.

The avalon 6's are preferred for sound  and for the good service I get from yan of block_c

But they have some flaws.

First off they should have 6 pcie jacks not 4. _ this is a major design flaw.

The avalon 6 will pull 1000 to 1025 watts dc at freq 500

and that means 250 to 260 watts per pcie connection.

This is a lot to ask of a pcie connection  and now that I have run them long enough I am getting some heat darkened pcie jacks on the units and on the finksy/j4bberwock 2880 break out boards.

So what is the cure for this?  I have purchased this product


http://www.lemproducts.com/product/dehydrator-screen-material/food-dehydrator

let me show a few photos

three fans drag hot air away from the jacks








see jacks in this photo

So what about the avalon 6's.

Okay :

 I have mined with the s-7 since sept 30
I have mined with the avalon 6's since Nov 22

I have used the 2880 break out boards
and the dual 2000/4000 break out boards

I can't comment on the newer s-7's

  Since I am using a batch 1 and a batch 2

My experience with batch 1 was it underhashed and I sold it at a discount to buy solar I lent him an evga titanium 1600 watt psu to run it

It under hashes for him   but it has run none stop 24/7 since sept  and it does do close to .25 watts to the gh

My batch 2 s-7 sold as a 575 freq is basically a god   ,"not the god, but a god" I will give a prize to the first person that identifies that quote correctly.

I can over volt it to 12.5 watts with the finksy j4bberwock boards  and over clock it to freq 650  hash at 5200 gh at .25 watts and get 0.0005% error rate.

I run it under clocked in my friends office at freq 480 get  hashrate of 4000gh.

It is using a seasonic 1200 platinum psu and burns just under 1000 watts  with the under clock my error rate is under 0.0010 %  fans at 2500 rpm and it is a set it and forget piece of gear.

So basically I had a dud and a stud with the 2 s-7's.  

The other 17 or 18 I owned  were client's  except for one of them at li's China hosting site.

That was a batch one it was an underhashing unit and li was good enough to give me a credit for the underhashing.  I have sold it to a forum member and do not track it.  The ones for clients have been un-eventful  in that I got them on time and shipped them to my clients on time.  Our deal is as long as he or she gets them my part is over.  So basically I got them on time from bitmaintech and shipped them on time.

    The s-7 will run in a hot spot I have had it run in 102 f  garage without issues.
They are loud but flexible over ducting make them much better sound wise with out restricting air flow.