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Topic: Themaltake Toughpower 1200W Gold burnup after 30 hours powering Avalon A6 (Read 2153 times)

newbie
Activity: 35
Merit: 0
great! thanks for the info!
legendary
Activity: 3822
Merit: 2703
Evil beware: We have waffles!

do you think the apw3+ is slightly overkill for an a741?

also do you recommend one specific 1200w HP over another? there are several with slightly different product numbers but all appear to be suitable.. DPS-1200*FB* seems to be the most common? suggestions? also.. do you use a breakout board for the conversion or some other way? i should have the a741 by next week SmileySmiley
No it is not overkill. In fact 1,1600w is a perfect size to keep near the 80% rating butter-zone. While server supplies are perfectly happy to run at full load 24x7x365 in warm/hot ambient temps their efficiency does drop off a bit as you go above the 80-85% load mark. Mostly from the fans kicking into hair-dryer mode and running at full speed.

As for HP DPS supplies:
a) they are available with from Plus-80 bronze (poor eff) up to Titanium (best) so check what the seller says they are. By and large the price will follow how good the efficiency rating is. There *is* a HP DPS Common Slot product guide out there that covers the entire rather sizeable number of types.

b) Initially I hard-wired the supplies using multiple 10ga leads ending in spliced on PCIe connectors,2 PCIe per-heavy lead.





Later used a couple brreakouts from GigAmpz. After futzing with around a dozen of the HP's and a few IBM 2kw's finally said 'screw it' and went with the Bitmain PSU's from then on. Once the s7's came out the HP's were maxed and replaced with the APW3's Most of the HP's were donated to Sidehack along with the s5's.

edit: found the product guide https://www.hpe.com/h20195/v2/GetPDF.aspx/c04111541.pdf
legendary
Activity: 2464
Merit: 1710
Electrical engineer. Mining since 2014.
Among the server power supplies, my recommandation for the Avalon 721 or 741 is HP DPS 1200 FB.
Sidehack here at the forum has them, packed with the breakout board and PCI-E cables.

In ATX PSU area EVGA is a good choice.

Bitmain APW3 is also pretty reliable choice.
newbie
Activity: 35
Merit: 0
thanks for the advice all. i'm comfortable with DIY, but I don't really want to strap 2x PSU together for my first machine. I think I will just get the EVGA G2 as this is my very first miner and I have nothing but 110-120v to use at the moment.

Once the bug invariably bites, I'll get a 30amp 240v circuit and THEN, i'll get a server PSU or apw3+ for each miner, since i'll only need 1 @240 instead of 2 @110-120. sound sensible?

do you think the apw3+ is slightly overkill for an a741?

also do you recommend one specific 1200w HP over another? there are several with slightly different product numbers but all appear to be suitable.. DPS-1200*FB* seems to be the most common? suggestions? also.. do you use a breakout board for the conversion or some other way? i should have the a741 by next week SmileySmiley
legendary
Activity: 3822
Merit: 2703
Evil beware: We have waffles!
Well, you could always strap 2 of the fairly cheap HP's together. Just make sure they are switched on with a common switch. DO NOT JOIN THE DC OUTPUTS TOGETHER unless of course you know how to wire them for 1+n parallel operation. I did that long ago for some of my s5's -- all sent to Sidehack to be reincarnated as 2Pac's after hosting there became unprofitable. Cheesy

On 108-120v they are good for 800-900w each. Since the Avalon has 2 boards in the miner that should work perfectly. Again I must stress DO make sure it is 1 PSU for just 1 board.
hero member
Activity: 756
Merit: 560
not many will do 1200 watts on 120 volts.

diy won't help if he has a 120 volt limit.

he has a few atx options that is about it.

Then you buy two PSUs and run one board each with them while still costing less than a bitmain and being way more reliable and able to keep up with the duty cycle of a 24/7 miners way better than an ATX psu.

You can buy HP/Dell/SuperMicro server PSUs that clock in around the 700-800w range for under $10 each if you do a bit of looking around. Throw in $10 in cables and you have MORE than enough power for an Avalon for under $40 total. The Dells you dont even need to solder, you can just use female spade connectors and glue them into place.

Pretty sure that still falls under the DIY criteria and meets the 120v limit while costing about a third of what you would pay for a bitmain or ATX psu. When ROI is a big concern with miners, I would think you would want to save money while increasing reliability whenever possible and this does both.
legendary
Activity: 4256
Merit: 8551
'The right to privacy matters'
Theres tons of server grade psus for pennies all over ebay and other places. Find the pinouts, spend 30 minutes building a harness, and all of a sudden you have a really nice power supply for half the price of a single bitmain unit. You dont power industrial mining gear with low end ATX power supplies and expect it to just work like magic. If you arent a DIY kind of person then honestly the mining game isnt for you.

not many will do 1200 watts on 120 volts.

diy won't help if he has a 120 volt limit.

he has a few atx options that is about it.
hero member
Activity: 756
Merit: 560
Theres tons of server grade psus for pennies all over ebay and other places. Find the pinouts, spend 30 minutes building a harness, and all of a sudden you have a really nice power supply for half the price of a single bitmain unit. You dont power industrial mining gear with low end ATX power supplies and expect it to just work like magic. If you arent a DIY kind of person then honestly the mining game isnt for you.
legendary
Activity: 3822
Merit: 2703
Evil beware: We have waffles!

NFW - what about for those of us in 110/120v land? I'm ordering an Avalon 741 am trying to find the absolute best PSU for it. I saw the EVGA 1300w suggested in a post by canaan on their website, but is there something more miner-specific and better suited like the bitmain but for 110/120v w/ an A741? I know the HPs/Sidehack are a great option but there seem to be better options? having a couple dozen w/ zero problems ever must be preetty nice..
Well, without using an industrial rated 240-120v transformer (and losing about another 3% eff) the only real choice is Bitmains APW5. It works on 108-120v for de-rated max of 1,600w as I recall. Price is actually on-par with high-end ATX PSU's so in my book, worth it.
newbie
Activity: 35
Merit: 0

The Bitmain APW3 supply looks ok and seems to be a reasonable price. Anyone had any issues with them? By the time I factor in getting the HP DPS1200 supply, PCIe cables and either a breakout board or time to solder the pigtails straight to the connector, the price seems to be quite good.

My current two HP power supplies were out of a decommissioned server at work, so free.
Go for the Bitmain PSU's. I used to use the HP's and yes even have a few IBM 2Kw PSU's but for the same reasons you mentioned (hassle factor) I started using the Bitmain ones soon after they came out a few years ago. Have a couple dozen of them now and zero problems ever.

NFW - what about for those of us in 110/120v land? I'm ordering an Avalon 741 am trying to find the absolute best PSU for it. I saw the EVGA 1300w suggested in a post by canaan on their website, but is there something more miner-specific and better suited like the bitmain but for 110/120v w/ an A741? I know the HPs/Sidehack are a great option but there seem to be better options? having a couple dozen w/ zero problems ever must be preetty nice..
legendary
Activity: 3822
Merit: 2703
Evil beware: We have waffles!

The Bitmain APW3 supply looks ok and seems to be a reasonable price. Anyone had any issues with them? By the time I factor in getting the HP DPS1200 supply, PCIe cables and either a breakout board or time to solder the pigtails straight to the connector, the price seems to be quite good.

My current two HP power supplies were out of a decommissioned server at work, so free.
Go for the Bitmain PSU's. I used to use the HP's and yes even have a few IBM 2Kw PSU's but for the same reasons you mentioned (hassle factor) I started using the Bitmain ones soon after they came out a few years ago. Have a couple dozen of them now and zero problems ever.
hero member
Activity: 756
Merit: 560
Just to throw this out there...if you have a first gen avalon 6 it pulls about 1100-1150w on a 92% efficiency PSU. Since you Are driving that one so hard it is only at about 86% efficiency based on the link that was posted on the PSU.

This is driving an ATX PSU way too hard and it is not surprising that it failed. If you are going to buy ATX PSUs to run industrial equipment you need to build a better buffer in there. Get a 1300+ watt PSU if you are going to stick with these kinds of PSUs.
member
Activity: 178
Merit: 12
I've just had a brand new Thermaltake Toughpower 1200W Gold that I purchased yesterday burn up (literally!) after powering an Avalon A6 miner for about 30 hours. Luckily I was in the room when it went and smelt it before it actually burst into flames.

Wondering whether I just got a bad power supply (seems to be my luck) or if it just wasn't up to the job. Thoughts?

Go on ebay and buy if you can find the butteryfly labs PSU that were meant to mine 24/7 they are beefy.

Butterfly Labs BFL 1250W 80+ Gold ATX Fully Modular Power Supply New Sealed Box

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Butterfly-Labs-BFL-1250W-80-Gold-ATX-Fully-Modular-Power-Supply-New-Sealed-Box-/162446818423?hash=item25d295bc77:g:1TkAAOSwnGJWT4H1

I got one for my home computer.



Why would ANYONE buy ANYTHING with Butterfly Labs name on it??  No way to warranty or fix their shit anymore............

Just buy brand name PSU's that have MORE than enough wattage to do what you need?? Simple  Wink
  Those power supplies were made to run 24/7 mining.. that is why I said to buy that one.

sr. member
Activity: 448
Merit: 250
Why would ANYONE buy ANYTHING with Butterfly Labs name on it??  No way to warranty or fix their shit anymore............

Heh. BFL were just starting to get a bad rep the first time I was mining before I moved house interstate and had to stop mining.

Quote
Just buy brand name PSU's that have MORE than enough wattage to do what you need?? Simple  Wink

Well, that is what I thought I'd done!

The Bitmain APW3 supply looks ok and seems to be a reasonable price. Anyone had any issues with them? By the time I factor in getting the HP DPS1200 supply, PCIe cables and either a breakout board or time to solder the pigtails straight to the connector, the price seems to be quite good.

My current two HP power supplies were out of a decommissioned server at work, so free.
legendary
Activity: 2212
Merit: 1001
I've just had a brand new Thermaltake Toughpower 1200W Gold that I purchased yesterday burn up (literally!) after powering an Avalon A6 miner for about 30 hours. Luckily I was in the room when it went and smelt it before it actually burst into flames.

Wondering whether I just got a bad power supply (seems to be my luck) or if it just wasn't up to the job. Thoughts?

Go on ebay and buy if you can find the butteryfly labs PSU that were meant to mine 24/7 they are beefy.

Butterfly Labs BFL 1250W 80+ Gold ATX Fully Modular Power Supply New Sealed Box

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Butterfly-Labs-BFL-1250W-80-Gold-ATX-Fully-Modular-Power-Supply-New-Sealed-Box-/162446818423?hash=item25d295bc77:g:1TkAAOSwnGJWT4H1

I got one for my home computer.



Why would ANYONE buy ANYTHING with Butterfly Labs name on it??  No way to warranty or fix their shit anymore............

Just buy brand name PSU's that have MORE than enough wattage to do what you need?? Simple  Wink
legendary
Activity: 1498
Merit: 1030

I'm in 240V land.



 The Bitmain power supplies should work fine for you then - though my favorite Seasonic X1250 Gold and the widely-popular EVGA 1300 G2 Gold DO also work on 240.

 Sadly, the newer supplies from both (the "Prime" and the "G3") went to a sleeve-bearing design fan, I CAN NOT RECOMMEND EITHER OF THOSE.
 Stick with the older designs with ball bearing fans designed to last for MANY MANY years.
sr. member
Activity: 448
Merit: 250
Thanks for all the replies guys! Went to bed after posting and got up expecting a few views and no replies. Surprise!

The sticker on the power supply only mentions one 12V rail, with a total power of 1200W available (100A). I was using the 4 PCIe connectors out of the supply to connect to each of of the connectors on the Avalon, ie, not using the double headers at the miner end.

I'm in 240V land.

I'm using a couple of HP DPS-1200 power supply on a pair SP20s, so I might swap out the Avalon for one of the SP20s. Reason I got this Thermaltake power supply is the SP20s are at work and I only go in to the office a couple of days so it was easier to get the A6 up and running.
legendary
Activity: 4256
Merit: 8551
'The right to privacy matters'
If you are 110/120 volt the Evga 1300 g2 should work
legendary
Activity: 3822
Merit: 2703
Evil beware: We have waffles!
I don't think crossing the rails will do anything.

Read

Quote
  Many PSUs that have "multiple 12v rails" in fact only have one supply circuit, with multiple over-current/short-circuit protection channels.  To find out what your PSUs has, connect an ohm-meter between the two 12v rails that you want to connect together (with the PSU off, of course).  If it reads a low resistance (like <2 ohms), they are connected together inside the PSU, and the PSU shouldn't know any different if you connect them together externally.

    Now let me explain why PSUs have multiple 12v rails.  As CPUs and GPUs have become more hungry for 12v power, the amperage that PSUs must be able to supply has increased.  The problem is that the individual 12v output wires aren't very thick, and now, a PSU capable of 50A on the 12v rail could present a fire hazard if one of the cables got shorted (or overloaded), since a single wire may not be strong enough to trip the PSU, and will certainly overload long before the PSU does.  So the multiple "rails" on many cheaper PSUs are really there only for safety, rather than anything to do with isolation or providing extra power.
    So, when connecting 12v rails together, you would be circumventing this protection—which should be OK if you know what you are doing and there is no chance of a single 12v wire being treated differently than the others.
The key word in ^^ is "Many".

Unless you can confirm that the 12v comes from 1 regulator - don't do it! They will fight each other and eventually 1 or both rails will fail. Over the years I have come across many high power ATX PSU's that DO use independent rails. The better ones will spell out if they use a single rail.

Of course the BEST solution is to use server PSU's from Sidehack or others here or Bitmain's. I've been running Bitmain's APW1600's for years with zero issues.
legendary
Activity: 2464
Merit: 1710
Electrical engineer. Mining since 2014.
Canaan PSU = ??

Yes. Bitmain APW3 and APW5 power supplies are good to use with the A6 as well.
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