ZTEX USB-FPGA Modules 1.15x and 1.15y: 215 and 860 MH/s FPGA Boards - page 4.

BR0KK

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Quote from: FanDjangoBTC on April 25, 2013, 02:32:18 PM

I am assuming your cabling is correct.

Such PSUs have a common 12V bus for the different cables coming out. Of course it is a good idea to "distribute" the load among the available 5V/12V cables or even to use one or two of the 12V cables of the GPU supply from that PSU.

But if the cabling is ok and each 1.15y works ALONE by itself, my next test is to add a second one.

What happens? The first one is downloaded (all four Spartans) and then the next one's download will begin. At what moment does it fail?

Is the second one not even recognized?

If adding a second makes everything fail immediately, you have a cabling problem. Perhaps grounding via the black cable is somewhere broken or intermittent and therefore ground potentials are passing throught the USB cables (wrong terminology I know).

But if the second fails not immediately but then on download, your PSU is not even giving ~ 10A on 12V which points toward NEEDING a minimal 5V or even 3.3V Load. Try adding a SATA harddrive (just Power) and see. I haven't looked at your PSU (I know you psted it) but some ARE not able to supply 12V well if there ist not also some load on 3.3V or 5V or both.

One board works fine.

Two (or more) boards will run with the psu (un-configured) and be recognized by windoze. As soon as i start BTCminer it gets these "libusb" errors. Then everything is offline....

Must be the PSU.... wont hold the spikes

FanDjangoBTC

newbie

Activity: 46

Merit: 0

I am assuming your cabling is correct.

Such PSUs have a common 12V bus for the different cables coming out. Of course it is a good idea to "distribute" the load among the available 5V/12V cables or even to use one or two of the 12V cables of the GPU supply from that PSU.

But if the cabling is ok and each 1.15y works ALONE by itself, my next test is to add a second one.

What happens? The first one is downloaded (all four Spartans) and then the next one's download will begin. At what moment does it fail?

Is the second one not even recognized?

If adding a second makes everything fail immediately, you have a cabling problem. Perhaps grounding via the black cable is somewhere broken or intermittent and therefore ground potentials are passing throught the USB cables (wrong terminology I know).

But if the second fails not immediately but then on download, your PSU is not even giving ~ 10A on 12V which points toward NEEDING a minimal 5V or even 3.3V Load. Try adding a SATA harddrive (just Power) and see. I haven't looked at your PSU (I know you psted it) but some ARE not able to supply 12V well if there ist not also some load on 3.3V or 5V or both.

rammy2k2

legendary

Activity: 1974

Merit: 1003

and how do you guys explain not even 2 boards works ?

BR0KK

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Activity: 784

Merit: 500

Quote from: FanDjangoBTC on April 25, 2013, 02:11:29 PM

When you start the miner, the Bitstream is loaded into the FPGAs, one by one.

As each FPGA starts "churning away", power drain on the PSU increases by about 10W, building up to about 40W in total for a 1.15y. See the ZTEX Homepage for exact numbers.

At 12V, that's about 3-4 Amps which is why a 12V 5A PSU is a good choice - it can handle peaks in the power drain.

I am using a 12C 20A PSU for 3 1.15y units. Power cables (12V) are nice 4mm² lab cables. This is the "Overkill Approach" and it has not let me down yet.

If your setup "sort of stops responding" after the bitstreams are downloaded, prior to any real work being done, and needs a reset, there is a high probability of your PSU caving in on the power being drawn. Hopefully, the PSU is going down "gracefully" and not oscillating in and out of nominal 12V.

Don't let this state exist too long before turning everything off. You don't want to risk "in-between" states in the logic and latch-up states which can destroy the FPGA's.

5 x 1.15y -> would be 25A for me, minimum. Looks like your 20A PSU is too weak. It might also be, that it needs some load on 3.3V or 5V to stabilize its behaviour.

Thats what im guessing too, but i couldn't explain because I'm not an electrician.....PSU to weak

FanDjangoBTC

newbie

Activity: 46

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When you start the miner, the Bitstream is loaded into the FPGAs, one by one.

As each FPGA starts "churning away", power drain on the PSU increases by about 10W, building up to about 40W in total for a 1.15y. See the ZTEX Homepage for exact numbers.

At 12V, that's about 3-4 Amps which is why a 12V 5A PSU is a good choice - it can handle peaks in the power drain.

I am using a 12C 20A PSU for 3 1.15y units. Power cables (12V) are nice 4mm² lab cables. This is the "Overkill Approach" and it has not let me down yet.

If your setup "sort of stops responding" after the bitstreams are downloaded, prior to any real work being done, and needs a reset, there is a high probability of your PSU caving in on the power being drawn. Hopefully, the PSU is going down "gracefully" and not oscillating in and out of nominal 12V.

Don't let this state exist too long before turning everything off. You don't want to risk "in-between" states in the logic and latch-up states which can destroy the FPGA's.

5 x 1.15y -> would be 25A for me, minimum. Looks like your 20A PSU is too weak. It might also be, that it needs some load on 3.3V or 5V to stabilize its behaviour.

Gaim

newbie

Activity: 25

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Only a idea: you haven't devided the several boards not correctly between the power lines.. so If the mining starts, the boards connected on one line are pulling to much power so the PSU shuts down because of overload.

BR0KK

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Quote from: rammy2k2 on April 25, 2013, 01:52:26 PM

ok, so, things are like this :

- 5 boards connected to PSU and USB => works
- when i start mining, PSU shuts down

seen that .....

I had simmilar issues (usb errors) with a weak psu (wall plugg thingie) but no complete shut down!

BR0KK

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Quote from: rammy2k2 on April 25, 2013, 01:35:56 PM

hi all, i have 5 x 1.15y boards. i tested all boards one by one and they work. when i plug 2, the PSU shuts down.
PSU is a 650 W / 12V / 20A

i tested each board with different cables, each board with its own cables and worked

any help is apreciated

PSU i use is : http://www.dc-shop.ro/surse/sursa-segotep-raynor-power-650w-l/

I tested all boards with him. All boards work (alone)...... if more than one board is connected the psu will shut down......

Wires are correctly installed....

I can only assume that the psu is to weak to support more than one board!?

I had one quad on a way weaker psu than this...

rammy2k2

legendary

Activity: 1974

Merit: 1003

ok, so, things are like this :

- 5 boards connected to PSU and USB => works
- when i start mining, PSU shuts down

rammy2k2

legendary

Activity: 1974

Merit: 1003

Quote from: baad on April 25, 2013, 01:45:13 PM

Quote from: rammy2k2 on April 25, 2013, 01:35:56 PM

hi all, i have 5 x 1.15y boards. i tested all boards one by one and they work. when i plug 2, the PSU shuts down.
PSU is a 650 W / 12V / 20A

i tested each board with different cables, each board with its own cables and worked

any help is apreciated

PSU i use is : http://www.dc-shop.ro/surse/sursa-segotep-raynor-power-650w-l/

Try to plug the 5 boards to the PSU, but disconnect the USB cables.

doing it now

baad

member

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Merit: 10

Quote from: rammy2k2 on April 25, 2013, 01:35:56 PM

hi all, i have 5 x 1.15y boards. i tested all boards one by one and they work. when i plug 2, the PSU shuts down.
PSU is a 650 W / 12V / 20A

i tested each board with different cables, each board with its own cables and worked

any help is apreciated

PSU i use is : http://www.dc-shop.ro/surse/sursa-segotep-raynor-power-650w-l/

Try to plug the 5 boards to the PSU, but disconnect the USB cables.

rammy2k2

legendary

Activity: 1974

Merit: 1003

hi all, i have 5 x 1.15y boards. i tested all boards one by one and they work. when i plug 2, the PSU shuts down.
PSU is a 650 W / 12V / 20A

i tested each board with different cables, each board with its own cables and worked

any help is apreciated

PSU i use is : http://www.dc-shop.ro/surse/sursa-segotep-raynor-power-650w-l/

evilscoop

sr. member

Activity: 350

Merit: 250

still no singles, and a long lead time....

guess its second hand market or asics for me

turtle83

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Supersonic

Quote from: ztex on April 22, 2013, 08:51:59 AM

Estimated lead time is 8-12 weeks.

Even for PBC only option? or are those ready to ship?

ztex

donator

Activity: 367

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ZTEX FPGA Boards

Just an update about availability.

Since a few weeks there is a large interest in FPGA boards for BTC mining. (More than ever, Obviously a matter of BTC price). Because I'm not willing to produce these FPGA Boards on my full own risk anymore they are only produced upon request now. Estimated lead time is 8-12 weeks. A fraction of the production costs have to be paid in advance, before the parts are ordered. Details can be found at http://www.ztex.de/usb-fpga-1/usb-fpga-1.15y-orderinfo.e.html and http://www.ztex.de/usb-fpga-1/usb-fpga-1.15x-orderinfo.e.html .

Production of one 1.15y batch has been started last week. It can't be increased anymore. Another one will probably start by end of next week and can be increased within a few weeks. That means I also can accept 10 and 20 unit packs until mid of May (or until the capacity limit has reached.)

antirack

hero member

Activity: 489

Merit: 500

Immersionist

I currently have quads for sale, but I am not sure what they are worth nowadays.

Also, unfortunately I have no time to sell them one by one so I am looking to sell at least 5 of them at a time.

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.1884891

They were not built by Ztex (licensed production) so there will be no warranty and support by Ztex. Only buy if you know what you are doing. They have been up and running since last year, I guarantee that they work.

evilscoop

sr. member

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I know ben, but your not splitting....

BenTuras

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https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/wts-42ghs-5x-quad-1-single-ztex-in-total-21-fpga-tower-incl-ps-and-fans-121404

ektwr

full member

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fpga's will never diy because we can use them as photorythimic controler's too!

rupy

hero member

Activity: 725

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I think they will never be "dumped", even if they are unprofitable, they still have collection value. If BTC becomes as big as we all expect, the first FPGA's will have a big nostalgia value attached to them. Just imagine if/when bitcoin is worth 10.000$ then my FPGA farm of 40W will have generated 7.000$ per day back in 2012... that's the definition of nostalgia for you: it was better back then!

Topic: ZTEX USB-FPGA Modules 1.15x and 1.15y: 215 and 860 MH/s FPGA Boards - page 4. (Read 182443 times)