Bitaxe Miners

What are Bitaxe miners

The official website explains it perfectly ⇒ https://bitaxe.org/

Bitaxe is a Bitcoin miner based on an open-source design and a modern mining ASIC, offering efficiency and customization for users.

The open-source nature allows users to inspect, modify, and enhance the hardware and software to optimize performance based on specific needs or mining environments. Bitaxe is ideal for miners looking for greater control over their operations while contributing to the decentralization of the Bitcoin network.

My two Bitaxe Supra 401 miners running at home.

Initiatives like this help the fight against mining centralization. You can make a donation here.

Bitaxe models

There are several Bitaxe models:

Some of those models are still under development and receiving revisions. You can find more details on Bitaxe's official website.

Where to buy Bitaxe miners

You can find a list of vendors here.

You are also free to purchase all the parts and assemble your miner yourself.

Setting up your Bitaxe miner

Once you've received or assembled your Bitaxe, you can set it up and start mining.

Step 1 - Find your model version

Bitaxe is under active development, with new features and bug fixes frequently released. In addition to your model, you must also note your version/revision number to ensure you flash the correct firmware in the next steps.

In my case, my model is a Bitaxe Supra. My version/revision number is 401. It can be found on the Bitaxe's motherboard:

Bitaxe Supra v401

Step 2 - Download the firmware

Go to this page and download the latest stable firmware for your model and version. In my case:

esp-miner-factory-401-v2.5.0.bin

This file contains:

• The bitaxe firmware
• The web UI (to interact with and configure your Bitaxe)
• A default configuration

Step 3 - Connect to your PC

Plug your Bitaxe into power, then connect it to your PC using a USB-A to USB-C cable.

To identify your Bitaxe's device file, run the following command in your terminal:

sudo dmesg | grep tty

You should see an output similar to this:

[66383.261520] cdc_acm 3-3.2:1.0: ttyACM0: USB ACM device

In my case, this indicates that the miner's device file is /dev/ttyACM0

Step 4 - Flash the firmware

Install bitaxetool

Create a working directory for the flashing process:

mkdir flashing_bitaxe && mv ./esp-miner-factory-401-v2.5.0.bin flashing_bitaxe/ && cd flashing_bitaxe

Next we install the flashing software bitaxetool in a python virtual environment:

python3 -m venv venv

source venv/bin/activate

pip install --upgrade bitaxetool

Create config file

We must also create a config file. You can find templates with default values for each model here.

Here is the template for the Supra 401, also shown below:

key,type,encoding,value
main,namespace,,
hostname,data,string,my-super-bitaxe
wifissid,data,string,wifi-name
wifipass,data,string,wifi-password
stratumurl,data,string,public-pool.io
stratumport,data,u16,21496
stratumuser,data,string,replace-this-with-your-btc-address.my_super_bitaxe.my-super-bitaxe
stratumpass,data,string,password1234
fbstratumurl,data,string,solo.ckpool.org
fbstratumport,data,u16,3333
fbstratumuser,data,string,replace-this-with-your-btc-address.my_super_bitaxe.my-super-bitaxe
fbstratumpass,data,string,password1234
asicfrequency,data,u16,490
asicvoltage,data,u16,1166
asicmodel,data,string,BM1368
devicemodel,data,string,supra
boardversion,data,string,401
rotation,data,u16,0
autofanspeed,data,u16,1
fanspeed,data,u16,100
selftest,data,u16,1
overheat_mode,data,u16,0

Let's look into some of the parameters.

First we got the network config for the Bitaxe to connect automatically to your wifi:

• hostname : It will identify the bitaxe on your local network instead of having to remember its IP
• wifissid : Your Wi-Fi name
• wifipass : Your Wi-Fi password

Then we got the hardware config:

• devicemodel: Model name
• boardversion: Revision number
• asicmodel: The ASIC chip model used by the miner (as detailed here)
• asicfrequency: ASIC cycles per second, expressed in MHz
• asicvoltage: ASIC voltage, expressed in mV

Then we got the pools config. This is for the main pool (here we're using public-pool.io):

• stratumurl
• stratumport
• stratumuser
• stratumpass

And this is for the fallback pool in case the main fails (here we're using ckpool):

• fbstratumurl
• fbstratumport
• fbstratumuser
• fbstratumpass

Flash the firmware

Save the config file in the same working directory. We're now ready to flash with this command:

sudo venv/bin/bitaxetool --port /dev/ttyACM0 --firmware ./esp-miner-factory-401-v2.5.0.bin --config ./config.csv

Once its done, unplug the miner from your PC and from power.

Step 5 - Access the web UI

Once your miner is up and running, you can manage it via its web UI at http://your-miner-IP.

You can also monitor your miners and hashrate on Public Pool by entering the BTC address used in the stratumuser.

Update your Bitaxe

When a new firmware version is released, you can flash it the same way as before.

Alternatively, you can manually update the esp-miner.bin (the firmware) and the ww-bin (the frontend) from the Bitaxe web UI. Just go to Settings and scroll to the very bottom.

Troubleshooting

This link is a good base ⇒ https://d-central.tech/troubleshooting/bitaxe-troubleshooting-guide/

On my 401s I constantly have issues with the display screens not working so I've stopped using them.