What's the fan unit?
It’s a Fan Unit for the Compute Blade enclosure. It is mounted on a pair of blades, regardless of the case configuration (from 2 to 20 at this time).
There are 2 versions: - Non-Smart gen2 / Dumb: Power from both blades, control from the left blade in the pair. At the moment, you can only select this option to use in the cluster. If we have time to go through the certifications and paperwork by the end of the campaign, you will be able to upgrade it to: - Smart Fan Unit: Numerous functions, features, and the ability to customize the operating logic.
Features: - Based on RP2040 and EMC2101 - PWM fan - 2 temperature sensors - 2 UARTs for interfacing with blades - Button that can be assigned to any action - 2 LEDs for indicating which blade is working - 2 Digital RGB LEDs - 1 LED to GPIO25 - Reset and boot buttons - Smart Power MUX chip It adjusts the speed of the fan and the color of the digital LEDs depending on the temperature of the airflow. You can specify the desired speed from both blades simply by UART. Alternatively, the Blades can report processor temperatures via UART and the Fan Unit sets the fan speed and color of the digital LEDs.
Last updated: February 09, 2023 12:04
How much does it cost in electricity?
1 Blade only consumes about 6-7W under load operation along with the NVMe drive when the Raspberry Pi CM4 CPU is overclocked to 2GHz. A cluster of 40 Blades in operation consumes about 230W in Ci/CD tasks.
Last updated: February 09, 2023 11:49
What is the Latch / Latch button?
The Latch enables a convenient pushing of the Latch button, which can work for blade identification, for example.
Last updated: February 09, 2023 12:54
What is the depth of the 19"/10" enclosure?
340mm with Fan Units installed
Last updated: February 09, 2023 13:39
What is the Zymbit HSM module?
This is a module for ultimate data protection on your blades. You can encrypt the file system using various encryption methods. Store private and public keys on this module or even delete them if someone physically attacks the blade (or simply notify the admin that someone has removed the blade from the rack) More information about it on the official website zymbit.com/hsm4/
Last updated: February 10, 2023 05:40
Can I print the enclosure myself?
Yes! But this is quite a challenge for your 3D printer The files are on my GitHub: https://github.com/merocle/BladeRunner
Last updated: February 09, 2023 14:34
Power consumption and the choice of a switch
Better to use a switch with IEEE 802.3at (PoE+). But IEEE 802.3af (PoE) should be enough to work at less than 1.8 GHz and normal NVMe. Future modules (Coral, Raid, etc.) will require more power. 40 devices are 260-280W in operation in a production environment (Ci/CD) in the middle of the week. 20 of them are running at 1.8GHz and 20x at 2GHz. Load ranges from 3 to 17W.
Data from the switches in a similar question on discord. Here, unfortunately, the table looks unreadable
Last updated: February 12, 2023 02:04
Company/VAT Invoice
If you need a specific company related invoice before the Campaign ends please reach out to us. We can provide such invoices and will prepare them if needed.
We would like to limit this to orders >$3k to keep the additional effort controllable.
Last updated: February 16, 2023 03:04
Whats about shipping, VAT, and import duties.
Our current manufacturing is set up inside the EU. Due to the high number of US-based backers, we checked the production/legal possibilities and requirements of establishing a US-based production line in the past few days. Our manufacturing partner can do a multi-country setup, and we are in the last clarification steps to make this work.
EU backers - Shipping will be from inside the EU - Only shipping fees will be added - VAT is included and will be shown on your invoice
US backers - Shipping from inside the US is in the last clarification steps and will be confirmed asap. In this case, no import duties are to pay.
Swiss backers - Only shipping fees will be added. - Import will be done by one of our partners, and no additional costs will be added.
Rest of the World - Shipping will be from inside the EU - Shipping fees will be added - Additional fees will become due based on your local import regulations.
Shipping fees After the campaign, you will receive a separate survey (we use BackerKit) in which you will define your shipping and payment information. Afterwards, the shipping fees will be calculated and can be paid directly on their platform.
Last updated: February 21, 2023 11:49
What is BackerKit?
BackerKit is a service that crowdfunded project creators use to keep track of hundreds to tens of thousands of backers—from shipping details, pledge levels, preferences and quantities, whether they have paid or had their card declined, special notes, and everything in between!
The BackerKit software and support team is independent from the campaign’s project team—BackerKit does not handle the actual reward shipping. For more information about the preparation or delivery status of your rewards, please check the project's updates page.
How does BackerKit work?
After the campaign ends, the project creator will send you an email with a unique link to your survey. You can check out a walkthrough of the process here.
I never received my invitation. How do I complete the survey?
The most common reasons for not receiving a survey email is that you may be checking an email inbox different from the email address you used to sign up with Kickstarter, Indiegogo or Tilt Pro account, or it may be caught in your spam filter.
Confirm that the email address you are searching matches the email address tied to your Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or Tilt Pro account. If that doesn’t work, then try checking your spam, junk or promotions folders. You can also search for "backerkit” in your inbox.
To resend the survey to yourself, visit the project page and input the email address associated with your Kickstarter, Indiegogo or Tilt Pro account.
How do I update my shipping address?
BackerKit allows you to update your shipping address until the shipping addresses are locked by the project creator. To update your address, go back to your BackerKit survey by inputting your email here.
When will my order be shipped, charged or locked?
That is handled directly by the project creator. BackerKit functions independently of the project itself, so we do not have control of their physical shipping timeline. If you want to check on the project’s status, we recommend reading over the project's updates page.
I completed the survey, but haven't received my rewards yet. When will they arrive?
As BackerKit does not actually handle any rewards or shipping, the best way to stay updated on the shipping timeline would be to check out the project's updates page.