Backblaze pod fabrication and more

SparkFun sparks fun for Valentines and more

rcbanham — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 17:31:12 +0000

Hurry, you have just enough time to get to SparkFun’s webpage and order the LED heart kit, run over today to pick it up, solder it together, program your arduino to control it, and then deliver it to your Valentine in time to see them look unexpectedly at it confused how to respond. Don’t fret as they will know soon enough when it is powered up and the animation you programmed states your deep and true feelings in epic geek fashion.
If you don’t know what an Arduino is or even how to solder don’t sweat it as SparkFun has you covered. They have classes regularly on a variety of topics ranging from beginner to advanced. They offer components for any electronics project imaginable and they have competent Boulder based support to help out both on the phone and via the internet. This means no more frustrating off shore virtual ventures only to be met with long hold times and a person that isn’t all that easy to communicate with. To put it in their words, “our products and resources are designed to make the world of electronics more accessible to the average person.” The company is small and has an uncommon culture for any business especially one run by a group of gear heads. They regularly donate to charity, have customer give away days, and even elude to holding a moustache day from time to time. Maybe all of this seems too good to be true? They expect this so stop by and check it out yourself via their call to RSVP Friday 3PM building tours which are free to the public. Check your dog allergies at the door, however, because you will be outnumbered by man’s best friend when you arrive as they are allowed to come to work at SparkFun too.
SparkFun is nestled in the Gunbarrel neighborhood of Boulder along with several other successful electronics companies like Spectra Logic and Serious Materials. There are a host of other respectable companies out there too that aren’t so electronics focused like Celestial Seasonings, GoLite, and the notorious Crispin Porter + Bogusky makers of the controversial Groupon Super Bowl ads this year. SparkFun doesn’t have a store front but does welcome online purchases and walk in pick ups. They are open 9-5pm Monday to Friday Mountain Standard Time and are located at 6175 Longbow Drive in Boulder Colorado.
Don’t miss more gadgets information coming soon. Click on the RSS button at the top of this page and more articles like this will be delivered right to you as soon as they are hot off the virtual press. Clicking is more convenient than a microwave and has none of the radioactive side effects.

Hello!

rcbanham — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 08:05:52 +0000

If you are like most people you have come because you are looking to start, advance, or complete your Backblaze storage pod build. In order to give you what you are interested in more easily I have stuck this sites highest traffic post right below this one so it is easy to find. While I was at it I updated the parts list to reflect more modern parts availability. I also fixed some other errors I noted along the way. Hopefully this all makes your time here faster, easier, and more pleasant over all.

Thanks for visiting!

single-track energy – part III: storage

rcbanham — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 05:46:18 +0000

Batteries are like a home entertainment DVR except there are far less surreal child targeted commercials contained in modern batteries. Generally a DVR doesn’t present the risk of explosion or leaking and also risk exposing an acid or a deadly heavy metal to a user. Battery bank design is a tricky topic because it is personal and should respect the owners usage goals along with the environmental and electrical needs of the capacitors in this case sealed lead acid batteries. The intended draw from the bank will determine much about the banks capacity, charging system, and voltage. In addition to these considerations are also the considerations for the battery type and how the bank is wired to achieve the proper voltage/capacity desired. The batteries in this case are affordable and allow for easy creation of both 12v and 24v systems and they are designed more to be more tolerant of deep and regular discharge.

Sleepy now… this post will be updated and completed within 24-48 hours. Please check back.

single-track energy – part II: regulation/rectification

rcbanham — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 03:38:41 +0000

Now that the basic power lighting components are installed and the motorcycle is put mostly back together I have a pair of yellow wires with quick connectors near the radiator that that come directly from the stator’s lighting windings. These can be to connected either to the bike’s light system or something else like a multimeter. The lighting system is rated at 12V AC nominal and the regulator falls beyond this point in the circuit so I set my meter range to 20V AC and connected the probes. This yielded a reading at idle of about 11 volts AC which I intend to convert to DC and store in a capacitor. One simple device that will handle regulation/rectification and oversee battery status and charging is a charge controller. I have a basic sunforce charge controller that I intend to use as it is laying around from this summer’s obsession with solar panels. Since Sunforce’s website doesn’t include a guerrilla photo of the gadget’s guts I have voided the warranty to check it out myself. I am not the best with printed circuit boards and their family of chips but I believe the rectifier chip is towards the top of this board. It is attached to a very simple heatsink that looks to be made of aluminum. This charge controller looks like it will work well as the max output of the stator/flywheel combo is 70 watts according to the manufacturer Trail Tech. Remembering A x V=W we can derive that this is about 6 amps and the charge controller can handle 7 amps so this controller could handle the full output that this electromagnetic AC system could produce.

single-track energy – part I: creation/conversion

rcbanham — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 00:48:07 +0000

Earlier in the year I had a picture of the starting motorcycle posted but then went ultra geeky conservative and pulled it down. Now I realize that my recent motorcycle project embodies a nerdy endevour pretty well so I am bringing it back. The primary reason is the first thing that I did to my off road only Honda CRF450R was to make it street legal. This required a headlight and tail light to be added along with a host of other things including an electrical system to power the lights. This electrical system, for affordability sake, ended up being a simple electromagnetic system with no regulation or rectification. It is comprised of a magnetic flywheel (see picture) which is attached to the end of the crankshaft and a stator (see picture) attached to the engine side case. These two mate together (see picture) once the engine side case is closed and the engine is started spinning the flywheel around the stationary stator creating electricity.

ATX 2.0 Power Supply Jumpering

rcbanham — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:56:45 +0000

These are the pins to manually power an ATX 2.0 24 pin power supply without a main board and without the supply thinking something is wrong. It is green to black and gray to purple.

Tackling Backblaze power and wiring issues

rcbanham — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:37:00 +0000

Here are some images from the process we are using to power our Backblaze pods. We are making the power harnesses in house from a slightly modified parts and tools list posted earlier which will be updated soon. We have jumpered the second supply and powered half of the drive bay area to address drive dropping troubles in RAID set creation and sustainability. This was retrofitted into our first two pods which is why we have 2 1200W supplies. This is way overkill but we had the parts on hand and timing was tight. The next two revs will include two 650W supplies which is reasonably over powered for what we need but not so ridiculous. Ampacity issues were addressed in the previous power harness configuration and have been addressed. Expect a post about that soon. It theoretically is now possible to sustain higher power drives if needed or wanted.

Backblaze recommended tool list

rcbanham — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 23:00:09 +0000

These are the tools that I prefer and use to fabricate a Backblaze pod. Use it as a guide prepare for the assembly:

Ratcheting wire crimpers with 22-10 AWG gauge inserts x 1

http://www.amazon.com/0380PT-22-10-Ratchet-Terminal-Crimping/dp/B001QRW20W

Multimeter with continuity test function x 1

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006FKF5Y/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B000ET5VYC&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0VR2RY77T731V0RX10MA

Hole punching tool with 3/16th inch bit x 1

http://www.amazon.com/Steel-Punch-Sheet-Punching-Aviation/dp/B001CBRK86

Pill oraganizer for keeping the enclosure and other small parts organized and from being lost

http://www.amazon.com/7-14-Day-Pill-Organizer/dp/B0006L56GQ

Short handled snub nosed wire snips x 1

http://www.amazon.com/Cables-Go-38004-Diagonal-InchesRed/dp/B000HPJEUA

Nylon probe tool x 5-10

http://www.amazon.com/Menda-Soldering-Probe-Nylon-Spudger/dp/B000PDUHNC

Dremel with heavy-duty cut off bit

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000DEZL9/ref=asc_df_B0000DEZL91022383?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&tag=googlecom09c9-20&linkCode=asn&creative=380341&creativeASIN=B0000DEZL9

Screwdriver magnetizer/demagnetizer x 1

http://www.amazon.com/Magnetizer-Demagnetizer-Screwdriver-Magnetic-Tool/dp/B0001VWLUK

A good quality sharp pair of wire strippers x 1

http://www.amazon.com/Klein-11046-Stripper-Cutter-Inches/dp/B0000302WS

Small tech screwdriver set with Phillips and flat head tips – 1 each

http://www.amazon.com/Wiha-PicoFinish-Precision-Phillips-Screwdriver/dp/B000FV62SS

Standard screwdriver set with Phillips and flat head ends – 1 each

http://www.youshouldhavetheseinatoolboxnearby.com

8mm open end/boxed end wrench

http://smallerthana9mmbutlargerthana7mm.com

Small needle nose pliers x 1

http://www.sortoflikeonemightusetopickthiernose.com

Electrical tape x 1 healthy roll

http://www.thiscanbeboughtat7elevenibet.com

Exacto blades and handle x 1

http://www.likeadepressedgothmayusetocutthemselves.com

Utility knife x 1

http://fordepressedgothswhohaveextratoughskin.com

Backblaze shopping list complete with minimums and spare parts

rcbanham — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 21:53:45 +0000

It is true that Backblaze pods can be quite affordable when considering the alternatives. However, there are several expenses that aren’t realistically presented when looking at the Backblaze shopping list. The below list is a complete list with vendors of how I build these systems and what cost one could expect when building the first pod. I just completed the second unit and am building two more this month. This list includes spare parts for failures, some spec upgrades (RAM, Processor, motherboard, and speed controlled cooling), actual costs accounting for minimum orders required, and alternate cheaper parts to accommodate the upgrades and minimums while keeping the price comparable. Due to the minimum orders and spare parts the actual cost for us to build the first unit without including labor is really about $9300. $1500 of that is spare parts making the cost of the upgraded unit very similar to their reference design. If one uses 2TB disks the cost jumps about $2500 more dollars which is directly the cost of the disks. Here is the list based on 2TB disk:

1 x Custom Designed 4U Red Backblaze Storage Pod Enclosure – $750/each

50 x 2TB Samsung Spinpoint 5400RPM hard drive 3.5 inch (5 spare) – $18/each

2 x Thermaltake 1200W toughpower modular power s upply (1 spare) – $349/each

10 x Chyang Fun port port multipliers (1 spare) – $50/each

1 x Intel Xeon 3110 server processor 3.0GHz – $180/each

4 x Addonics PCI-X SATA RAID host controller with 4 ports (1 spare) – $70/each

1 x Supermicro MBD-X7SBE server motherboard – $250/each

4 x 120MM PWM ultra high speed / airflow midplane fan (1 spare) – $40/each

4 x 120MM PWM high speed / airflow inlet fan (1 spare) – $16/each

1 x FrozenCPU ele-302 Bulgin Vandal Momentary LED Power Switch 12″ 2-pin – $30/each

1000 x Fastener SuperStore 1/4″ Round Nylon Standoffs Female/Female 4-40 x 3/4″ (900+ spare) – $190/1000 units – I found 1000 to be the minimum order so be ready for a pile of these

30 x black fan screw (6 spare) – $.20/each

300 x Aero Rubber Co. 3.0 x .500 inch EPDM (255 spare) – $200/300 –They have a minimum order of $200 which is 300 units (when all that is needed for one unit is about 50) at Aero Rubber through Steve Ricker but Protocase has been offering these with case build outs.

2 x Crucial 4GB RAM kit with matched pairs – $91/each

2 x Seagate ST380215AS 80GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5 boot disk (1 spare) – $35/each

10 x OKGEAR 36″ SATA II Cable Model GC36AKM12 (1 spare) – $2.50/each

1 x vibration damping replaces fan, power supply, and top panel vibration materials spec’d by Backblaze (75% spare) – $32/each

100 x Small Parts MPN-0440-06P-C Nylon Pan Head Phillips Screw 4-40 x 3/8″ (28 spare) – $.05/each – I source these locally and have not used this vendor

25 x 4 pin Molex 90 degree DIY connector for port multiplier power harness production (7 spare) – $1/each

1 x 18 gauge copper stranded wiring for port multiplier power harness production in three colors – $7/each

2 x In line wire splicer for power harness production – $2/each

1 x 4 conductor wire for fan harness production to inlet fan assembly (45 feet spare) – $7/each

6 x Splicers for inlet fan harness production (1 package spare) – $3.30/each

BackBlaze 1 vs. BackBLaze 2

rcbanham — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:41:18 +0000

The second rev of BackBlaze started benchmarking and burning in as well today. It is very similar to the first but uses a Xeon (e3110) instead of a Core 2 Duo (e8600) processor. Both processors are 65w dual cores with 6MB level two caches that clock in the 3GHz range. However, there are a couple things that set them apart from one another: price and performance. Currently on NewEgg the Xeon sells for almost half the Core 2. This is where it gets interesting… The Xeon when benchmarked performs about 50% faster than the Core Duo. This translates to significant memory throughput advances as well. Again, about 50% greater memory throughput. The disks are not installed in the second BackBlaze but I bet the read/write performance will be improved noticeably too. I am interested to see how much the gain is and will share when I know.

The accompanying picture shows some of the memory results. Let me know if you would like to see other results as well.