The Ultimate BitAxe Guide.
Everything you need to know — from first boot to reading stratum logs. All examples use SoloPool.eu.
Setting Up the BitAxe
1.1 Power & Initial Boot
Plug your BitAxe into a 5 V USB-C power supply. It boots automatically — the OLED screen displays its own IP address within a few seconds. On first boot it enters a Wi-Fi setup mode and broadcasts its own temporary Wi-Fi hotspot.
1.2 Connecting to the Wi-Fi Hotspot
Note: BitAxe chips only connect to 2.4 GHz networks — 5 GHz bands are not supported. If you use an ASUS router, temporarily disable AI Protection or the device won't join your home network.
1.3 Entering Your Mining Credentials
Under the Settings tab in AxeOS, fill in the stratum fields for SoloPool.eu:
Worker naming: appending .bitaxe1 to your address lets you track multiple devices separately on the miner stats page. See the Worker Naming Guide for details.
Click Save & Apply. The BitAxe reboots and should start hashing within 30 seconds. You'll see accepted shares appear on your miner stats page shortly after.
Understanding the AxeOS Dashboard
2.1 Hashrate Metrics
Hashrate is an instantaneous estimate of your miner's speed, calculated over the last few seconds. Because each hash is a random trial, share counts in any short window follow a Poisson distribution — expect large swings up and down. This is normal.
Average Hashrate is smoothed over a longer window (1–5 minutes). This is the number to watch — it filters out the noise and shows your true sustained speed. A healthy BitAxe Gamma runs around 1–2 TH/s depending on overclock settings.
Don't panic at dips. Seeing the instantaneous hashrate drop to zero or spike to 3× normal is just statistical variance, not a hardware problem. Watch the average — if it stays stable, your miner is healthy.
2.2 Efficiency (J/TH)
Efficiency tells you how much electricity is used per unit of hashing work. Lower is better.
Formula: Efficiency (J/TH) × Hashrate (TH/s) = Power draw (Watts)
kWh is how electricity suppliers charge you — check your bill for your unit rate. Efficient mining means more hashes per euro spent on electricity.
2.3 Share Statistics
mining.suggested_difficulty message.Setting difficulty too high causes your miner to take a long time to find any share, making pool stats appear stale or offline. Leave it at the device default — the pool will negotiate the right difficulty automatically.
2.4 Graphs & Trend Lines
The AxeOS graph plots three lines on the same time axis:
- Instantaneous hashrate (solid) — jumpy, Poisson-driven, short window (~5 s)
- Average hashrate (dashed) — smoothed over 1–5 minutes, shows real sustained speed
- ASIC temperature (red) — plotted on the right Y-axis in °C
2.5 Power Statistics
All readings come from a TI INA260 digital power monitor between the 5 V supply and the ASIC. It measures real-time watts, input voltage, current, clock speed, and core voltage.
| Metric | What it is | Safe range |
|---|---|---|
| Power (W) | Real-time electrical draw of the ASIC rail | ~15 W stock · up to ~30 W overclocked |
| Input Voltage (V) | Bus voltage on the 5 V rail | 4.9–5.1 V below 4.8 V = risk of reset |
| ASIC Frequency (MHz) | Core clock of the BM13xx chip | 525 MHz stock 1000 MHz+ = high heat |
| Core Voltage (V) | Voltage fed to the ASIC core | 1.10–1.20 V stock max ~1.25 V for overclocks |
Overclocking safely: increase frequency in steps of 20–25 MHz at a time. Check stability at each step before going further. Core voltage above 1.25 V combined with high temperature accelerates chip wear. The INA260 only measures the ASIC rail — the ESP32's own draw (~1–3 W) is not included.
2.6 Heat & Fan Speed
The heat section shows three values: ASIC temperature (die), VRM temperature (the voltage regulator), and fan speed as a percentage of max RPM.
| Sensor | Ideal | Warning | Critical |
|---|---|---|---|
| ASIC (die) | 40–65 °C | 65–70 °C | >70 °C — throttles; >75 °C — wear risk |
| VRM | <100 °C | 100–110 °C | >120 °C — regulator failure risk |
| Fan Speed | Auto (AxeOS curve) | Sustained 100% | 100% + rising temp = inadequate airflow |
Fan speed runs 1 000–7 200 RPM on stock fans and is controlled automatically by AxeOS. Sustained 100% fan speed means the device is fighting to keep cool — improve airflow, clean dust from heatsinks, or reduce your overclock. Noctua 5 V fans are a popular upgrade for quieter, more effective cooling.
Dust is the enemy. Clean heatsinks and fan blades monthly — a dust layer can raise VRM temperature by 10–15 °C and reduce ASIC lifespan noticeably.
Reading the Stratum Logs
AxeOS shows a live log of every message sent and received over the stratum connection. Once you know the pattern, errors become obvious immediately.
3.1 Connection Handshake
On first connect, the BitAxe sends a subscribe then an authorize message:
result: true on authorize = you are connected and authenticated. result: false means bad credentials — double-check your BCH address.
3.2 Receiving Work
After authorization, the pool continuously pushes new jobs via mining.notify:
When cleanJobs is true, a new BCH block was found on the network and all previous work is obsolete. AxeOS switches to the new job immediately.
3.3 Submitting a Share
When your ASIC finds a hash that exceeds the pool's share difficulty, AxeOS submits it:
3.4 Common Log Errors
Here are the errors you're most likely to see and what they mean:
bitcoincash:q), that there are no typos in the worker name, and that the stratum host is exactly bch.solopool.eu with no prefix.3333 for plain TCP, 3334 for TLS. Some firewalls block non-standard ports; try the other one. Also confirm the stratum host has no stratum+tcp:// prefix.