Bitcoin Forum

I'm new to bitcoin mining. I'm trying to understand the role of the PSU. My understanding is that there's a 15-20 amp current coming in from a 120V outlet and the role of the PSU is to increase the voltage to 240V. So there would be 15A * 120V = 1800 watts being drawn into the PSU and the output from the PSU would be 15A * 240V = 3600 watts which would give the s19 miner the appropriate wattage. Is my understanding correct? Does that mean the s19 PSU can be plugged into a 120V standard outlet?

No, the psu requires 200 to 240 ac input and outputs between 12 and 15 volts dc. It will not run on 120v.

you need 240 volts at 20 amps as the psu can do more then 3400 watts.

the psu also directly communicates to the controller so you must use their psu. with their controller.

So if you are buying 5 or more s19 or s19 pros consider buying a spare psu.

S19 and s19 pro gear is not home friendly like a modded s9 can be.

The role of any Power Supply Unit is exactly what the name says: It supplies the power a device needs to operate. In this case, it takes incoming 200-240VAC line voltage and drops it to a controlled 12 to 15vdc. Exact voltage out is set by the controller and is determined through a process called auto-tune where the miner controller goes through several cycles of setting a voltage & testing how well the chips perform. When auto-tune is done the actual voltage used is whatever gave best performance during testing.

As to how a PSU operates, that is an entirely different question and considering your followup question I highly suggest that you pickup a Basic Electricity 101 book such as any of these found on Amazon  (https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Electricity-Books/s?k=Basic+Electricity&rh=n%3A283155). That will at least get you on a safe start to understanding how electrical devices operate...