Bitcoin Forum

Hi, I'm new here.  I was thinking of buying this miner:
http://gawminers.com/collections/all-miners/products/shipped-pre-order-september-6-th-s-spondoolies-tech-sp30-yukon-batch-1

and bringing it to college to use it.  I live in a single room in a building that was created in the last 5 years.  While I don't know much about electricity and the like, I am worried that the miner I was going to buy will draw too much electricity.  I wouldn't want to cause a short or something like that.  I do not want to damage the room's electrical circuits/wall outlets.  I guess my main question is whether I'd be able to plug my bitcoin miner into a wall outlet and begin using it or if I'd need to take special precautions?  Would I have to use both the plugs that are provided with the miner? Or could I just plug it into one outlet?  Also do you guys have any tips I should keep in mind?  Any help is greatly appreciated.  Thanks!

It most likely won't, i.e. it will trip the circuit breaker.

A typical outlet will be rated 10 amps, that would be about 1100W at 110V (US) or 2200W at 220V (Europe).

Unlikely that your dorm would handle the juice. This is designed to be a rack moutned system which typically runs off a 3-phase 15Amp per phase set-up - for Australia. I think the same will apply for the US, it is a rack mounted item that will require a higher than  normal power supply and plug.

butwhat would I know, I am only an Electrical Engineer.   ;D

What should I do to make this work?  Is it even possible?

What is the voltage in your area, where do you live?

The only possibility that comes to my mind would be having 2 separate 220V circuits in your room, but it seems very unlikely to me.

Not a good idea to put high load in your dorm room. The staff will notice and may take measure against you.

I wouldn't do it. There are reasons, why safety regulations exist for outlets ;)

Google says:
UK power outlet is rated at 240V and at 13A which works out to ~3120W
North America, a 120V receptacle is going to be on a 20A breaker; so ~2400W

Probably not, but maybe you could split the units draw between two outlets?

edit: Updated Information

That won't help if they are on the same circuit. I doubt his room will have two of those.

Sorry to break it but I don't think that would be a good idea man! You should probably ask them

Also..

Do you know how loud and hot these things are?  You will be deaf and cooked within a week!

Neil

3kw for a dorm room is too much, they were not built for these kind of things. And even if they can handle 3kw electricity draw, your second problem would be to deal with 3kw of heat dumped in your room. Really, this is a bad idea for a dorm. Be considerate of your roommates too.

PS - this belongs in the MINING (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=76.0) section.

depends on where you live. but in a dorm I would still say thats too much.

True, and since its a single room the likely hood of that is very slim, if it was a 3 person room, perhaps.

Yes, but a 3 person room has 2 other persons inside it. :D

Imagine your roommate mining 24/7 and your room has 90 db and 40c constantly.

haha, I also thought about how terrible a single dorm room would be with a rig running 24/7.

Thanks for all the info guys.  I guess I probably shouldn't buy it then.   :-\   

Oh well, do any of you guys have some smaller good alternatives?  Since I have a single room the noise and heat won't be an issue.  I can turn down the A.C as far as I want.  What bitcoin mining rig/scrypt mining rig should I get that delivers a return on investment? Any ideas?

Normal people put their ring in a separate room, with extra ventilation and I guess with electrical instalations suitable for the miners. 3000W is more or less the heat generted by 30 people, not counting the noise, so I guess your and your miner won't survive the first night.

If you want mine while in college room, I guess you should get some USB miners.

I think that's a bad idea
3KW is too damn high for college dorm

Since clearly the 3000W miner is no longer viable, does anyone know any smaller miners that still offer a pretty good return?  I don't want to use USB miners because they don't offer a good return.  Thanks!

I dont think you should do it health and safety etc especially in a college lol.

3000w are you dreaming? It should be around half 1400w or lower. Do not take the risk of endangering other people life. There is a thing call Fire!

So you are saying that a 1400w miner would be viable?

Maybe yous should check zenminer site.
Some of my friend use zenminer to host their miner. But I dunno if it profitable or not because I haven't try it myself.

I would buy a fish tank instead.  You clearly don't know what you are getting into

While I don't entirely know what I'm getting into, I'm willing to learn.  I've always been interested in mining bitcoin so I might as well give it a try.  Your comments are not useful so please do not post on this thread.

I'm pretty sure newbies aren't allowed to tell full members what they can and can not do.  ;)

Especially when that are 100% correct.

How for from the world are you? He gave a solid advice and you just flame back? Not very nice!

Most college dorms will be using 15A wiring which means you can mine with 12A assuming nothing else is plugged into that circuit - ie no TV, fridge, computer, not even a light.  12A x 120V = 1400W

If you have a huge dorm room with 3 to 5 people you might have 2 circuits doubling the amount of miners you can put, but if you trip the circuit not only will the dorm housing people come to reset the breaker they'll also look for what tripped the breaker.

I wouldn't run more than 500W until I make sure nothing else is on that circuit.  If you don't have access to the breaker panel then you shouldn't be testing the limits.  Burning down a dorm would cost you about 5000BTC in liability  :D

No need for these full members to be rude though, especially when the newbie is being quite polite and learning from the answers that were given to him. Telling someone who wants to get into Bitcoin mining to buy a fish tank instead and that he clearly doesn't know what he's getting into, in a thread where he's attempting to know more, isn't useful indeed IMHO.

@OP: At any rate, be careful about expecting returns (ROI) from any miner. If you're doing it for the money, it's a risky investment. Do not invest more than you are willing to lose. And as you can see, running the miner 24/7 in your dorm is going to be tough because of the power consumption, the noise and the heat that it will generate. I would consider other options.

Cheers

The only things worth buying are S3's. Buy 2 or 3 of them (about 340w each), a decent power supply, and call it a day. They aren't very loud. I actually like the ambient noise they generate and they would help me study if anything.

With free power they should ROI by winter break.

Thanks guys! I think I'll follow your advice and look into the S3s.  I'll make sure to use close to 500w to be safe.  I wouldn't want to burn down my dorm. 

Even this is way too much for a room inhabited by humans. It basically means constantly open windows  and very dry air in winter, and it will become completely unbearable during the summer.

EDIT: 500W seems manageable.

u will burn the socket by using 3 kw.

No, it will only trip the breaker, unless the electrical wiring/equipment is defective or non-compliant, which is unlikely in a campus dorm.

Anyway, I think OP has got it by now, read above.

But he still hasn't realized exactely how much heat does things emmit. His room will be 10c hotter on average...

One S3 is probably manageable if he has AC or can leave a window open for a breeze.  That's like a large TV and a stereo system - commonplace in most dorms.  Running anything beyond 1 S3 means that any other heat from computers, TVs, stereos would make the room quite toasty.

Larger TVs and Stereos are not running with full capacity 24/7. Stereos have a max output of that wattage. So you can't really compare the heat of those two.

The heat of my two S3's is a pain in the living room of my 2bdrm 900 Sq ft Apt and I've got nice air being a mile from the Pacific Ocean. I don't mind when I'm not home (my miners rarely go above 42 C).

When I get home I make sure to face a fan outside a window. It's one of those Vornado fans you can get at Target. The thing is tiny but it's a beast. Just point your S3 exhaust towards it and it'll spit hot air straight out the dorm room. This should lower your room's ambient temperature a lot.

We're talking dorm room, not average household with kids.  My roommate had the TV on 24/7 (big 32" Sony Trinitron sucking 320W) and if not the TV he had a 700W stereo bumping.  Yes, 2 15 subs with a high pass and a guitar amp will do that - we always left our window or door open.

Again it depends on the size of the room - 400 sqft would be hot, 1200 sqft not too bad with a single S3.

1. you cant live with that thing in one room without earplugs. the room will get hot for sure more than 35° without ventilation and then and your miner will shot down too.
2. you need one circuit breaker just for your miner. check that out. then replace it with one for 16Ampere (in europe) and put thicker wires from the circuit breaker to the plug (recommended, but depends how hot the wires will get). best you consult an electrician. for 100 bucks he can figure out whats necessary.

And dont forget that the narcs will be knocking on your door soon.

It's a college dormitory!!!  He/she can't go changing breakers and ripping out wiring.  I doubt he/she would be even allowed to have access to the breaker in the first place that's why I said not to trip it.  If it trips the engineering dept will come over and try to see why it tripped.  Then you either need to show them the miner or lie/hide it which could get him/her into a lot of trouble.

1 S3 should be fine - anything beyond that would depend on the size of the dorm and the age of the circuit.

But not while you sleep, or?

S3 are incredible loud and hot!

Again I said it really depends on the space he's in.  In college my roommate and I kept our PCs on 24/7 and back then monitors didn't have power saving mode.  Some people keep all kinds of stuff on 24/7 since they're not directly paying for the electricity.

S3 will still put out a good bit of heat at 340+ watts but it is nowhere near as loud as a BFL Single or crazy DC level eq like an SP30.

You have no idea how freakin hot your room would become if you ran 3000W of mining machines. I am talking sauna hot. There is no way you could stand it for longer than a day. Plus the noise. Believe me, been there, done that. Can't be done. Only thing you might get away with is something like one S3 and even thats iffy.

Better approach, talk one of your professors into a 'project' so you can setup a couple machines in a lab or something.

The best miner in college is to be a "gold digger".  Hook up with a HOT (hotter than your 3000W) and rich girl or guy and you can mine all your life.

I don't know where you go to school, but in my school there are people who inspect dorm rooms regularly throughout the semester.  If they find a miner they may think it's a heater or something and notify the fire dep and deem it fire hazard.