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Bitcoin => Hardware => Topic started by: mberg2007 on November 25, 2015, 10:30:19 PM



Title: Which raspberry pi model?
Post by: mberg2007 on November 25, 2015, 10:30:19 PM
Hi all,

I'm working on a hobby project to basically set up a solar powered raspberry pi with a couple of usb miners on it. It'll have a couple of 10w solar panels and a charge controller with a battery pack sufficiently sized to continue operations for an hour or two should a cloud pass overhead ... which it does a lot here in Denmark :-)

Anyway, as far as I can see there are four different Raspberry models. I'm looking at the first generation B+ model because it uses a bit less power than the 2. generation. Downside is that it is single core vs. the quad core 2. gen.

With these self contained usb miners, does it really make a lot of difference how much cpu power you have on the Raspberry? Am I better off saving a few milliamps of power by buying the 1. generation B+ model, or will I be paying for that later on because it mines a bit slower? Will a single core be enough to fully take advantage of one or two or perhaps even ten avalon nano's?

And yes I know that this thing will never pay for itself. It's just a hobby project to give me someting to play with in the weekends ... nothing else :-)

-Michael


Title: Re: Which raspberry pi model?
Post by: notlist3d on November 25, 2015, 11:43:47 PM
Hi all,

I'm working on a hobby project to basically set up a solar powered raspberry pi with a couple of usb miners on it. It'll have a couple of 10w solar panels and a charge controller with a battery pack sufficiently sized to continue operations for an hour or two should a cloud pass overhead ... which it does a lot here in Denmark :-)

Anyway, as far as I can see there are four different Raspberry models. I'm looking at the first generation B+ model because it uses a bit less power than the 2. generation. Downside is that it is single core vs. the quad core 2. gen.

With these self contained usb miners, does it really make a lot of difference how much cpu power you have on the Raspberry? Am I better off saving a few milliamps of power by buying the 1. generation B+ model, or will I be paying for that later on because it mines a bit slower? Will a single core be enough to fully take advantage of one or two or perhaps even ten avalon nano's?

And yes I know that this thing will never pay for itself. It's just a hobby project to give me someting to play with in the weekends ... nothing else :-)

-Michael


I can understand I have my own lotto projects that likely will never pay off... but I enjoy them.  Honestly if your just running a cgminer instance on a few miners you will have no issue on B/B+ vs 2.

I had my compacs running 2 instances to be able to OC some.   I had no issues with model B+.  Just is not a whole lot of heavy usage, it was just a controller for them I did not really multi-task.

I pulled the B+ to be a controller and hooked up a RPI 2 I had to use with controlling compacs.  There was really no difference unless you surfed the web or something with it, which most likely you wont be doing. Boot up is faster, but again since boot up once not huge.

In my eyes you can't go wrong with either one.


Title: Re: Which raspberry pi model?
Post by: bestcoin_59 on November 26, 2015, 06:20:18 PM
Hi,

Did you contact the Pi-Juice team for your project?

https://www.pi-supply.com/product/pijuice-solar/

Regards,

Jeff.


Title: Re: Which raspberry pi model?
Post by: virtualx on November 26, 2015, 06:25:08 PM
Hi all,

I'm working on a hobby project to basically set up a solar powered raspberry pi with a couple of usb miners on it. It'll have a couple of 10w solar panels and a charge controller with a battery pack sufficiently sized to continue operations for an hour or two should a cloud pass overhead ... which it does a lot here in Denmark :-)

Anyway, as far as I can see there are four different Raspberry models. I'm looking at the first generation B+ model because it uses a bit less power than the 2. generation. Downside is that it is single core vs. the quad core 2. gen.

With these self contained usb miners, does it really make a lot of difference how much cpu power you have on the Raspberry? Am I better off saving a few milliamps of power by buying the 1. generation B+ model, or will I be paying for that later on because it mines a bit slower? Will a single core be enough to fully take advantage of one or two or perhaps even ten avalon nano's?

And yes I know that this thing will never pay for itself. It's just a hobby project to give me someting to play with in the weekends ... nothing else :-)

-Michael

Try to find out about the package management system. On top of my head: the newer model has a better package management system. This might save you some time on installing dependencies.


Title: Re: Which raspberry pi model?
Post by: bestcoin_59 on November 26, 2015, 06:49:10 PM
If you which to save some milliamps of power, you should, IMHO, work on the miners side rather than on the RaspberryPi side. Just my 2 cents, although i could be wrong...


Title: Re: Which raspberry pi model?
Post by: Meech on November 28, 2015, 04:50:40 PM
If you which to save some milliamps of power, you should, IMHO, work on the miners side rather than on the RaspberryPi side. Just my 2 cents, although i could be wrong...
I agree.  There won't be huge differences in the Pi models compared to the usb miner hardware.  The Compac by GekkoScience is highly adjustable for voltage/amps and might be your best bet, not to mention most efficient currently.