Mobile car-based mining operation entirely possible

[bitcoindaddy]

I'm been playing with the Raspberry Pi, which only consumes 4 or 5 watts of power, compiling cgminer on it, etc and combined with this little wireless adapter:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005CLMJLU/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i02

I got to thinking - with the following you could run a totally mobile mining operation out of your truck or car:

1.  Android Phone running a wireless hotspot
2.  Your favorite USB mining device, 12 Volt input connected to a cigarette adapter.
3.  Raspberry Pi running Debian and cgminer
4.  Cigarette adapter - to USB to power the Pi.

You could be driving to Grandma's house over Christmas while mining the entire trip. Or a trucker who lives in his rig could mine.

[Bogart]

Bear in mind that a vehicle's "12 volt" electrical system actually can vary from 10 to 15 or so volts.  Powering your thousand-dollar miner by plugging directly into it may not be the wisest choice.

[crazyates]

Bear in mind that a vehicle's "12 volt" electrical system actually can vary from 10 to 15 or so volts.  Powering your thousand-dollar miner by plugging directly into it may not be the wisest choice.

This. Those 12V DC card charges can have some of the worst voltage control, esp if they're really cheap. Example:



Side note: Are you JUST talking about CPU mining on the Rpi? You'd get almost nothing for coins!

[bitcoindaddy]

No, I'm not talking about CPU mining.

[Cablez]

Can a car battery provide 120W constantly? Won't that burn out your alternator?

[Deafboy]

You don't need rPi. cgminer can run on the phone, and miner can be connected via USB.

Btw. is there a compiled armel binary of cgminer? I found just the source and instructions on how to crosscompile some time ago...

[SgtSpike]

Can a car battery provide 120W constantly? Won't that burn out your alternator?

Quite easily.  Your typical alternator can push out 50 amps @ 14v, so 700w.  Certainly, some of that is used for other electrical items (lights being a big user), but a large part of that amperage goes unused.  It needs the extra overhead to be able to recharge batteries drained while the car is off, so using that overhead for other purposes is entirely possible.

[niko]

Can a car battery provide 120W constantly? Won't that burn out your alternator?

Quite easily.  Your typical alternator can push out 50 amps @ 14v, so 700w.  Certainly, some of that is used for other electrical items (lights being a big user), but a large part of that amperage goes unused.  It needs the extra overhead to be able to recharge batteries drained while the car is off, so using that overhead for other purposes is entirely possible.

Any reliable information on how much a kWh costs in a running car?

[SgtSpike]

Can a car battery provide 120W constantly? Won't that burn out your alternator?

Quite easily.  Your typical alternator can push out 50 amps @ 14v, so 700w.  Certainly, some of that is used for other electrical items (lights being a big user), but a large part of that amperage goes unused.  It needs the extra overhead to be able to recharge batteries drained while the car is off, so using that overhead for other purposes is entirely possible.

Any reliable information on how much a kWh costs in a running car?

I read a little while back that idling a modern car typically uses 0.2 gallons/hour.  So, if you consider that the minimum, then you're looking at at least $0.70/kwh.  It is possible to achieve full draw on an alternator at idle, so I think it is reasonable to assume you could get 700w out of the car at idle.  There would be a nearly negligible increase of load on the engine.  $0.70 / 700w = at least $1.00/kwh.

If you upgraded your alternator to allow for more load, then you might need to also increase the default idle speed to ensure the engine does not stall, which would mean more fuel usage.

EDIT:  Now if you're talking about running it on a car that is moving, I'd say the electricity is virtually free.

[niko]

EDIT:  Now if you're talking about running it on a car that is moving, I'd say the electricity is virtually free.

I'd say no way it is free. You put a load on the generator, it adds mechanical load to the system, leading to higher consumption of fuel. In case of a hybrid, you could say it's cheap because some of it comes from regenerative braking, but this would require some tweaking of the control systems to ensure optimal capture of energy for this additional load.

[crazyates]

I don't think people realize how much a running alternator or other mechanical loads can affect your gas mileage. This is especially true on a smaller car like a sedan. It's still present on a larger car like a truck or something, but will still be present.

I know on my little 2.0L 4 banger, the drop in gas mileage would be more expensive then just paying for the electricity.

[MrTeal]

I don't think people realize how much a running alternator or other mechanical loads can affect your gas mileage. This is especially true on a smaller car like a sedan. It's still present on a larger car like a truck or something, but will still be present.

I know on my little 2.0L 4 banger, the drop in gas mileage would be more expensive then just paying for the electricity.

Really. The energy has to come from somewhere, and a small ICE along with a cheap alternator are absolutely crappy at turning fuel into electricity. This graphic is actually pretty good since it's 40% conversion of chemical energy to mechanical energy is for a big diesel; for a small gas ICE it is actually very decent.



Now, you could get almost free power if you tied your mining rig into your ECU. While accelerating you wouldn't actively hash but would just keep valid work queued up. As soon as you tap the brake, start hashing. The increased draw on the alternator would act as a form of really expensive engine braking and would save wear on your brake pads.

[niko]

Now, you could get almost free power if you tied your mining rig into your ECU. While accelerating you wouldn't actively hash but would just keep valid work queued up. As soon as you tap the brake, start hashing. The increased draw on the alternator would act as a form of really expensive engine braking and would save wear on your brake pads.

Once a rally starts on the market, massive pileups follow on highways... All miners hitting brakes suddenly
Seriously, we are onto something here... A hashing unit can be used whenever there is lots power to be dissipated quickly, from vehicular brakes to cut-back protection in high voltage power supplies...

[bitcoindaddy]

Guys, I never proposed this to save money - I was thinking about the flexibility and the "cool-factor".

[HDSolar]

Guys, I never proposed this to save money - I was thinking about the flexibility and the "cool-factor".

Not sure if you earn points with the "cool-factor" by mobile mining.  Interesting yes, cool no.  Now cool factor would be mobile mining that results in greater number of coins produce then can be done standing still.  Everyone here would be all over you and saying cool even though it is not realistic, or is it Mr. flux capacitor.

[AmDD]

This idea crossed my mind but in the sense that I could drive and pickup my ASIC rather than it being shipped to me. I could mine on the way home and gain an extra day or so. But then I decided I didnt feel like driving that far.

[bcpokey]

Guys, I never proposed this to save money - I was thinking about the flexibility and the "cool-factor".

Not sure if you earn points with the "cool-factor" by mobile mining.  Interesting yes, cool no.  Now cool factor would be mobile mining that results in greater number of coins produce then can be done standing still.  Everyone here would be all over you and saying cool even though it is not realistic, or is it Mr. flux capacitor.

Step 1. Get on next trip to ISS (international space station)
Step 2. Hook up miners to take advantage of free solar power!
Step 3. Mine while taking advantage of time-dilation.
Step 4. Profit (no question marks needed).

[grue]

Guys, I never proposed this to save money - I was thinking about the flexibility and the "cool-factor".

Not sure if you earn points with the "cool-factor" by mobile mining.  Interesting yes, cool no.  Now cool factor would be mobile mining that results in greater number of coins produce then can be done standing still.  Everyone here would be all over you and saying cool even though it is not realistic, or is it Mr. flux capacitor.

Step 1. Get on next trip to ISS (international space station)
Step 2. Hook up miners to take advantage of free solar power!
Step 3. Mine while taking advantage of time-dilation.
Step 4. Profit (no question marks needed).

doesn't it cost $10k to lift a pound into space? you're down $10k for the BFL alone

[deepceleron]

I guarantee you that the power company does a much more efficient job of converting fuel into electricity than your car does. Even a little emergency generator will do better than a car. Power doesn't come for free, and about 85 percent of a vehicle's fuel energy potential is lost from inefficiencies.

In addition, be aware that very high voltage (100+V) transients can occur in car electrical systems from motors turning on and off and such, and if you hook devices up to a car's 12V electrical system that aren't designed for the kind of voltage spikes they will see, expect the magic smoke to come out.

http://www.advantech.com.tw/eservice-applied-computing/newsletters/white%20paper/Power_Challenges_Faced_by_Vehicle_Applications.pdf

So if the "why?" is because you think your car makes free electricity, myth: busted. If the "why?" is because you have no home where you can plug in your miner, you should be rethinking your situation. Otherwise this is as practical as a car-based ice skating rink.

[Bogart]

Once when my grid power was out for an extended period, I hooked a 1500W sine wave inverter to my car, and ran my fridge, a couple computers, and some other things on it for maybe 7 hours.  It burned through quite a bit of fuel.  Maybe 5 gallons.  That was on a BMW 6 cylinder EFI engine...

Nowhere near as cost effective as grid power.