Need help on S9 first farm setup

[ricshaw453]

Hi,

I'm a new miner.  I just bought some S9s.  I'm looking to start a new farm in my existing warehouse and I'm not sure exactly what I'll need.  I searched for a guide on how to setup farm but didn't really see any.  So I'm asking the more experience miners for advices.

My current warehouse is just for storage of non-computer items.  So I need to modify the electrical panel to accommodate the power hungry S9s.  Do you know what I'll need to tell the electrician so he'll know what modifications to make?

What thoughts you have on how best to ventilate the enclosed warehouse?

I know the S9s doesn't come with a power supply and a power cord.  I'm looking at EVGA SuperNOVA 1600 G2 Power Supply.  What do you think?

I heard that the 220? volt is more efficient that the 110?  Do I simply buy a 220v power cord and plug it into the EVGA power supply?

What power cord do you suggests?

Let me know what else I need to consider in planning out this farm.


Misc Questions:

How are the S9s connected so that you can monitor all of them?

Is it ok/wise/safe to have the S9s run 24/7? 

Does the farm need constant attention where I need to be there physically everyday to make everything is ok or can I monitor it remotely?

Thanks!

[jstew]

Hi,

I'm a new miner.  I just bought some S9s.  I'm looking to start a new farm in my existing warehouse and I'm not sure exactly what I'll need.  I searched for a guide on how to setup farm but didn't really see any.  So I'm asking the more experience miners for advices.

My current warehouse is just for storage of non-computer items.  So I need to modify the electrical panel to accommodate the power hungry S9s.  Do you know what I'll need to tell the electrician so he'll know what modifications to make?

What thoughts you have on how best to ventilate the enclosed warehouse?

I know the S9s doesn't come with a power supply and a power cord.  I'm looking at EVGA SuperNOVA 1600 G2 Power Supply.  What do you think?

I heard that the 220? volt is more efficient that the 110?  Do I simply buy a 220v power cord and plug it into the EVGA power supply?

What power cord do you suggests?

Let me know what else I need to consider in planning out this farm.


Misc Questions:

How are the S9s connected so that you can monitor all of them?

Is it ok/wise/safe to have the S9s run 24/7? 

Does the farm need constant attention where I need to be there physically everyday to make everything is ok or can I monitor it remotely?

Thanks!

my advise is buy a 2880w psu package from finsky or one of the other reputable members 2880w psu will run 2x s9's for about the same price as that evga psu and since its in a warehouse i doubt noise is an issue

there is also the dps 4k setup which will power 3x s9's from one psu and will fill up a 20 amp 220/240 line

the server psus require 220v so just have ur electrictian run a 20 amp 220v line to were the miner will be , no need for a special cord , just take the cord that comoes with the psu and cut the wall end off and get the end for the outlet u are using from the hardware store and put it on the power cable , green to the ground pin , and black and white goto the other 2 pins  for 220 as long as ur in the usa. being as u said u have 110 or 220 i take it u are


using 220 over 110 has 2 advantages , most psus are more eff at 220 and u can pull more power over the same line

1300w on 110v is 11.81 amps  u could not run 2x s9's on a single 20 amp 110v line
1300w on 220v is 5.9 amp u could run 3 s9 on a single 20 amp 220v line


so if u plan on more miners theres a cost savings cause u dont need to run as many lines as well

yes they can run 24/7 , for monitoring u can use soemthing like a pc with teamviewer on it at the warehouse that u can connect to from home to check on the miners from there webpages or just keeps tabs on them from the mining pools stats page

there are other more elegant soulutions but probably not needed in ur case for a single/couple miners

[sidehack]

Just throwing this out there, but these are questions it's usually wise to answer before laying down four figures on equipment.

220V is a better option for loads in this power range. You can run three S9 to a 20-amp circuit.

I'd recommend server PSUs over consumer ATX supplies. Comparable efficiency, lower cost, modularity and easy to replace.

You'll want to keep the ambient temperature below 90F, preferably below 80F. These miners are fine to run 24/7.

Remote access will give you a lot of control, but occasionally they might lock up or a fan will kick out or a PSU will trip that'll require on-site attention.

So, pretty much what he said.

[jstew]

^^^ sidehack also sells server psus breakouts and stuff

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=940317.0

[ricshaw453]

Thanks for your replies.  I am in the US.

Because this is new to me, I wanted to start out small.  As things goes well, I do plan to purchase a more.  So I do want to plan ahead. 

@sidekick, I usually plan things out before taking action.  This is an exception.

For ventilation, I was thinking about having an hvac guy cut a hole in the ceiling with a fan sucking the air out.  Is this a good idea?

As far a network goes, I assume I would connect all of the S9s to a 40 port switch or something?

What internet speed does the S9 require?

The S9s doesn't need to be in an absolutely dust-free environment to operate right?  Just normal environment works fine?

@jstew,  "no need for a special cord , just take the cord that comoes with the psu and cut the wall end off and get the end for the outlet u are using from the hardware store and put it on the power cable , green to the ground pin , and black and white goto the other 2 pins  for 220 as long as ur in the usa. being as u said u have 110 or 220 i take it u are"  I'm really hesitant/dare i say afraid, when it comes to electrical things. I don't know if I am competent enough to cut cords and splice them together.  Is there an already made cord that I can buy from amazon/ebay or something?

[sidehack]

Dust-free would help, since heatsinks can get clogged. As long as you kick the dust out of them regularly (compressed air and whatnot) they can survive about anything.

Yep, the S9 has ethernet built in. You'll hook 'em all to a network switch. They are also set up for DHCP, which means they don't have preset IP addresses so your router will have to handle that. Most do automatically, but it's something to note just in case.

Miners don't require much bandwidth at all. The most important thing is going to be latency, so you'll want a connection with short ping times to the pools you want to use. Speed's secondary as long as it's reliable. You can run a whole farm off a 1mbit connection as long as it's low-latency. And if you're worried about it, run a local proxy to the pool; that will convolve all your miner connections into one pool connection and use even less data transfer.

[jstew]

@jstew,  "no need for a special cord , just take the cord that comoes with the psu and cut the wall end off and get the end for the outlet u are using from the hardware store and put it on the power cable , green to the ground pin , and black and white goto the other 2 pins  for 220 as long as ur in the usa. being as u said u have 110 or 220 i take it u are"  I'm really hesitant/dare i say afraid, when it comes to electrical things. I don't know if I am competent enough to cut cords and splice them together.  Is there an already made cord that I can buy from amazon/ebay or something?

dpends on what wall outlet ur electrician installs , honestly u can wire up a standard 110v outlet to be 220 ( this is what i do , i just paint the ouutlest red so i know they arent 110)
but this isnt up to code i belive , but in doing this u can use the std plug cord without having to change the end.

honestly as long as ur not color blind , replacing the end of the cord is very very simple , infact i can bring home a cord from my data center and take pictures of how to swap the end if u like

if not dust free just be sure to blow the miners out ( with them powered off ) with some compressed air , i clean my miners  once every 1-2 weeks

how large is the warehouse and what are the normal temps inside the building?
if its a large area and temps are fairly cool u shouldnt have to worry about extra cooling with only a few machines
now if its a small space then u may have to do something

my miners are in a 3,000 sqft datacenter , and i need no aditional cooling unless ambient air temps are above 85* , in the fall and winter my miners actually heat the building to a comfortable level , infact last year i had issues with my miners being way to cold i.e 14-17*c

also install the miners low to the floor , u dont want them on a shelf 8 ft off the ground as heat rises as we all know

[Finksy]

I'll second everything said so far, go with server PSU's as mentioned (mine or others).  ATX PSU's are not cost-effective, even Bitmain's in-house brand are a little over-priced IMO.

For networking equipment, i would HIGHLY recommend buying enterprise-grade gear once and be done with it.  There is nothing more frustrating then having networking problems from crappy equipment.  I have had very good success with Ubiquiti gear (router and P2P bridge myself), it's very user-friendly, reliable and cost-effective with all the features you need.

I would have the electrician quote you on 2 separate prices for wiring (all 220/240V as mentioned earlier).  I would get a quote with 20A circuits run (and use duplex L6-20P outlets) and get another quote for 50A circuits run.  You can use 50A PDU's (40A continuous) to power multiple PSU's, and depending on the cost of wire and labour, it may be more cost effective to go that route. PDU's basically act as a sub-panel, with individual breakers for multiple circuits.  Check out my 2880W or DPS4K PSU threads in my signature for pictures.

[jstew]

For networking equipment, i would HIGHLY recommend buying enterprise-grade gear once and be done with it.  There is nothing more frustrating then having networking problems from crappy equipment.  I have had very good success with Ubiquiti gear (router and P2P bridge myself), it's very user-friendly, reliable and cost-effective with all the features you need.

i use theese in my datacenter and have had no issues at all with mine , best part is they are cheap on ebay and will run on 110 or 220
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-J4813A-ProCurve-2524-Ethernet-Switch-90-Day-Warranty-QTY-Available-/222198541687?hash=item33bc10ad77:g:KZQAAOSwbsBXlkMr


edit sorry mine are the unamanged version , but the same hub/switch

[ricshaw453]

@sidekick thanks!  I'm looking further into your router suggestion.

@jstew if you don't mind, please show me photos on how to modify the cord.  And no color blind here!  The warehouse is about 3000 sqft as well.  Ok, I'll keep a lookout for the ambient temp.  Good point about miners close to the floor.

@Finsky I'll also look into the Ubiquiti router.  Also, do you have a website so I can check out more about the PSUs and other items?

[jstew]

@jstew if you don't mind, please show me photos on how to modify the cord.  And no color blind here!  The warehouse is about 3000 sqft as well.  Ok, I'll keep a lookout for the ambient temp.  Good point about miners close to the floor.

when i head home from work ill take some pics for ya , be about 4 hours from now

[jstew]

since ur working with about the same amoutn of space i am heres a quick shot of how i have my miners setup
this is my old stuff btw
first thing i do is reverse all the fans on my miners so they pull air from the backside and blow it out the front if i wanted to i could remove the fans from all my miners for a lil extra power savings
behind the shelves the miners are on are 2x 6,000 cfm evap coolers , i use these in the summer to cool the intake air down tot he miners as it can reach 115* + were im at in the summer

the miners just blow the hot air into the building , i leave the door and some windows open for the hotair to get out on the other end of the building , in the winter i dont use the evaps at all because of how cold it gets here


miner shelf



and heres how cold they run in the winter



with ur small setup i dount u will need anytype of additional cooling unless it gets really friggen hot in the summer
if u live in a place were u can use evaporitive coolers they are very cheap to run , each 6k cfm unit only draws 500 watts on high and 380 or something when i have them on low speed

[ricshaw453]

@jstew thanks for giving me a glimpse of your farm. 
It's ok to have the miners next to each other like that?  Does it get hot for them?

What are those gray boxes on the lower left side?

Evap cooler is a great idea.  I was thinking about something like that too.  I think it's worth having them around just in case.

Take your time with the other photos.

[jstew]

@jstew thanks for giving me a glimpse of your farm. 
It's ok to have the miners next to each other like that?  Does it get hot for them?

What are those gray boxes on the lower left side?

Evap cooler is a great idea.  I was thinking about something like that too.  I think it's worth having them around just in case.

Take your time with the other photos.

lower left are my neptune miners , they are about the only thing left in the dc , everything else has been replaced with s7's and s9,s
its perfectly fine to stack them that tight and close together specially the way i cool them with the evaps , its stops the cool air from blowing past the miners and forces it threw the miners.

ull notice on ur s9's if u turn them on there side the cases will lock together so u can stack them , i stack mine in stacks of 3 or 4 4 fits perfect on my shelves top to bottom


heres the plugs i put on the end of my psus cords ,


basically u just cut the factory end off the wire , then u will see the black outer insulation coating and 3 wires inside of that , u strip back the black insulation to expose the 3 inner wires , then strip off about 1/4 inch from each individual wire .

from there its as easy as putting the right color wire in the right hole on the back of the new plug and tightning up a screw




theres also a cover that goes over the white part of the new plug so the 3 single wires arent exposed and on the back of that is a clamp that gently tightens down on the cord so if it gets yanked out of the wall by the wire itself the wires dont pull out of the plug , that whole part is self explanatory though on how to assemble it , infact it will only go together one way


this is what the finished end looks like




i could have gone into greater detail but u should have a pretty good idea of what to do just from what i posted if not let me know , and next time i do a cord ill video the whole process for ya

[ricshaw453]

@jstew, thank you for the photos.  Yes, I understand how the connection goes now.  Looks easy enough.  But a couple of questions.  What is the name of the new plug so I know what to ask at a home depot?  Also, on the photo, I don't see any color indication on the new plug telling me which color wire goes where.  Does it say it on the plug?  It's a little hard to see.  Does the black cover comes with the plug?



Follow up questions on your previous msg:

"using 220 over 110 has 2 advantages , most psus are more eff at 220 and u can pull more power over the same line
1300w on 110v is 11.81 amps  u could not run 2x s9's on a single 20 amp 110v line
1300w on 220v is 5.9 amp u could run 3 s9 on a single 20 amp 220v line"

Is there a killawatt-like device that allows me to measure how much amps the s9's are actually consuming at the wall?  I want to be able to confirm the 11.81amps on 110v and 5.9amp on 220v numbers so that I can rest assured that everything is fine.

When the 220v is setup, I assume it's better to use the dps 4k psu because it can accomodate 3 s9's as oppose to the 2880w which can only handle 2 s9's?  Does the dps 4k break down much?



"the server psus require 220v so just have ur electrictian run a 20 amp 220v line to were the miner will be"

When you say "run a 20 amp 220v line", does that mean I can only have 3 s9's max on that one line?  So if I have 10 s9's, I would need the electrician run a 4 20 amps 220v line?  If I have a 100 s9's, I would need about 34 20 amps 220v line?

[ZACHM]

"the server psus require 220v so just have ur electrictian run a 20 amp 220v line to were the miner will be"

When you say "run a 20 amp 220v line", does that mean I can only have 3 s9's max on that one line?  So if I have 10 s9's, I would need the electrician run a 4 20 amps 220v line?  If I have a 100 s9's, I would need about 34 20 amps 220v line?

Yes, that is one option. You could also run larger lines (30, 50, 100amp, etc.) and use a PDU for each group of miners. This is what some people do. You can get PDU's that plug into your network and you can access them remotely if you were away and had an unresponsive miner you could hard restart it with the PDU.

There is a lot of research to do when you are looking at a larger scale such as this. A couple miners, is pretty simple and does not need much, but 100+ TH takes a little more planning.

[jstew]

@jstew, thank you for the photos.  Yes, I understand how the connection goes now.  Looks easy enough.  But a couple of questions.  What is the name of the new plug so I know what to ask at a home depot?  Also, on the photo, I don't see any color indication on the new plug telling me which color wire goes where.  Does it say it on the plug?  It's a little hard to see.  Does the black cover comes with the plug?



Follow up questions on your previous msg:

"using 220 over 110 has 2 advantages , most psus are more eff at 220 and u can pull more power over the same line
1300w on 110v is 11.81 amps  u could not run 2x s9's on a single 20 amp 110v line
1300w on 220v is 5.9 amp u could run 3 s9 on a single 20 amp 220v line"

Is there a killawatt-like device that allows me to measure how much amps the s9's are actually consuming at the wall?  I want to be able to confirm the 11.81amps on 110v and 5.9amp on 220v numbers so that I can rest assured that everything is fine.

When the 220v is setup, I assume it's better to use the dps 4k psu because it can accomodate 3 s9's as oppose to the 2880w which can only handle 2 s9's?  Does the dps 4k break down much?



"the server psus require 220v so just have ur electrictian run a 20 amp 220v line to were the miner will be"

When you say "run a 20 amp 220v line", does that mean I can only have 3 s9's max on that one line?  So if I have 10 s9's, I would need the electrician run a 4 20 amps 220v line?  If I have a 100 s9's, I would need about 34 20 amps 220v line?

the particular plug im using is a 20 amp 6-20p , the outlet would be a 20 amp 250v 6-20
the green wire is ground and always goes to the single bottom round pin , since u will be wiring up 220v power the other 2 wires are easy they just go to either remaining in ( black and the white wire)


if im not mistaken kill-a-watts can be used for short times on 220v power , u dont want to leave it plugged in for a long time though

20 amp vs 30,50 amp and pdus all depends on cost and ur budget

if u had 6 s9's it may be cheaper to run 2x 20 amp lines and use 2x dps4k packages versus running a 50 amp or 100 amp line and buying a pdu.
to see what would be most cost effective u would need to talk to the electrician who will be doing the work, and also pricing up the proper pdu


at one point finsky was selling pdu's so u can check with him to get some ideas on pricing

[ricshaw453]

@zachm.  They actually have pdu's that you can connect to your network?  Amazing!  Any suggestions as to which one is good to use?  So if I have multiple dps 4ks connected to this network pdu and if one s9 was unresponsive, I did a hard boot, all s9's on this pdu would go through the hard boot?

@jstew ok I understand the connection now.  On my other questions, sounds like I got some detailed questions for the electrician.  thank you so much for your help!

[jstew]

@zachm.  They actually have pdu's that you can connect to your network?  Amazing!  Any suggestions as to which one is good to use?  So if I have multiple dps 4ks connected to this network pdu and if one s9 was unresponsive, I did a hard boot, all s9's on this pdu would go through the hard boot?

@jstew ok I understand the connection now.  On my other questions, sounds like I got some detailed questions for the electrician.  thank you so much for your help!

on networked pdu's u can power off each outgoing power port , on a dps4k setup its 2x psus tied into one so u would have to flip the power on both power ports the dps4k setup was plugged into

while there are time si wish i had networked pdu's the number of times ive had to manual reboot maners over the last year anda half has been small , and im only 4 miles from my data center so its nothing for me to run over there to powercycle stuff , last time i looked big networked pdu's were like 500$ and up on ebay

[ricshaw453]

The miners are actually several hours away from me unfortunately.  Since the networked pdus are about $500, I might want to reconsider them unless they become absolutely necessary.  But just for sake of it, what are some of the better networked pdus that you know of?