Opinion on starting new farm

[Theneogeo]

Coming off mining ethereum, I  am wanting to move up on scale and switch to Bitmain.  I have been doing some research and found best way to deploy a medium size farm would be to POD it!  Being from Manitoba hydro here will be .03443 per Kwh with 6.72 KVA demand charge, so I am looking into getting 1350-1500 s9 machines and build them my pod and get electrician to get it wired up! Couple questions I have for more experienced guys on here working with Bitmain s9
-Would it be better to use asic boost just to draw less power and still hash at around 13.5th/s
-What controllers/software you use to deploy or manage them all
-Other than getting transformer,PDU,wiring,switches and breakers, is there little nick-nacks or little tricks of the trade that anyone has encountered down the road to help them out?

Any thoughts,advice,suggestions or question would be appreciated... Thanks

[1715535445]

1715535445

[BitMaxz]

-Would it be better to use asic boost just to draw less power and still hash at around 13.5th/s

Yes it is better to switch to ASICboost firmware to get less power consumption but I heard some miner having some problem with ASICboost firmware like unstable hashrate or getting too much rejected shares. However, you can still try and then monitor your miner. If you get unstable hashrate or receive some miners issue you can revert it back to original firmware so make sure that you have backup first before you upgrade it to ASICboost firmware.  

-What controllers/software you use to deploy or manage them all

Common software that they used is Awesomeminer but there are some alternative software that you can try like this one https://minerstat.com/

-Other than getting transformer,PDU,wiring,switches and breakers, is there little nick-nacks or little tricks of the trade that anyone has encountered down the road to help them out?

What do you mean by little nicknacks?

[Steamtyme]

Manitoba you don't say. Well that's a nice commercial rate.

What do you mean by POD it? Is this a package you're ordering? If so I believe most of them come with everything pre wired you just have to do the miner install. If that's the case all you have to do is ensure you have arranged a large enough supply from Manitoba Hydro and connect the POD.

If you are doing all your own construction it kind of depends on where you are going to locate your farm, it could be better long term to build a mid size warehouse or a shop.

A few points to consider will be security, accessibility, and monitoring of the facility environment (temperature/visual).  Also you will want to have spare parts/ units available as with something that size you will have some failed units or boards at some point.

The asicboost would be the first upgrade to make as it was designed to improve efficiency.  Although at this point the miners probably already have it installed.

[fanatic26_]

I dont know what kind of pod you have but you are not sticking 2+ megawatts in any pod commercially available

[philipma1957]

Coming off mining ethereum, I  am wanting to move up on scale and switch to Bitmain.  I have been doing some research and found best way to deploy a medium size farm would be to POD it!  Being from Manitoba hydro here will be .03443 per Kwh with 6.72 KVA demand charge, so I am looking into getting 1350-1500 s9 machines and build them my pod and get electrician to get it wired up! Couple questions I have for more experienced guys on here working with Bitmain s9
-Would it be better to use asic boost just to draw less power and still hash at around 13.5th/s
-What controllers/software you use to deploy or manage them all
-Other than getting transformer,PDU,wiring,switches and breakers, is there little nick-nacks or little tricks of the trade that anyone has encountered down the road to help them out?

Any thoughts,advice,suggestions or question would be appreciated... Thanks

1500 s9's = 1500 x 1400 or 2,100,000 watts

you need a bigger space then a trailer they are 8 by 40 by 8

even with a well setup trailer  with a middle rack 40 feet long and 5 shelves  you are at about 200-250 s9's

I think you can max a trailer up to 300 units at most

no way you fit 1500 pieces with psu's pdus and cooling

a 8 by 8 by 40 is 1280 cubic feet.  you need a lot of fans to cool it.

[Artemis3]

What's wrong with a good old fashioned container? Ok a group of old fashioned containers, some are even tailored for Bitmain products...



You'd only need 5 of those to accommodate 1500+ miners.

[Theneogeo]

Thanks for getting back to me guys/gals... It would be a 53ft container that will be on a property with security and I will be getting insurance.  Has there been alot of issues with asicboost with just lowering power.  ANDDDD forgot to ask, any recommended PDU? 

[philipma1957]

Thanks for getting back to me guys/gals... It would be a 53ft container that will be on a property with security and I will be getting insurance.  Has there been alot of issues with asicboost with just lowering power.  ANDDDD forgot to ask, any recommended PDU?  

okay  asicboost  works most s9's s9i's s9j's will let you use it.

Just point to a solid pool and most often  use middle speed setting  which is say 1200 watts 13th

vs high speed setting which is say 1350 watts and 13.5th

you do have low speed which is around 750 watts and 9th

that is bitmain firmware

braiins firmware also works pretty well

lets say you get  1000 s9's, s9i's , s9j's   at least 50-100 will say fuck you and only do full speed no asicboost settings will work continuously but 900 to 950 of you 1000 units will allow lowest or middle speeds.

Do not knock being able to do the lowest speed as  it will help in the  summer.

pdu's  if you go for cheap used ones like I do  this link will give you some

https://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-228481-002-417580-D71-200-240-VAC-24A-Series-EO4501-Modular-PDU-Control-Unit/143158585561?

these will run 4 s9's on middle speed and are fused

but they are not internet controlled   so a remote power off power on is not possible.

[Theneogeo]

thanks!!! Like I said I dont plan on overclocking at all, just want lower power consumption!!!

[Steamtyme]

Definitely keep us up to date, but I've been wondering what's your endgame on this? Are you planning on long term, or just want to get setup with cheap hash and run until it's no longer profitable?

I ask because at the moment there are significantly more efficient machines available, and you still need to assemble and tie in your site. This gives you plenty of time to wait on gear that is a month or so away on pre-order. Most of this equipment is a very fair price at the moment, and will carry value for the foreseeable future, unlike the s9's. You could even look at doing some older s9's and some of the current generation of miners.

[philipma1957]

did he say he is 3.5 cents a k-watt?

s9's at 150 with a psu can be had.

but he needs a lot of service power and infrastructure .

10 s9's for 1500 at 3.5 cents turn the corner by august 31st

not counting the pdu's the building the power service

but for 1500 units the  pdu's (4 hundred) and  say 6 pods

the transformers and service from power company.  will add a lot more time.

[Steamtyme]

Yeah I looked up the rates for commercial to see. Looks like general service large exceeding 100kv. I've never had the demand charge to deal  with but I guess that comes down to what he actually loads into the mine. That's also CAD.

https://www.hydro.mb.ca/accounts_and_services/rates/commercial_rates/#e-lgs

[philipma1957]

1500 s9's are 800 x 1500 low speed = 1200Kwatts an hour x 720 = 864000 watts x 3.5 cents = 30,240 a month

not sure if that is canadian or usd

med speed about 46,000 a month

high speed about 52,000 a months plus the demand charges.

plus the 5 or 6 pods the pdus etc.

[Steamtyme]

That would be in Canadian (CAD). Man that's a big bill, and that's just the usage. That's sort of why I was wondering if they had considered footing a bit more towards hardware for the efficiency at higher hashrates. Sure you may be starting smaller than desired but the operation will have legs to keep going at least.

[Theneogeo]

Yea its in CAD... It's very cheap BUT the setting up part is the pain in the ass LOL.... SO I have been exploring other options.

[mikeywith]

at 0.03443 per Kwh  i think it's not a good idea to be going with S9s, a whole new Gen of miners is just about out, the new gears will surelly have a good impact on difficulty pretty soon, long before you ROI on those old gears, it would be too late to do just about anything.

your power rate is great, but it's not free ! so you are always at risk of being taken out but other players, my advice get current Gen miners, like T15/S15 , this will keep you longer in the game, just enough to ROI at least.