Solar Panel Considerations

[thepriceinsats]

Hey Guys,

Planning to stick some solar panels on the roof (14/16) and intend to run a miner (s9) or similar, little older that won't take all the juice and be comfortable on battery when the sun isn't shining.

Any considerations I should know about?

Planning to run it as a lottery miner, interested in the heat side.

[1715074054]

1715074054

[1715074054]

1715074054

[1715074054]

1715074054

[Outhue]

S9 comes with 14TH and they take up to 1372 watt from the socket.

Is your solar setup have twice or more f this power?

Also with 14TH you will only earn $1.46 every 24hours mining Bitcoin, for how long is it going to take you to get your money back depends on how much you buy the S9.

Right now you can get a s9 from $204 to $230, do not forget that this miner is profitable today because Bitcoin is over 60k in price, it could look ugly when or if Bitcoin goes down, but if gathering those juicy satoshis is what you care about then its not bad.


Now, for the solar setup, do you think its wise to spend money on solar just to get a s9 running 24/7? Because this will make your ROI to become a long term to achieve, a $230 spent on a s9 will take 140days to make back but if you plan to make the money you spent on solar panels, inverter and betteries with just a S9 it will take like forever to do.

My 1500watt solar setup with 2500 inverter and solar betteries cost me $2000 in 2022, now things are more costly, i don't have information how much it costs today, and to even make this money back with an S9 will take up to 4 years and that's if the profit remains $1.46 per day.

[Yamane_Keto]

It is best to have enough space for 16 panels, since if we assume that each panel produces 265 W, the total capacity is 4,240 kW.
The following table shows you the profitability of mining hardware https://www.asicminervalue.com

Options that generate profits, such as Bitmain Antminer KS5 (20Th), Bitmain Antminer KS3 (9.4Th), and IceRiver KS3, all require averages higher than 3200W, so you may not have enough to charge the battery.
You can increase the number of panels, but the space will be governed by the equation 165 W per 1 m² and cost.

You have the cost of purchasing the panels.
The extra space.
Battery costs.
Purchase mining equipment.
Insulation and electrical circuits.
You should calculate your profits well, assuming that the price of Bitcoin is around $60,000, so that you will achieve profits as long as the price is higher than this price.

[KiaKia]

It is best to have enough space for 16 panels, since if we assume that each panel produces 265 W, the total capacity is 4,240 kW.
The following table shows you the profitability of mining hardware https://www.asicminervalue.com

Options that generate profits, such as Bitmain Antminer KS5 (20Th), Bitmain Antminer KS3 (9.4Th), and IceRiver KS3, all require averages higher than 3200W, so you may not have enough to charge the battery.
You can increase the number of panels, but the space will be governed by the equation 165 W per 1 m² and cost.

You have the cost of purchasing the panels.
The extra space.
Battery costs.
Purchase mining equipment.
Insulation and electrical circuits.
You should calculate your profits well, assuming that the price of Bitcoin is around $60,000, so that you will achieve profits as long as the price is higher than this price.

Battery is the main problem here.

It's easier to throw anything at the solar panels when the sun is up and shining but not the batteries.

The battery setup that will carry a 3500-watt machine from the moment when the sun sets to the next morning before the sun is up again is crazy.

This will cost you a lot more money since you won't be able to use 50% of the battery bank to avoid degrading the battery very fast, for a long-lasting battery operation it's better to always use 50% or 60% of the battery bank and charge it back.

Do the math, you will be discouraged.

The best solution is to use the Grid power at night and the sun in the day, battery is nah.

[mindrust]

It is best to have enough space for 16 panels, since if we assume that each panel produces 265 W, the total capacity is 4,240 kW.
The following table shows you the profitability of mining hardware https://www.asicminervalue.com

Options that generate profits, such as Bitmain Antminer KS5 (20Th), Bitmain Antminer KS3 (9.4Th), and IceRiver KS3, all require averages higher than 3200W, so you may not have enough to charge the battery.
You can increase the number of panels, but the space will be governed by the equation 165 W per 1 m² and cost.

You have the cost of purchasing the panels.
The extra space.
Battery costs.
Purchase mining equipment.
Insulation and electrical circuits.
You should calculate your profits well, assuming that the price of Bitcoin is around $60,000, so that you will achieve profits as long as the price is higher than this price.

Battery is the main problem here.

It's easier to throw anything at the solar panels when the sun is up and shining but not the batteries.

The battery setup that will carry a 3500-watt machine from the moment when the sun sets to the next morning before the sun is up again is crazy.

This will cost you a lot more money since you won't be able to use 50% of the battery bank to avoid degrading the battery very fast, for a long-lasting battery operation it's better to always use 50% or 60% of the battery bank and charge it back.

Do the math, you will be discouraged.

The best solution is to use the Grid power at night and the sun in the day, battery is nah.

50% rule applies to sealed lead acid type batteries as far as I know.

Li-ion and LiFePO4 batteries can be fully discharged without any problems. (These packs have battery controller chips which cuts power when the pack voltage drops below a certain point) However, li-ion packs usually can be charged/discharged 500 times before they lose 80% of their full capacity which means they won’t last more than 1.5-2 years while LiFePO4 packs can be charged 2000 times. (Can theoretically last up to 10 years)

Then another problem arises, SLA batteries are cheap but heavy and inefficient. Lithium batteries are light and efficient but expensive.

As you said though, solar system isn’t the best idea for mining. Not for bitcoin mining that’s for sure.

You can get away with it if you mine alts on a few low power GPU’s but I don’t think it makes much sense to run asics on solar.

[KiaKia]

It is best to have enough space for 16 panels, since if we assume that each panel produces 265 W, the total capacity is 4,240 kW.
The following table shows you the profitability of mining hardware https://www.asicminervalue.com

Options that generate profits, such as Bitmain Antminer KS5 (20Th), Bitmain Antminer KS3 (9.4Th), and IceRiver KS3, all require averages higher than 3200W, so you may not have enough to charge the battery.
You can increase the number of panels, but the space will be governed by the equation 165 W per 1 m² and cost.

You have the cost of purchasing the panels.
The extra space.
Battery costs.
Purchase mining equipment.
Insulation and electrical circuits.
You should calculate your profits well, assuming that the price of Bitcoin is around $60,000, so that you will achieve profits as long as the price is higher than this price.

Battery is the main problem here.

It's easier to throw anything at the solar panels when the sun is up and shining but not the batteries.

The battery setup that will carry a 3500-watt machine from the moment when the sun sets to the next morning before the sun is up again is crazy.

This will cost you a lot more money since you won't be able to use 50% of the battery bank to avoid degrading the battery very fast, for a long-lasting battery operation it's better to always use 50% or 60% of the battery bank and charge it back.

Do the math, you will be discouraged.

The best solution is to use the Grid power at night and the sun in the day, battery is nah.

50% rule applies to sealed lead acid type batteries as far as I know.

Li-ion and LiFePO4 batteries can be fully discharged without any problems. (These packs have battery controller chips which cuts power when the pack voltage drops below a certain point) However, li-ion packs usually can be charged/discharged 500 times before they lose 80% of their full capacity which means they won’t last more than 1.5-2 years while LiFePO4 packs can be charged 2000 times. (Can theoretically last up to 10 years)

Then another problem arises, SLA batteries are cheap but heavy and inefficient. Lithium batteries are light and efficient but expensive.

As you said though, solar system isn’t the best idea for mining. Not for bitcoin mining that’s for sure.

You can get away with it if you mine alts on a few low power GPU’s but I don’t think it makes much sense to run asics on solar.

I get you, I know that Lithium batteries existed but its not recommendable because they are too costly, ROI wise it will take even much longer to recover all your money.

I have got away mining ALTs using graphics card before but still, running on battery isn't very good for me, maybe I will try that LiFePO4 battery in the future just to see how they performs.

The major problems is the amount of power that Asic miners are consuming, that's why it makes more sense to use solar panels during the day and rely on grid power after daybreak.

Thanks for the extra information on batteries.

[Dakotas66s]

Your point about the ROI on solar setups versus mining with something like the S9 is spot on. I invested in a similar solar setup back in 2022, and yeah, costs have definitely gone up since then. But even back then, I was hesitant about the ROI timeframe, especially if I were to solely rely on it to power something like an S9 24/7.

[spectre71]

This would never make money, ever.

Sorry.

[philipma1957]

I have a much better item to run.

A one board s19 xp

35 th vs s9

About 900 watts vs 1200

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5485850.0


First off you can run it low 20th to high 35th. Say 550 to 850 watts. Way way way way way better than the s9

Right now mining sucks so do solo.

But if mining pick up to ten cents a th or 20 cents a th this unit can earn $3.50 to $7.00 a day gives you a far more realistic chance at making money than the s9 ever will.

[mindrust]

But if mining pick up to ten cents a th or 20 cents a th this unit can earn $3.50 to $7.00 a day gives you a far more realistic chance at making money than the s9 ever will.

 s19xp hydro sells for ~$6k on bitmain. (Yours probably is cheaper and less efficient than this because it is not hydro?)

If you can make $7 daily from that machine, it would take ~850 days for you to make your ROI. Mind that, you’ll have to make $7 every day (that’s your upper target) and we know that’s not going to be the case.

At the moment both s19xp and s19xp hydro are mining at a loss.



That means bitcoin’s price has to rise a lot to get that $7/daily income. Also new miners will emerge and mining will get more crowded while that happens and you’ll again get affected in a bad way. Meaning, your device will have zero second hand value.

Long story short; mining is a fool’s game unless you can buy the hardware for cheap and have access to “free” electricity.

Solar isn’t free. You pay upfront for the electricity and lock your future expenses.

Just buy bitcoin if you are bullish and you’ll make way more money without having any of these headaches.

[philipma1957]

But if mining pick up to ten cents a th or 20 cents a th this unit can earn $3.50 to $7.00 a day gives you a far more realistic chance at making money than the s9 ever will.

 s19xp hydro sells for ~$6k on bitmain. (Yours probably is cheaper and less efficient than this because it is not hydro?)

If you can make $7 daily from that machine, it would take ~850 days for you to make your ROI. Mind that, you’ll have to make $7 every day (that’s your upper target) and we know that’s not going to be the case.

At the moment both s19xp and s19xp hydro are mining at a loss.



That means bitcoin’s price has to rise a lot to get that $7/daily income. Also new miners will emerge and mining will get more crowded while that happens and you’ll again get affected in a bad way. Meaning, your device will have zero second hand value.

Long story short; mining is a fool’s game unless you can buy the hardware for cheap and have access to “free” electricity.

Solar isn’t free. You pay upfront for the electricity and lock your future expenses.

Just buy bitcoin if you are bullish and you’ll make way more money without having any of these headaches.

First off the s9 is 80 watts a th the  1 board s19xp is 21 watts a th.

I can almost be certain that it will last 4-5 years. so at the moment it earns 4.7 cents a th which is 94 cents to 1.64 cents a day

and at those numbers it is a loser for him.

he needs about 1400 to buy it the 15 panels are about 3000 not installed and the inverter is 1000. So he is at 5400.

he wants batteries which is next to impossible to be cost effective. lets say 1600

he lays out 7000. he may need a miner in 5 years and he will need new batteries

5 years are 1825 days at current earn he gets 1.65 x that or 3011.25. that is not a certain loss as you do not know if current earn rises.

the panels = 20-30 year life
the inverter = 10 year life
the battery =  5 year life
the miner  = 5 years or more.

so do I think he should do it? he will certainly get back more than 3000 on 7000 and have the panels the inverter the scarp batteries and a half assed miner.

they are worth maybe 3k




in dec of 2023 earnings were 13.3 cents
in most of 2021 earnings were 25-40 cents

13.3/4.7 = 2.82 x 3000 = 8489 which is more  than 7000. and he would have working panels and working inverter scrap batteries and maybe a half assed miner

I would be fairly sure he makes some money doing it with a 1 board xp.




so at worst he stands to have 6k back on 7k

at best over 11k on 7k