Topic: Advice building Antminer S1 Farm (Read 3111 times)

Depends on the model but this may help

How did u turn down the coolig fan from the dell 750 watt psu ? Im running few of those and they are a bit loud

I don't have what could be considered a "farm" (yet)  - I've got 5 S1's right now.

But here's what I did.

Originally I was running the 2 S1's I started with on 120V.  I wanted to see how much they were drawing from the wall - so I ran them thru Belkin Insight monitors:
http://www.belkin.com/conserve/insight/    - I was running each S1 on it's own power supply (Corsairs).

So the Insight monitor was telling me exactly what the S1 is pulling from the wall thru the power supply.  What I found was that each S1 pulls about 405 watts from the wall when it's overclocked.   I started off running one of those Block Erupter cubes - that thing bounces up and down as it's hashing bounces up and down - and it's also a power pig compared to the S1.  It pulls about 380 watts from the wall - for like one sixth the hash power.

Because I only had two 20amp 120V circuits where all my computer stuff is situated - and I have other equipment running - I was getting close to maxing out my available wattage (amps available) - by going up to more S1 units.  So I decided to upgrade and put in a 240V drop.  I put in one 30 amp 240V line with a 30amp twistlock plug.   To break this out I got one of the APC "metering" PDU's off of Ebay for a really good price  (it's a rack mount - what they call 'zero' U unit that is designed to mount alongside of a rack - not take up a U space).

The metering PDU has two 16amp breakers on it - and has an LCD panel that shows the amp draw for each of it's legs.  So now I have an idea of how much I'm drawing on each leg and how much juice I'm pulling to support these things.

There are advantages to staying with 110V/120V - in that there are more "consumer" level electricity usage monitoring devices available for those voltages than there are for the 220V/240V stuff - at least here in the US.   I think there are 240V versions of a lot of the same devices available overseas - but then  you're talking about plug incompatibility issues.

My S1's seem to be consistent on that ~400W - 410W usage number when they're overclocked.  So that's what I've been using to calculate how to distribute the load.  I've seen people say they're drawing 500-530watts - but that's not what I've seen.   I haven't run the meters across ALL of my S1's though - and I do notice that different units run at different temps.  That might indicate a different wattage draw.  I've been attributing it to different levels of work quality as far as how the heat sinks are applied though.

Oh yeah - and I should add that I'm going away from the Corsairs and going with using Dell 750W server supplies and the Geckoscience breakout board.  Seems like a much more reliable/redundant setup and once you get the boards the supplies are replaceable for dirt cheap money.  I've found I can run one S1 on one supply and keep the supply's cooling fan turned all the way down and keep it quiet.  The Corsairs run hotter and I've had issues with one of them cutting off occasionally.  Plus the Dell supplies just take up less rack U space than the PC type supplies do.

Hope all of this is helpful.

Yes the two hots coming in are 240 V apart. The regular 120 V circuits use one hot and the neutral. 240 V circuits (large appliances, etc.) use both hots.

My house was built in 2001 with a 200A service for 3800 sqft.  I think all the homes in my area have the same service.  I'm not sure if this was a requirement by the local government, power provider, or just a builder thing.  Being in Texas may also drive the service size since I have dual zone AC that needs to cool the house in 100+ degree weather.

Anyway, I've always wondered, that 200A coming in is 240v right?  It looks like I have 2 hots and a neutral along with ground.  I've got 240v runs setup in my house and I'm guessing you can't have 240v circuits without 240v being supplied by the service.

I'll be using these power supplies as soon as the breakout board is available too.

Here's how I would set up the power if I decided to put everything in my garage or a CoLo,

30A - 240v Circuits

Tripp Lite PDU1230 PDU Basic 208V / 240V 30A 4 C19; 16 C13 L6-30P Horizontal 1URM
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007YG85A/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=8C8HZ5KJV8KE&coliid=I2NILZP4OCN87I

DPS-2000BB Power Supply
https://litecointalk.org/index.php?topic=5854.0

Each 30A circuit would be able to run 2 of the power supplies at near full load.  One power supply can easily handle 6 Ants.

Break out boards should be available soon for the supplies,
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/server-power-supply-interface-board-for-standalone-miners-and-gpu-rigs-379677

Holy snap. 400 Amps? I've got 150 amp service for 3200 sq ft home. You must be living in a 10,000 sqft palace.

Hard to say, maybe so maybe not. Depends on the future difficulty increases, and nobody knows that. It is plausible that you may turn a profit if difficulties rise by say 40% per month or less.

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.3811413

1) 240V, more amps the better, if you are going to go big discuss it with an electrician. Get him to put in a sub board and think of future capacity.

2) will ur internet work if your local exchange has no power? If not its a waste of money, but is probably not cost effective anyway.
sorry read pdu as ups   do you need a psu (maybe this is a us term am not familiar with as i have read it a few times recently) will normal sockets not be enough? make sure they have an RCD and think of a sub board for protection.

3) If you are handy with a soldering iron and noice is not an issue I would go with modding server supplies, theirs a few threads about them here already, I would recommend 1 per Ant for redundncy as there really cheap anyhow.

4) Any that has enough depth + a bit, mine is a little short. Wire racking will allow better air flow but is conductive so take extra care.

Additional

If your having new line installed get the electrician to install an isolator near the door, its relatively cheap initially and will provide quick isolation should you have problems.

Put a CO2 extinguisher near the door.

2x200amp for a home?

Wow.... must be a big ass home. You're rich already OP, just buy BTC instead of mining gear be the end of 2014, you will be even richer,

Trust me,... mining farm now is a terrible investment. Do calculation and you will see , you will be lucky to break even on S1. (get back BTC that you spent to buy miners)

And if you only have fiat money, then : if you buy btc now and the btc price rise 10-20%, you will be already ahead of ANY mining.

Can someone give me advice on design? 

1) What kind of line should I have my electrician run off my panel?
2) What PDU to get?
3) Which PSU and how many S1's per PSU and per 120v circuit?
4) What racking to get?

this


 bitmaintech is selling s-1s at .938 btc for a reason.


 the reason is 1th machines will hurt them  and hurt them bad.


if you buy s-1's   

you need to be able to cool them.

you need to be able to  sell them on ebay  to those that can use them.

one more thing i recommend to be able to keep an eye on your miner you should buy a raspberry pi and install a vpn. This is what i have in my setup and it lets me keep and eye on them when im on holiday. I also have a camera installed in the pi witch makes it even better!

I use Corsair AX1200s. I paid around $200 for most of mine, but if you can find them at all now they're usually more expensive than that. 3 ants per PSU, not overclocked.

Yes they are more expensive than server PSUs, but easier to deploy. I've found them to be very reliable. I have one workhorse AX1200 that has been mining for me for three years (started in a BTC GPU rig).

Also, I don't think there is anything wrong with buying S1s rather than pre-order unicorn miners. I've mostly avoided pre-orders and in hindsight been glad I did. On those few occasions I fell for he pre-order scam I regretted it.

be careful with getting into any mining farm currently. The newer 1th machines are starting to be produced and shipped. Expect difficulty increases to start ramping up very soon.

what else should he use?? s2 ??

Why S1 now? Might want to think that plan through again. 2 months ago it would have been a great idea.