Quote from: Tiger Maple on March 30, 2015, 01:14:12 AM

Could you in theory run an antminer S5 direct from a 12 volt battery bank if you had a voltage regulator in between to ensure no voltage spikes? What problems do you forsee? Any workarounds on those problems?

A little about why.

I like to tinker, i knew since last week when i got into it that bitcoin was never going to be a money maker or an investment for me. But that does not stop me from blowing a little money on trying to tinker with things involving bitcoin.

I have recently ordered ONE OF THESE 800 WATTERS from ebay. I picked up a 12V 65 Amp 750 Watt charge controller, a dozen batteries, all the cables. some PCIE cables, and just incase i cant figure a way to direct wire without the PSU in the middle, a 1,000 watt inverter and Gold PSU.

90% of the year i have a steady 6-10 MPH wind 12-16 hours a day in my back yard. I intend to set up a "mine when the wind blows" little rig that converts wind into bitcoin, BEFORE ALL OF YOU START IN, i am well aware that i will never in my lifetime recover the cost of the investment i made alone by running 1 miner when the wind blows. This is simply a tinker fart around project. Last year i made a wind powered desktop PC that seeds movies to the P2P network when the wind blows and it runs smooth 6-12 hours a day without problems. I also make no money from that either.

You won't get spikes from a battery bank. From a wind turbine you get ups and downs depending how the wind blows. Closer to the ground you get also wind gusts, but the turbine output goes through the controller before it reaches the batteries. You should also have a resistive load, for the times when the batteries are full (overcharging might destroy them sooner than you expect).

You should have some voltage monitoring and current monitoring on the circuit you plan to feed the miner with .. and disconnect it if the batteries are depleted.

http://helium.powerprice.info/temps/ << see the last chart here on what I get in my backyard 10m above the ground.