Quote from: LoyceV on October 21, 2021, 05:55:24 PM

I still have a load of sMerit left, actually it's enough now to create a Legendary from scratch. Feel free to share more recommendations

I'm sure this guy doesn't need merit, but since you are determined you could give the maximum merit for this post (even though this guy has already received a lot of merit). This is just one of those cases when the perseverance of a true bitcoin enthusiast was left without due attention.

Quote from: danieleither on July 22, 2020, 12:36:52 AM

I would like to share some images, specs and info from my first mining project. I am very pleased with how it’s turned out and how well it works – all from knowledge and advice picked up here on the Bitcointalk forum. I hope it will be useful for others planning a small setup, and / or interesting for those that share my enthusiasm for amateur Bitcoin mining. I'm now working on my 3rd project / installation, so at some point I'll upload a similar post for projects 2 and 3!

It’s a split-room design which is essentially 2 rooms, a ‘cold’ room which houses the miners / shelving / infrastructure, and a ‘hot’ room which the miners exhaust into. This helps to keep the miners cool and prevents hot air being circulated back through the miners. Air intake to the cold room is filtered to help prevent dust and moisture ingress. This design is good for equipment lifespan, but also helps with general efficiency as the miners consume less power when running cooler. This also makes for a more comfortable work environment, since the temperature is cool and the miners run relatively quiet (since the fans aren’t spinning fast).

It is currently running at 2600 TH/s (2.6PH), but will be around 3.2PH in August (when my next order of gear ‘should’ have arrived). I am currently running a combination of Whatsminer M31S+ and Antminer 17 series, however the 17 series are being upgraded to S19 Pros in a few weeks.

The setup is in a basement below ground level. Historically, the room housed a coal-fired boiler and was also used for storing coal. It has 2 x convenient coal delivery hatches which I now use for air extraction.

Initially I used 4 x 400mm / 16” fans, however I later upgraded these to larger and higher quality 450mm / 18” fans due to a miscalculation of airflow. I mounted the fans onto 18mm MDF which is strong but very easy to work with. I installed a lintel (support beam) and cut an access hatch into the brickwork (visible in 3rd photo) for maintenance access and for fitting the ‘splitter’ wall which would eventually split the construction into ‘cold’ and ‘hot’ sides. The access hatch was later sealed over with a sheet of 18mm MDF on the other side of the brickwork and screwed to seal. Frequent access is not required, so I did not bother with a door. To prevent weather ingress, I had a carpenter friend build the external wooden structure.

The following photos show general construction of the rest of the room, including entrance and cutting / fitting the filter frames, and finally the finished entrance showing the door and dust filters.

The filter frames are standard 500 x 500 HVAC filter cartridges (which I drilled so they could be screwed and sealed to the structure with silicon). The filter material comes on a huge 20m roll and is 1m wide, and approximately 20mm thick (so 1 roll is enough to cut 80 filters). I’ve found that they can be cleaned quite easily with a hoover but eventually they need replacing. I initially used 45mm thick filter material but learned, the hard way, that it was too restrictive to the airflow.

Electrical installation was basic. Supply is 3-phase 415V (3 x 240v). Voltage is excellent, around 245-246v consistently. The installation comprises a 200A Switch-fuse at source > 50mm 4-core SWA cable > 250A incomer & distribution board. Each miner has its own 20A breaker, with the power cable wired directly into the breaker. The Whatsminers draw ~3600 watts which is approximately 16A. For these I made custom power cables using 2.5mm flex and Bulgin C19 rewireable connectors. For the Antminers, I used off-the-shelf C13-C14 extension cables (1.0mm cable, rated 10A) and cut off the C14 connector, two for each miner, wired directly into one breaker. The cables run in plastic trunking to the distribution board.

The extraction fans are split into two pairs, each with their own controller. From the photos you will see that I changed the initial controllers when I upgraded the fans, as the initial controllers were not powerful enough for the uprated fans. Under normal operation the controllers are always set to full speed as this gives optimal conditions for the miners (the more airflow, the cooler the miners run) however if I’m working in the room, I will turn down the fan speed momentarily to make it easier to work. The fan controllers are not essential and in hindsight I probably wouldn’t bother fitting again.

This next photo is taken from the ‘cold’ / intake side and shows the shelving and some S17+ being installed – this is chrome catering shelving which is cheap but strong. This is also convenient for cabling as you can tie-wrap the cables directly to it:

These next photos are taken from the ‘hot’ / exhaust side. The first photo shows the exhaust fans of the Whatsminers before the splitter wall is installed. The second and third photos show the ‘splitter’ wall being installed which divides the cold and hot sides of the room. I used 25mm insulation board which is an excellent material for this application. It is sturdy and strong, but extremely light and very easy to cut. I cut holes for each miner with a small modelling / craft knife, so that both the miner fans and PSU fans are exhausting into the hot room. I made the cut-outs so there was approximately 2mm of extra space on each side, this allows some airflow over the outsides of the miner and also means the miner doesn’t have to be precisely positioned.

Finally, here is the finished room and setup, from the cold room side. You can see the insulation board wall behind the miners which divides the cold and hot sides of the room. Finally I installed a Perspex window into a section of the insulation board so you can easily see through to the hot room from the cold side (which makes it easy to check fans are operating properly, not blocked etc but without the hassle of removing the maintenance hatch).