Can Bitcoin mining be turned on and off and then picked back up where I left off when turned back on?
Basically, I bought a house with PV solar that generates an extra 20+ kWh a day more than I use. I’m curious if I could mine at a rate that only uses about 20kWh a day, or have it so I shut it off after about 20kWh and then it picks up where it leaves off? Or I could run it for a few weeks and then take a few weeks off. I have net metering and if I don’t use my excess the power company uses it for free. Power in my area is like 40 cents a kWh so I’d rather not go over what I generate.
Would mining make any sense?
Thanks in advance for any guidance on this.
I will rule out solo mining. I don't think it makes sense.
So, when you do pool mining, your miner gets work from time to time and sends hashes.
Of course, you can stop whenever you want, but a PPLNS pool may penalize you a little when you're back. So you may have to read more about PPS/FPPS/PPLNS/PPS+ and whatever methods exist and see what is best for you. (One page google has returned to me is
https://medium.com/luxor/mining-pool-payment-methods-pps-vs-pplns-ac699f44149f#)
I don't know how many hours would your mining go every day (probably @philipma1957 will come with the proper math), I think that it makes sense only if it's more than 2-3h
Keep in mind that if you are on PPLNS, you mine for 1h and the next block found by that specific pool is only after 4-5h, you will probably earn nothing. Again, you have to look for the pool type that suits you best. But imho you can mine too even if it's not 24/7.