Post
Topic
Board Hardware
Re: Official FutureBit Apollo II/BTC Software/Image and Support thread
by
eagleye
on 16/12/2024, 10:32:55 UTC
Forgive me for sounding insensitive: Are you for real? The Apollo units are mini computers and should be handled as such. If your intended location (glassed in balcony) provides a relatively clean environment other than being cold, use it. Obviously you are not going to use them "outside" where they may be subject to heavy moisture and/or heat. Your hounding of the Future Bit support staff for the "exact" tolerable criteria smacks of arrogance and/or ignorance. Do some research regarding pc hardware and you will easily find much general info.

Regarding the warranty: Future Bit clearly expects them to be used in the home (or home like environment). If maintaining the warranty is vital (for cost reasons, etc,) I get it. Most failures of new electronic goods will crop up very early in their lifespan. Run them a while and when comfortable they are "good", maybe worry less about warranty...

Again, searching with Google, DuckDuckGo, Ai, etc. will provide answers to your question regarding running multiple units from one node unit. I have read of several people plugging in a usb hub to the unit and hooking up several units that way. I run 6 Apollo units through one node unit wired through my home network. Research.
Thank you very much for your response!
You do not sound insensitive at all!

I do understand that Apollo units are literally mini PCs. I have experience running servers 24/7 inside a dedicated AC cooled room. I will be running my Apollo inside an AC cooled room during a summer. However, during winter season it is more efficient to run it in a place that I do not heat up. My glassed balcony is covered, protected, clean and quite cool during winter. We use our balcony frequently everyday. It is ideal for Apollo unit as it won't have hard time cooling itself.

I will monitor Temp and Humidity and will ensure that the first is above 5 degrees C and the latter is below 90%. There is a very low risk to hit a Dew Point Temp.

It is great to know that I can run more than 2 Standard units via USB hub.
I think I can run at least 10 units from a single household socket, can't I?

I am excited to evolve further on in the home-based mining field!

Ah, NO.  you can't run 10 units from a single household socket.  So, your running turbo.  That means at least 350-400 watts.  your little wattage meter is an indication of the watts being consumed by the Miner itself but does not include power consumption by the raspberry pi CPU.  350 Watts X 10 is 3500 watts.  3500 / 120 Volts = over 29 AMPS  you would be heating the wires in the wall.  Most household circuits are 15 or 20 amps. and you don't want to run max breaker power.  you want to run 75% of load for variance.  Running a 20 amp breaker at 20 amps will cause the breaker to eventually trip and fail.   You need to have an accurate digital tracking power meter to see how computers work.  IT's not a steady power but an average power.  The miner is constantly changing consumption multiple times per second and power fluctuates up and down a few watts per miner. 

You would want a dedicated 20 AMP circuit and even better 2-120 Volt circuits split across a 240 Volt phase at the panel.  That way each outlet balances out the 120V load if you have 5 apollos on each outlet. Don't forget a backup power supply and line conditioning regulation as the noise from 10 miners could cause problems.  Computers and switching power supplies are the noisiest additions to houshold ac circuits.