Post
Topic
Board Hardware
Re: Official FutureBit Apollo II/BTC Software/Image and Support thread
by
MakerAZ
on 16/12/2024, 12:07:31 UTC
...I think I can run at least 10 units from a single household socket, can't I?

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.
My socket voltage is 240V @ 50Hz.
So 3500 / 240 = less than 15 Amps. Yes, I will run in turbo mode, so let's assume 4000 watts / 240 = less than 17 Amps. I got your point, I still won't run 10 from the same wire, only 3 to 5.