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Showing 20 of 77 results by betajuice
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Re: Primary vs Secondary Oncor Texas service
by
betajuice
on 29/03/2023, 17:15:15 UTC
Had 2 customers do it here in NY/NJ and someone else in FL. Not mining related, just manufacturing

Saved them a lot.
BUT:

1) Everything is 'your fault' not the fault of the power company until you can prove otherwise when it comes to low power issues. 3 states, 3 different power companies, same BS.
2) If you do have issues they will not even test TO the transformer without your electrician being there.
3) If you do need parts / repair you can be down for a while. Unless you have a spare $50k transformer sitting around like the power company does.

For my customer that had a lot of issues it was stressful and annoying, but they could function on a limited bases.
A mining facility is going to be off....

-Dave

#1: What do you mean by "low power issues" ?
#2, who won't test the transformer?

thanks for the advice
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Topic OP
Primary vs Secondary Oncor Texas service
by
betajuice
on 29/03/2023, 16:02:31 UTC
I am setting up a 400 kW farm and just want to sanity check if anyone has experience with primary power from oncor. (The deal is, own and manage your own transformer and get a reduced delivery cost.)

I want to know if I am missing something here because it seems like it is worth it. Savings ~ $0.004 / kwh.

A lot of utility people have never even done primary power so I want to get opinions from other miners if this makes sense.
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Board Mining
Re: Sales Tax on Hashrate / Timeshare Selling
by
betajuice
on 15/04/2022, 18:31:41 UTC

Personally my business model will not be to sell hashrate or mining contracts. I would set up a new corporation for the customer so the full tax benefits of depreciation pass through to them. The customer would be a non-voting 100% owner of that corp. My parent company would charge the mini-corp a fixed $/kWh rent rate or something + a setup fee. Whatever profit is left is paid out to them as a distribution every month or so. Still need to talk to a lawyer to make sure this is a sound idea.


So is this sub-corporation is issuing securities?
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Topic OP
Sales Tax on Hashrate / Timeshare Selling
by
betajuice
on 15/04/2022, 13:48:23 UTC
I would like to offer the ability for customers to purchase hashrate or a block of hashes and I'm wondering if there is a way to offer this WITHOUT incurring sales tax... is this possible?
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Board Mining
Re: Experienced GPU miner thinking about starting an ASIC farm; what should I know?
by
betajuice
on 12/04/2022, 02:40:03 UTC

Sales tax on electricity: This is much harder and you need to be larger-scale, but some states (like Texas) have exemptions to the 6.25% sales tax for datacenters and other companies like that. Oklahoma has a similar bill coming up.


This one in particular is interesting, I have noticed it before, I believe the exemptions is for manufacturing business and was not sure if mining could fit in that category. As far as the "larger-scale" requirement, I do not remember seeing anywhere a size / scale requirement, any more info on that or what exactly constitutes large enough to get that exemption?
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Re: Experienced GPU miner thinking about starting an ASIC farm; what should I know?
by
betajuice
on 05/04/2022, 18:10:15 UTC
... I have the financial stuff, like how to avoid income tax & sales tax, under control thanks to my accountant.

by the way, mind sharing how to avoid those US taxes?
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Board Mining
Re: Experienced GPU miner thinking about starting an ASIC farm; what should I know?
by
betajuice
on 04/04/2022, 17:30:01 UTC
I would think that an experienced GPU miner might be a little turned off to ASIC mining for a few reasons.  ASICs tend to devalue faster than GPUs in my opinion, so while their volatile prices might give you more opportunities for profit scenarios, you have to be quick to act because you can be left holding worthless bricks in the end if you aren't nimble.  There is also more dependency on a single currency, whereas GPU mining gives you added flexibility if one coin's price dips or something.  You're also left with less usability for your equipment, so if regulation or market conditions causes ASICs to become worthless, GPUs will still have buyers in gamers and graphic artists.  Personally, I think GPU miners will be a bit disappointed moving into ASIC mining, but if you pick the right entry and exit points, it can be massively profitable.

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Re: important question about an ASIC
by
betajuice
on 01/04/2022, 17:35:42 UTC

Honestly depends on where the miners were stolen, and from whom. The chances of it getting tracked are greater than zero and instances like the one linked above have taken place.
He might get lucky and nothing happens, however, it is not a good idea to use stolen property for any use, let alone mining.
Even if he mines to a hardware wallet, the funds will be dirtied.
[/quote]

"dirtied" ? doubt that practically
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Board Mining
Re: Experienced GPU miner thinking about starting an ASIC farm; what should I know?
by
betajuice
on 01/04/2022, 05:35:46 UTC

It looks like you are trying to go with index power rate? you gotta be real careful with that, if prices spike and you don't manage the miners in time (can happen overnight), your energy bill will basically ruin a years worth of profitability
I wanted to go with the day-ahead index, where I always know what the rate will be in 24h and it's not subject to instant spikes like the real-time LMP. I'm not worried about the spikes because I will write custom, automated software to cut off the Internet to the ASICs to power them down. Maybe other farms will want the software.


This day-ahead index is a specific agreement with the energy supplier, not oncor, right?
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Re: Experienced GPU miner thinking about starting an ASIC farm; what should I know?
by
betajuice
on 01/04/2022, 03:01:31 UTC
I don't think GPU mining is guna "die" any time soon, eth or not there will always be something to mine with them, not to mention they are versatile and you can run all sorts of other algorithms (AI, chemical modelling, etc) as well if you ever need to pivot.

I'm curious why you want to go with s9's? they are quite old at this point, might get better ROI with something newer.

It looks like you are trying to go with index power rate? you gotta be real careful with that, if prices spike and you don't manage the miners in time (can happen overnight), your energy bill will basically ruin a years worth of profitability

Does your location already have power available? If you need to have oncor install more power, they are guna charge you potentially a lot ($40k+) and they *might* refund you a minimum of 4 years later.
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Re: Possible to Mine Over Radio?
by
betajuice
on 04/03/2022, 15:35:14 UTC
Can you elaborate why and what is your use case?

To mine in remote locations without the need to pay for satellite internet or any other internet provider.

I think it can be done via some sort of packet over radio protocol, you probably need to setup a receiving station that is connected to internet, such as a home network.
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Merits 1 from 1 user
Topic OP
Possible to Mine Over Radio?
by
betajuice
on 04/03/2022, 05:27:24 UTC
⭐ Merited by vapourminer (1)
Is there any way to mine bitcoin over radio? Such as with a HAM radio connected to a mining computer?
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Board Mining
Re: new electric setup: 1-phase vs 3-phase
by
betajuice
on 07/12/2021, 03:23:38 UTC
150kw is getting into 3-phase territory but still very practical for single phase service. It comes down to cost of the panel (size and amount of copper in it) and if the power company needs to supply you with a different service transformer to feed the building. As Mikey said, go with what is cheaper.

I am scaling up to around 400kW and actually still on the phase conundrum, so now I'm asking why 150kW was "getting into 3-phase territory" and so this implies I should be getting 3-phase for 400kW facility?
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How to estimate fan requirements for a warehouse?
by
betajuice
on 30/11/2021, 15:09:25 UTC
I'm curious how to estimate the cooling requirements, specifically air cooling, for an asic farm in a standalone warehouse. Is it as simple as have the equivalent CFM of all miners each on opposing walls? Or is that overkill and how do you estimate?

thanks, any links to resources also appreciated.
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Re: new electric setup: 1-phase vs 3-phase
by
betajuice
on 14/04/2021, 04:09:51 UTC
Quote
What specifically do you mean "voltage imbalance" between the high leg and neutral? As long as you ignore the 208V between it, everything is fine right? you have 120v and 240v available no?
That wild leg is considered a potential safety hazard because folks adding new (110v) circuits to a panel that is fed in that way MUST pay close attention to which breaker slots in the panel are fed by it. Every 3rd slot is the wild leg.

For new construction or service upgrades most local codes will demand you to have two breaker panels: 1 main one for incoming main breaker followed by high line (208-240v) 2-pole or 3-pole breakers in it for single or 3-phase loads, and a 2nd single-phase panel fed from a large breaker in the main panel. The 2nd panel is only fed by L1, L2 and Neutral. This 2nd panel is for all 110/208V lighting and wall outlet power, breakers in it will be either 1-pole or 2-pole to respectively deliver either 110v from L1 or L2 referenced to Neutral or single phase 208-240v from across L1-L2. The driving point is that new circuits can be added at will with no regard to that wild leg.

The most common wye service connection from the utility's transformer eliminates any potential for incorrect wiring. Leg to leg will always be 208-240v and any leg to Neutral will always be 110-120v.

As for actual voltage supplied, that is a bit of a sticky issue... Most utilities want to give you 3-phase 208VAC (usually more like around 213V) vs 230-240 because referenced to Neutral you will get 110VAC. Them supplying 230-240VAC splits down to around 115V up to just over 120V.

Is the higher voltages better? Yes. As you said there is lower current pulled so less stress on the front side of PSU's. Plus, it gives you greater margin to keep running if there is a brown out where the line voltage drops though in the US the brown out margin rarely matters.

thanks for all the info
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Re: new electric setup: 1-phase vs 3-phase
by
betajuice
on 13/04/2021, 15:03:56 UTC
You're over-thinking things....
Unless you are pulling mega-watts of power, load balance on the utilities transmission lines is not your concern. If you have 3-phase power you only have to reasonably balance power from your distribution panel. If you have single-phase power it is still the utilities concern - not yours. Of course this also assumes that you are in a fairly well developed country with stable & modern power grids.

In most countries 3-phase is typically delivered to a building as a wye connection with a center Neutral connection - not delta. However, that also depends on the local power loads. Wild leg or high leg grounded delta is usually only found where most area loads are single phase and only a few select customers need 3-phase. Unless it is your only choice, due to the voltage imbalance between the wild leg and Neutral I do not recommend grounded delta.

What country is this in? How power is distributed varies between countries and even between regions within a country.
What voltage is your typical wall outlet at home or business? 110v or 220v?
ref https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-phase_electric_power

If you want 208-240v 3-phase power, and if the location also needs a lower voltage for wall plugs & lighting just tell the utility that. They will decide on the type of transformer used as it all depends on how they distribute power in the area where you are.

I'm in the US. Do miners such as antminers run more efficiently on higher voltage? (this is why I was aiming for 240v) as well as the increased effiency gain from higher voltage (less current).
For larger setups I keep seeing that a 415/240 volt transformer is ideal, so I figured 240 delta was similar.
Anyways seems like I should avoid the grounded delta though because it is an unusual setup.

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Re: new electric setup: 1-phase vs 3-phase
by
betajuice
on 13/04/2021, 00:59:15 UTC
...
If you are in North America, depending on what kind of power is needed for other businesses nearby, their '3-phase' may not exactly true 3-phase but rather 3-phase created by using a 'wild leg' as referenced to Neutral. Voltage across all 3 or any 2 lines is the same. Voltage from either L1 or L2 referenced to Neutral is balanced to 1/2 the L1-L2 voltage. For 208 VAC that is 110V for L1 or L2 to Neutral. Voltage on the 3rd or Wild leg referenced to Neutral is much because it is is NOT reference to Neutral. The 3rd leg is supplied only to places needing 3-phase to run motors, refrigeration, and other application requiring it that are powered by all three phases. If that is the case the utility is already supplying single phase power over very heavy lines feeding several other locations nearby.
...

Are you just saying that the TDU should be able to balance things on their side easier than I make it seem?

Also, you're not referring to "high-leg delta" voltage are you? I am considering requesting 240 3 phase in the delta config:


This setup is as true of 3 phase as 120/208 right?
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Re: new electric setup: 1-phase vs 3-phase
by
betajuice
on 12/04/2021, 16:17:15 UTC
150kw is getting into 3-phase territory but still very practical for single phase service. It comes down to cost of the panel (size and amount of copper in it) and if the power company needs to supply you with a different service transformer to feed the building. As Mikey said, go with what is cheaper.

Is drawing 150kw on a single phase an issue for the TDU since it is extremely unbalanced on the transmission lines, right?
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Topic OP
new electric setup: 1-phase vs 3-phase
by
betajuice
on 11/04/2021, 19:20:44 UTC
This question has been asked a couple times with variations and I haven't quite got an answer so I'm posting this here.

I found a small shop to use for mining, aiming for about 150kw total 24/7 power draw. I'm discussing with TDU and electrician about setup but neither of them are very helpful in giving advice for what I need. Their attitude is mostly just like "just tell us what you need and we'll do it". The shop has a small 1 phase 200 amp panel, but they are willing to make the upgrades.

From my research, it seems the question of 3-phase vs 1-phase delivery just comes down to cost. All mining hardware uses 1 phase but still many people seem to recommend to go with 3 phase because of reduced delivery costs. I'm not 100% sure the reason for this, so that is part of my question. Secondly, I might be able to take the panel and any other electrical equipment from the shop with me to later expand, so if 3 phase isn't strictly neccesary, maybe it is a good investment anyways?

Anyway my main question here is, should I give the TDU a load sheet requesting 3-phase power or just 1-phase? Any advice on this is appreciated because I am really unsure.

Thanks.
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Board Mining speculation
Re: Texas Storm to affect electricity prices?
by
betajuice
on 25/02/2021, 21:00:51 UTC
Corrected my disremembering price but still some folks saw a massive increase. One link about it from AP is here
From that link
Quote
Among them is Susan Hosford of Denison, Texas. On a typical February day, she pays Griddy less than $2.50 for power. But the one-day cost spiked to hundreds of dollars after the storm. In all, she was automatically charged $1,346.17 for the first two weeks of February

Still looking for where I got the $9k/MWh from as it still is ringing a loud bell...

yes the wholesale cost went to $9 / kWh for a couple times. My question is regarding any policiy change or perhaps additional riders to the delivery costs to recoup from losses.