Blog
From the racks.
Mining hardware, cooling and heat reuse: figures and lessons from our business.
02 / 10 posts
Operation
Power, firmware, maintenance and troubleshooting in day-to-day operation.
Temperature and efficiency – why cool chips need less power
The same miner needs much more power for the same hashrate when its chips are warm. What a measurement on the Antminer S19j Pro shows, what the S21 and Whatsminer datasheets say about it and how you lower the temperature.
Firmware for miners – Vnish, Braiins OS and LuxOS compared
Third-party firmware gets more efficiency or more hashrate out of the same miner. What autotuning does, what the developer fee costs, what happens to the warranty and why we prefer Vnish.
The most common failures – and how long miners really last
Miners mostly fail early or run for years. Which parts are affected, what daily switching on and off in solar operation does to the hashboards and why the S17 series problem hardly occurs today.
Planning the electrical connection for miners – continuous load, the 80% rule and Schuko
A miner draws its full power around the clock. A household socket is not built for that. What continuous load means, why Schuko ends at 10 A and which connection suits which unit.
Miners at home – what is realistic with noise and waste heat
An air-cooled miner is louder than a vacuum cleaner and heats like a large fan heater, both without a break. What throttling, air kits, an enclosure and hydro really achieve.
Controlling a miner with solar surplus – Home Assistant and hass-miner
With Home Assistant and the hass-miner integration, the miner follows your solar system – full power when there is surplus, throttled under clouds, off at night. What you need and what the rule looks like.
Reading logs – the most common error messages on Antminers and Whatsminers
Antminers report errors as text in the kernel log, Whatsminers as numbered codes. The most common messages from both manufacturers, what they mean and what you check first.
Choosing a pool – FPPS, PPLNS, solo and what the fee really costs
A pool's payout model decides who carries the luck, you or the pool. FPPS, PPS+, PPLNS and solo mining compared, with the calculation for the odds of finding a block of your own.
Cleaning and maintenance – dust, fans, thermal paste
A miner needs little maintenance, but it needs it regularly. How often you clean, how you remove dust without causing damage, when fans are replaced and why thermal paste only becomes a topic after the warranty.
First start-up – from unboxing to the first hash
Ten steps from the box to a running unit. What you check before switching on, how you find the miner on the network, enter the pool and what you check in the first hour.