Last year, I picked up a Nano 3s, which remains out of commission for the time being. It worked great as a handwarmer at my desk throughout the winter. It's also easy to move around and point at spills or leaks that you want to dry up. Basically, it's a small space heater that pays itself off in bitcoin (unless a power surge breaks the adapter).
What the Nano 3s can't really do is heat a room to any significant extent. My daughter's room tends to get cold in the winter, so I was looking into heavier duty miners. Enter the Mini 3. Once I got it set up, I was amazed at how quiet it was at full power. You could put these all over your house and have no idea their there.
The Mini 3 is designed like a baseboard heater and it has a thermostat, so you don't have to worry about overheating an area. It just shuts itself off once the target room temperature is reached. The website says to expect 37.5TH/s but I'm getting over 40.
One of the cool things about the baseboard design is that you can attach multiple units together, either straight or at right angles, for rooms that need more heating. We'll see how this one does during the winter and whether our rooms require additional units.
Also, it was super cool being able to buy this with bitcoin. It's basically a stock to flow conversion. According to the stats on OCEAN, I'll be able to buy the next one with what this one earns over the course of the year.
Why wouldn't you go for a Q? More hash and heat, and less cost per TH/s but less control, I guess.
This bad boy is nice too, but supposedly a little loud.
https://asicmarketplace.com/product/fluminer-t3-bitcoin-miner/
the Q is the best value for a plug and play solution. If you're able to tinker, you can build something similar for a fraction of the cost.
I was concerned about the noise with a Q. Even the Nano 3s is too loud for me when I'm trying to sleep. These Mini's are insanely quiet.
I guess it helps that I'm deaf! Supposedly the Q is quiter than the fluminer. My solar panels are set up so I'm getting ready to deploy my second Q. I'm excited.
I may have misjudged the Q but that was how I picked the Mini.
I have a friend who went with the mini in the NYC area last winter. He was a little disappointed in the heat output. I ran my Q at full power last winter in the basement, directly under our family room, which has always been cold and drafty. I can't say I noticed a tremendous benefit, but it did heat up the room in the basement. The cat sleeps in that room for warmth.
whatever wattage the miners are using maps directly onto space heaters. 1000w of hashing is a 1000w space heater
It’s definitely not moving the needle in our basement but the heat output feels pretty strong. Hopefully, it can keep a smaller bedroom warm.
I can confidently say that a q on full 90TH/s can keep a small bedroom very warm. Noise may be an issue, though.
I’m sure something of that caliber will be on my radar for next year, if only to keep in the basement or garage.
woah, I had completely missed that Canaan ventured into this space(!) too -- instead of just those small silly BitAxe-looking ones. Cool. ...and 40 TH/s from that lil thing? Impressive. What's the efficiency?
#1466211
you just line them up along the edge of the room, or what?
in other news: I'm so very unbelievably keen on going to the Heatpunk Summit in Feb. #1530509
(We need more ~econ revenue and Den income... maybe launch an SN kickstarter campaign, lol)
Yeah, they line up along the wall, clicking into place with each other. Each one needs its own plug, though.
The efficiency is around 21 J/T (from the website). I'm not sure what mine's doing exactly.
Also, it's not very small. It's like a meter across and about 10kg (I'll use commie units to make you comfortable).
I don't trust such marketing figures.
do what I do: put a thingie in the wall to measure the flow, so you know exactly how many watts it pulls, and compare that against the hashes it spits out. (And then across different times and levels, I just take snapshots to gauge efficiency)
measure power at the wall, yes. never trust the firmware power readings.
Yeeeess
This is so cool! It's 90F in Austin today, but if the darn cold weather will hurry itself up, maybe I can have an excuse to get one of these!
aaah, that's cute.
I was on the phone with the 21E peeps recently (stay.fucking.tuned!) and the guy laughed/snickered at me in envy when I said I run my thing basically all year round (minus a few hours during some hot, sunny days)... 85-90% upkeep across the year.
Our evening temperatures are finally below room temperature, so I pulled the trigger. I also have it running down in the basement for the time being.
A good way to tell if a miner is priced well in sats, it should be able to hash for 1 year and earn back the sats paid for it, with free power.
Cool. I didn't have a specific value in mind.
Is the firmware open source? If not, how can I know it does not contain malware, and that my hashrate or sats are not being stolen or that my block reward is not being stolen if I hit a block?
This is a cool concept though, and the idea of putting heat to use instead of wasting heat. And the modularity as you described.
I can see where the payout will go on the OCEAN dashboard and how how much hash they're registering.
I suppose the device could actually be hashing at 400 TH/s at some insane efficiency and the extra 360 is going somewhere else, but that seems farfetched.
I would have never expected a home miner to be so useful and so productive. 40TH/s that's impressive.Thanks for sharing this great and detailled review for the Mini 3, it really make me have no doubt on getting one for winter :)
I build these space heaters and have sold many to local plebs. This season $300 will buy a 40th model at less than 1000w.
Pretty cool. Can they be plugged into an ordinary 20 amp residential outlet?
yes, they are ready to go on 110v
Hell yeah!
But, can I plug it into my network or is it depending on wifi which is insecure, bad for health, unreliable?
And can I use it without a closed source malware app on a android or ios spy device?
Since I use wifi anyway, that's not an additional issue
Good job
Great field report on Mini 3. Love the baseboard design idea - stacking at right angles for cold rooms makes sense. And buying it with sats then earning next one via OCEAN = true stock-to-flow conversion. In Port Harcourt heat we need cooling, but same concept for drying/cleaning use? Thanks for sharing stats.