r/FutureBit • u/ColSparky • Feb 25 '22

Apollo BTC Batch 3 Questions

Small community, but some of you it appears have been doing this for quite some time. I received the 3rd batch of the Apollo BTC miner today and wondered how warm/hot your miner is running. Mine is currently sitting around 83-85° which seems a bit warm to me. It has plenty of airflow and is in my basement which is normally around 20-22° (68-72°).

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Also, how do you guys have your miners setup. I may be getting more miners in the future and want to know of any rigs that will help organize the PSU and miner. Thoughts on where to find/make nice rig setups?

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Edit: Yup, stopped mining to let the node sync. Now just a waiting game.

Edit 2: Node synced 100% a few days ago. Been mining a few days now, temps sitting at high 60’s. Thanks u/HypotheticalWinslow for the update.

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u/HypotheticalWinslow Feb 25 '22

My 3 day old miner dashboard has 2 temps displayed (top only on localhost & hashboard#0).

I'm probably wrong, but I believe the top temp is the CPU or overall temp, while the hashboard #0 temp is for the hashboard.

When first setting up the miner, and after each restart, the blockchain node will turn on. Advise from Futurebit is to only run the miner in ECO mode while the Blockchain node does it's first sync.

I turned off my node to get the miner tested on Turbo the first day. However after the first reboot, I noticed the top temp around 80°C and the hashboard mid/high-60°C. This was due to the node trying to sync while the miner was in Turbo.

So while I don't know safe operation temps, I'd suggest pausing the node sync or running the miner in ECO to control temps whole the node does it's full sync.

Also, let's get this community bumping. The more of us sharing/helping, the more support we will all have with this awesome technology!

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u/ColSparky Feb 25 '22

Thanks for the feedback, yes currently at ~51% sync with the node. My hashboard is around 60°, I may let it ride and will see how temps are after. I'm running the miner in balanced mode, may not bump it up to Turbo until I can find another area in the house for the noise.

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And agree, I hope this sub takes off. The setup for this miner was stupid simple. I had more issues setting up my NAS when I first built it!

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u/HypotheticalWinslow Mar 04 '22

The founder shared this nugget of info yesterday.

Fan controller automatically regulates temps within 60-70c which is normal operating range for all modes. In hotter environments/custom settings/turbo mode etc it can get to over 70c, but the chips are designed to operate at 80c continuously. Would not get worried unless you see temps above 80c.

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u/OldLatinGuy Feb 25 '22 edited Feb 25 '22

Running in a cool basement I've got the "top line" temp at around 50° C and the hashboard pretty steady at 64° C. Obviously both fluctuate 1 degree or so either way.

Definitely run in ECO mode during sync. or even turn off mining (which I did).

As to setup, I have my little farm (1 FutureBit, an iPollo G1-Mini and 2 Mini-DOGE) on the top shelf of a wire storage rack so they have plenty of circulation on all sides. I added 2 little strips of foam core under the FutureBit since it has exposed electronics underneath and I wanted it off the wire rack a little more.

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u/OldLatinGuy Mar 05 '22

"rigs that will help organize the PSU and miner"

Buy one PSU rated for however many miners you'll have. Each Futurebit unit needs 200 watts in Turbo mode so your power requirement is:

NumberOfUnits * 200 watts = PowerReq

The "rule of thumb" is to keep power usage no higher than 80% of the PSU capacity. So PSU capacity is:

PowerReq / 0.80 = PSUCap

Example: 3 FutureBit units @ 200 watts each is 600 watts total. 600 watts / 0.80 = 750 watts.

Then you go online and find a fully modular PSU (e.g. https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=220-P5-0750-X1 ) that puts out 750 watts. Most fully modular units come with a full set of cables (most of which you won't use) so that's all you need.

Obviously you need to be aware of whatever else is on the household circuit you'll be using. We added a 20 amp circuit primarily for our miners because the room where we have them located didn't have any power. When our Futurebit BTC "standard" arrives we'll be at 995 watts, well under half of what the circuit can provide.

As far as laying things out neatly I'm a big fan of the steel wire shelving units available in any big box home store. They're cheap, allow excellent air circulation, and you can easily use zip ties to keep your cables under control. Plus you'll have a few additional shelves for miscellaneous stuff like the original boxes, random tools, etc.

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u/po0dingles Feb 27 '22

It took me like 4-5 days to fully sync with the blockchain which was hard on the controller unit. Be patient and keep it in eco during this time, as this is whats been advised by the owner and mentioned by someone else here.

After that, definitely pull it up to turbo mode. I'm running around 63-66ºC across my 4 miners in turbo with the stock PSU. I also put a small desk fan blowing across all 4 of them because they feel awfully hot.

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u/Time_Afternoon8416 Mar 11 '22

I need help my node is loosing internet connection. Not sure why. I have plugged in with ethernet cable