Bitheater | Mine Bitcoin while heating a room
Description
**Update 2022/04/08:** Fixed a bug in main body model. It was slightly to long on left bottom side to fit nicely over the antminer case. This project aims to convert a Bitcoin miner into a handy space heater. **We achieve this by:** * replacing all fans because we need the heater to be silent * enclosing everything because we dont want any wires exposed * replacing mining firmware to control its power usage and noise levels * add wifi for convenience **Parts you need:** * A miner. This project was designed around an Antminer S9 and its original Bitmain Apw3++ power supply. * An alternative firmware which enables fine power and temperature control. We use Braiins OS+ https://braiins.com/os/plus * A 3D Printer. It needs enough build space, the biggest part has a hight of 265mm, and needs to be capable to print filament with high melting temperatures. We use ASA filament which is good up to ~100°C. * 22 M3 Screws of ~10mm length. Everything between 6 and 15mm should do. I recommend socket heads but every will fit as long the head diameter is not bigger then 6mm or it won't fit the holes. * 2 silent 140mm fans, I use Noctua NF-A14 iPPC-3000 PWM * 2 140mm fan grills * 1 silent 60mm fan, I use Noctua NF-A6x25 FLX * 1 wifi to ethernet bridge. I use a VONETS VAR11N-300. It was somewhat quirky to set up but its small and runs directly of 12V from the miners power supply so thats cool. However, in a future revision I'll most probably switch to a single board computer like eg Orange Pi Zero and add a display + some buttons to the design so the user can select a wifi conveniently and see temperature and mining stats. **Rough instructions:** * prepare your miner: install braiins os+ (or another firmware of your choice) and set some safe values first: I use 800W power limit and 80°C target temperature, set your mining pool credentials. switch off miner. * prepare your wifi bridge. I set mine to simple non routing bridge mode. The goal is not only that it provides internet to the miner which will be plugged in via ethernet, but the miners web interface should be reachable from within your lan as well for configuration. * print main body * print 2 fan lids and 2 fan adapters * print a power supply and a wire front. This are the only 2 parts which need supports. * replace 60mm fan in power supply. Its basically a drop in replacement only the power plug does not fit. I used a 2.54 mm JST plug which I had laying around but you can basically use the one from original fan. While open it is good time to think about whether you need to add an extra 12V wire for your wifi bridge. remove heat shrink tube from the power wires to add flexibility * remove old fans and mounts from miner. Thats a great time to inspect and clean the hashing boards as well * push printed main body over the miner. It fits only in one direction because the rails it grabs on are not symmetric. This requires some force.My print was not clean and I had to give it a light sanding to remove blocking filament blobs * push power supply upside down into its place. power cord end should be at the same side as the ethernet plug. * now for the fiddly part: plug in power wires into the controller board and the hashing boards. Plug both fans in as well. the fan plugs have a central notch which needs to be cut away, other then that they fit exactly like the originals. * screw fan adapters to the front and back of the miner (4 screws per adapter, one in every corner). the side with 2 notches is on top, this is where the fans power wire will go. * put fan grills into fan lids, followed by fans. note that the fan on the ethernet side has to blow into the miner and the fan on hashboard side has to blow out of the miner * put fan lids onto fan adapters and fix them with 4 screws each (2 on top, 2 on bottom) * position your wifi bridge inside the miner. I simply velcroed it to the metal shield on top ofthe controller board * screw on the wire front cover with 3 screws * now its time for a test run. If miner boots, and starts mining shut it off and screw on the power supply front part. Now you are basically ready to go. Fire up the miner and prepare for a few hours of wild fan ups and downs until hashboard tuning is finished and the miner starts to silently create a cozy indoor climate while earning sats. **A last word of warning:** Don't do stupid things with that device. Be aware that we took a powerful working horse, replaced its cooling with a way less powerful but quieter one, took away a lot of cooling surface to run it silently and well underpowered as a heating device which you should never leave unattended because you know and I know we are not electricians and don't know what we are doing. **Credits:** I was inspired by @DaddyBTC_pleb on twitter and this thread, where he goes into more detail about fan installation, power adapters etc: https://twitter.com/DaddyBTC_pleb/status/1487506865848295434 **My Offer:** I like my Bitheaters vey much and distribute them among friends and famiy, but I'm running out of miners. If you want me to build a Bitheater for you then my offer is simple: you send me 2 Antminer S9, I send you 1 Bitheater back and keep the other Antminer for myself. **Support my work** If you have some SATs to spare: 153HHsR9gZdiDTUgzSZks4uuU141zKcsSe Or if you prefer a fancy Lightning tip jar: https://coinos.io/Fiesel Thanks a lot, your appreciation is what drives me! Like always, FreeCAD files are included, modify everything to your needs!
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