Connecting your own mining equipment in 2023: how to avoid mistakes

While mining virtual coins in 2023 – avoid the mistakes that can be made when mining on your own. Read the details on how to connect the mining equipment yourself and what points are important to consider when doing so.

Preparing to install the asics: three important rules

1. Ensure noise suppression.

Especially if you are going to install the equipment at home. The noise level of async machines is in the range from 50 to 75 dB. This can be compared to the noise a powerful vacuum cleaner can make. And, if this point is not taken seriously, the extra noise is unlikely to please your neighbors. 

Use reliable materials soundproofing the room. Products made of mineral wool and fiberglass will do. We recommend installing asics in a separate, remote from people household building or room. But it is worth installing acoustic foam panels there as well.

2. It is necessary to provide access to an uninterrupted supply of electricity.

Home mining usually requires a connection of 220 to 240 volts. For equipment that doesn't need power outlets, power supply units (PSUs) are sold. This is a common practice with Bitmain, a manufacturer of virtual coin mining devices.

The APW3++ power supply, for example, has an input voltage range of 100 to 240V. Reducing the power supplied to the ASIC also lowers its hash rate. We talked about what this is in a previous post. 

3. Make sure that the asics are equipped with a cooling system.

A system that keeps your mining equipment from overheating is essential for profitable virtual coin mining and to ensure longer life of the machines.

Most home-built asics use air-cooled systems – fans that circulate air in the mining rooms. Flexible exhaust ducts can be purchased that will attach to each miner's factory fans. 

Some asics direct waste heat into warm pools and baths.

Immersion cooling is an alternative strategy that requires a more complex hardware assembly. However, some enthusiasts who mine virtual coins at home have built their own immersion systems instead of air cooling. You can read more about them at this link. 

Pool

After you've dealt with the noise, uninterrupted power supply and cooling system, it's time to connect the asic to the network. And if you join a pool for mining, you can get more profits from mining virtual coins if you have one device or more.  

The process of joining is simple:

• Choose which pool you want to join.
• Enter the Stratum pool addresses into the mining software.
• Connect the wallet to which the payments from the pool will come.
• Set up your machines for the selected pool.

Hardware maintenance at home

Asics are characterized by breakdowns. Just like any other equipment. Maintenance and repair of machines over time becomes a concern for every person who has decided to engage in virtual coin mining.

If the device has a manufacturer's warranty, then you can get free maintenance in special centers. Unfortunately, this practice is not particularly common in the Commonwealth of Independent States. Since the official service centers of Bitmain are simply not available in most CIS countries.

If the machine warranty has expired, Bitmain owners can choose between turning to repair services or offering repair instructions and advice on Reddit, YouTube and other platforms. There, other people often post videos, tutorials, and personal experiences with repairs.

Theoretical aspect: what is important to consider

If you have already installed the equipment, then the phrase: «Bitcoin mining» is familiar to you. After some practical advice, let's talk a little bit about the theoretical points you need to take into account.

Hashrate: This is the amount of calculations your hardware can do every second trying to beat the target hash. 

Hash rates are measured in megahashes, gigahashes, terahashes, and exahashes per second (MH/sec, GH/sec, TH/sec, and EH/sec). The higher your hash rate (compared to your current average hash rate), the more likely you are to get a transaction block. 

Read more about this in our article. 

2. power consumption: when choosing equipment, it is worth paying attention to the power consumption of the device. Asics «eat» a lot of electricity, and that costs a lot of money. 

To figure out how many hashes you get for each watt of power you consume, divide the number of hashes by the number of watts. This information (H/s) is in the equipment specifications.

Success is in the nuances

Calculate your miner's projected profitability using online mining profitability calculators. You can enter parameters such as equipment cost, hash rate, power consumption and current bitcoin price to see how long it will take to recoup your investment.

One of the other key parameters is network complexity. This metric determines how hard it is to discover new blocks and depends on the hash rate of the network. 

You may also need cryptocurrency mining software. Most devices have software bundled with them.

The tax on mining crypto at home

Of course, if you start successfully mining, the taxman will probably want to know about it. 

Cryptocurrency mining taxes largely depend on the scale at which you are mining virtual coins. Some countries calculate income tax. 

For example:

• US: income tax, which is based on the market value in US dollars of the coins you mine on the day you receive them;

• UK: Income tax which is based on the market value of the coins you get in pounds on the day you get them.

And in some it is not calculated:

• Australia: amateur miners don't pay income tax on coins mined;

• Canada: amateur miners do not pay income tax on mined coins.

In Russia (and many other CIS countries) there is no clear legal regulation of mining. Therefore, there are questions about the taxation system of virtual coin mining. Read more about this at the link.