Entering the Real Miners | The "pitfalls" encountered by miners in those years

In the "Getting to Know the Real Miners" series, in the previous two issues we introduced "How long can S9 mine when the flood season comes?" and "Do miners have to shut down their machines when the price of coins falls?" Today's "Getting to Know the Real Miners" article will mainly introduce some of the "pitfalls" that may be encountered in joint mining and mining machine hosting, and how to avoid them.

Forms of Joint Mining

First, let's briefly introduce two forms of joint mining. When more people participate in something, the uncertainty factors will also increase. As the name suggests, joint mining is a mining model in which multiple people participate. Of course, it will also be an uncertainty factor that miners will encounter in mining.

Whether it is a "part-time", "retail" or "professional" miner, a mining farm is needed as an auxiliary to provide a place for the mining machine to be stored and electricity to be used, so that the mining machine can play its maximum effect. However, miners may worry that the hosting and operation of the mining farm are unreliable, so several miners jointly discuss and find a reliable manager to find people to form their own operation and maintenance team. This is the first form of joint mining.

The second form: Another form of joint mining is that A has a lot of mining machines, and B happens to have a mining farm, so A and B hit it off and become shareholders together. After deducting the electricity costs, operation and maintenance costs, shelf fees, management fees and other costs required for the operation of the mining farm, the profits are shared equally, and multiple settlements can be made every month. This is the second form of joint mining.

Since most miners do not have electricity resources and it is impossible for them to create a mining farm by themselves due to the high construction costs and risks, this form of mining machine hosting is the best choice for most miners.

So what pitfalls will you encounter in mining farm hosting?

Simply put, when placing a mining machine in a mining farm for hosting, the biggest pitfall is the loss of network and power. Due to the different infrastructure settings of different mining farms, and the fact that some mining farms may have some historical problems that miners may not fully understand before hosting, sometimes when the miners' mining machines are put on the site, all the problems that were previously hidden may be fully revealed.

So how can we avoid falling into the trap before actual costs are incurred?

Miners must be cautious and conduct multiple inspections when choosing a hosting mine. Before entering the mine, they need to find a dedicated network engineer to inspect and accept it, and contact the power plant to ensure that the power is stable. Secondly, transformers, meters, mine lines, etc. must also be inspected in advance before the mining machine is put on the shelf to prevent power outages, line failures, or incompatibility with the mining machine.

Another factor that needs to be considered is water. Water is related to the cooling capacity of the mining machine in the mine. The commonly used cooling method in the mine is the water curtain. Whether the water curtain can be opened continuously has a lot to do with whether the water power is sufficient. If the water power is insufficient, you may encounter the situation of continuous restart due to high temperature.

After clearing the early pits, when you arrive at the mine, the situation may look like this (see the picture below)

The shelves in the entire factory are full of dust

Faced with this kind of scene, it is also necessary to ask the mine to arrange people to clean up the dust in advance, otherwise the mining machine will be covered with dust when it is put on the shelf, which will affect the service life of the mining machine.

The trap of cheap electricity prices

We often see information about mine operation and maintenance for 0.xx yuan in various WeChat Moments and posts in various communities. This kind of advertisement seems to be very cost-effective, and there is no separate operation and maintenance fee, because these fees are included in the electricity bill. In other words, miners only need to pay the electricity bill, and the food expenses of the operation and maintenance staff and some daily expenses do not need to be paid separately. However, if miners only focus on the low electricity bill, they should be careful of other traps, because low electricity prices must have high prices.

Logically speaking, if the electricity price is cheap and the mining farm is well-maintained, there is no need to advertise everywhere. A good reputation and a base of loyal old customers are enough to fill up the mining machines of high-quality mining farms.

Is it true that there was a power outage at the mine?

Of course, power outages are the most common and helpless in the mining industry. Surprise inspections by provinces and cities, insufficient water supply in reservoirs, etc. can all lead to power outages in mining farms and shutdowns of mining machines. In addition to force majeure, there are actually some "tricks" here. Since most mining farms are located in remote areas, ordinary retail investors and even some miners with small-scale mining machines usually do not frequently go to the mountains to check the situation of mining machines, so there will be some "fake power outage" announcements in the market to deceive miners. In this case, it is usually a notice to miner A that the mining farm has recently experienced a power outage due to a certain reason, so the mining machine will be shut down for several days. In reality, it is very likely that A's mining machine was switched to another account for mining, and then the "power outage" problem was solved after a period of time, and then changed back. However, as the industry becomes more professional and standardized, private account switching has become rare. Mining farms and customers are making two-way choices. It is not worth it to lose the reputation accumulated over the years for a little self-interest.

As mentioned above, some advertisements will directly release the hosting price. In fact, there may be hidden mysteries in this. After the miners and the hosting mine have agreed on the price and put the mining machine on the shelf, some non-standard mining farms will "use the emperor to command the princes" and directly increase the price of the mining machine after it has been running for a period of time. At this time, if the miners want to transfer the mining machine, these hosting mines will not return the deposit for various reasons. Miners, as a vulnerable group in front of the mining farm, sometimes have nowhere to defend their rights.

Mine operation and maintenance issues

In addition to the above-mentioned situations, insufficient operation and maintenance of the mine, insufficient repair parts, etc. are all problems that miners may encounter. Due diligence is an effective way to avoid these problems as much as possible, otherwise you will suffer losses one after another.

The annual flood season has begun, and Computing Power 360 discovered many problems when transferring the mine.

For example, due to the sharp drop in the price of coins in 2019, the mining machines hosted in a mining farm in Sichuan had not been turned on for several months. It also rained heavily for several months, and the mining farm was surrounded by coal piles. As a result, when the mining machines were transported, it was discovered that the inside of the mining machines had already been pitch black, like newly unearthed cultural relics. Since hundreds of mining machines were relatively humid, they could only be placed in a ventilated place to dry, and then cleaned and tested.

There were some unexpected situations when transferring mining machines during the flood season: the machine exploded right after the maintenance staff put it on the shelf and turned it on. This was because the mining environment was not good and there was damp dust inside the mining machine, causing a short circuit. (Picture below)

Mining machine maintenance personnel are repairing. (Picture below)