DIY Battery Storage

This post is a bit more random from my usual. This all started as I was thinking about the "solar generators" you see everywhere and Legion Solar project. Which got me to thinking about a cross. What if you could make something like a solar generator that would feed back into your home system on a schedule. 

Now where I live the utility company offers a time of day program. Where energy outside of peak is cheaper. I started looking at a number of the various options. UPS with a smart plug, legion solar, Solar generator, etc. But I couldn't see anything that would let you run on a schedule.

I like the idea of solar, but it's a bit out of my price range. I liked the idea of a solar generator but that is very device specific. I really like the idea that Legion Solar offers, but the payback just isn't there yet. Which to be honest, they have far better payback period then traditional solar.

Therfore I started digging around. The biggest question I had was around the inverter, traditional inverters are great for standalone but you can't plug that into your utility grid fed outlet. Which led me to a grid tie inverter. I opted for a 12v input model. The reason for 12v.... 1) got it cheap on ebay 2) lowers minimum battery count to one 3) use a standard battery charger.

The whole setup components:

1) 12v Battery

2) 12v grid tie inverter

3) wiring block

4) electrical wire

5) smart plug

6) independently powered smart switch

7) car battery charger

For me I'm going to use Home Assistant to control the automation.

In the end my automation will turn on the smart plug to run the battery charger during off peak hours and turn off the battery to the inverter allowing full power to charge the battery. Then when cheap electricity ends the smart plug turns off the battery charger and turns on the battery to the inverter. 

Review: Scrapyard Ship

Scrapyard Ship by Mark Wayne McGinnis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



View all my reviews

User Friendly Crypto Mining

 

Greetings, welcome to my first blog post on my thoughts of a couple of popular user-friendly mining applications.

Before we begin, I just want to make a comment for anyone out there who might mention "MinerGate" which may as well be dead in my opinion. Pre-2019 it was great, it worked as expected. It had a nice UI and was actively managed. They paid out and everything. Now however the site doesn't always work, they no longer pay out, and it has become synonymous with the word "Scam".

Yes I know there are other mining pools and I'm sure I'm missing others, but I'm just going to focus on the ones that I've used thus far.

In this blog post:
EasyMiner
BetterHash
NiceHash

Ease of Setup:

As far as installer and setup. I give it to NiceHash, as once you setup your account online (or with mobile app) you can use the app to link your miner with your account by scanning a QR code.
BetterHash is a simple install as well and linking just requires you to log into your account (well enter your email at a minimum) after you have setup your online account.
EasyMiner isn't really a true installer so to say, it's more like just an executable and you just have to give it your wallet address in "easymoney" mode.

Usage and Compatibility:

I have found that BetterHash supports more of the slightly older harder and gives you a bit more of a fighting chance, so to say, on making something from a pool. The UI seems a bit more basic than NiceMiner, but given the extra flex, I don't mind it. The only annoying thing I have found with BetterHash is the option to allow it to change what it is mining automatically only works if it can control everything. Which if you are like me and have both integrated graphics and a GPU and CPU where it can't control the integrated (cause well it's not supported) it will say it can only do auto with controlling everything then not let you enable it.
NiceMiner on the other hand has a really modern feeling UI and good selection of miners. However unless you have something newer (outside of CPU) it may not recognize it and take more to get anything from the pools. Though it will do auto reassign miners based on periotic benchmarks.
EasyMiner doesn't really care about the hardware as long as it can find a compatible miner, otherwise it will warn you about slow CPU mining. I will say that EasyMiner is good if you want to start playing with more advanced custom pools and etc.

Referrals:

BetterHash: https://www.betterhash.net/?ref=151310 There's myself promotion, but on honest note, you get paid when your referral withdraws their earnings. Then you get a portion of the portion that would go to BetterHash. So they are taking the cut from their earnings rather than the person you referred getting more cut from them.

NiceHash: Limited referral program with guidelines to be granted referral abilities.

Conclusion:

Try them all and see what works best for you. These are just my takes on them. Hope it was useful :)