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Built from the heart for people who want to turn their excess energy into securing their financial sovereignty.

No sponsors.
No influence.
No bullshit.

Empowerment by legion.

1] Overview

Project Solar Mining introduces a smart, self-regulating mining pool that enables households to mine Bitcoin using excess solar power.

This self-regulating mining pool dynamically manages a Bitcoin mining pool to optimize energy usage based on excess solar power being returned to the grid. It ensures miners only run when there's sufficient excess power, preventing unnecessary grid draw, while incorporating hysteresis to avoid frequent on/off cycles that could stress hardware.

Note

The scope of the project is limited to 3 miners, but expanding is straightforward. See 5.1 to add more miners.

1.1] How It Works

1.1.1] Trigger

The automation runs every 15 minutes. This interval allows for regular checks without overwhelming the system.

1.1.2] Setup Excess Power Variable

It sets a variable [Excess Solar Power Remaining] to the current excess solar power. This represents the current excess solar power budget available for miners. As miners are activated, this value is reduced to reflect remaining capacity.

1.1.3] Regulating Each Miner

The automation handles each miner sequentially (Miner 1, then 2, then 3) using identical logic.

Activation Check (with Hysteresis)

• Skips if the miner is out of circuit

• Activates if:

  • Requirements are overridden, OR
  • [Excess Solar Power Remaining] meets or exceeds the miner's power need, AND:
    • The miner is already on, OR
    • The miner's specific excess solar power need condition has been true for at least 7 minutes

• If conditions are met and the miner is off:

  • Restarts the miner
  • Sets the miner's state to "on"
  • If requirements are not overridden, subtracts the miner's power need from the remaining excess solar power variable (to allocate it for this miner)

Shutdown Check (with Hysteresis)

• If activation conditions aren't met, checks for shutdown:

  • Miner is out of circuit, OR
  • Shutdown threshold has been true for at least 7 minutes (e.g., low excess solar power)

• If shutdown is triggered and the miner is running:

  • Shuts down miner
  • Sets the state to "off"

1.2] Expected Behavior

When There Is Excess Solar Power

Miners start in order (1 → 2 → 3) if their excess solar power need holds for 7 minutes.

When Excess Solar Power Drops

Miners shut down in reverse order (implicitly, as checks are sequential) after 7 minutes of meeting their shutdown threshold due to insufficient excess solar power.

Manual Control

"Out Of Circuit" disables a miner entirely. Use "Requirements Override" to force a miner on, regardless of power.

2] Prerequisites

Knowledge of each of these prerequisites is required and is not covered in this project.

• Home Assistant (> v2026.2.1) with Zigbee setup
• Home Assistant integration "Meteorologisk institutt (Met.no)"
• Home Assistant integration "Sun"
• Home Assistant integration "Moon"
• HACS integration "Weather Forecast Card"
• HACS integration "Horizon Card"
• HACS integration "Mushroom"
• HACS integration "apexcharts-card"
• HACS integration "Horizontal Waterfall History Card"
• HACS integration "card-mod"
• Grid return sensor in Watt setup in Home Assistant (Used to evaluate excess solar power)
• Zigbee smart plug (e.g., Innr SP 240) setup in Home Assistant
• Powerstrip
• 3 NerdQAxe++ (> v1.0.36) miners (This project limits to 3 miners, but expansion is straightforward)

3] Mining pool hardware setup

• Plug the NerdQAxe++ miners all in the same powerstrip
• Plug the zigbee smart plug in the wall socket
• Plug the powerstrip in the Innr Zigbee smart plug

4] Home Assistant Project Solar Mining setup

4.1] Extract

• Extract ProjectSolarMining_vx.x.x.zip

The directory structure will look like this:

ProjectSolarMining_vx.x.x/
├── automations/
│   ├── mining_pool_emergency_shutdown.yaml
│   ├── mining_pool_regulate.yaml
│   ├── mining_pool_regulate_start.yaml
│   └── mining_pool_regulate_stop.yaml
├── dashboards/
│   └── dashboard-mining-pool.yaml
├── packages/
│   └── project-solar-mining/
│       ├── psm_miner_1.yaml
│       ├── psm_miner_2.yaml
│       ├── psm_miner_3.yaml
│       └── psm_mining_pool.yaml
├── license.txt
└── readme.txt

4.2] Configuration

4.2.1] Package

• Create the directory structure /packages/project_solar_mining/ under /homeassistant/
• Copy the extracted files from /packages/project_solar_mining/ into /homeassistant/packages/project_solar_mining/
• In /homeassistant/configuration.yaml create the following section:

homeassistant:
  packages: !include_dir_named packages

There should now be 3 psm_miner_x.yaml files in /homeassistant/packages/project_solar_mining/ That's one psm_miner_x.yaml file per NerdQAxe++ miner.

The first sensor in the psm_miner_1.yaml file looks like this:

  - sensor:
      - name: "Miner 1"
        icon: "mdi:chip"
        state: "{{ states('input_boolean.miner_1_state') }}"
        attributes:
          api_endpoint_info: "http://192.168.0.10/api/system/info"
          api_endpoint_restart: "http://192.168.0.10/api/system/restart"
          api_endpoint_shutdown: "http://192.168.0.10/api/system/shutdown"
          power_need: 80

• In psm_miner_1.yaml:

  • Adjust the IP address in the api_endpoint_x attributes to your first miner's IP address
  • Set power_need to the maximum power the first miner can use

• In psm_miner_2.yaml:

  • Adjust the IP address in the api_endpoint_x attributes to your second miner's IP address
  • Set power_need to the maximum power the second miner can use

• In psm_miner_3.yaml:

  • Adjust the IP address in the api_endpoint_x attributes to your third miner's IP address
  • Set power_need to the maximum power the third miner can use

• In /homeassistant/packages/project_solar_mining/psm_mining_pool.yaml look for the following sensor

  - sensor:
      - name: "Excess Solar Power"
        icon: mdi:solar-power-variant-outline
        state: "{{ states('sensor.dsmr_reading_electricity_currently_returned_watt') | int(0) }}"
        unit_of_measurement: "W"
        device_class: power
        state_class: measurement

• Change sensor.dsmr_reading_electricity_currently_returned_watt to your own's grid return sensor

4.2.2] Automations

MINING_POOL_EMERGENCY_SHUTDOWN

• Create a new automation
• Edit the automation in YAML
• Copy the content of mining_pool_emergency_shutdown.yaml over the placeholder yaml
• Replace "switch.innr_plug_mining_pool" by your own zigbee smart plug switch
• Save the automation with the name MINING_POOL_EMERGENCY_SHUTDOWN

MINING_POOL_REGULATE

• Create a new automation
• Edit the automation in YAML
• Copy the content of mining_pool_regulate.yaml over the placeholder yaml
• Save the automation with the name MINING_POOL_REGULATE

MINING_POOL_REGULATE_START

• Create a new automation
• Edit the automation in YAML
• Copy the content of mining_pool_regulate_start.yaml over the placeholder yaml
• Replace "switch.innr_plug_mining_pool" by your own zigbee smart plug switch
• Save the automation with the name MINING_POOL_REGULATE_START

MINING_POOL_REGULATE_STOP

• Create a new automation
• Edit the automation in YAML
• Copy the content of mining_pool_regulate_stop.yaml over the placeholder yaml
• Replace "switch.innr_plug_mining_pool" by your own zigbee smart plug switch
• Save the automation with the name MINING_POOL_REGULATE_STOP

4.2.3] Dashboard

• Create a new dashboard title Mining Pool, icon mdi:chip and url dashboard-mining-pool
• Edit the dashboard in Raw configuration editor
• Copy the content of dashboard-mining-pool.yaml over the placeholder yaml
• Replace "switch.innr_plug_mining_pool" by your own zigbee smart plug switch
• Save the dashboard

5] FAQ

5.1] How to add a miner to the mining pool

5.1.1] Package

To add e.g. a fourth miner:

• Copy /homeassistant/packages/project_solar_mining/psm_miner_3.yaml to /homeassistant/packages/project_solar_mining/psm_miner_4.yaml

• Replace all "Miner 3" instances by "Miner 4"

• Replace all "miner_3" instances by "miner_4"

• Adjust the IP address in the api_endpoint_x attributes to your fourth miner's IP address

• Set power_need to the maximum power the fourth miner can use

• In /homeassistant/packages/project_solar_mining/psm_mining_pool.yaml expand the following sensors to include the fourth miner:

  • "Mining Pool Online Miners"
  • "Mining Pool Power"
  • "Mining Pool Hashrate"
  • "Mining Pool Total Found Blocks"
  • "Mining Pool Best Diff Raw"

5.1.2] Automations

MINING_POOL_EMERGENCY_SHUTDOWN

• Add a condition to include "When Miner 4 VR Temperature is above 80"

MINING_POOL_REGULATE

• Copy block "Regulate Miner 3 with hysteresis" under this block
• Edit the new block in yaml (in this order):
  • Replace all "Miner 3" instances by "Miner 4"
  • Replace all "miner_3" instances by "miner_4"
  • Replace all "miner_2" instances by "miner_3"

MINING_POOL_REGULATE_STOP

• To "Input Boolean 'Turn off' [Miner 1 State] [Miner 2 State] [Miner 3 State]", add Miner 4 State

5.1.3] Dashboard

• Update the Mining Pool Dashboard, using the GUI:
  • Copy "Miner 3" instances
  • Edit the copied instances and change them to "Miner 4"

5.2] How to remove a miner from circuit (e.g. for a reparation)

• Go to the Mining Pool Dashboard
• Click on "Show Advanced"
• For the miner you want to remove from the circuit:
  • Hold the button "Out Of Circuit"
  • Click the swith to turn it on

5.3] How to allow a miner to mine without excess solar power

• Go to the Mining Pool Dashboard
• Click on "Show Advanced"
• For the miner you want to allow mining without excess solar power:
  • Hold the button "Requirements Override"
  • Click the swith to turn it on

5.4] How to shutdown the mining pool

• Go to the Mining Pool Dashboard
• Click on "Show Advanced"
• Hold the button "Mining Pool Power"
• Click the switch to turn it off

5.5] How to interprete mining pool's advanced parameters

To consult the mining pool's advanced parameters:

• Go to the Mining Pool Dashboard
• Click on "Show Advanced"

The mining pool has the following parameters:

• "Mining Pool Power", can be set by user (See 5.4)
• "Mining Pool Regulate", shows when the MINING_POOL_REGULATE automation last ran
• "Excess Solar Power Remaining", shows the last "Excess Solar Power Remaining" budget, distributed during the last MINING_POOL_REGULATE automation run

Each miner in the mining pool has these parameters:

• "Out Of Circuit", default "off", can be set by user (See 5.2)
• "Requirements Override", default "off", can be set by user (See 5.3)
• "Power Need", set during configuration (See 4.2)
• "Excess Solar Power Need", dynamically calculated
• "Shutdown Threshold", dynamically calculated
• "Excess Solar Power Met", turns "on" when "Excess Solar Power" >= "Excess Solar Power Need"
• "Shutdown Threshold Met", turns "on" when "Excess Solar Power" <= "Shutdown Threshold"

Miner parameters in the mining pool are calculated sequentially. Thus, if the second miner is out of circuit, the "Excess Solar Power Need" and "Shutdown Threshold" values for the third miner (n+1) and all subsequent miners are recalculated based on this change.

6] Collaborate

Do you want to collaborate? Let's talk :)