Now that I’ve successfully tested Overclock (OC) mode on my DG Home 1, it’s time to explore how the Power Save (PS) mode works. Today seems like a perfect opportunity to switch into PS mode while continuing to mine, since the electricity price remains relatively high.
Electricity SPOT price
My electricity plan is spot-priced, so the cost per kWh fluctuates throughout the day. Most of the time it’s under 10 c/kWh (including taxes and tariffs), but it can rise quite high. At certain thresholds—specifically around 56 c/kWh—I have automated triggers to shut down the miner to avoid excessive costs.
Here’s an example of the day’s electricity price chart, showing that while the price doesn’t quite reach my 56 c/kWh cutoff, it does climb above 40 c/kWh. The added transfer tariff brings the total cost even higher, so it’s a good scenario to test the benefits of Power Save mode.
With all the taxes and transfer tariff the actual price is as shown below:
Elphapex DG Home 1 modes
As mentioned in my previous post, the Elphapex DG Home 1 miner has several power modes:
Power Save Mode
Normal Mode
Overclock Mode
These modes can be set using the ElphaPexTool, a Windows-only graphical utility that I personally find cumbersome. For one, I don’t use Windows natively, so I have to run a virtual machine. Additionally, I prefer to do everything through a web interface or via a REST API for easy automation. Nonetheless, I switched to “Power Save” using the ElphaPexTool’s “RemoteCtrl” setting:
After making the change, the miner reboots—though I’m never fully sure if this is done automatically or if I should manually reboot via the tool’s “RebootSel” option. To be safe, I did a manual reboot.
UPDATE: After doing this several times now: there is now need for reboot. The miner will by itself without manual reboot . This I can confirm to work with firmware release V1.0.5. and as far as I can remember that was the behavior also with initial V1.0.0.1 firmware.
PowerSave mode in action
In Normal mode, my DG Home 1 averages around 590 W—significantly less than the 630 W commonly advertised, possibly due to my 230 V European power standard. Shelly Plug S measurements confirm this, and it matches the miner’s own logs. In Overclock mode, the power usage climbs to about 670 W.
Now, in Power Save mode, the wattage drops significantly to about 360 W:
input power = 360 W, input voltage = 231 V, input current = 1 A
Below is a screenshot from my Shelly Plug S in Home Assistant, which shows the measured wattage and cumulative energy/cost data.
All of this feeds into my Home Assistant Energy Panel and a PostgreSQL database for historical tracking.
Hashrate
Naturally, the hashrate also drops. Typically, I see:
Normal Mode: ~2.1–2.2 GH/s
Overclock Mode: ~2.3–2.4 GH/s
In Power Save mode, it falls to around 1.2–1.4 GH/s. Above screenshot from the ElphaPex web interface (image missing) shows the final switch to Power Save mode, and you can also see where Overclock mode was running earlier this week. Below image shows the hashrate on ElphaPex web interface:
Energy Efficiency
Using the following approximate data points:
Normal mode: 590W 2.1GH/s
OverClock mode: 670W 2.3GH/s
PowerSave mode: 360W 1.2GH/s
We can calculate energy efficiency in joules per megahash (J/MH). Lower values are more efficient:
Normal mode: 0.28 J/MH
OverClock mode: 0.29 J/MH
PowerSave mode: 0.30 J/MH
This confirms that Normal mode is the most energy-efficient (lowest J/MH), with Power Save mode being the least efficient of the three. Overclock mode falls somewhere in between. It seems logical that the device performs most optimally in its default (Normal) mode.
Conclusions
Despite Power Save mode drawing significantly less power, it also provides a proportionally lower hashrate, resulting in higher J/MH (lower overall efficiency). On the other hand, if electricity prices spike, using Power Save mode can still reduce your immediate energy bill by cutting overall power draw, even if it’s not optimal from an efficiency standpoint.
Personally, I switched into Power Save mode for just a few hours due to higher spot prices. Since the price forecast as shown below suggests near-zero cost for electricity in next few days, I consider switching back to Overclock mode for maximum hashrate.
In the future, I’d love to automate these power-mode changes based on real-time electricity prices and forecasts. Currently, the Windows-only ElphaPexTool stands in the way of such automation, so I hope ElphaPex will eventually provide a REST API or a better web-based interface for that purpose.
There are plenty of videos on how to overclock the Elphapex DG Home 1, but watching a 15-minute tutorial for a process that takes only 30 seconds seems unnecessary. In this guide, I’ll explain the process in under two minutes.
Using the Elphapex Tool
Download and Setup
Download the tool from the official Elphapex website.
Unzip the file and run the binary named ElphaPexTool.
Finding Your Miner
When you launch the tool, it opens an interface that might look a bit rough.
If you know your miner’s IP address, limit the scan range (for example, from 191.168.0.161 to 192.168.0.161) to save time.
Accessing Remote Control
Click on your miner’s IP address and select RemoteCtrl.
This opens a dialogue where you can choose various modes, such as LED Blinking, Work modes, Sleep, and PowerSave.
Overclocking
For increased mining performance, select OverClock.
Confirm your choice by clicking Yes. Your miner will then reboot.
In my experience, power consumption increased from 590W to 670W. (Based on my power meter, my miner usually runs just under 700W.)
Hash Rate Impact
With the increased power consumption, the hash rate is expected to rise by approximately 10% to 15%.
Conclusions
I haven’t monitored the performance long enough to offer definitive results, but I plan to update this article as more data becomes available. As you can see below, on PowerPool the average hash-rate is significantly higher then with the default Elphapex DG Home 1 settings:
While the overclocking process is simple, it requires a Windows machine—a setup I had to emulate on Ubuntu 22.04 using KVM, which was far from ideal. I hope future updates allow these changes to be made through a web interface or REST API, perhaps even adjusting settings based on electricity prices.
Overall, I’m pleased with the overclocking option since it doesn’t void the warranty and, hopefully, won’t adversely affect the miner’s lifespan.
Update
I mentioned I will update here. Unfortunately I have no idea what my fan speeds were prior the overclocking, but they are now at 1500:
They might have been and might not been lower before overclocking. The miner is significantly louder and heat is becoming an issue in small 11000sqft house I have. Hash-rate is ok:
Update: I have since swiched back to normal and as you can see the fan speeds are significantly lower:
No extra reboots and no issues with internal temperatures either. How does things look on pool side then. The earnings are why we are doing this right:
Now, since DOGE is not doing so well and above I have put everything to BTC starting yesterday, so earnings are not as good as they were at best, but the boost has made things better. Still not where we were and we are not getting there without getting more appreciation on DOGE either. Although BTC is BTC is BTC the DOGE BTC ratio plays an integral part here:
I would really hope we could get back to where we were 01/31 but even with the boost it’s not going to happen as of now.
But then, all the stock rates are down everything is down and I assume this trend will be what it will be next months. Does the Elphapex DG Home 1 ever do ROI I don’t know. I suspect not, but it has been fun journey so far – a bit expensive though.
Home Assistant is an excellent tool for monitoring the ElphaPex DG Home1 miner. This post covers my observations on optimizing its setup for maximum efficiency with minimal downtime.
PowerPool Configuration
Setting up PowerPool is straightforward. You need to enter the PowerPool stratum address three times. This works because PowerPool addresses have multiple DNS entries. If one connection fails, the miner automatically connects to the next available address.
Configuration Example
When the first active entry fails, the miner switches to the next, as shown in the ElphaPex logs:
Feb 17 08:49:34 DG-Home1 user.info health: min = 44250 max = 49812 Feb 17 08:49:49 DG-Home1 user.err cpuminer[1682]: [ttyS5][Stratum connection timed out] Feb 17 08:49:49 DG-Home1 user.notice cpuminer[1682]: [ttyS5][current pool: stratum+tcp://scrypt.stratum.powerpool.io:3333, user: elsonico.dg1, pass: x] Feb 17 08:49:49 DG-Home1 user.err cpuminer[1682]: [ttyS5][Stratum connection interrupted] Feb 17 08:49:49 DG-Home1 user.info cpuminer[1682]: [ttyS5][Starting Stratum on stratum+tcp://scrypt.stratum.powerpool.io:3333]
When a connection fails, the previous pool becomes “Unreachable,” the second “Alive,” and the third remains “Standby.”
This setup works with any mining pool that has multiple resolvable IP addresses. You can verify DNS resolution using:
A low hash rate over an extended period indicates a malfunction. Initially, I monitored the hash rate via PowerPool’s API but noticed occasional inaccuracies. To address this, I now monitor the miner’s own reported hash rate alongside PowerPool’s API data.
If the hash rate stays at 0.0 for 15 minutes, Home Assistant automatically reboots the miner using the following automation:
- id: 28077b7f639644688b946f35ccf0127b
alias: Reboot or Power Cycle Miner
description: Reboot the miner on low hash rate, fallback to power cycle if needed
triggers:
- entity_id: sensor.miner_hashrate_gh
to: '0.0'
for:
minutes: 15
trigger: state
- minutes: /15
trigger: time_pattern
conditions:
- condition: numeric_state
entity_id: sensor.miner_hashrate_gh
below: 0.1
- condition: numeric_state
entity_id: sensor.electricity_cost_in_cents_per_kwh
below: 62
actions:
- target:
entity_id: switch.shellyplug_s_3ce90ee04b97
action: switch.turn_off
data: {}
- delay:
seconds: 10
- target:
entity_id: switch.shellyplug_s_3ce90ee04b97
action: switch.turn_on
data: {}
mode: single
Note that I only do this when the electricity price is below 62c/kWh. I will go into details later why that has been set the way it has.
Temperature Monitoring
I monitor various circuit temperatures. If any exceed 55°C, an event triggers notifications via email and WhatsApp, giving me time to intervene before an automatic shutdown.
Example of WhatsApp message when any of them go above 56C:
Above is done with following snippet on my automations.yaml:
- id: miner_whats_app_temperature_alert
alias: WhatsApp alert when miner temperatures are high
trigger:
platform: numeric_state
entity_id:
- sensor.miner_outlet_temperature_1
- sensor.miner_outlet_temperature_2
- sensor.miner_inlet_temperature_1
- sensor.miner_inlet_temperature_2
above: 55
condition:
- condition: template
value_template: "{% set temps = namespace(high=false) %} {% for sensor in [\n
\ 'sensor.miner_outlet_temperature_1', \n 'sensor.miner_outlet_temperature_2',
\n 'sensor.miner_inlet_temperature_1', \n 'sensor.miner_inlet_temperature_2'\n
\ ] %}\n {% if states(sensor) not in ['unknown', 'unavailable'] %}\n {%
if states(sensor) | float > 55 %}\n {% set temps.high = true %}\n {%
endif %}\n {% endif %}\n{% endfor %} {{ temps.high }}\n"
mode: single
action:
- service: persistent_notification.create
data:
title: 'Debug: Miner Temperature Alert Triggered'
message: 'Current temperatures: Outlet 1: {{ states(''sensor.miner_outlet_temperature_1'')
}}°C, Outlet 2: {{ states(''sensor.miner_outlet_temperature_2'') }}°C, Inlet
1: {{ states(''sensor.miner_inlet_temperature_1'') }}°C, Inlet 2: {{ states(''sensor.miner_inlet_temperature_2'')
}}°C'
- service: notify.email_notify
data:
title: Miner Alert - High Temperature
message: 'High temperature detected on your miner: Outlet 1: {{ states(''sensor.miner_outlet_temperature_1'')
}}°C, Outlet 2: {{ states(''sensor.miner_outlet_temperature_2'') }}°C, Inlet
1: {{ states(''sensor.miner_inlet_temperature_1'') }}°C, Inlet 2: {{ states(''sensor.miner_inlet_temperature_2'')
}}°C. Please check your miner''s cooling system.'
- service: notify.whatsapp
data:
title: Miner Alert - High Temperature
message: 'High temperature detected on your miner: Outlet 1: {{ states(''sensor.miner_outlet_temperature_1'')
}}°C, Outlet 2: {{ states(''sensor.miner_outlet_temperature_2'') }}°C, Inlet
1: {{ states(''sensor.miner_inlet_temperature_1'') }}°C, Inlet 2: {{ states(''sensor.miner_inlet_temperature_2'')
}}°C. Please check your miner''s cooling system.'
target: 14164327184@c.us
Electricity Price Monitoring
Mining is only profitable below a certain electricity cost. Based on AI-assisted calculations, I set my limit to 62c/kWh. If the price rises above this, Home Assistant turns off the miner:
- id: 634d0fe360ec41c3ac1ea0f3473ad603
alias: Turn Off Miner When Electricity Price Is High
description: Turns off the miner when electricity price goes above 62c/kWh
triggers:
- entity_id:
- sensor.electricity_cost_in_cents_per_kwh
above: 62
trigger: numeric_state
actions:
- target:
entity_id: switch.shellyplug_s_3ce90ee04b97
action: switch.turn_off
data: {}
- id: 9c4564819e404cff95fcc447532bd19b
alias: Turn On Miner When Electricity Price Is Low
description: Turns on the miner when electricity price goes below 62c/kWh
triggers:
- entity_id:
- sensor.electricity_cost_in_cents_per_kwh
below: 62
trigger: numeric_state
actions:
- target:
entity_id: switch.shellyplug_s_3ce90ee04b97
action: switch.turn_on
data: {}
Room Temperature Monitoring
Since I also use a heat pump, I monitor indoor temperatures. If the bedroom temperature drops below 20°C, the heat pump turns on:
- id: bedroom_temperature_control
alias: Bedroom Temperature Control
description: Control bedroom heating based on temperature between 9 AM and 7 PM
trigger:
- platform: numeric_state
entity_id: sensor.temperature_bedroom
below: 20
- platform: numeric_state
entity_id: sensor.temperature_bedroom
above: 20
- platform: time_pattern
minutes: /15
condition:
- condition: time
after: 09:00:00
before: '19:00:00'
action:
- choose:
- conditions:
- condition: numeric_state
entity_id: sensor.temperature_bedroom
below: 20
sequence:
- service: climate.set_hvac_mode
target:
entity_id: climate.ac_12488762
data:
hvac_mode: heat
- service: climate.set_temperature
target:
entity_id: climate.ac_12488762
data:
temperature: 20
- conditions:
- condition: numeric_state
entity_id: sensor.temperature_bedroom
above: 21
sequence:
- service: climate.turn_off
target:
entity_id: climate.ac_12488762
mode: single
Rewards and Taxation
Initially, I set my mining rewards to be paid in BTC. However, I now distribute them as 1/3 BTC, 1/3 DOGE, and 1/3 LTC, balancing risk and market fluctuations.
For tax reporting, I direct rewards to Binance to simplify tracking. Home Assistant helps by exporting electricity costs directly from its database, making expense calculations easier.
I want to see plenty of things with one look from my mobile Home Assistant Companion App. Expected Rewards, current expenses, temperatures, unpaid rewards in BTC, DOGE, LTC, USD and EUR. I want to see current electricity price with everything including transfer tariff and taxes. Some of the things I want see in graphs, some in numbers. The one thing I want to add is uptime, but other than that I’m cool with my current setup.
As you can see, the current expected profit for whole day is only 0.60€. This does not take into consideration that I also heating the whole house with the miner. As you can also see, the current electricity SPOT price is way higher than average. Same time DOGE is valued significantly lower than the average which lowers the expected rewards.
Reward payments and taxation
When I initially setup the miner and payments I decided to have them on de-centralized wallet. But then the conversion fees there are way higher than on Binance for example. I decided to to get the rewards paid directly to Binance for that reason.
Maybe later when I’m doing millions with this I might consider de-centralized wallet, but at the moment when it seems the miner is not going to be paying itself within next two years if ever I don’t feel pressure to get the little I earn from this to anywhere outside Binance.
I feel also that it is easiest to do tax return when everything I earn is on Binance. Home assistant certainly helps in regards calculating the expenses since I can export monthly electricity costs directly from Home Assistant database tables. I’ve already created few views there to make that part of the mining easier.
Final Thoughts
This setup provides an efficient and automated mining operation while reducing downtime. Let me know if you have suggestions for improvement or spot any flaws in my approach!
This is a quick update on my mining experience over the past couple of weeks. As mentioned before, I’ve found PowerPool.io to be the most efficient option. However, rewards have dropped significantly recently, likely due to rising mining difficulty and declining DOGE and LTC prices. Both factors have negatively impacted profitability.
In my case, these changes alone have reduced profitability by about 25%–35%. Previously, I could earn up to €0.20 per hour at best, but now it’s closer to €0.15.
Monitoring
Several other factors also affect profitability, one of which is monitoring. Over the last two weeks, my miner has gone offline multiple times. I can spot this by keeping an eye on the hashrate for my worker on PowerPool.io and then automate a reboot, but that doesn’t really help me understand the root cause.
Initially, I suspected a firmware issue—maybe when it loses the primary pool, it fails to properly connect to the next one in line. However, whenever the miner goes down, it also becomes unreachable via its web interface, indicating something else might be wrong. Since the DG Home1 miner doesn’t provide persistent logs, it’s impossible to diagnose the issue after the fact.
There’s also no straightforward way to monitor the miner remotely, short of writing a custom script. To address this, I created a script called miner_monitor.py that generates a simple log and publishes certain parameters to an MQTT Broker:
Through my mqtt.yaml, I then create sensor templates and can keep track of these metrics in real time.
Temperatures
One of the most important metrics to watch is temperature. I suspect that if cooling fails, the miner may overheat. According to the documentation, the upper limit is 85°C, at which point the miner shuts down automatically. I’ve set up a system that sends me both email and WhatsApp alerts if any temperature sensor exceeds a specified threshold.
These parameters are similar to the ones shown in the table abowe, plus two additional temperature readings not available through the web interface shown below.
Notifications
With this setup, my miner not only reboots automatically when hashrate drops, but it also sends notifications explaining why it went offline in the first place.
Conclusion
I hope this simple setup helps others as well. My configuration is somewhat messy, but if you develop an easier or more elegant monitoring system, please let me know. As always, my entire configuration is available on my GitHub repository.
I’ve been running a DOGE miner for about a week and a half now. I never really thought DOGE was going to be “the next big thing.” I see a bit more potential in Litecoin, but I’m mostly focused on Bitcoin. However, my miner currently doesn’t mine BTC. The BTC miners earns about one-tenth of the profit compared to mining LTC or DOGE. So I rather mine where the money is and put everything to BTC. To be clear: I mine altcoins and take the profit in bitcoin.
To be honest, I’m skeptical about the future of altcoins—especially meme coins. So why am I mining, given that I don’t see much sense in home BTC mining, and I’m not really sold on other cryptocurrencies either? The main reason is that I want to understand the technology. I’ve decided to only invest in BTC, but I still want to explore how other coins work and whether mining Bitcoin at home can ever be truly profitable.
Lately, I’ve become more interested in decentralized AI. The idea is that many of us—myself, you, and others—have GPUs at home. Instead of using them for crypto mining, we could put them to work on decentralized AI projects. Yes, it still consumes electricity, but at least it could serve a more meaningful purpose. We could even apply the same incentive structure that exists in blockchain to reward participants.
Rather than sending our money to large operations in China or the U.S., we could invest in our own local communities by redirecting home mining capacity to AI development. Let’s break free from the current systems!
I know I’m not the only one thinking this. Let’s collaborate and make it happen!
