Adding Four Avalon Qs: What Changed?
Introduction
After getting my Antminer S21+ up and running smoothly (and surviving the Florida heat), I decided to expand my operation. The next step? Adding four Avalon Q miners to my setup.
On paper, the plan sounded simple: plug them in, point them at the pool, and watch the hashrate climb.
In reality, adding four high-powered miners introduced new challenges — from network congestion and power balancing to a very frustrated VoIP system that decided to protest halfway through the process.
As it turns out, scaling up isn’t just about adding machines. It’s about learning how every part of your system interacts under pressure — and how to keep it all humming in harmony.
The Excitement of Expansion
The Avalon Q series is known for being compact, quiet, and efficient — perfect for smaller operations. Adding four of them seemed like the logical next step after the S21+.
Together, they added:
Roughly 100 TH/s each, for about 400 TH/s of additional hashrate.
Around 1,500 watts per unit, or 6,000 watts total.
A steady stream of new lessons I hadn’t planned for.
It felt like going from a single race car to a small fleet — exciting, but suddenly a lot more to manage.
Lesson 1: Heat Multiplies Fast ☀️
Each Avalon Q is relatively quiet and manageable on its own. Four running together? That’s another story.
I quickly learned that while the Antminer S21+ was my heat source before, the Avalons created distributed heat zones — smaller but spread across the space.
To compensate, I:
Reworked my ventilation to pull cool air evenly across all rigs.
Added a second inline fan to exhaust hot air more efficiently.
Installed temperature sensors near each machine instead of relying on one ambient reading.
It wasn’t just about cooling the room anymore — it was about balancing airflow so every miner had fair access to fresh air.
Satoshi Says: “A squirrel with too many acorns needs more trees.” 🌳🐿️
Lesson 2: Power Balancing Matters
Four Avalons meant a big jump in power draw — and a crash course in load distribution.
Here’s what changed:
My total consumption climbed past 9,000 watts.
I split miners across two dedicated 240V circuits to prevent overloading.
Added smart PDUs so I could monitor wattage remotely.
This made it easy to see which rigs drew more power under different conditions and let me shut one off temporarily if I needed to test airflow or prioritize bandwidth.
It’s a small but powerful setup — like having circuit-level visibility into your mining “forest.”
Lesson 3: Network Load — and the Great VoIP Meltdown 📞
This is where things got interesting.
When I powered up all four Avalons, my VoIP phones immediately started dropping packets. Calls cut out, voices sounded robotic, and my office sounded like it was being dialed in from outer space.
At first, I thought it was a fluke — maybe a firmware update or a bad switch. But after a few tests, the culprit was clear: my miners were flooding the network with continuous outbound connections to the pool, overwhelming my bandwidth prioritization.
Even though mining doesn’t use much bandwidth, the constant packet chatter from multiple devices added up.
That’s when I dove into traffic shaping and bandwidth prioritization (which turned into its own project — see How I Balanced Bitcoin Mining With VoIP).
Here’s the summary of what I did:
Created two traffic queues — one for miners, one for VoIP.
Limited miner bandwidth slightly (just enough to prevent congestion).
Prioritized VoIP packets with a higher Quality of Service (QoS) rule.
The result? Crystal-clear calls, steady mining connections, and a newfound appreciation for network design.
Lesson 4: Noise — Subtle but Stacking
The Avalon Qs are quieter than most ASICs, but four together create a constant hum that can wear on you over time.
I didn’t need full soundproofing this time, but I made two small changes that helped a lot:
Added acoustic foam panels along one wall.
Mounted each miner on rubber isolators to reduce vibration.
Those small tweaks made the room noticeably more comfortable — and helped my other equipment (like routers and power supplies) avoid excess vibration.
Lesson 5: Monitoring Becomes Mission Critical
One miner is easy to watch. Five? Not so much.
As soon as I added the Avalon Qs, I noticed that keeping tabs on uptime, hashrate, and temperatures became a part-time job.
So, I set up:
A central dashboard to track each miner’s performance and temperature.
Alerts for downtime via email/SMS.
Historical data logging to spot trends over time.
Now, I can see if one miner starts to lag or overheat before it becomes a problem — even from my phone.
Satoshi Says: “The best miners don’t just dig — they observe.” 👀🐿️
Lessons Learned from Going Bigger
Adding four Avalon Qs taught me that scaling mining isn’t just multiplying machines — it’s multiplying complexity.
Here’s what really changed:
Heat management: Required distributed cooling and new airflow planning.
Power management: Needed circuit monitoring and load balancing.
Network control: Forced me to implement traffic shaping to save my VoIP.
Noise and comfort: Minor adjustments made a big difference.
Monitoring: Automation became a must.
In short: what worked for one machine didn’t scale. The forest got denser, and I had to become a smarter squirrel.
Conclusion
Adding the Avalon Qs was a milestone — not just in hashrate, but in experience.
I learned firsthand that mining isn’t plug-and-play, even with efficient hardware. It’s a continuous balance between power, heat, noise, and connectivity.
And when it all comes together — clear calls, cool temps, and steady hashes — it’s incredibly rewarding.
As Satoshi Squirrel says:
“If one acorn teaches you patience, four will teach you balance.” 🐿️⚙️
The next time you scale up, remember: plan for your future growth like you plan your airflow — evenly, thoughtfully, and with room to expand.
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