Table of Contents
A Journey into Helium Mining: A 30-Day Experience with MNTD Gold Spot by Rack Wireless
Thirty days ago, I embarked on a journey to better understand and partake in the world of helium mining. Throughout this journey, I utilized the MNTD Gold Spot by Rack Wireless. Now, two weeks later, we’ve opted to release a video and this article to share our experiences with this noteworthy device. If you’ve not yet seen the video, feel free to check out the link in the top right corner of our channel.
The Initial Setup and Struggles
Our helium miner started its journey on the edge of my property, nestled cosily on a windowsill. Although the miner had a good view and wireless connection, the setup did not come without its fair share of struggles. Chief among our issues was syncing the miner to the blockchain. This process took almost two weeks to complete and was fraught with varying issues, such as outdated information on helium networks and resource sites.
Despite this, two weeks into our journey, our hotspot was working—but minimally. Our 30-day snapshot showed us that we were earning 15 and 10 cents a day. Not only was the amount meager, but our reach was also limited to just six witnesses during this period.
Gains from Attic Relocation
Following our initial experiment, we relocated our hotspot to our attic for two weeks. We noticed significant improvements in the setup’s profitability and reach within this period.
To assist in better understanding the setup and the improvements, take our attic’s picture into perspective. The helium miner was mounted to a makeshift junction box fitted with a light switch and an independent power supply. With this setup, our miner now sits about twelve feet higher than its previous windowsill location.
Improved Profitability
Using helium explorer, we noted considerable improvements in our profitability. Over the past seven days, our miner earned $68.10, a massive leap from the previous 15 cents from the windowsill. Our two-week earnings stood at $133.35, and over the 30-day period, we earned $161.
While these figures are impressive, it’s important to note that these numbers were adversely affected by a near-zero earning day and a day of very low earnings. With this in mind, we’ve concluded that the potential earnings of our setup are considerably higher than we’ve currently achieved.
Witnesses
In addition to improved profitability, we also noted a massive increase in our miner’s reach. The miner, while in the attic, had been able to connect with 21 witnesses. Interestingly, we had gotten as high as 32 witnesses at the peak of its performance.
Online Vs Offline Issues
In the past few days, we’ve experienced some issues with our miner going offline, which has impacted our profitability and connection with witnesses. While we’re working on resolving this issue, it’s important to note that our test results reflect significant improvements in both miner reach and profitability.
Next Steps: Antenna Installation
Following these exciting results, we’ve decided to mount a 5.8 db antenna to the top of our attic. We believe this would significantly improve the miner’s performance once the miner is back online. The antenna installation process requires a cable connection (potentially an lma400 cable) from the miner to the top of the attic. Once mounted and fully operational, we hope to see increased connectivity, possibly reaching up to 40 witnesses.
We remain open to feedback and other antenna recommendations associated with the installation process. With your input, we can make better decisions that would contribute positively to our helium mining journey.
Investment Returns
While our primary goal is to understand helium mining better and how to get the best out of our MNTD Gold Spot helium miner, we’re also mindful of the financial implications.
Given our present earnings of $161.32 based on the current price of helium and our initial investment of $400, we’re optimistic about recouping our investment in less than three months if our miner operates optimally. This would be a significant return on investment considering the short period.
Conclusion
Helium mining has been a journey of discovery and improvement for us. From initial struggles with setup and blockchain syncing to relocating the miner to the attic that resulted in significant performance boosts, we’ve come a long way.
We look forward to improving our setup further with the addition of an antenna and potentially more helium miners. This hands-on experience has allowed us not only to understand helium mining better but also identifies potential for substantial profits in a short time period.
As we continue to explore and learn more about helium mining, we eagerly await your feedback and shared experiences in the comment section below. Don’t forget to give this article a thumbs up if you found it helpful, and consider subscribing to our channel for more updates.
What Helium Miner do you have? How have you made out Mining Helium?
Did you have to assert your location when you moved from the room to the attic?
Has anyone mined with a helium miner while driving? Profits??
Interesting tho how going from being at a window to surrounded by walls even tho it was higher it still did way better thought the walls woulda hindered it
Just set up my Blackspot V2. I'm living on the 20th floor of an apartment (60-70m up) and I hope that it performs well. Unfortunately, there is a hotel that takes up half of my balcony and window viewing area. I am hoping that this does not cause an issue. Currently syncing to the Helium network and will try and give an update on the performance from this height whenever it syncs.
I want to put my miner in my attic but I’m afraid it gets too hot or too cold up there during summer and winter.
build your own antenna!, its easy!, and add an amp for it! bye bye 5-8dbi, more like 20-30… just reseach, "DIY anntena 902-928mhz" (or some thing like that). i meen, directional antenna? 16dbi if u wanna point it a direction?
I’m literally getting rich with 5 of the black ones. I have them spread out in different locations.
RAK w/5.8 dbi 6m off ground. Just relocated to height last week. It made a big difference. Make sure to install a lightning arrester on ant.
I'm new to this and only been doing it since early December, but my Bobcat is wired (not wireless) and mine did the exact same thing after a month. I power cycled it, as you did, and it took about 10 hours to resync or to catch up and it has been good since then… for now at least. I am using that 5.8db Rak antenna you showed and mine is outside on the roof on an antenna pole to get it above the roofline so it can see all directions and I'm getting 41 witnesses which is pretty much everyone around me. A good antenna in my opinion.
Reviewing the comments and the Really long Bobcat 300 lead times, should I be looking at canceling that order (still months away …) and instead getting the MNTD?
So that would not be a good idea if you pop out of the roof to place an antenna. You have no ground? I feel like the first storm nearby your miner will die, or you may "direct" Lightnig into your house. You need to look up lighting grounding antennas.
You got me intrigued on the helium miner after watching the last mining round table live. I wonder how well the helium miner works if I set up in an apartment or potentially places that are private property with no miners in the hex and just run 2 of them at least 300m away? Hopefully I can grab one at MSRP, please tell me they are not as hard as GPUs haha?
At $250 a month revenue per miner, I think is hugely over hyping. People have to realise there is now just short of 500,000 units on the network while the reward cap for miners is 1,500,000 HNT per month. At best on average you should only be making 3 HNT per month equivalent to not much more than $100 per month. Ok… still not bad but the network has grown so much in the last 9 months since April last year. You’re talking 20 fold and sadly unless the HNT price increases to offset the reduction in HNT shared between all miners these types of gains will be short lived… won’t be long until the 1,000,000 miner milestone is hit and this would put, on average, each unit only making $50 a month. Can’t remember the full breakdown but disappointing the Dev team have structured the rewards the way they have as they are sat on a massive cash pile. Given the million HNT above the 1.5 million, miners don’t see they no doubt keep for themselves…
LIke other coins also remember HNT is down from 40-50 bucks it was around 3-4 months ago. With two miner I make around 500-600 a month right now. When it was up to 40-50 I was making over 1K a month off two. I got a bobcat coming in that I'll put at my sisters so going to be interested how it will compare to my two RAKS.
you could have got one of those light bulb outlet adapter . plugs into the build then you have a plug!
It’s a MNTD. If it keeps flatlining, you might need to replace the SD card. They’re known to have SD cars issues. I hate my MNTD
Thanks for the video! Just got my Bobcat yesterday after 6 months and plugged it in and had 2 witnesses from yesterday, but antenna is at 1 meter (about 3'). Will run power to the attic tomorrow and see how it goes.
That offline problem is a current Rak curse. You either wait it out or replace the SD card.
Lokk at the posts about changing out your 32gb SD card for something larger. Usually a 64gb is enough. Blockchain is somewhere around 27-28gb now.
MYbe related. I had a wifi Arlo kit that was always dropping offline even though it was on wireless and router would show no drop outs. Changed from wireless to network over power and fixed the issues
Check to make sure your SD card usage isnt full. After a while you have to reset the blocks to empty the SD card.
Interesting. I bought a MNTD Gold off ebay and got wacked price wise but whatever. I was using the normal Antenna and it was sorta junk. I upgraded to a 5.8 and I have 3 witnesses now and have made about 2 helium so far. Nothing jaw dropping but its fun for an intro into this. Does it matter positioning wise where you put your antenna. As in N,S,W,E? Right now in my house its on the 2nd floor on the west side of my house. I could move it anywhere. You mentioned south I think is that better? Thanks
Your doing wayy better than me.. I average 20 bucks a month. 🙁 No matter where i set my miner.. I've even tried different antennas no luck..
If your down in a valley get a 5.8 dbi if you are in a area where you are the highest elevation for miles and miles get a 8 dbi. Make sure Miner has a static Ip port 44158 is open both ways to it only and ports 22 and 443 can only go out. Use a open port checker on your public address to check
you need to get an external antenna, that made a huge difference for me, put a 5.8dbi antenna with a LMR400 cable externally outside your house
Reset wifi router don’t unplug miner.
Unfortunately I wouldn't have any witnesses in my area and I canceled/refunded mine because it's been 8 month with no ship date
LMR 400 is the cable, you can also get an N-type to RP SMA connector and connect the antenna right into the back of the miner I saw someone on discord do which I'm going to try, the adapter is only £4.5 off eBay.
Also from reading the pigtail that comes with the Rat 5.8 and maybe all of them isn't meant to be cracking so can use initially but definitely do LMR 400 for it!
Not an electrician but I think the outlet needs to be a GFCI. Attics can get leaks/wetness/moisture, so why not fix while your miner is down.
Kudos to you, I’m making a whopping $.20 cents a day because of my location but I’m hopeful more people will move into the area. So in the meantime I’ve just taken it offline, Good luck to you
Offline can happen when it receives an update however, if it does not go back to green or yellow on it’s own you might have to power cycle it through the web interface. Once it’s on you can see if it’s behind on the blockchain. If behind more than 400 blocks you can resync and fast sync from the interface. And the cable is an Lmr400, make sure you purchase the correct fittings from your antenna to the cable and back to the miner they are all going to be specific. The lmr400 is a very thick cable and note it will have very little flexibility compared to a regurlar sma coax. Lastly, I’m running a 6 dbi outside with a grounded lightning arrestor and 20ft of lmr400 to my bobcat, it’s about 8 meters up and has been doing about $13 a day
Loving my HNT miners! Both RAK V2… Got lucky way early last year and its been a fun project! One rooftop 3dbi and one 6dbi rooftop setup…been working fine for me so far. ROI'd and plenty more! Much love brother!
Mntd has a post on how to flash a 64g sdcard. You should do that and replace the 32g. You’ll want a. High endurance card too
Have you though about trying powerline ethernet, should be much better then wifi.
The little black button on the side of your miner puts it into bluetooth pairing mode for 5 minutes. If you push it and then pair to the app on your phone you can run the diagnostics and see what it is currently doing and other hardware related stuff.
That things are like $600 and they don't support PoE?
5.8dbi can improve depending on where the other miners are in your area. Height is definitely a big factor.
How many miners are in your area and how far away?
I'm not sure about the profitability of the area I live. I live rural, the closest town is 20km away and there's not many miners. I checked their earnings and some of them get like $7 per month. I'd love to participate in helium mining, but because of the steep hardware device cost, I don't think I can justify it.
The helium network just sucks now. Used to able to make .8-1 Hnt a day. Then they made “upgrades” and now I’m happy if I make .3. Transmit scale never changed. Tried different antennas and putting higher than my roof line.
Good video but bad company to support.
Lmr-400 cable
I also have an MNTD hotspot that went offline for 3 weeks. It didn't come back online until I changed the SD card to a 64gb A2 card.
2 of mine broke as well
Hey, I really like your approach of stepwise improving the positioning. I'm really curious how your rewards are going to improve further. My story: I got my first helium miner (sensecap M1) a week ago. First, I mounted a 5DBI antenna on the balcony on the second floor on my 3-floor-house which is located on top of a little mountain with a nice view over a small city with a population of 25k and 8 other hotspots + some more in towns which i can see a couple of kilometers away. I located the sensecap inside connecting the antenna with a flat cable through window. Here in germany, it's not so easy to drill through house walls/windows as they are built with thick concrete. Anyways, after letting run the sensecap for 24 hours, my rewards were around $2.5/24hrs, and I only reached 2 other hotspots. Also, status was still "syncing" in helium explorer. After 1 more day and no change I ordered a self-adhesive garden tool holder to move the antenna to the window on the third floor. So changes were: From balcony outside 2nd floor to window inside on 3rd floor and also from wifi to ethernet. Since then, I have much more witnesses and my rewards went up to 10-12$/24hrs pretty constant. The next step is, to buy a adapter to directly connect the antenna to my flat cable, mount the antenna with the garden tool holder outside of the window on the 3rd floor, and go through window with the flat cable directly into my sensecap router. I hope earnings will further increase, although I'm already pretty happy with hitting 10$+ a day. I don't want to put the antenna further up (to the attic) since this would be considerably more work for me since there's no electricity yet. The step thereafter would be to receive my second miner and place them in an attic flat in a bigger city on a window outside, again either with 5dbi antenna. However I have the feeling that I will reach way more witnesses there, but still have lower returns because of the low transmit scale. In my house, I have a transmit scale of 1, there it will be .3 or so. Edit: in helium explorer, status is still “syncing”, in Hotspotty, it says “synced”. Also pings are fine, no relay whatsoever since the beginning, also did. port forwarding and all that stuff. As long as I get the rewards I’m fine I guess Helium explorer just needs some time to update
I'm still waiting on my miner to show up I ordered the 8Db antenna kit. If it shows up anytime soon I'll let you know about my experience with it
5.8 dbi fron Rak
I saw that stockx now has the MNTD helium miners. The gold one currently is $900+. I'm just gonna buy that go i can get one and not have to wait for a drop to happen and get "lucky" and then wait god know how long for the thing to ship.
I'm excited to get one now, despite having to pay more for it. But I'm confident in this thing paying itself back and making better profit then gpu mining.
Though i am also excited for the 3090 Ti, which i'll be getting as well. No more LHR for me!
Im still waiting on two Nebra miners.. Ordered in April last year..
I doubt i will have anywhere near this income as i will only have two witnesses where two of the miners are mine.
Last time i checked there is no miner close to me or the little place i live.. But I wanna try them out and see.
I might end up selling them if its not worth the time..
And here we are the non-youtubers miners 10 months later and still haven't received our hotspots 🙁