I've absolutely gone by way of mini's - trying to eliminate the traditional desktops and servers for some time now. Just listening to those fans spin up as you make your changes - don't miss it a bit! Another great benefit is less hernias having to lug around those big desktops and servers! Good by forever! Thanks again for another great video!
welcome to becoming your own Solar Farmer :) 12kw was a smart move I think, plenty of capacity. Hopefully that is a LF inverter they tend to last longer, one of the reasons I went with Victron, fewer electronics to fail. It looks like a nice system :)
I do believe it is a LF inverter,, "EEVBLOG" has made a video taking it apart in his video "1620" Have waited forever for the electrician to come and install it. :-/ I got a bit greedy and got the 12KW,, as the prices differences was so small,, but this uses a lot of power,, in idle,, a couple of KWH a day,, I did not take that in to account.. :-/
I’ve created a script for my chest freezer, which only gets opened 2-3 times a week. It’s connected to a smart power switch that, via logic/code, ensures it doesn’t run between 17:00 and 20:59:59, unless it’s using over 30W. If it’s using less than that when the clock hits 17:00, it cuts the power. If it’s above, it checks the power consumption every 5 minutes and turns off when the compressor is no longer running. I’ve also made a power switch for my computer and TV setups, so that the screen/speakers (extra devices) lose power when consumption has been below X watts for X minutes, as it’s nice to still have time to charge headphones and other devices. The server has been split into two. Before, it was a beefy server that could handle everything-router, NAS, disks, and more. Now there’s a Lenovo 6th Gen SFF that handles router/proxy/Home Assistant and some Docker containers, while the NAS has been moved to the other end of a site-to-site VPN where there are solar panels. Motion sensors have been installed in high-traffic areas of the home. Whether it actually saves energy, who knows-but it’s definitely convenient not having to turn on lights when carrying grocery bags. So to sum up, I mainly focus on optimizing standby power usage and places where it doesn’t need to affect things. That said, the dishwasher runs at night to avoid the more expensive tariffs.
Thank you!! good savings,, reading your comment here, I came to think, it might be time to look into my refrigerator,, it might be time to look at how much it uses.
All my proper equipment went dark in 2022 when uk power prices went into orbit My 24/7 server went from a dual cpu dl380 with a 12x3tb shelf to a 10th gen i5 with a single 20tb. I was sad but combined with other power saving measures i went from 400kwh/month to 90kwh/m saving (at todays prices) £800/€900 a year. Well worth a tear or two! I use a lot of smart power strips/plugs and a combination of home assistant, hue bulbs and Logitech harmony hubs to ensure that only equipment in use is powered on, lights are motion sensitive and power themselves down etc etc I've basically swapped a hardware addiction for an automation addiction
same here in the uk its such a shame. if i didn't have a small solar array, i wouldn't be running any thing in my rack anymore, just like your self i have sized down cpus and upgraded where possible smart switches too
Be interesting to see if you could replace your entire racks with those mini PCs you have (or some newer ones) in the bunker for a week - and see the power difference.
I like the idea of the micro inverters, one for every panel. I don't know if they are better for power usage though. I like the idea that the power leaving the panel area is AC, not DC. The gauge of the wires doesn't have to be larger for longer distances with AC. Also, the redundancy of multiple inverters.
Actually in System settings you have to choose Custom Mode and in Power / Performance Bias choose OS controlled. In this mode it will work faster when it's need and use less power when vm is in idle state. Also you need to change heatsink to performance one. It will allow fans run at lower RPMs and use less power.
On newer Dell servers for example there is really no need to remove second PSU, because they run on PSU 1 when on default and balance with PSU 2 only when configured or when power on inlet PSU 1 is down.
If you want to improve power efficiency, you should check out migrating from a virtual router to a physical low-power one, such as some ARM64 box, or Ubiquiti if you already have some, or an N100 MiniPC. I fully understand that virtual router reduces complexity and the amount of wires and has next to no limits on routing performance, but the reason is that it uses a disproportionate amount of electricity to do the routing! Just start even a 100 Mbit download via the router, and check out the power use of the entire server compared to fully idle (no downloads). In my case the difference was so high, that you could power several physical routers on that alone, like +30W. Regular routers from TP-Link, ASUS and such, will use like 5W at most.
I am hoping to use that TerraMaster F8 SSD NAS with the Intel N305, and 32GB of ram,, and I hope to add a USB-C network adaptor,, for my virtual router.
The 2000 W just for the inverter's own use sounds unreasonably large when compared to my own experience. Picking last Friday as a typical day, the inverter used 11,549 W with the inverter providing 11,410 W of that to me. The delta of 139 W was used by the total of the inverter, battery, gateway and associated RF comm system. This equates to about 5.8 W per hour for the system's own use. The book figure for my 8 kW inverter alone is
Just suggestion if you now don't need all the fans, you can remove some and put blanking plates in there as server fans can use lots of power 10W or more..
@@MyPlayHouse @vaidkun does have a point, Usually the CPU Upgrade kits do include the additional cooling fan so its kind of surplus on a single cpu server after the downgrade
163watts that's not much, my daily workstation uses 300watts. the R640s I have uses around 126watts each per node. the cost of electric is going up again here in the UK too not sure about Denmark but is there any end to high power prices ? it sucks so i understand where you are coming from
Well if I can use less,, my batteries will last longer... There are days, like today,, where nothing is possible,, as I here by 12:00 I have only gotten 0,7KWh in,, so not enough to even keep stuff going midt day,, and the inverter uses about 2KWh a day just to run.
I don't know if your server does it, but, if you have both the primary and redundant power supplies operating, the system should balance the power between both units. I think that would be better power usage as neither power supply is working too hard.
For power saving, as examle, my NAS server does scheduled self shutdown at nights and is automatically turned on by BIOS at mornings.. Works great and saves power, because, at night, nobody is using it and that's 8-9 hours off from bill per day.. How good is that for hardware, I don't know, that's why I'm, almost year, testing this mode. Only NVR is working 24/7 as separate hardware.. 😂 Big backup server now is turned on once a month by request from smaller NAS server. 🎉
you seem to have a nice amount of those lenovo mini pc's, why not off load some permanent functions like router/firewall and the other 24/7 functions onto one or more of those efficient mini's and only use those server thingys when you really need to? same for your nases, only power them up for copy, sync and backup times, could save you a bunch on power and could make interesting video's
My homelab is also powered from solar :D R730xd thati got from work i've switched from 2 2650 V3 to single 2673 V4 and with 256gb and Fusion io 3.2Tb i still draw around 154W idle.
Well why server isn't so smart to disable power to unused cpus like mobile cpus do? My home server uses 15 up to 45w. I use mobile cpu in server😅, but i am still annoyed by 360kwh it uses anually🤔. I wish for N100 ultra? i7 performance on 4W.
Hmm, you have 24/7 biig server system, but the copys going to another nas which only on on that copying-time. Why not keep multiple more little home-nasses and them on only when you actually use them? If the power and the price of that is main consern? If you need the recent videos to edit this weeks youtube, those videos-clips surely fit to your table-pc? I'd like to save all old videos too, but I bet the majority of youtubers just kill the older work-copys, and the end-product, it is in the youtube ;-)
My home server uses 6 watt tdp idle (beelink mini pc). Can' t beat that kind of power consumption, can you? Close down your data centre and hunker down in your bunker for a long wintersleep until ww3 finishes! Cheers....
you not use much at all, my house runs 700-750 watt 24/7 for the always on stuff , 4x 4U racks 65 harddrives 2 switches some extra fans in the front of the bayes to survive the heat , i have 12x390 wp solar in east/west on the roof to help with the powerbill. Sugestions to save more power and heat is getting less but bigger drives, one new in, 2 older out. That Deye invertor i have at a customers house might be the same as yours, i find the manual kinda complex and hard for a quick setup with batterys connected, so much settings ......
16:21 the system was also “unhappy” about ‘others’ So it was not only blaming you but also the ‘others’ 😂 Joke aside, would it show there that it was complaining about RAM and CPU? 🤔
I've absolutely gone by way of mini's - trying to eliminate the traditional desktops and servers for some time now. Just listening to those fans spin up as you make your changes - don't miss it a bit! Another great benefit is less hernias having to lug around those big desktops and servers! Good by forever! Thanks again for another great video!
Mini pc's are the way to go, huge power savings !
I have been using smaller and smaller PC for year... :-) Use to build them myself,, I gave up on that...too
@@MyPlayHouse Same here used to love building my own, then it just became a real PITA with all the cheap knock off gear - thanks for all you do!
welcome to becoming your own Solar Farmer :) 12kw was a smart move I think, plenty of capacity. Hopefully that is a LF inverter they tend to last longer, one of the reasons I went with Victron, fewer electronics to fail. It looks like a nice system :)
I do believe it is a LF inverter,, "EEVBLOG" has made a video taking it apart in his video "1620"
Have waited forever for the electrician to come and install it. :-/
I got a bit greedy and got the 12KW,, as the prices differences was so small,, but this uses a lot of power,, in idle,, a couple of KWH a day,, I did not take that in to account.. :-/
I’ve created a script for my chest freezer, which only gets opened 2-3 times a week. It’s connected to a smart power switch that, via logic/code, ensures it doesn’t run between 17:00 and 20:59:59, unless it’s using over 30W. If it’s using less than that when the clock hits 17:00, it cuts the power. If it’s above, it checks the power consumption every 5 minutes and turns off when the compressor is no longer running.
I’ve also made a power switch for my computer and TV setups, so that the screen/speakers (extra devices) lose power when consumption has been below X watts for X minutes, as it’s nice to still have time to charge headphones and other devices.
The server has been split into two. Before, it was a beefy server that could handle everything-router, NAS, disks, and more. Now there’s a Lenovo 6th Gen SFF that handles router/proxy/Home Assistant and some Docker containers, while the NAS has been moved to the other end of a site-to-site VPN where there are solar panels.
Motion sensors have been installed in high-traffic areas of the home. Whether it actually saves energy, who knows-but it’s definitely convenient not having to turn on lights when carrying grocery bags.
So to sum up, I mainly focus on optimizing standby power usage and places where it doesn’t need to affect things. That said, the dishwasher runs at night to avoid the more expensive tariffs.
Thank you!! good savings,, reading your comment here, I came to think, it might be time to look into my refrigerator,, it might be time to look at how much it uses.
Simply connect at night to the power supply of the street lamp.
Oldest trick in the book :-)
Very interesting Morten, thanks for making the video... Don
Hi @DonBishopDonSongs
Thank You very much! glad you liked the video :-)
Thank you for watching! :-)
All my proper equipment went dark in 2022 when uk power prices went into orbit
My 24/7 server went from a dual cpu dl380 with a 12x3tb shelf to a 10th gen i5 with a single 20tb. I was sad but combined with other power saving measures i went from 400kwh/month to 90kwh/m saving (at todays prices) £800/€900 a year. Well worth a tear or two!
I use a lot of smart power strips/plugs and a combination of home assistant, hue bulbs and Logitech harmony hubs to ensure that only equipment in use is powered on, lights are motion sensitive and power themselves down etc etc
I've basically swapped a hardware addiction for an automation addiction
I can afford to use the power,, but it has become a little sport, to bring my usages down enough to run from batteries. :-)
same here in the uk its such a shame. if i didn't have a small solar array, i wouldn't be running any thing in my rack anymore, just like your self i have sized down cpus and upgraded where possible smart switches too
Be interesting to see if you could replace your entire racks with those mini PCs you have (or some newer ones) in the bunker for a week - and see the power difference.
I probably can,, might try something.
I like the idea of the micro inverters, one for every panel. I don't know if they are better for power usage though. I like the idea that the power leaving the panel area is AC, not DC. The gauge of the wires doesn't have to be larger for longer distances with AC. Also, the redundancy of multiple inverters.
I have never tried them.
hope we get to see the completed solar power and the changes done.
I would like all the paperwork in places, before that.
Actually in System settings you have to choose Custom Mode and in Power / Performance Bias choose OS controlled. In this mode it will work faster when it's need and use less power when vm is in idle state. Also you need to change heatsink to performance one. It will allow fans run at lower RPMs and use less power.
On newer Dell servers for example there is really no need to remove second PSU, because they run on PSU 1 when on default and balance with PSU 2 only when configured or when power on inlet PSU 1 is down.
@@Magicairsoft9 I believe the same is on this server.
Thank You,, looks like something I should look in to.
@@Magicairsoft9 But the second PSU is in standby mode, that takes about 6W.
@@mattymuc Other option when relying on power efficiency is to use less power hungry server hardware or at least not so high power demanding CPU.
If you want to improve power efficiency, you should check out migrating from a virtual router to a physical low-power one, such as some ARM64 box, or Ubiquiti if you already have some, or an N100 MiniPC. I fully understand that virtual router reduces complexity and the amount of wires and has next to no limits on routing performance, but the reason is that it uses a disproportionate amount of electricity to do the routing! Just start even a 100 Mbit download via the router, and check out the power use of the entire server compared to fully idle (no downloads). In my case the difference was so high, that you could power several physical routers on that alone, like +30W. Regular routers from TP-Link, ASUS and such, will use like 5W at most.
I am hoping to use that TerraMaster F8 SSD NAS with the Intel N305, and 32GB of ram,, and I hope to add a USB-C network adaptor,, for my virtual router.
21:36 you should start installing some patches: ESXi670-202403001 build: 23084122
I should get my finger out,,, and more over to ProxMox... :-)
And I complain that the fan in my Raspberry Pi 4b is howling ;))) Although it's more of an annoying squeak/air noise..
I am not complaining :-) it is all fine..
The 2000 W just for the inverter's own use sounds unreasonably large when compared to my own experience. Picking last Friday as a typical day, the inverter used 11,549 W with the inverter providing 11,410 W of that to me. The delta of 139 W was used by the total of the inverter, battery, gateway and associated RF comm system. This equates to about 5.8 W per hour for the system's own use. The book figure for my 8 kW inverter alone is
It is using like 100-150W-ish,, about 2000Wh a day, or 2KWh a day. kind of a lot :-/
@@MyPlayHouse A project to look into. If the power loss is real, where is it going?
Just suggestion if you now don't need all the fans, you can remove some and put blanking plates in there as server fans can use lots of power 10W or more..
The fan does not run much,, it is cold in the data center.
@@MyPlayHouse @vaidkun does have a point, Usually the CPU Upgrade kits do include the additional cooling fan so its kind of surplus on a single cpu server after the downgrade
There is also the IPMI/ILO/IDRAC That will be eating about 10w too.
163watts that's not much, my daily workstation uses 300watts. the R640s I have uses around 126watts each per node. the cost of electric is going up again here in the UK too not sure about Denmark but is there any end to high power prices ? it sucks so i understand where you are coming from
Well if I can use less,, my batteries will last longer... There are days, like today,, where nothing is possible,, as I here by 12:00 I have only gotten 0,7KWh in,, so not enough to even keep stuff going midt day,, and the inverter uses about 2KWh a day just to run.
I don't know if your server does it, but, if you have both the primary and redundant power supplies operating, the system should balance the power between both units. I think that would be better power usage as neither power supply is working too hard.
There is overhead on both,,if they are both running.
For power saving, as examle, my NAS server does scheduled self shutdown at nights and is automatically turned on by BIOS at mornings.. Works great and saves power, because, at night, nobody is using it and that's 8-9 hours off from bill per day.. How good is that for hardware, I don't know, that's why I'm, almost year, testing this mode.
Only NVR is working 24/7 as separate hardware.. 😂
Big backup server now is turned on once a month by request from smaller NAS server. 🎉
Uhh my NAS is my NVR,, there is more work to be done :-)
you seem to have a nice amount of those lenovo mini pc's, why not off load some permanent functions like router/firewall and the other 24/7 functions onto one or more of those efficient mini's and only use those server thingys when you really need to? same for your nases, only power them up for copy, sync and backup times, could save you a bunch on power and could make interesting video's
Yes,, maybe! I have also had those thoughts.
Go to mini pc,s mine sit on about 5w most of the time, the big setup you have is far to large for a house server . time for a change.
I hope to get that TerraMaster F8 up and doing that job..
My homelab is also powered from solar :D
R730xd thati got from work i've switched from 2 2650 V3 to single 2673 V4 and with 256gb and Fusion io 3.2Tb i still draw around 154W idle.
It is a difficult balances,, You want the the performances, when it is needed,, but not to power it all the time.
Well why server isn't so smart to disable power to unused cpus like mobile cpus do?
My home server uses 15 up to 45w.
I use mobile cpu in server😅, but i am still annoyed by 360kwh it uses anually🤔.
I wish for N100 ultra? i7 performance on 4W.
I am hoping to get the TerraMaster with the Intel N305 in to the data center
Hmm, you have 24/7 biig server system, but the copys going to another nas which only on on that copying-time. Why not keep multiple more little home-nasses and them on only when you actually use them? If the power and the price of that is main consern? If you need the recent videos to edit this weeks youtube, those videos-clips surely fit to your table-pc? I'd like to save all old videos too, but I bet the majority of youtubers just kill the older work-copys, and the end-product, it is in the youtube ;-)
I Do have a NAS,,, Synology DS1815+ 8 bay in the living room,, that I only turn on, when I do a backup.
@@MyPlayHouse Yes, I know -thats why I said it. ;-) So: why you keep that biggie on all the time?
My home server uses 6 watt tdp idle (beelink mini pc). Can' t beat that kind of power consumption, can you? Close down your data centre and hunker down in your bunker for a long wintersleep until ww3 finishes! Cheers....
Sure looks like the warm-up to ww3 :-/ My plan is to piss off to Portugal.. If something bad happens.
🌟🌟great 🌟🌟
Hi @skynetcybersystem3tech
Thank You very much! glad you liked the video :-)
Thank you for watching! :-)
you not use much at all, my house runs 700-750 watt 24/7 for the always on stuff , 4x 4U racks 65 harddrives 2 switches some extra fans in the front of the bayes to survive the heat , i have 12x390 wp solar in east/west on the roof to help with the powerbill. Sugestions to save more power and heat is getting less but bigger drives, one new in, 2 older out. That Deye invertor i have at a customers house might be the same as yours, i find the manual kinda complex and hard for a quick setup with batterys connected, so much settings ......
I am already on 18TB drives in My 24/7 NAS.
16:21 the system was also “unhappy” about ‘others’
So it was not only blaming you but also the ‘others’ 😂
Joke aside, would it show there that it was complaining about RAM and CPU? 🤔
It is a whiny bitch sometimes:-)
just add another solar panel
Well,, this was with 24 panels ;-)
My HP Proliant's scream like pigs if I run with all fans and only one CPU, I have to remove 2 fans otherwise it will complain.
Well this is normal for a server....