Running your Bitaxe on vacation? What three weeks away really costs – and how to follow along from the beach

By Dominik Lederer · Founder, Hardware Engineer & Solo-Mining Expert · July 4, 2026 · Approx. 7-minute read

The suitcase is in the hallway. Chargers unplugged, coffee machine off, TV disconnected from the power – the usual ritual before three weeks in Italy. And then you stand in front of this small box on the shelf, quietly crunching numbers, and hesitate.

Should I turn it off? Three weeks means 3,024 blocks. 3,024 lottery drawings for which you've already bought a ticket. Anyone who turns off their miner hands in their ticket at the coat check before the drawing begins.

I get this question every summer, and this year it's been noticeably often: Can I leave my Bitaxe running while on vacation? The short answer: yes. The honest answer is a bit longer, and it contains three numbers you should know.

Can a 17-watt miner stay home alone for three weeks?

Let's start with the concern no one voices aloud: fire hazard. It's why we check irons three times and don't charge phones on the sofa. Justified for irons. The situation is different for the Bitaxe.

A Bitaxe Gamma 601 draws around 17 watts – about as much as the Wi-Fi router you'd naturally leave running while on vacation because your security camera and smart thermostat need it. No battery, no lithium, no moving parts except for a fan. A circuit board with a heatsink, recommended for ambient temperatures from 0 to 40 °C. The device gets hand-warm, not hot.

The one component where quality counts is the power supply. A nameless €5 power adapter from a bargain bin has no place on any device intended for continuous operation – not on the miner, not on the charging station. A branded power supply with reserves (we use LEICKE, Made in Germany, for good reason) will, however, run inconspicuously for years. If there's one place you shouldn't economize, it's here.

What does it cost to leave the Bitaxe running during vacation?

Let's calculate it, transparently and without marketing-driven rounding. Assumptions: 17 watts continuous power, German electricity price of €0.35/kWh.

Three weeks vacation = 21 days × 24 hours × 17 watts = 8.57 kWh. At €0.35/kWh, that's €3.00 – the price of an espresso on the boardwalk.

Calculated annually: 17 watts × 8,760 hours = 149 kWh, which is about €52 in electricity costs per year or about €4.34 per month. This is on par with an energy-efficient refrigerator. And you certainly leave that on during your vacation.

For comparison, because the question will otherwise appear in the comments: A 3500-watt industrial Antminer would consume about 1,764 kWh in the same three weeks – over €600 in electricity. Plus a noise level of around 75 dB, which would lead neighbors to call property management in your absence. This is the difference between a device for the living room and a device for an industrial hall.

How do I monitor my solo miner from the beach – without VPN hassle?

Here's the part many newcomers don't know, and it's wonderfully uncomplicated.

Your Bitaxe's AxeOS dashboard runs locally on your home network. You can't access it from outside without a VPN – and you don't even need to for your vacation. Because your solo pool keeps records for you: services like public-pool.io or solo.ckpool.org will show you the current hashrate of your devices at any time under your Bitcoin address. Open your browser, enter the address, and you're done. If your usual hashrate is displayed, everything is running fine at home. From the hotel Wi-Fi, from your phone, from anywhere.

If you prefer more convenience, you can set up your FRITZ!Box's WireGuard VPN in five minutes before you leave and look directly at the AxeOS dashboard with chip temperature and all the details. It's not necessary. The pool statistics answer the only question that matters on vacation: Is it still running? And a smart plug (Shelly, Tapo, whatever you like) gives you an off switch in your pocket for the unlikely event.

What happens if there's a power outage or Wi-Fi disruption when no one is home?

Nothing that should ruin your vacation. When the power returns, the Bitaxe boots automatically, reconnects to your Wi-Fi, and resumes working at the pool as if nothing happened. No monitor needed, no keyboard, no call to the neighbor with the spare key.

If only the internet connection drops, the device continuously attempts to reach the pool again. The only "damage" is lost computing time – annoying, but not a defect. Precisely this nonchalance is the quiet luxury of a device without operating system frills: there is simply very little that can break.

"A solo miner is the only financial device I know that doesn't become a burden on vacation. No chart, no stop-loss, no 3 AM panic – it just keeps computing while you swim in the ocean."

What three things should I do before leaving?

First: Check the power supply and plug connection. Is the plug firmly seated? Is it a branded device with sufficient ampere reserves? Two minutes, the most important check of all.

Second: Dust the heatsink and fan. A quick blast with an air blower or compressed air spray. A clean heatsink keeps the chip temperature in the green range even on hot July days – especially when the apartment isn't ventilated for three weeks.

Third: Check the location. Away from direct sunlight, away from the south-facing windowsill. A shaded shelf with some air circulation is perfectly sufficient. If you like, note down the current hashrate from the pool statistics as a reference value before you leave – then you'll spot any deviation at a glance.

That's all. No maintenance contract, no 14-point checklist. Three simple steps, then the suitcase can close.

Why does the Bitaxe keep running on vacation – and the lottery ticket doesn't?

Because a lottery ticket has an expiry date, and a miner doesn't. The comparison, without any technical jargon:

	Bitaxe Gamma	Traditional Lottery	3500-W Industrial Antminer
Odds of winning per year	52,560 chances a year – your device is in the running for every single block, even while you sleep or are away (maximum expected value as a lottery ticket alternative)	2 drawings per week, about 104 a year – and each ticket expires after the drawing	Theoretically more hashrate, but practically impossible for continuous operation in a home – the chance is useless if the device can't run
Running costs in home office	Around €4.34 electricity per month (17 W at €0.35/kWh) – three weeks of vacation cost €3, under 35 dB with Noctua fan and therefore suitable for living rooms	2 Eurojackpot tickets per week cost over €17 per month – money that is irrevocably gone after each drawing	Over €600 electricity in three weeks, plus a continuous noise of around 75 dB – simply unacceptable in a living space
Drawer-danger (boredom factor)	Low – the device visibly works on the shelf, the pool statistics make every hour of operation traceable, even from vacation	High – the ticket ends up in the recycling after the drawing, nothing remains but the next habitual expense	High – after the first electricity bill and the first neighbor complaint, the device moves to the basement or eBay
Learning effect & hands-on blockchain fascination	High – own hashrate, own Bitcoin address, real understanding of how blocks are created; open-source hardware to touch and discuss	None – six crosses on paper explain neither probability nor the monetary system	Present, but inaccessible – closed industrial technology, built for halls, not for curiosity at a desk

And what if it finds a block precisely during your vacation?

Then the block reward is still yours. It goes to the Bitcoin address you've stored in the device – whether you're at Lake Garda or next to it is delightfully irrelevant to the protocol.

Let's be honest, because that's what this blog stands for: The probability is small. At around 1.3 TH/s and a network hashrate of approximately 1.1 Zettahash per second (assumption based on current network data, which has been above the Zettahash mark since early 2026 – see Bitcoin Hashrate Chart, CoinWarz), the chance of finding a block in three weeks of vacation is roughly 1 in 280,000, and annually about 1 in 16,000. For comparison: The Eurojackpot is 1 in 139,838,160 – per drawing, not per year.

So if you buy with the certainty of quick riches, you're buying incorrectly. But if you enjoy the technology anyway and see the lottery thrill as a bonus, then each of the 3,024 blocks in three weeks of vacation is a small, free drawing. Espresso budget, real chance, zero expiry date.