Canaan Avalon Nano 3 Review 2024: The Best Home Miner?

The fifth epoch has arrived, meaning that Bitcoin's supply emission is now 50% less than before. This makes mining twice as challenging for miners. However, this decrease in supply is expected because of Bitcoin's programmed halving, which is built into its code. This change has posed a growing challenge for individual miners over the years, leading many to shut down their machines due to decreasing profitability and rising energy demands. As a result, Bitcoin mining has become predominantly the realm of professional mining farms, leading to increased centralization over time.

Recently, there has been a rise in small-scale home mining initiatives. This includes repurposing devices like the Antminer S9 into space heaters with special modifications to reduce noise, as well as projects like the Futurebit Apollo and DIY initiatives such as the "Bitaxe" open-source project. One notable addition to this trend is the Canaan Avalon Nano 3. In this review, I'll examine the Avalon Nano 3, analyzing its hashrate, energy consumption, profitability, noise level, design, and other important aspects.

👉 Click here to get the Canaan Avalon Nano 3 on D-Central for a special price.

Canaan Avalon Nano 3: What It Is?

The Canaan Avalon Nano 3 isn't just a Bitcoin miner; it's also a small heater for your home. It can mine Bitcoin or other SHA 256-based cryptocurrencies. In absolute terms, its hashrate isn't the most powerful (4TH/S), so you won't earn as much, but it also helps heat your house.

The fans blow out the heat from the device, with the air reaching about 60 degrees Celsius at maximum power. Domestic miners like this one are often advertised as heaters too because they serve a dual purpose. Plus, the fact that they can keep your home warm might make them more appealing to your spouse.

Canaan is a big company that's been making mining machines for a long time. They're even on Wall Street (NASDAQ: CAN). Now, they've made a home miner for the first time. They have access to the latest technology for making these machines, and they've made one that's ready to use, though it's not open-source. But you can still pick which mining pool you want to join, and you can even mine on your own if you want.

This miner has 10 chips inside that can mine a little over 4.2 terahashes per second. It uses a maximum of 140 watts of power (during our test it used a maximum of 127 watts @ max power). It's a quite efficient miner, using about 29 joules of energy for each terahash. And it's also a great deal at just $99 (a bit more if you want the power supply too). It gives you a lot of mining power for a low price and uses very little energy. Later on, we'll also look at how profitable it is compared to other options.

How The Avalon Nano 3 Works

Apart from the hashing power and low power consumption, Avalon Nano 3's main perk is its small size and built-in Wi-Fi. It weighs less than 1 kilogram and is super compact, so you can put it almost anywhere. With Wi-Fi, you can place it wherever you want without needing an Ethernet cable for internet connection like traditional ASICs.

It's all set up when you receive it—just plug in the cable, connect it to Wi-Fi, choose your favorite pool, pick a preset (low, medium, or high), and start mining. No need to mess with firmware or anything else; you can do everything from your smartphone or computer.

Finding its IP address is easy too—it's right there on the little screen near the power button. This makes it perfect for beginners who want to learn about mining. Plus, since it uses roughly the same firmware as bigger miners, it's great for educational purposes too.

The Avalon Nano 3 is built to mine non-stop at full power without overheating, thanks to the fans at the back. Although, I've noticed that the included Canaan power supply unit (PSU) might get a bit too much warm.

Using the admin panel of the Nano 3, you can choose any mining pool you like, such as "stratum+tcp://mine.ocean.xyz:3334," set up your worker (usually a Bitcoin address), restart the device, and it'll start mining immediately.

At maximum settings, the Nano 3 makes about 36 decibels of noise, which isn't much. But if you want it to be even quieter, you can adjust it to medium or low speed.

Canaan Avalon Nano 3 Features

What makes the Avalon Nano 3 a good choice for home miners? Let's check out the main reasons:

1. Affordability: It's priced at around $100, making it affordable for almost everyone. Plus, you get a brand new unit with the latest ASIC chips, so you're not getting an outdated miner.
2. Hashing Power: With 4 terahashes per second (TH/s), it's not the fastest miner out there, but it's a solid starting point, especially considering its low power consumption.
3. Power Consumption: It uses a maximum of 140 watts of power, which is similar to what a desktop computer or monitor consumes.
4. Form Factor: It's small and lightweight, weighing less than 1 kilogram, so you can easily move it around. It also features magnetic vent front/back covers for easy dust cleanup.
5. Connectivity: It has Wi-Fi built-in, making it easy to place anywhere in your house without needing to connect it to an Ethernet cable. This is really convenient.
6. Compatibility: It can mine cryptocurrencies that use the SHA-256 algorithm, like Bitcoin, and it can connect to any pool that supports Stratum V1. So you have a lot of options for what you can mine with it.

Canaan Avalon Nano 3 Quick Review

Here's a quick overview of the Avalon Nano 3. We've looked at its main features and calculated whether it's a good investment. If you're short on time, just check out the table below.

One important thing to consider is how efficiently it uses energy. While it's not the best, it's decent, similar to the Bitmain Antminer S19 Pro, which is a bit older. However, the Nano 3 is quite inexpensive for a new unit, so it scores high in terms of economic efficiency.

Canaan Avalon Nano 3 Unboxing

The device arrived double boxed and wrapped in bubble wrap for protection. However, since it was shipped from China, I had to pay import taxes. While the amount was small, it's something to keep in mind before making your purchase.

The Avalon Nano 3 I received in this setup included the official 140W Canaan power supply, which supports all modes, including the highest power setting. This particular setting has the EU wall plug on one side, and on the other an USB Type-C.

The Nano 3 has a small LED display on top that shows important info like hashing status, power usage, temperatures, and even the time. On the right side of the display, there are two buttons—one to turn off the device and the other to change the display view.

It's super light (less than 1 kilogram) and small, about the size of a router. Its boxy shape makes it easy to stack two or more devices if you want more hashing power. When the ASIC is running, only the exhaust side on the front gets hot. The other parts, like the top and sides, stay cool, so you can stack them without any problem.

The packaging includes:

• x1 Canaan Avalon Nano 3
• x1 Power Supply
• x1 Instructions Manual

Let's now have a look at how to start mining bitcoin with the Avalon Nano 3.

How To Start Mining With The Canaan Avalon Nano 3

Starting with the Canaan Avalon Nano 3 is pretty simple. Just follow these steps:

1. Turn on the Avalon Nano 3.
2. Connect it to the internet.
3. Set up the mining pool with the Avalon Miner app (iOS and Android) or the web UI.

The power needed for the Canaan Avalon Nano 3 isn't huge, but it's best to plug it directly into a wall outlet without using extension cords or power strips.

When you plug in the Canaan Avalon Nano 3, it will turn on automatically. This is normal—it's designed to turn on automatically if the power goes out and comes back on, so your device will always mine. To start, plug the USB Type-C into the device port, then plug the other end into the wall plug.

The device will turn on, but you might see a message on the screen that says that the device it's not connected to Wi-Fi. That's okay! To set it up, you'll need to connect with your phone or laptop. We'll explain using a phone, as it's quicker.

Go to the App Store and download the "Avalon Remote" app—it's available for iOS and Android.

Once you've got the app, connect to the Avalon's Wi-Fi (it starts with "heater_nano"), open the app, and scan for devices. You'll be able to connect to the device through the app. Once you're connected to the device's Wi-Fi, you can complete the setup.

After you've connected to the Wi-Fi of the Avalon Nano 3, you will be asked to setup the name and password of your actual Wi-Fi of your home, this is a very important step because the device will have to stay connected in order to work. After you have setup this information hit on "Save" to finish the process. The Avalon Nano 3 will connect to the internet.

When it connects to the internet, the Avalon already start mining in some preconfigured pool (that we'll later change). To do that, you can do with the app but also by looking to the ip of the device which is displayed on the top right of the device (1) together with the wattage (2) and hashing power (3) in real time. Type the ip in your browser and you'll be able to access the machine admin panel directly from your browser (remember that you must be in the same network in order to connect). In this case the ip is 192.168.178.109.

In the login form, type root for both the username and password. These are the standard credentials for most miners.

Once you log in, you'll see the Avalon Nano 3 Overview. It's like the main control panel of the miner, where you can find lots of important info, including:

• Mining Status (3)
• Network Status (4)
• Fan Status (5)
• Temperatures (6)
• Hashrate stats (7)
• Current pool (8)

To set up the pool, click on "configuration" on the left side of the screen.

The Avalon Nano 3 setup lets you enter three pieces of information to start mining. In my setup, I've chosen to mine using the OCEAN mining pool, but you can pick any pool you want. Here are the details you need to add:

1. Pool 0: This is the address of the pool. In my setup, I've added: stratum+tcp://mine.ocean.xyz:3334
2. Worker: This is your worker's ID. It's usually something like bc1qq44kn4rg0q44zg7xrd8ehg9gjvxx5nqrh89t7r.CanaanAvalonNano3_1
3. Password: Usually, it's just an "x," like in this case.

Once you've added all this info, just click "Save" and then restart the device. After that, it'll start syncing. You can watch in real-time on OCEAN as this exact device we just set up starts mining!

OCEAN - Statistics - bc1qq44kn4rg0q44zg7xrd8ehg9gjvxx5nqrh89t7r.CanaanAvalonNano3_1

bc1qq44kn4rg0q44zg7xrd8ehg9gjvxx5nqrh89t7r.CanaanAvalonNano3_1

Canaan Avalon Nano 3 Design

One of the most interesting aspects of the Avalon Nano 3 isn't just the fact that you can mine at 4TH/S with just 120watts and even heat your house in the mean time, but it's how this is obtained. Let's have a look at the most important aspects.

Form Factor

The Nano 3 is light, less than one kilo. The dimensions of the Avalon Nano 3 are approximately 20.5 centimeters in length, 11.5 centimeters in width, and 5.7 centimeters in height. In American measurements, it's about 8.07 inches long, 4.53 inches wide, and 2.24 inches tall. The volume of the device it's extremely compact: 1312 cubic centimeters or 81 cubic inches.

It's small size let's it easily be put in every corner of the house. The rubber feet and perfectly squared size makes it easy to stack more devices on top of each other, in case you want to increase your hashrate with more of these devices.

Airflow

The devices has a type of active airflow with three fans on the back that blows over big heatsinks positioned inside the device, by taking out the hot air in front of the device. This let's you easily point the air in the area you would like to heat at the same time. Thanks to the great built quality of the device, the heat doesn't goes around the device so except the front grille, the other exterior parts feels actually not hot at the touch.

Display

The display might seem an overreach but it's actually useful to see the important stats of the device, such as the hashrate and the power consumption. It also tells the time. This little LCD shows also the IP address of the machine, so you won't have to use an IP scanner to locate it in your network.

Avalon Nano 3 Alternatives

The Avalon Nano 3 made by Canaan is one of the first home miners meant to heat your house while mining Bitcoin. Since it's made by a big company, there aren't really any other options like it right now. However, there are some alternatives.

1. Antminer S9: Introduced nearly a decade ago, the Antminer S9, including variants like S9i and S9j, remains a staple in the mining community. Despite its age, it boasts a hash rate of up to approximately 14 TH/s, drawing around 1372 W (like a vacuum cleaner, basically). While its energy efficiency is not impressive at 98 J/TH, many users have repurposed it as a space heater, often tweaking and downclocking it for optimal performance. It serves as a viable alternative to the Avalon Nano 3, especially for those looking for a more serious mining setup, although it's crucial to consider energy costs before investing.
2. Bitaxe: The Bitaxe Project offers a distinct approach, not solely focused on heating but rather as a low-power and cost-effective mining solution. Rooted in an open-source ethos, it repurposes ASIC chips, such as the BM1366 ASIC from the S19XP, into single-board configurations. Despite its modest hash rate of around 0.5 TH/s due to the use of a single chip, it excels in terms of energy efficiency, boasting an impressive 24 J/TH and consuming only 12 W. Moreover, ongoing developments promise more powerful Bitaxe solutions with multiple chips on the same board, enhancing its mining capabilities. This miner is more used as a "lottery miner" by mining in solo mode on pools like the Public Pool or the CK Pool.

Both of these alternatives are available for purchase, with worldwide shipping, through the D-Central shop. D-Central, a reputable e-commerce platform based in Canada, has established a strong track record for customer service and reliability in the mining community.

👉 Click here to view the available home miners & space heaters on D-Central.

Canaan Avalon Nano 3 Pros & Cons

After testing the Canaan Avalon Nano 3 for several weeks, it's difficult to find many drawbacks to this device. The only downside is that it arrived a bit too late, which means it would have been more profitable to mine with it before the 4th halving.

However, it's still a positive thing that it's available now. It's likely just the first of many devices for home mining from Canaan. As of now, it's sold out, and new units won't be shipped for another 2-3 months.

Bottom Line

In short, if your electricity costs a lot, or if you're looking for a good balance between price and efficiency, the Nano 3 could be a great choice as a pleb miner. At the same time, it can also be a decent heater and have a didactic use to introduce you to the basics of mining.

With its small screen on top, the Avalon Nano 3 can even display the time and has cool RGB features. Plus, it's quiet, making it "wife-approved" and a nice addition to your home décor.

Canaan Avalon Nano 3 Evaluation

The Avalon Nano 3 by Canaan got a pretty good blockdyor Score of 87 out of 100.

Profitability: This miner has a profitability rating of 29 J/TH. While it might not be the best compared to the latest ASICs, it's still a good starting point.

User-friendliness: Thanks to its display and portability, the Nano Avalon 3 is very user-friendly. You can set it up in just a few minutes and start mining right away.

Compatibility: Initially, it was thought that this miner only supported the Braiins Pool, but it actually works with any Stratum V1 pool. You can also do solo mining in pools like the public pool or the ck pool.

Reputation: Canaan, the manufacturer, has a great reputation. They were the first ASIC manufacturer and are listed on the Nasdaq. It's the first time a manufacturer of this size has created a home miner.

Cost: The price point is quite attractive. It offers 4TH/S at 120-130w power consumption, along with great build quality, LED strip, efficient heating, low noise, and more. It's definitely a good deal.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)