Reducing the antminer s9 hashboard to run 1-5 asic chips on super low power

I'm trying to find a way to tone down an antminer s9 hashboard to run just 1-5 asic chips while still using the stock control board. Anyone got any tips on how to pull this off? Maybe some firmware tweaks? I'm open to any suggestions. The idea is to power it with a low 5v supply from a solar setup, connect it to ck pool, and let it go. I know Geckoscience sticks have like 2 asic chips... but I can't afford to buy one. I already have an s9 miner with three hashboards packed with 63 asic chips each. So, if anyone has any advice to help make this work with what I've got, I’d really appreciate it.

You should read this topic :  Open Source Bitcoin ASIC miner project that uses 2x BM1387 (Antminer S9) https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5400851.0

Have you tried to check the firmware from ASIC.to they do have firmware with s9 units where you can able to adjust the chip's frequency and power? I don't think you can disable the chip but their firmware has the manual option to set frequency and power maybe try to set it to the lowest setup or set it to zero maybe it will turn the chip disabled.

You are still going to have to get 12V to the hash boards and the control board not 5V. They are hard wired to convert the 12V from a PCIe plug to the voltage they need. After that you can pull 2 of the boards, like a lot of us do for converting them into silent space heaters. Then grab one of the custom firmwares that are out there to shut down most of the chips on the board. You would also need to figure out fan control, and a few other things, probably not worth the time and effort. -Dave

I don't think that's worth it / possible (the 1-5 chips part). I'd recommend selling that S9 (they're worth around $500), and getting the R909 for $600. Great little machine. It runs off of 12V, but I doubt that a solar panel of the size you need (100W+) only outputs 5V. They are usually 12V or higher.

You could have a small 2S battery as a buffer that's filled by a solar panel using like a $10 BMS, and then put a step-down voltage converter to get that 5V at the output. If it's 12V what's required, then just bump it up to 4S or even 3S configuration. In the latter, make sure they're charged around 4V, I don't what's the actual tolerance of working voltage range for these boards is, they usually have some leeway.