How Zcash Solo Mining Works
Equihash miners search for a block. This pool tells you whether your shares are landing and pays a transparent finder in the block itself.
Proof of work
Zcash mainnet uses Equihash 200,9. The network targets a block every 75 seconds until NU7 activates at block 3,543,405, then every 25 seconds. Your miner is guessing solutions. A share is a solution that clears the pool's current difficulty. A block is a solution that also clears the network target.
What the pool does
The stratum server on zec.mysolopool.com hands out jobs and checks shares. Port 3330 varies difficulty with your speed. Port 3331 holds difficulty fixed for rental platforms. The dashboard reads those shares back as hashrate, workers, and luck. It does not move your coins.
The block reward
After the third halving the miner subsidy is 1.25 ZEC per block. NU7 (block 3,543,405) moves to 25-second blocks and cuts it to about 0.4167 ZEC, so the ZEC paid out per hour stays the same. Fees in the block come on top. This pool keeps 2%. A transparent finder receives the rest in the coinbase output, spendable after 100 confirmations. The homepage multiplies the current subsidy by the ZEC price so you can see the gross reward before the fee.
Luck is a clock, not a bonus
Pool luck is work done since the last pool block, divided by the work one block is expected to take at the current network hashrate. About 100% means the round is on time. Your address luck uses only your shares since your last block. Neither number raises or lowers the next block's odds.
Next: connection settings or the playbooks.