low energy -> activate steam engine

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Pascali
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low energy -> activate steam engine

Post by Pascali »

hi, i am bad - no - very bad at this wire things. Does anyone has a blueprint or is it possible to set on the steamengine automatically, if the energy is low?


Serenity
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Re: low energy -> activate steam engine

Post by Serenity »

I'd recommend using an SR-Latch instead of a simple comparison: https://wiki.factorio.com/Tutorial:Circ ... er_version
Otherwise your engines will constantly turn on and off around the switching point. It's also possible to switch the water pumps instead of using a power switch

Pascali
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Re: low energy -> activate steam engine

Post by Pascali »

Thank you both!

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Re: low energy -> activate steam engine

Post by Pascali »

I tried this, but i can´t get it to work.

The accumulator has no connection to the energy-net. Is that correct?

And how can i connect the power-switch to the right electicity mast?
https://i.imgur.com/lweNT69.png
Last edited by Pascali on Mon Mar 28, 2022 5:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Tertius
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Re: low energy -> activate steam engine

Post by Tertius »

Accumulators just need to be in range of some power pole, like steam engines and assembling machines.

Power switches have two power connectors, one on the left and one on the right. Take a copper cable in your hand and click on the left half of the power switch: you connect one power cable. After you connected this to some power pole, again take a copper cable in your hand and click on the right half of the power switch to connect the other side to some other power pole.

SoShootMe
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Re: low energy -> activate steam engine

Post by SoShootMe »

In addition to Tertius's comments (beat me to it), note that each accumulator charges/discharges at up to 300kW, so you need quite a few to avoid a "brownout" (low power) before you the switch turns on to connect steam engine power (three per steam engine allows as much to be supplied from nothing but the accumulators as the steam engines can supply), but you only need to measure one of them.

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Re: low energy -> activate steam engine

Post by Pascali »

Thank you! So the 1 accumulator in the blueprint has to be connected to all of my accumulators with the powernetwork, right?

Serenity
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Re: low energy -> activate steam engine

Post by Serenity »

Yes. All accumulators on the same net have the same charge. You just need one to measure that. Generally people really just place an extra one at the steam power plant

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Re: low energy -> activate steam engine

Post by Pascali »

It´s working now. Thank you all!

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Re: low energy -> activate steam engine

Post by SoShootMe »

Serenity wrote:
Mon Mar 28, 2022 5:59 pm
All accumulators on the same net have the same charge.
In practice that is usually the case, but it is not necessarily true (eg a newly placed accumulator has no charge). Each will consume or supply the same power until fully charged or discharged (respectively), so all accumulators will have the same charge after a point in time when all accumulators are in one of those states (forever, unless you place or connect more).

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Re: low energy -> activate steam engine

Post by Serenity »

SoShootMe wrote:
Tue Mar 29, 2022 6:52 am
will have the same charge after a point in time
Exactly. I knew that, but there was no reason to be that pedantic. That one extra measuring accumulator will be charged almost immediately.

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Re: low energy -> activate steam engine

Post by SoShootMe »

Serenity wrote:
Tue Mar 29, 2022 10:54 am
SoShootMe wrote:
Tue Mar 29, 2022 6:52 am
will have the same charge after a point in time
Exactly. I knew that, but there was no reason to be that pedantic.
Your statement was absolute. The first clause I wrote added missing qualification and was the main point.

The rest of what I wrote explains that qualification, which necessarily concerns details - Factorio being what it is, details often matter, certainly in many players' eyes. It wasn't specifically directed at you, and no offence was intended.
That one extra measuring accumulator will be charged almost immediately.
Often, but not if power is "on the edge" - quite possible if you have decided you need a backup power source.

Hopefully that explains where I was coming from.

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