. But my OCD can't stand the beacons consuming energy while there is no production, so I try to switch off power to a rack when it's not used, e.g. I switch off iron plates when the station buffer is full.I wanted to make a more generic version of this, so I created the following (based on siggyboy's post about BlakeMW's average belt througput counter viewtopic.php?t=29679#p190249):
This uses three measurement, all outputting to A (named A1 - A3 here for convenience)
- A1: BlakeMW's average of an output belt pulse (outputting A as average throughput per second, i.e. 0 - 40)
- A2: HOLD count of two output belts, outputting A=1 if everything = 0 (i.e. no output)
- A3: HOLD count of three input belts, outputting A=1 if anything > 0 (i.e. there is input material)
The power switch is set to activate if A>1,which means either some throughput, OR there is input but no output.
So, if you run out of input materials, the power will switch off because throughput will go to zero (A1=0) and input is zero (A3=0), so sum(A) will be 1 because A2=1 (no output). Once input is restored, A3->1, so sum(A)=2, and power is restored.
Similarly, if the output backs up, A1 will go to zero and A2 will also be zero (there is output on the belt), so sum(A)=1 and power is switched off. As soon as output is consumed again, A1 will go up as the belt starts moving, and power is restored.
BlakeMcW/Siggyboy's averaging makes sure that it takes a while for power to be cut, so it shouldn't be too sensitive.
For racks with multiple inputs (i.e. green circuits) you can simply sum multiple A3's and increase the minimum A for the power switch, since A1 will be >>1 anyway in normal operation
blueprint
I've also included the blueprint of the whole 'creative mode' setup to make it easier to tinker:blueprint of whole setup