Factorio Forums

i dont know why but my combinator is outputtign a signal without power. how is that possible ? is it still bugged or is it me?
*edit: there is only ONE input, that would be a T = 1 signal from the constant combinator

I think combinators continue to output the last signal they were outputting when power is low; it's just they don't update any more? Not sure though..

torne wrote:I think combinators continue to output the last signal they were outputting when power is low; it's just they don't update any more? Not sure though..

This is the case.

A combinator that is in brownout or blackout conditions will continue to output the signal that it had previously been producing while powered.

It causes problems when designing combinator controlled power management because that latchup behavior can cause unpredictable logic faults.

OdinYggd wrote:

torne wrote:I think combinators continue to output the last signal they were outputting when power is low; it's just they don't update any more? Not sure though..

This is the case.

A combinator that is in brownout or blackout conditions will continue to output the signal that it had previously been producing while powered.

It causes problems when designing combinator controlled power management because that latchup behavior can cause unpredictable logic faults.

That's why they should be simple and/or get independent power from a few solars and accumulators

I believe it may be better if Factorio changed the design of Combinators so that they don't output a signal at all if they are unpowered. That would make it easier to create fail-safe circuit network logic.

I like this behavior since it lets me step through single updates with a power switch and a creative energy interface. Very convenient when trying to build a combinator CPU.

Tekky wrote:I believe it may be better if Factorio changed the design of Combinators so that they don't output a signal at all if they are unpowered. That would make it easier to create fail-safe circuit network logic.

Heck no! It would be MUCH worse. What you're proposing would be essentially entire combinator circuits RESETTING when out of power. This would create so many problems, especially with circuits that are tracking certain variables with switches.