TE Steam Engine vs RC Hobbyist Steam Engine

[IndigoStarfish]

So I have just started a new world with Direwolf20's modpack and I am looking for a way to power my Pulverizer and Powered Furnace.

Both these engines seem to require solid fuel (e.g. coal) and water.

From what I understand TE Steam Engine has a maximum power output of 2 MJ where as the RC Hobbyist Steam Engine only 1.6 MJ (running on its internal boiler).

However, the RC wiki says that its engine gets more efficient the hotter it gets.

So assuming the engines are always on (i.e. at max heat), which would produce more MJ in total for each piece of fuel (i.e. one piece of coal = ? MJ)? I guess what I am asking is which is more efficient?

Thanks

 

[danidas]

The RC hobbyist engine will produce more MJ per fuel than TE steam engine once it is warmed up but takes time to warm up. Until it warms up it is no where near as efficient and is about equal to the TE engine. So if the engine is going to be ran non stop or for long durations than the RC hobbyist is the best but if it will only be on as needed than TE is better.

 

[TruculentMC]

The efficiency break-even fuel values for the Hobbyist's Steam Engine are very low, I don't think people realize how efficient it truly is.
I did some testing (with MindCrack pack) using engines hooked directly to Redstone Energy Cells, to determine the break-even points for the most commonly used fuels. Here are the total MJs produced by various engines at a fuel level where the Hobbyist's engine breaks even or becomes more efficient than the others:

4 charcoal :
Hobbyist - 14048
Steam Engine - 12799
Stirling Engine - 6400

1 Coal :
Hobbyist - 4768
Steam - 4799
Stirling - 1600

4 Peat :
Hobbyist Engine - 22560
Steam Engine - 11999
Peat Engine - 20000

If you're burning less than 4 charcoal or 4 peat at a time, then the Steam and Peat engine (respectively) will be more efficient. And a single piece of coal in the Steam engine is slightly more efficient than in the Hobbyist's (by 21 MJ). This assumes you burn these amounts of fuel and then let the Hobbyist's engine fully cool down between runs. At greater amounts of fuel, the Hobbyst's engine surpasses the others by significant margins.

4 Coal :
Hobbyist - 49632
Steam - 19199
Stirling - 4800

8 charcoal :
Hobbyist - 48160
Steam Engine - 25599
Stirling Engine - 12800

8 Peat :
Hobbyist Engine - 65246
Steam Engine - 23999
Peat Engine - 40000


Finally, I left the Steam engine and Hobbyist's engine burning overnight with 64 Coal:
Steam Engine : 307199 MJ
Hobbyist's Engine: 1200000+ MJ, completely filling up two Redstone Energy Cells and wasting an unknown amount of MJ because it still had 24 coal left.

The RC hobbyist engine will produce more MJ per fuel than TE steam engine once it is warmed up but takes time to warm up. Until it warms up it is no where near as efficient and is about equal to the TE engine. So if the engine is going to be ran non stop or for long durations than the RC hobbyist is the best but if it will only be on as needed than TE is better.

 

[IndigoStarfish]

Thank you very much for your answers. Especially you TruculentMC, those numbers where just the sort of thing I was after

 

[ShneekeyTheLost]

The TE steam engine does have the advantage of producing 2 MJ/t, even if it isn't as fuel efficient, as opposed to the Hobbyist's 1.6 (until you can hook it up to a boiler). The only other advantage it possesses is that it doesn't need a redstone signal to turn on, although it is an option. In fact, by default, a redstone signal will turn it off. Or you can configure it to just ignore redstone signals entirely and run whenever it has fuel.

Hobbyist's does grow with your energy system, though. When you get steam tech going, it's great for running those little projects like, say, both an Arboretum and a Logger at the same time, simplifying logistics.

 

[WTFFFS]

What Shneekey said I like the Hobbyists as an early power source since it is very efficient when you have limited resources (also fairly cheap to make early) and can later be used as a spot power source for projects that are a little away from your normal power grid.

 

[Lambert2191]

Steam engines don't blow up, Hobbyists do
(just thought I'd mention that)

 

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Steam engines don't blow up, Hobbyists do
(just thought I'd mention that)

Aqueous Accumulators handle that problem neatly.

 

[Lambert2191]

Aqueous Accumulators handle that problem neatly.

not necassarily. If the power has nowhere to go, even if fully stocked on water, the hobbyist will blow up.

 

[WTFFFS]

not necassarily. If the power has nowhere to go, even if fully stocked on water, the hobbyist will blow up.

heh turn them off when not in use

 

[ShneekeyTheLost]

not necassarily. If the power has nowhere to go, even if fully stocked on water, the hobbyist will blow up.

That's a problem you can easily solve with Redstone Energy Conduit and Redstone Energy Cells. Store excess energy when not in use. Also, it's probably the conductive pipes that are exploding, not the engines. Also by setting up a system for shutting it down when it isn't needed.

 

[Lambert2191]

oh yeah it's easy to fix after you have an assembly table... but this is early game where those are a little outta my price range.

 

[TruculentMC]

If the Hobbyist's engine is connected to an energy conduit, it will never blow up due to excess power stored, even if the power isn't getting used by anything.