Any way to reduce waste of MJ?

[Whyareall]

It seems to me that, unlike IC2's EU, BuildCraft's MJs are not distributed smartly, only when needed. It kind of seems like it tries to maximise waste. For example, I have a gold conductive pipe connected to, among other things, a laser, which apparently operates at full speed when given 4 MJ/t. Theoretically this should mean that my fuel-using combustion engine should supply 4 MJ/t to the laser, and build up 2 MJ/t internal storage, but it just seems to use all the power. EDIT: Even with the laser doing nothing at all, it still drains power.

And another thing, why do redstone energy cells always use up energy at their 'maximum' output, even if the only thing they are connected to is the wooden pipe drawing energy from the engine to power them?

Is there any way to fix these problems without messing around with gates and whatnot? BuildCraft is meant to be about automation, and having to babysit my engines seems really counterproductive.

 

[MigukNamja]

The problem, I believe, is BC3 conductive pipe. Try Redstone Energy Conduit instead. Unless the MJ consumer is supposed to drain energy when idle, like the Thermionic Fabricator, I haven't had a problem with MJ power loss/leakage when using TE Energy Conduit and Energy Cells.

 

[DREVL]

Question: How do I not baby sit my power?
Answer: BC Autarchic Gates and wired pipes

 

[DREVL]

that also sounds like a worthy scenario for MFR's rednet.

 

[Hydra]

And another thing, why do redstone energy cells always use up energy at their 'maximum' output, even if the only thing they are connected to is the wooden pipe drawing energy from the engine to power them?

I don't understand how you can be using energy cells and NOT using the corresponding conduits.

The reason they're losing power is simply because you're mixing in BC pipes. You want to get rid of those asap. If you connect the cell to machines using conduits you won't lose power (aside from what a machine might use/waste).

 

[egor66]

First off BC power was always ment to be always on & wasted, its just the way it was setup, railcraft boilers are the same, as stated above always use conduits as there far far better but remember they have an internal buffer so draw power until its full, as do lasers & assembly table they fill there buffer & then draw a small amount to keep it toped off if you wish to think of it that way, oh & a wooden pipe is meant to draw power so if it connected & its only doing whats it was made for, again use conduits, in the newer version of BC "4" most of these issues have been solved as power pipes work more like conduits than pipes of older versions, & dont forget some forestry & railcraft machines also have a constant power draw, the most notable being rolling machines & fab.

 

[KingTriaxx]

I'd say just use your wrench to unplug the system when it's not in use. Shift-Right click to remove the REC and store it in a chest until you need power. Then plug it back in.

 

[biomirth]

You don't have to babysit your power if you set it up adequately. That is exactly what gates are for. So you can either leak power and keep it simple or seal up the power supply with gates that recognize when power is needed, etc.. But you mostly cannot "keep it simple" and not leak power; that's the whole point of all the fancy automation stuff and the newer buildcraft type machines: they're power hungry and either must be controlled or tolerated.

 

[Whyareall]

Okay, if I connect Conduits powered by a full Cell to Lasers, will the lasers draw as much as they can, or only 4 MJ/t?

 

[Zenthon_127]

They'll only draw what they need iirc.

If you really don't want lasers wasting power then turn it off by having a TiC Drawbridge place/remove a conduit connecting the cell to the lasers. Unless you want to autocraft stuff in the assembly table.

But really, never use buildcraft energy pipes if you can use conduits.

 

[Omicron]

Okay, if I connect Conduits powered by a full Cell to Lasers, will the lasers draw as much as they can, or only 4 MJ/t?

Lasers always draw as much as they can. When there's work to do, "as much as they can" is equal to 4 MJ/t, plus power perdition (also known as idle drain, automatic energy waste, etc). When there's no work to do, they only draw as much as their power perdition value. The only way to make them draw nothing at all is to break the pipe or conduit that's feeding them, or turn off all power generation completely.

By the way: when you ask questions about how mods behave, you should really say which mod version you are using - or at the very least, which pack and pack version number. Because a lot depends on the specific version:
- Conductive pipes have loss in some versions and none in others
- Lasers have 1 MJ/t power perdition in some versions and 0.5 MJ/t in others
- Redstone conduit networks have loss in some versions but none in others

 

[Whyareall]

Yeah, I switched to conduits and have it so my fuel engine only runs when it needs to, although the fact that redstone wire doesn't deliver its signal to every adjacent machine is giving me no small amount of grief.

 

[casilleroatr]

There is a "work scheduled" gate condition for the assembly table. I use it to automatically switch a REC on and off depending on use. It was important because I was wating 25 mj/t on a 25 laser setup. It is worth noting though that assembly tables do output into gold pipes.

 

[twisto51]

I switched to conduit and never looked back. That said bc conductive pipe has received some updates and will probably get even better. I wouldn't write it off completely.

 

[MigukNamja]

Aye, I haven't tried BC4 pipes myself yet. They look promising with the auto-engine shutoff feature. I'd have to imagine, however, that not all BC engines will recognize the auto-shutoff, but definitely worth a retry. Indeed, TE hasn't been updated for 1.6 yet, so updated BC4 pipes are the way to go in 1.6.

 

[Runo]

The best method to reduce waste is redstone logic. Create an array of RECs and use rednet to send a delayed signal to the engines when it receives notice via the REC redstone functionality that it isnt full, plus an interrupt for when the in-signal stops.

Here's a good shape, in a top-down perspective:

OCI
CRC
ICO

I = input conduit
O=output conduit
C=redstone energy cell
R=red net cable

You could also swap the R with either I or O, any configuration works.

Another worthy endeavor is to isolate machines that have a constant draw, like the rolling machine, and either have them near a renewable source further up on the network or control their connection via a REC and more logic. I don't find this worthwhile since I'm gonna have a draw from AE anyway, so the delay from the REC is always gonna fire eventually.

 

[Ako_the_Builder]

I'm really liking the new conductive pipes and am using them over conduits in some cases, redstone energy cells (RECs) are still boss though.

A tidy solution using TE for BC Lasers (which also always draw power in newer versions): REC with main power going in and dedicated power to your lasers coming out set to redstone enabled high cobblestone structure pipe with iron gate attached between the REC and your assembly table with the condition: work scheduled = redstone signal.

 

[MigukNamja]

Nice ! I'll have to give that a try. The BC lasers always drawing power has been annoying.

 

[Wekmor]

Best way to not waste MJ? Use them.

xD

 

[GPuzzle]

The problem, I believe, is BC3 conductive pipe. Try Redstone Energy Conduit instead. Unless the MJ consumer is supposed to drain energy when idle, like the Thermionic Fabricator, I haven't had a problem with MJ power loss/leakage when using TE Energy Conduit and Energy Cells.

Actually, Forestry, Railcraft AND Buildcraft use an idea from CovertJaguar (and possibly Sengir) which essentially is "all machines draw power while idle" when using BC conductive pipes. However, the TE energy conduits don't work that way, stopping the power draw.