Automate RE Cell power with BC Gates

[trev1234]

As the title above posts, is it even remotely possible to automate the switching on and off of a Redstone Energy Cell (TE) with the BC gates? i've tried so many ideas, but none achieve what i'm after.

I'm aiming for 2 Redstone Cells to act as my power buffers, so when one is empty, the other is active while the other fills, (from my Force Engines) but all i get it a glorious array of Flashing lights from the BC gates triggering pipe signals when the primary cube loses 50mj

 

[Seraph089]

The Programmable Rednet Controller can do it with an RS Latch. I don't remember the exact setup on the PRC, but you would put 2 gates on the REC (one set to Empty > redstone on, the other set Full >redstone on) connected to rednet cables set to different colors. The "Empty" redstone signal turns on the Latch (which turns on the engines), the "Full" signal turns it off

 

[trev1234]

Thanks, i'll take a look into the PRC, seems a tad complex, but that's what FTB is all about learning new things

 

[Seraph089]

Thanks, i'll take a look into the PRC, seems a tad complex, but that's what FTB is all about learning new things

It's definitely complex, but the latch isn't too bad once you try it. The PRC program should be along the lines of S input = "Empty" signal, R input = "Full" signal, and Q output = redstone signal to the engines.

(And it's actually called SR Latch, yay dyslexia)

 

[trev1234]

well IIRC the actual redstone dust version is the RS latch, but seemed to change with the PRC, nonetheless, i understood what you were saying, and thanks for the assist

EDIT: Will this work with 2 RE Cells?

 

[Ravnen]

Sure it, just put a gate next to the cells and tell them to emit a redstone signal when a condition is met. By default redstone energy cells turn off their output when given a signal

 

[Seraph089]

Will this work with 2 RE Cells?

Sure will. Easiest way would be to have them connected in series (Engines > REC1 > REC2 > machines), connect the gates to the first cell, and leave them both active full time.

 

[trev1234]

so would it not work if if it was in parallel?

is my set up for any reference needed, just removed the PRC since it didnt seem to work, unless there is, and I'm dumb and never figured it

 

[Seraph089]

so would it not work if if it was in parallel?

Parallel works too. For a PRC setup, each gate needs to be set to a different rednet color, and 2 seperate SR Latches would need to be set up in the PRC.

And the PRC should work, I've used the exact setup before. Did it do anything?

 

[trev1234]

I was looking at all the Doohickeys and stuff, then did the SR-Latch, and i was confused, so I tried having one cells Off Gate as Orange, and the other cells On gate as magenta, but it never worked, it just refused to even activate

 

[Seraph089]

Threw together a quick test world mockup.

Basic setup. Magenta gate is the "Empty", orange is "Full". Position doesn't matter, as long as they're different colors.

And here's the PRC program. Note the I/O L on the inputs (cable comes in the left side or PRC), and I/O R on the output (cable on the right of the PRC), with the colors set appropriately. Same setup works with parallel cells, make a second page on the PRC with different colors for both inputs.

 

[trev1234]

i still don't understand how this works

 

[zilvarwolf]

Just curious: Why would you do this thing with the second REC? I can see having a full one at all times (I keep mine in my force bag right now), but why wouldn't you just have your system setup to pulse the engines briefly when the REC is not full? My experience, such as it is, is that it doesn't pulse until the cell is about 1% down, so the engines don't run constantly, and most engines have a small energy buffer that will empty into the REC when the redstone signal is received.

The only thing that could be important is to either use two gates and red pipe wire to keep the redstone signal from interfering with the REC, or just tell it to ignore redstone signals. I like the first approach. I seem to recall having problems with the second approach that I could not explain and didn't care enough to try to resolve.

 

[trev1234]

I use two, one for machines and the other for machines that continually drain energy (rolling machine and forestry machines)

 

[Seraph089]

Just curious: Why would you do this thing with the second REC? I can see having a full one at all times (I keep mine in my force bag right now), but why wouldn't you just have your system setup to pulse the engines briefly when the REC is not full?

There are 2 main situations where this method is better than pulsing: massive burst power generation (lots of engines), or engines that need to warm up (i.e. Hobbyist's). A PRC offers a lot of fine-grain control over complex power systems.

i still don't understand how this works

You really need to play with it for it to make sense. Try making a separate test world (creative) to experiment. If you copy my mockup, it'll definitely work

 

[zilvarwolf]

There are 2 main situations where this method is better than pulsing: massive burst power generation (lots of engines), or engines that need to warm up (i.e. Hobbyist's). A PRC offers a lot of fine-grain control over complex power systems.

Hadn't considered the possibility of engines with a warmup. I tend not to use them.

Massive banks of engines could be an issue...I guess because you don't want the engines to dump 60000000 mj when you only need 600. I see. Yeah, hadn't considered those possibilities. Thanks

 

[trev1234]

Thanks Seraph089, i decided to just scrap the second cell as it was causing an odd thing to happen, i had them all set to different colours, but when cell 2 filled, (cell one was empty) it stopped the engines, and cell 1 never filled. so to prevent annoyance i just removed it, however, the SR-latch Works! thanks for the help!

 

[KingTriaxx]

My solution is a bit simpler. It requires OR gates, and some pipe wire.

First, you'll want to connect them in series, rather than in parallel. So you have Cell/Conduitx3/Cell one gate on the cell closest to the network and one on the cell further away. Set the further one to emit a pipe wire signal when the energy cell is empty, and set the closer one to emit a redstone signal if it's getting pipe wire or if it's energy cell can store energy. They should pull from the further cell first. (Actually it's feeding the closer cell which isn't losing power because it's being refilled as fast as the further cell. That'll start the engines running once one cell is empty and the other is taking the brunt, but also prevent the closer cell from being completely drained if something happens to the conduit's connecting them.

 

[namiasdf]

It is possible with gates.

(a) One gate on one REC set to:
- If red ON -> redstone signal off; this will activate the REC if red signal is sent allowing for energy flow

(b) The other gate on the other REC set to:
- If no energy -> red signal; this will activate the other REC, taking the energy load off of this one
- If no energy -> redstone signal; this will deactivate this REC allowing it to be charged

This system in no way manages how you choose to charge the RECs.[DOUBLEPOST=1377296821][/DOUBLEPOST]Addition to (a)

- If red OFF -> redstone signal on; I hope this is obvious