BC power Switches

[Herrozerro]

Hello all!

I usually use IC2 as my main power source and with it's passive power generation methods things like an ME network that are a constant draw are not usually an issue. But I have decided to forsake IC2 this time and use BC power. Namely some Stirling engines and redstone conduits and an energy cell. now usually with IC2 I'd use a splitter cable to cut power if I needed it.

Is there something similar to that in BC or Thermal Expansion? (I using ultimate with gregtech disabled)

 

[Zjarek_S]

Good way is to just disable engines, for example when energy cell is full. Energy cell can be disabled by redstone signal when emitting energy, but it will only conserve fuel when using TE engines. However AE networks don't take that much energy, a couple of combustion engines should fuel it without problem.

 

[Ammaneus]

Not AFAIK, but Redstone Energy Cells stop emitting power by default if they get a redstone signal (they still charge though)

 

[Herrozerro]

is there anyway to find out if a cell is full or not? another thing I could do with IC2 was if a batt box was full i could emit a signal to do stuff.

 

[Lambert2191]

BC logic gates can tell if its full or not.

 

[KirinDave]

BC logic gates can tell if its full or not.

Indeed. A common trick is to use wireless redstone in conjunction with logic gates to send a signal to your engines to turn off when the redstone energy cells are not full. There are several power settings that gates can detect, so you can tune them to how your engines perform if you're not afraid to add more resdtone logic.

But honestly what most people do is exploit how efficient Steve's Carts or Redpower 2 stuff is to have a huge power input into their system in the form of a steam boiler run on liquids and wood. They then just run that all the time without caring about how much they're wasting. It is much easier. I only use the former method when I have magmatic engines and I want to be a bit more efficient about how often I need to move my nether lava tap.

 

[Herrozerro]

Indeed. A common trick is to use wireless redstone in conjunction with logic gates to send a signal to your engines to turn off when the redstone energy cells are not full. There are several power settings that gates can detect, so you can tune them to how your engines perform if you're not afraid to add more resdtone logic.

But honestly what most people do is exploit how efficient Steve's Carts or Redpower 2 stuff is to have a huge power input into their system in the form of a steam boiler run on liquids and wood. They then just run that all the time without caring about how much they're wasting. It is much easier. I only use the former method when I have magmatic engines and I want to be a bit more efficient about how often I need to move my nether lava tap.

I have a good setup with a tree kart bringing in enough wood to keep my boiler going now. But still, what would be a good way to keep my engines from shutting down? I have a gate on my energy cell and I am triggering redstone on can store power. The issue is when it gets full my engines just get feathered constantly. Am I risking some kind of shutdown or lag because of the flickering engines?

 

[KirinDave]

I have a good setup with a tree kart bringing in enough wood to keep my boiler going now. But still, what would be a good way to keep my engines from shutting down? I have a gate on my energy cell and I am triggering redstone on can store power. The issue is when it gets full my engines just get feathered constantly. Am I risking some kind of shutdown or lag because of the flickering engines?

If you're in 1.4.7 it's pretty trivial to use a state cell to stop them from feathering, but in general it's not a problem TO feather if you're using magmatic engines. Magmatic engines are like Geothermal generators from IC2 in that they don't have any downside to blinking on and off constantly.

But if you are using steam engines, then you're in 1.4.7 (unless you have a beta of Railcraft for 1.5.1, in which case can I have it please? ). In this case, consider using a redpower2 state cell to demand the request pulse be active for a certain amount of time before re-enabling your engines.

Feathering your engines is not exactly a bad thing if you're using steam engines and they do reach max heat. Why bother fixing it?

 

[Zjarek_S]

If you're in 1.4.7 it's pretty trivial to use a state cell to stop them from feathering, but in general it's not a problem TO feather if you're using magmatic engines. Magmatic engines are like Geothermal generators from IC2 in that they don't have any downside to blinking on and off constantly.

But if you are using steam engines, then you're in 1.4.7 (unless you have a beta of Railcraft for 1.5.1, in which case can I have it please? ). In this case, consider using a redpower2 state cell to demand the request pulse be active for a certain amount of time before re-enabling your engines.

Feathering your engines is not exactly a bad thing if you're using steam engines and they do reach max heat. Why bother fixing it?

I think that RS latch will be better, just enable engines when energy cell (can be used with other energy storage like MFSU) is empty and disable them when it is full. Also it is easy to do well with normal redstone.

 

[KirinDave]

I think that RS latch will be better, just enable engines when energy cell (can be used with other energy storage like MFSU) is empty and disable them when it is full. Also it is easy to do well with normal redstone.

A state cell is just an RS latch coupled with a timer and an OR and AND gate.

 

[Herrozerro]

Thanks! I used an RS switch and it works perfectly, shutting down the engines when power is full, back online when empty.

Now I just need to get a kill switch for the whole operation in the case of a Steve's cart malfunction or another players interaction. Bring the system down gracefully.