Big Reactors question ... did I mess something up in my setup? Also Power drill question(s)?

[Brian Cherrick]

The access port in the screenshot below is the leftmost port. The problem I have as you can see below is that it is set to import Yellorium ingots (which it does), but it also is spitting out the Cyanite ingots as well. While not a problem now, it will eventually gum up and stop when it reaches 64 Cyanite ingots since I can't export, and import in the same slot. Anyone have an idea as to what can be the issue?





As for the power drills, what is the correct laser focus to use for the drill to pick up more yellorite/uranium? Trying to make the above reactor to where it can be self sufficient with the power it puts out. How much power can this thing put out and still be self sufficient? It caps out at about 13k RF/tick if ran at 100%.

Could use some insight on this.

Thanks

 

[GreenZombie]

The fuel ejection logic in Big Reactors isn't that smart yet and distributes waste ingots to the first (in creation/load order) available Access Port regardless of IO settings.

If you let that port fill up with 64 ingots, then the port you have configured for export will start to receive the overflow.

If having 64 ingots "idling" in an access port annoys your OCD, the alternative is to swap your import / export assignments. Just be aware that if you fiddle with the reactor, the access port instantiation order might be different on the next world load - but it would be stable on subsequent loads.

--
Yellow filters definitely work.
--
http://forum.feed-the-beast.com/threads/the-little-big-reactor-that-could.46481/ has some general design guidance.
--
Generally you want to build the reactor with much more capacity than you need, and then use a MFR rednet controller (best) or redstone to moderate the reactor down to the required power output as they are generally more fuel efficient the cooler they are run.

 

[MigukNamja]

What @Chris Becke said, plus you probably want to build a 2nd Access Port and configure that one output (blue). It will then automatically eject Cyanite to that port and you can then easily take it out using itemducts, AE import buses, etc.,. Depending upon how much Cyanite you want to keep as Cyanite for a Steam Turbine setup at a later point, you may want to re-process the Cynanite 2-for-1 into Blutonium. The Blutonium can then be 'burned' in the reactor exactly the same as Yellorite. This effectively increases/extends your Yellorite fuel input by 50%.

However, with yellow foci in an MFR laser, you won't need to. You'll get way more Yellorium Ore than you need. Someone said Cyan foci also work. Cyan is from Big Reactors code, not MFR code. I haven't tried it myself, but will try it tonight.

Agree with @Chris Becke about throttling it. If your reactor is max. 13k RF/t, but you're only using a fraction of that for an MFR laser, even with yellow foci, you *may* not be able to keep up with it in terms of fuel burn. I'd throttle it based upon demand. I believe there are some relatively easy ways to do this using controllers that adjust fuel rods based upon the energy stored in the internal RF buffer.

 

[GreenZombie]

You will require 20kRF/t to fully power a MFR laser on default settings (AgS halves the power requirements of the pre-chargers).

You need to add an additional Reactor Power Tap for each multiple of 10kRF/t as a single redstone power conduit connection can only handle up to 10kRF/t. An alternative is to place a tesseract *on* the power tap, and distribute power that way.

--

@MigukNamija - er, because the bluetonium fuel itself generates waste that can be reprocessed, reprocessing extendens the yellorite supply by 100%

--

The "most" efficient thing to do would actually be to not worry too much about effiency at this stage. Let it run hot, DON'T reprocess the cynaite into bluetonium, and use it to make a turbine when supplies are sufficient.

 

[MigukNamja]

@MigukNamja - er, because the bluetonium fuel itself generates waste that can be reprocessed, reprocessing extendens the yellorite supply by 100%

Ah...good point, yes. I hadn't thought about successive stages of Blutonium. 1/2 + 1/4 + ... does indeed approach 1 at the limit of infinity.

 

[GreenZombie]

Ah...good point, yes. I hadn't thought about successive stages of Blutonium. 1/2 + 1/4 + ... does indeed approach 1 at the limit of infinity.

I made the exact same mistake on another thread

 

[Brian Cherrick]

The fuel ejection logic in Big Reactors isn't that smart yet and distributes waste ingots to the first (in creation/load order) available Access Port regardless of IO settings.

If you let that port fill up with 64 ingots, then the port you have configured for export will start to receive the overflow.

If having 64 ingots "idling" in an access port annoys your OCD, the alternative is to swap your import / export assignments. Just be aware that if you fiddle with the reactor, the access port instantiation order might be different on the next world load - but it would be stable on subsequent loads.

--
Yellow filters definitely work.
--
http://forum.feed-the-beast.com/threads/the-little-big-reactor-that-could.46481/ has some general design guidance.
--
Generally you want to build the reactor with much more capacity than you need, and then use a MFR rednet controller (best) or redstone to moderate the reactor down to the required power output as they are generally more fuel efficient the cooler they are run.

I went with your reactor design. But I do have a question for you. What is the rate at which it burns fuel? I mean how long per ingot, I assume it is self sustaining when hooked up to an MFR laser? What would be the rate (in your estimation) of ingots gained per ingot burned? Trying to determine if the amount it gains can power multiple reactors, as I have 2 smaller ones for various things.

 

[GreenZombie]

The BR controller GUI shows the fuel consumption in mb/t. If the consumption is .24mb/t then the reactor is consuming 4.6mb per second as there are 20 minecraft ticks per second. BR makes 1000 millibuckets per ingot so thats 3.6 minutes per ingot.

 

[Brian Cherrick]

The BR controller GUI shows the fuel consumption in mb/t. If the consumption is .24mb/t then the reactor is consuming 4.6mb per second as there are 20 minecraft ticks per second. BR makes 1000 millibuckets per ingot so thats 3.6 minutes per ingot.

How many reactors would you say could be powered off of that 1 reactor powering the drill in your estimation?

I went out at 2:16 PM EST today. At that time I had 1,418 yellorium ingots. I got home at 6:42 PM EST. I had 1,754 ingots. So over approximately 4-1/2 hours I got 336 ingots. Not sure how much I could go for after that. I did turn 4 rods down by 30%, and 4 down by 20%. So that is helping to save as well. That seemed to be the minimum I could go and still have 100% power going to the prechargers.

 

[rhn]

Ah...good point, yes. I hadn't thought about successive stages of Blutonium. 1/2 + 1/4 + ... does indeed approach 1 at the limit of infinity.

I made the exact same mistake on another thread

Linky

 

[MigukNamja]

Linky

He worked it out with a pencil !

 

[MigukNamja]

How many reactors would you say could be powered off of that 1 reactor powering the drill in your estimation?

I went out at 2:16 PM EST today. At that time I had 1,418 yellorium ingots. I got home at 6:42 PM EST. I had 1,754 ingots. So over approximately 4-1/2 hours I got 336 ingots. Not sure how much I could go for after that. I did turn 4 rods down by 30%, and 4 down by 20%. So that is helping to save as well. That seemed to be the minimum I could go and still have 100% power going to the prechargers.

For my semi-efficient passively-cooled reactor and MFR Laser with full yellow foci, I'm pulling out at least 4x as much Yellorium as I need, maybe 6x to 8x as much as I need to power it. If I make it more efficient and turn it into an actively cooled to power a 900rpm ot 1800rpm steam turbine, that would further increase the net fuel gain multiplier.

As for more reactors vs. 1 reactor, it should be most efficient - in terms of fuel efficiency, material efficiency and real estate efficiency - to make a single reactor. If it's putting out over 2000mB/t of steam, then it could power multiple steam turbines. If passively cooled and in excess of 10k RF/t, can use a Tesseract directly on the power tap or else use multiple power taps if connecting to cells or conduits.

My long-term plan for my reactor is exactly 2000mB/t of steam, with the reactor built much larger than what it needs be, with control rods inserted umm....deeply. I *believe* reactors are most efficient when they are oversized and throttled way back to keep them running cool. I just want 1 steam turbine for my final build.

 

[McJty]

You will require 20kRF/t to fully power a MFR laser on default settings (AgS halves the power requirements of the pre-chargers).

You need to add an additional Reactor Power Tap for each multiple of 10kRF/t as a single redstone power conduit connection can only handle up to 10kRF/t. An alternative is to place a tesseract *on* the power tap, and distribute power that way.

I generally use EnderIO cables with BigReactors as they can go up to 20KRF/tick.

 

[Pyure]

For my semi-efficient passively-cooled reactor and MFR Laser with full yellow foci, I'm pulling out at least 4x as much Yellorium as I need, maybe 6x to 8x as much as I need to power it. If I make it more efficient and turn it into an actively cooled to power a 900rpm ot 1800rpm steam turbine, that would further increase the net fuel gain multiplier.

As for more reactors vs. 1 reactor, it should be most efficient - in terms of fuel efficiency, material efficiency and real estate efficiency - to make a single reactor. If it's putting out over 2000mB/t of steam, then it could power multiple steam turbines. If passively cooled and in excess of 10k RF/t, can use a Tesseract directly on the power tap or else use multiple power taps if connecting to cells or conduits.

My long-term plan for my reactor is exactly 2000mB/t of steam, with the reactor built much larger than what it needs be, with control rods inserted umm....deeply. I *believe* reactors are most efficient when they are oversized and throttled way back to keep them running cool. I just want 1 steam turbine for my final build.

My massive (ok 5x5) is throttled at 90/90/90/90, so I hope you're right that its helping efficiency.

Sometimes I have to throttle it further, say to 90/90/100/100. Hope there's no real downside to that.

 

[Brian Cherrick]

I generally use EnderIO cables with BigReactors as they can go up to 20KRF/tick.

Energy transfer nodes is what I was using for the 11x11 design Chris has. They have no forseeable cap. Don't have Ender IO on my server.

 

[GreenZombie]

How do you have four control rods in a 5x5? If those are the exterior dimensions that will put fuel rods against the reactor casing which should be terrible for efficiency.

 

[Pyure]

How do you have four control rods in a 5x5? If those are the exterior dimensions that will put fuel rods against the reactor casing which should be terrible for efficiency.

Dunno? Is it possible I've misinterpreted advice? Bear with me, I'm newly getting acquainted with the mod.

WWWWW
WCRCW
WRCRW
WCRCW
WWWWW

Wall
Rod
Coolant

I *think* I'm doing a + rather than an x arrangement. Can't confirm atm.

This seems to be the popular arrangement for a 5x5.

If you have better advice (and will defend it against the hordes of other experts that I will toss your way) then I'm delighted to implement it

Important notes:
* My coolant is currently Gold. I believe the best I can do in this modpack (InfiTech) is diamond.
* I lack the resources to create a reactor larger than this

 

[Brian Cherrick]

Here is my reactor room.



The first reactor on the left is a 7x7x7, and is just cooled by liquid ender, as at the time, I didn't have the diamonds for it. It currently outputs about 13k RF/tick at maximum. The middle reactor is also a 7x7x7, but is cooled by liquid ender, and diamond blocks (love the diamond ore page I found). It also outputs about 13k RF/tick, but at a much lower temperature.

The final (right side) reactor is based on Chris's design. It's 11x11x7, and I plan to scale it upwards as I have more power needs. I have it outputting 20k RF/tick as it is throttled back 20% on 4 rods, and 30% on the other 4. It fully powers my 4 pre-chargers without an issue, and I have a massive net gain on yellorium/uranium to keep the 3 reactors running now. It's cool by gelid cryotheum. It's maximum output is around 25k RF/tick.

I waited till I had enough for a 7x7 so I could keep the rods off the walls. 3 is ideal as shown by the 3rd reactor, but even 1 is better than none.

 

[GreenZombie]

Dunno? Is it possible I've misinterpreted advice? Bear with me, I'm newly getting acquainted with the mod.

WWWWW
WCRCW
WRCRW
WCRCW
WWWWW

Wall
Rod
Coolant

I *think* I'm doing a + rather than an x arrangement. Can't confirm atm.

This seems to be the popular arrangement for a 5x5.

If you have better advice (and will defend it against the hordes of other experts that I will toss your way) then I'm delighted to implement it

Important notes:
* My coolant is currently Gold. I believe the best I can do in this modpack (InfiTech) is diamond.
* I lack the resources to create a reactor larger than this

*coff*

Apologies for the delay in the reply.

I must admit. having built that little reactor, that it runs cooler than I expected, with a decent amount of fertilization.
Given the constraints of trying to fit 4 cores into a 5x5 space, that little reactor produces 1.4kRF/t..
Bloody hell, with its restricted design its getting 44MRF/ingot, only half that of a "big" cryotheum cooled reactor.
Stick with it.

 

[Brian Cherrick]

The fuel ejection logic in Big Reactors isn't that smart yet and distributes waste ingots to the first (in creation/load order) available Access Port regardless of IO settings.

If you let that port fill up with 64 ingots, then the port you have configured for export will start to receive the overflow.

If having 64 ingots "idling" in an access port annoys your OCD, the alternative is to swap your import / export assignments. Just be aware that if you fiddle with the reactor, the access port instantiation order might be different on the next world load - but it would be stable on subsequent loads.

--
Yellow filters definitely work.
--
http://forum.feed-the-beast.com/threads/the-little-big-reactor-that-could.46481/ has some general design guidance.
--
Generally you want to build the reactor with much more capacity than you need, and then use a MFR rednet controller (best) or redstone to moderate the reactor down to the required power output as they are generally more fuel efficient the cooler they are run.

What color focus would get me more redstone? I get some using the yellow, and lime ... but is there a focus that'd get me more?