How MV Solar array actually work?

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AquaLiquid

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Jul 29, 2019
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hello guys, i am new here, i am not sure if iam put this thread on correct place or not, but i hope you guys can help, since i already google this but find no "real" answer
so in my game, previously i use 4 IC2 geothermal generator
and recently i decide to switch to more clean and free energy, i made 3 MV solar array, 1 MFE and 1 LV transformer
heres my setup :
8wiqI.png


i doing some read/research of course before made them
each geothermal generator output 20 EU/t and in total it should output 80 EU/t
and each MV solar array output 64 EU/t and in total it should output 192 EU/t
but after switch into MV solar array, it cant fully substitute power from previous my geothermal engine setup, it works fine for powering my auto farms and ME network, but it will drop down when i use more (2/3 IC2) machines , this never an issue before

so what should i do?, make more MFE or LV transformer?, or more MV solar array?

thank you guys so much for the help :D
 
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Loxinnightwalker

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Jul 29, 2019
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Well one thing to remember is that they only work for power on sunny days. if there is rain or it is night then they don't work. Also some of the new Ic2 stuff needs a lot more power. I'm guessing that you might want a transformer upgrade in the machines and then add more solars to just keep making more power.
 
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AquaLiquid

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Jul 29, 2019
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Loxinnightwalker said:
Well one thing to remember is that they only work for power on sunny days. if there is rain or it is night then they don't work. Also some of the new Ic2 stuff needs a lot more power. I'm guessing that you might want a transformer upgrade in the machines and then add more solars to just keep making more power.
Click to expand...
well yes, but it should be no problem since i got the MFE to store power, is it because of the MFE and not output the power directly from the solar panel/LV transformer?

Celestialphoenix said:
Which pack/version?
Are there any blocks above the solar panels?
Click to expand...
use the 1.6.4 , and theres no blocks, everything is clear
 
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Loxinnightwalker

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Jul 29, 2019
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What I mean is that if you remove the lv transformer and use the upgrades then they will be able to hold the power better. (Or that is how it has worked for me in the past.
 
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AquaLiquid

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Jul 29, 2019
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ah do you mean upgrade like in this video?

it's quite expensive to make and i got quite a lot IC2 machines ;_;
i think i'll go with more MV solar array :/
 
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Loxinnightwalker

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Jul 29, 2019
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I just thought of something else. About how far are you sending the power? there is power loss over each block moved. and what cables are you using?
 
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AquaLiquid

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Jul 29, 2019
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Loxinnightwalker said:
If that is how far you are sending it a better but not as cheep choice would be to use gold, it is a lot better then copper for sending power around.
Click to expand...
ah great, thanks, i'll try it, got lot of gold that i never really use from quarry, should be no problem :D
 
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zemerick

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Jul 29, 2019
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I haven't used IC2 since before the IC2E updates, so I don't know if anything with the EU network has changed.

That being said, here is at least how it used to work:

Each solar generator, during the day, would generate its EU. In this case, you have 3 each generating 64 eu/t. 20 ticks per second, 600 seconds per day, that's a total of 2,304,000 EU per day generated.

Now, each of those transmits its EU in packets of 64 EU, once every tick. This is pretty important. That's the number that will be affected by the power loss of the cables. With a copper cable, after every 4 cables, you lose 1 EU. So, at cables 5, 9, 13, 17 and 20 you would lose 1 EU, bringing it down to 59 EU. This happens with every single packet.

Even worse, you can't run 64 EU per packet through a copper cable. This means you need the transformer, and the way transformers work is to split up the initial packet that came in. In the case of the LV-Transformer and the 64 EU packets coming in, it will output 2 32 EU packets. So, now instead of losing 5 EU per packet of 64, you lose 5 for every 32...bringing you down to 27 EU per packet. That comes out to a loss of 360,000 EU every day. This brings you down to 1,944,000 EU earned.

Interestingly, you're now in a bit of a weird spot. The gold cables probably won't do anything, because they actually lose energy more frequently than copper cables. Their advantage comes from running a higher EU per packet, and you actually are still only half of golds max of 128. For single insulated gold cable ( because you can't have 2x ins. any more ) you are looking at 1 eu every 2.22 blocks, rounded down. For 24, this would be 10 eu lost per packet of 64...which is the same as 5 lost every 32.

However, with this knowledge, you can actually game the system. If you place a transformer or batbox after every 4 copper cables, you will never lose any EU at all. Well, you'll still have to worry about storing enough power to last through the night, but at least you wouldn't be bleeding it all over the place.

I am going to go ahead and try to test this in a test world I have and see what scenario performs the best for ya with the current monster pack.
 
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Loxinnightwalker

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Jul 29, 2019
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zemerick said:
I haven't used IC2 since before the IC2E updates, so I don't know if anything with the EU network has changed.

That being said, here is at least how it used to work:

Each solar generator, during the day, would generate its EU. In this case, you have 3 each generating 64 eu/t. 20 ticks per second, 600 seconds per day, that's a total of 2,304,000 EU per day generated.

Now, each of those transmits its EU in packets of 64 EU, once every tick. This is pretty important. That's the number that will be affected by the power loss of the cables. With a copper cable, after every 4 cables, you lose 1 EU. So, at cables 5, 9, 13, 17 and 20 you would lose 1 EU, bringing it down to 59 EU. This happens with every single packet.

Even worse, you can't run 64 EU per packet through a copper cable. This means you need the transformer, and the way transformers work is to split up the initial packet that came in. In the case of the LV-Transformer and the 64 EU packets coming in, it will output 2 32 EU packets. So, now instead of losing 5 EU per packet of 64, you lose 5 for every 32...bringing you down to 27 EU per packet. That comes out to a loss of 360,000 EU every day. This brings you down to 1,944,000 EU earned.

Interestingly, you're now in a bit of a weird spot. The gold cables probably won't do anything, because they actually lose energy more frequently than copper cables. Their advantage comes from running a higher EU per packet, and you actually are still only half of golds max of 128. For single insulated gold cable ( because you can't have 2x ins. any more ) you are looking at 1 eu every 2.22 blocks, rounded down. For 24, this would be 10 eu lost per packet of 64...which is the same as 5 lost every 32.

However, with this knowledge, you can actually game the system. If you place a transformer or batbox after every 4 copper cables, you will never lose any EU at all. Well, you'll still have to worry about storing enough power to last through the night, but at least you wouldn't be bleeding it all over the place.

I am going to go ahead and try to test this in a test world I have and see what scenario performs the best for ya with the current monster pack.
Click to expand...
Well, I just ran the numbers and did some tests. you seem to be right on every part of this... but I could be wrong on my numbers. (Wouldn't be the first time.) So all I can say is I think you are right about this.
 
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zemerick

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Jul 29, 2019
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Loxinnightwalker said:
Well, I just ran the numbers and did some tests. you seem to be right on every part of this... but I could be wrong on my numbers. (Wouldn't be the first time.) So all I can say is I think you are right about this.
Click to expand...

Well, nope, lol. They made some huge changes apparently. In my actual test I got about 5 TIMES more power from a straight line of gold to an MFSU vs. either copper from a transformer then straight down, or a series of transformers.

So: OP, you should run gold connected straight to the glass fibre cables ( It seemed VERY important to not have a transformer there. ) for the 24 blocks to an MFE. Then take the output from the MFE and use an LV transformer to bring it down to 32 for your machines. ( Assuming they need 32.) Not having the transformer before the MFE is what made the biggest difference in my test. I went from about 15,000 EU in about 10 seconds, to about 75,000 EU in the same time.

ThatOneSlowking said:
Can't MFEs take MV voltage?
Click to expand...

Yes they can.
 
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Loxinnightwalker

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Jul 29, 2019
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zemerick said:
Well, nope, lol. They made some huge changes apparently. In my actual test I got about 5 TIMES more power from a straight line of gold to an MFSU vs. either copper from a transformer then straight down, or a series of transformers.

So: OP, you should run gold connected straight to the glass fibre cables ( It seemed VERY important to not have a transformer there. ) for the 24 blocks to an MFE. Then take the output from the MFE and use an LV transformer to bring it down to 32 for your machines. ( Assuming they need 32.) Not having the transformer before the MFE is what made the biggest difference in my test. I went from about 15,000 EU in about 10 seconds, to about 75,000 EU in the same time.



Yes they can.
Click to expand...
Haha I had a feeling I didn't set that up right! xD
 
A

AquaLiquid

New Member
Jul 29, 2019
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zemerick said:
Well, nope, lol. They made some huge changes apparently. In my actual test I got about 5 TIMES more power from a straight line of gold to an MFSU vs. either copper from a transformer then straight down, or a series of transformers.

So: OP, you should run gold connected straight to the glass fibre cables ( It seemed VERY important to not have a transformer there. ) for the 24 blocks to an MFE. Then take the output from the MFE and use an LV transformer to bring it down to 32 for your machines. ( Assuming they need 32.) Not having the transformer before the MFE is what made the biggest difference in my test. I went from about 15,000 EU in about 10 seconds, to about 75,000 EU in the same time.



Yes they can.
Click to expand...

thank you for the reply, but iam afraid iam not fully understand what you explain, but i make sketch based on what you saying, at least how i understand it
so heres the old setup :
8xpCs.png
and this how the new setup looks based on what you explaining, but iam not sure which one is the correct one
8xpz9.png
or
8xpCM.png

thank you for the help :D
 
Z

zemerick

New Member
Jul 29, 2019
667
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AquaLiquid said:
thank you for the reply, but iam afraid iam not fully understand what you explain, but i make sketch based on what you saying, at least how i understand it
so heres the old setup :
8xpCs.png
and this how the new setup looks based on what you explaining, but iam not sure which one is the correct one
8xpz9.png
or
8xpCM.png

thank you for the help :D
Click to expand...

The first one. MFE comes before the LV Trans.

I would expect to see a MASSIVE difference when you do it this way too. As mentioned, I was getting probably more than 5 times the energy that way.

That being said, I could not figure out how exactly things work. I ended up with 3 identical setups, all run from the same wireless transmitter to run the exact same amount of time...and every single time they came out a little bit different:(
 
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