Is there a way to split the EU I generate so it will all go to one MFE, and ONLY if that one is full it will branch off and go to another?
IC2 energy control
- Thread starter Evil Hamster
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Not very easily. The only real way to do this is to put one feeding into the other, which I suspect isn't quite what you want.
I think each cable split splits the power evenly (assuming that it's being requested at the end of both of the splits). There is an EU splitter or detector cable or something which will only allow it to pass when it has a redstone signal. I think people have used this as a way of offloading their excess power to a mass fab, or equivalent.
Yes, that's exactly what I want to use it for!
I want to run a mass fab without having it drain energy from my workshop area.
I want to run a mass fab without having it drain energy from my workshop area.
MFSUs can output a redstone signal if there's specific requirements, and I believe MFEs can do so as well. The most straightforward way of doing this is by having your MFE output a redstone signal when it is full and using that to control a splitter cable leading to your mass fab.
I think you can use the splitter cable combined with the redstone output on the MFEs to only allow current when the block is full, but it'd be easier when RP2 is updated. I'd probably reccomend having, say, an MFSU hooked into both, and an MFE in your workshop, as the buffer for it. Have the Mass fab running on demand (lever, or BC gate). Put out output of the MFSU to the MFE and the mass fab, as a split. That way there will always be a base level of energy for the workshop to use on demand, but the Mass fab can drain the MFSU when it needs to. It's unilkely that you'll use the MFE's entire store before you are able to refill it agin. What's the generation on it? Is it something that you can divert a few generators to the Mass fab, and leave the rest on the workshop?
It's probably also worth throttling the mass fab by putting it at the tail end of a low-voltage transformer. That'll limit that it takes to 128EU/tick (or possibly 32, I can't quite remember).
In Tekkit, I had 4 LV Solar Arrays going into individual MFE's, all 4 MFEs also were supported by generators, water mills and geothermal. One MFE powered only my Mass Fabricator, One my Quarries, One my Forcefield, and the remaining one went to my house/factory (which also had MFEs and MFSU's in it). Thus I never ran out of power for everything apart from my Mass Fabricator, which wasn't a big deal.
I propose a system I worked on in 1.2.5 for just such an occasion. It was initially built to limit a watermill IC2/RP2 generator system from running continuously. Basically when I had all MFEs full, the timer on the watermills would stop and restart after a buffer quantity of EU was spent. This is just a small draft I quickly drew from memory so you might need to do some tweaks on it. Enjoy!
It was done with a little bit of RP2 cable but it is very easy to set up some vanilla redstone wiring.
It allows the system to put energy in the MFSU only when the workshop is fully stocked with energy.
It was done with a little bit of RP2 cable but it is very easy to set up some vanilla redstone wiring.
It allows the system to put energy in the MFSU only when the workshop is fully stocked with energy.
Wow, that is... quite involved.
Does it not work if you simply take the chain of two MFEs, set the second to emit when full, feed the signal through a NOT gate and have it toggle the massfab directly? If you add repeaters, you can specify a buffer delay to prevent really fast toggling. With Redpower repeaters, that can be up to ~13 seconds long (128 redstone ticks) per single repeater. With vanilla repeaters you only get up to 0.4 seconds each, so you'll have to chain a few (but you get a neat visual effect as a bonus).
What happens here that as long as the second MFE is not full, the NOT gate will emit a redstone signal that keeps the mass fabricator inactive. However, after the second MFE fills up and the first one starts accumulating EU, the signal inverts and (after the repeater delay) activates the massfab, which then proceeds to consume EU as fast as the MFEs will feed it.
The massfab will first consume the charge that has built up in the first MFE during the repeater delay time. Once that is gone, the second MFE becomes less than full and the signal inverts again. The massfab will continue consuming EU for the delay of the repeater, after which it gets shut off.
Then the process starts anew by filling up the second MFE.
Does it not work if you simply take the chain of two MFEs, set the second to emit when full, feed the signal through a NOT gate and have it toggle the massfab directly? If you add repeaters, you can specify a buffer delay to prevent really fast toggling. With Redpower repeaters, that can be up to ~13 seconds long (128 redstone ticks) per single repeater. With vanilla repeaters you only get up to 0.4 seconds each, so you'll have to chain a few (but you get a neat visual effect as a bonus).
What happens here that as long as the second MFE is not full, the NOT gate will emit a redstone signal that keeps the mass fabricator inactive. However, after the second MFE fills up and the first one starts accumulating EU, the signal inverts and (after the repeater delay) activates the massfab, which then proceeds to consume EU as fast as the MFEs will feed it.
The massfab will first consume the charge that has built up in the first MFE during the repeater delay time. Once that is gone, the second MFE becomes less than full and the signal inverts again. The massfab will continue consuming EU for the delay of the repeater, after which it gets shut off.
Then the process starts anew by filling up the second MFE.
I just used a very simple method, which I prefer to call the "Gud 'Nuff" method. I just placed a single power line that ran past all my machines and ended at the mass fab.
This does require you to be producing enough power to run your machines, as your storage will always be empty...but with the mass fab at the end, it will always be the last to get any power. So, it'll only get the excess power not used by the machines.
For me, this got the job done perfectly fine, without any thought what so ever
This does require you to be producing enough power to run your machines, as your storage will always be empty...but with the mass fab at the end, it will always be the last to get any power. So, it'll only get the excess power not used by the machines.
For me, this got the job done perfectly fine, without any thought what so ever
The downside to zemerick's method is that he has no storage... unless he has a circuit breaker (a splitter cable with a lever) somewhere, the mass fab will just eat everything while the other machines are idle. That means in order to use his machines, he has to have active power generation going on at all times. That works well with solar panels and similar sources, but when you're making EU out of fuel, it's not optimal.
I tend to avoid renewable energy in my games because it just makes the game far, far too easy. I like the challenge of working with constraints... so I am more likely to build an overengineered combustion engine power plant with attached oil refinery and use a dual buffer setup like I described above to tame my massfab, than I am to simply plop down a bunch of solars. After all, why play with technic mods if you're not going to get technical?
I tend to avoid renewable energy in my games because it just makes the game far, far too easy. I like the challenge of working with constraints... so I am more likely to build an overengineered combustion engine power plant with attached oil refinery and use a dual buffer setup like I described above to tame my massfab, than I am to simply plop down a bunch of solars. After all, why play with technic mods if you're not going to get technical?
) What can I say... over-thinking and over-engineering stuff is why I love modded Minecraft.It should be noted that after some experimentation, IC2 energy storage blocks' redstone output is a little bugged. It requires a block update for the redstone to change state if the conditions for power emission are met.
It luckily got fixed in version 1.109 for Minecraft 1.4.5 and will be available in the next FTB release.
Ditto on that, OVER-ENGINEER FTW
That's the problem I ran into using the detector cable.
I eventually just split the power from my 25 advanced solar panels to a MFSU for my workshop and a MFE for the mass fab. Works great, I have to really try hard to get the MFSU to dip intentionally and it charges right back up during the day.
I even started building a second solar array feeding directly into the mass fab but only 6 advanced panels on that so far.
I'm currently working on upgrading my scrap capacity- 4 recyclers can't keep up with the mass fab unless I'm burning tons of energy in the workshop.
Celestialphoenix
Too Much Free Time
Probably the easiest thing is a geothermal generator under each machine in your workshop, and golden waterproof connected to the bottom of those generators.
You can divert off the excess lava to some geothermals powering your MassFab.
(Geothermals are cheap for what they do, late game its easy to make a bank of 20 or so and plug into a massfab)
Alternatly you could power your massfab via a seperate circuit, and divert power into your workshop as you need.
(an MFE on your massfab line set to emit on redstone signal, with the output connected to your workshop)
You can divert off the excess lava to some geothermals powering your MassFab.
(Geothermals are cheap for what they do, late game its easy to make a bank of 20 or so and plug into a massfab)
Alternatly you could power your massfab via a seperate circuit, and divert power into your workshop as you need.
(an MFE on your massfab line set to emit on redstone signal, with the output connected to your workshop)